This study explores the conceptions developed by primary and secondary education teachers in Spain and England about democracy in education. To this end, we conducted a phenomenographic study involving 39 teachers. The results identify four major conceptions of democracy in education: (a) democracy as freedom, (b) democracy understood as…

In this paper, I argue that current arrangements for school-to-work transitions support in England, now school-based, are designed to contribute towards ensuring the consent of the population for what I refer to as the 'state of insecurity' (Lorey, 2015): the neoliberal relationship between the individual and the state in which insecurity is…

In recent years, many programs and manuals for 'norm criticism´ have been produced for schools in Sweden. In this article, I situate norm criticism and norm critical pedagogics within discourses of values and norms, legal rights and policies through a close reading of the material produced for the Swedish pre-school. I explore the targets, modes,…

This article aims to use the cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) framework to analyse the participation of an early childhood teacher in children's creative play, in order to enhance and support creativity. The study is grounded on Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development, and highlights teacher's play involvement and the arts as a cultural…

This study aims to examine the primary education curricula prepared in 2017 in the context of gaining socialization, multiculturalism and democratic values. Analyses are carried out on the basis of social adaptation, social norms, individual responsibility, multicultural education, democracy culture, and rights and freedoms. The study is limited…

This study explores how the constitutional right to educational freedom penetrates to the schools of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish (Haredi) community in Antwerp, which is one of the largest Haredi communities in the world. The findings indicate that the constitutional educational freedom is altered by various legal rules, social norms, and…

Drawing from Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, and Cain's (1998) identity theory, this study sought to understand how six self-identified lesbian and gay Latina/o college students negotiated their sexual and ethnic identities. Participants identified two equally flawed dimensions, the hometown and college figured worlds, from which they sought an…

Cohabitation has become the modal path to marriage in the United States. However, little is known about what cohabitation means to young adults today. Drawing on data from 18 focus groups (N = 138) and 54 in-depth interviews with young adults, this exploratory study investigates motivations to cohabit and examines potential gender differences in…

In this historical study of English teaching, Jory Brass adopts a governmentality perspective to highlight the contingency and limits of pedagogical arguments that construct an oppositional relation between power and freedom. In the first part of the essay, Brass historicizes contemporary critiques of transmission pedagogies by comparing them with…

This essay is based on the author's presentation at FPRI's History Institute for Teachers on America in the Civil War Era, 1829-77. Slavery lasted for 250 years just in the territory of the United States, and for half a millennium in the Atlantic world. Teaching about it is therefore a huge assignment. The author cites five contexts for teaching:…

Twenty-two 5- and 6-year-old children and their parents in one playschool in Reykjavik participated in this study designed to shed light on children's and parents' views about their early childhood program. Group interviews, children's photographs, children's drawings, and a questionnaire administered as a game were used to elicit children's…