This reflective think-tank contribution begins by comparing advocacy and research as distinct modalities of professional and social action. In practice they frequently elide and merge into one another. While alliance and complementarity between the two modalities is constructive for shaping policy and practice, it poses risks when governments and…

This paper empirically investigates Grimmett's (2008, 2009) thesis that recent Canadian teacher education policy is best characterized by dual forces of deregulation and professionalization resulting from a neoliberal policy environment. Specifically, we examine teacher education governance, policy reform, and political context from 2000 to 2010,…

Research in ethnomathematics has become predominantly focused on "local cultures" and non-scholarized forms of mathematics, thus becoming less a critical reflection on the sociopolitical roots of academic mathematics and the place it occupies in the popular imagination and in schooling, and more of a learning device. Such a development…

While there is a whole field devoted to the widely esteemed enterprise of epistemology, until fairly recently much less attention has been given to "agnotology," the study of ignorance. Epistemologists of ignorance use the concept agnotology to signify the study of the making and unmaking of ignorance, as well as the task of…

This article offers a critical examination of the transformative approach to education for political citizenship. The argument offered here is that the transformative approaches lacks the capacity to fully acknowledge the asymmetries of political power and as a consequence, it promotes an idealised construct of political citizenship which does not…

This response argues that it is reasonable to consider Thomas Jefferson a proponent of democratic education. It suggests that Jefferson's education proposals sought to ensure the wide distribution of knowledge and that Jefferson's legacy remains important to us today.

Ellen Brantlinger's paper, "Using ideology: cases of non-recognition of the politics of research and practice in special education" (Brantlinger, E. 1997. "Using ideology: Cases of nonrecognition of the politics of research and practice in special education." "Review of Educational Research" 67, no. 4: 425-59),…

The Posbolonian Uniform is a creative, artistic and performative response, undertaken as a criticism and opposition to the losses of democratic freedoms that have occurred in Spain recently. It is a bid by two university instructors for the use of artistic tools, specifically performance art, as a means of social transformation in their academic…

The premise of this article is that unbalanced versions of inclusion politics are usually at work in European contexts. Some inclusion patterns may be more relevant for certain aspects or levels of the education system or various models may be applied to specific ethnic groups. A necessary balancing approach is discussed in this article, drawing…

At every stage in the nation's history, the next generation must be deliberately educated to be active and responsible citizens. That is always a complex and challenging task, but the challenges differ as the context evolves. Today, students and teachers of civics face special barriers as well as unusual opportunities. For one thing, national…

Like other adult education providers such as the Workers' Educational Association, the educational settlement movement was beset with political controversy during the 1920s. This article considers the relationship between the Educational Settlements Association (ESA) and its affiliated institutions, relating these to the competing political…

This article will outline the current status of gifted education in Ireland. To fully understand the picture, one needs to look at the history of the Irish education system and how educational decisions are made in the country. Political climate is often an important factor in how people view special education programs and Ireland is no different…

This study describes one high school civics teacher's use of film as a way to improve his students' understanding of politics. Using episodes of "The West Wing," an award-winning political drama, over the course of a semester, the teacher was able to create an authentic context for political instruction that allowed his students to practice…

This article examines the politics of policies promoting multilingualism in the European Union (EU), specifically in light of the recently released European Union Civil Society Platform on Multilingualism. As the most far-reaching and ambitious policy document issued by the European Commission, the Platform warrants close scrutiny at a significant…

I argue that, after Dewey, Peters was the first modern philosopher of education to write material (in English) that was both philosophically respectable and relevant to the day-to-day concerns of teachers. Since then, some philosophers of education have remained (more or less) relevant but not really respectable while others have "taken off into…