Gert J. J. Biesta

Gert Biesta

This is a book about what many teachers know but are increasingly being prevented from talking about: that real education always involves a risk. The risk is there because, as W. B. Yeats has put it, education is not about filling a bucket but about lighting a fire. It is there because students are not to be seen as objects to be moulded and disciplined, but as subjects of action and responsibility. The Beautiful Risk of Education is organised around a critical discussion of seven key educational concepts: creativity, communication, teaching, learning, emancipation, democracy, and virtuosity. By opposing the risk aversion that characterises many contemporary educational policies and practices, Gert J.J. Biesta makes a strong argument for giving risk a central place in our educational endeavours and brings risk taking to the forefront of a critical pedagogical practice.

The Beautiful Risk of Education

Richard Edwards

Julie Allan

In the light of persistent concerns about the quality and relevance of educational research, nationally and internationally, there is a clear need to complement capacity building activities in the domain of methods and methodologies, with capacity building activities that focus on the roles of theory in educational research. This edited collection focuses on the contextual presence of theory, the practices of doing theory, and refractions on and agendas for theory respectively. This book is explicitly international in its scope and outlook, and aims...

The Theory Question in Education and the Education Question in Theory

Making a Difference in Theory

Ivor F. Goodson

John Field

Phil Hodkinson

Flora J. Macleod

Adult learning matters. There is now widespread agreement that modern countries depend on the creativity, skills and knowledge of the entire population for their prosperity. Many people talk of our future well-being in terms of a ‘knowledge economy’ or a ‘learning society’ in which every person’s ability to develop new capabilities will provide them with resources that will help them and the wider community to adapt and thrive. While in theory this makes lifelong learning into an exciting prospect, in practice this broad agenda is often reduced to a narrowly economic conception. This book reports on one of the largest research projects into lifelong learning conducted in recent years. Through over 500 in-depth interviews with a cohort of about 120 adults who were followed for three years, the Learning Lives project has built up a detailed understanding of what learning means and does in the lives of adults. The project has generated insights in how learning has changed over time and across generations, what the connections are with the changing world of work, what differences learning makes for life chances, how we can learn from life and for life, and how people’s prospects of learning can be improved. Combining life history and life-course research with analysis of longitudinal survey data, this book provides important insights into the learning biographies and trajectories of adults. The book shows that learning means and does much more in people’s lives than is often acknowledged by current education policy and politics. In doing so, it is an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in the role and potential of learning through the lifecourse.

Learning Lives

Improving Learning through the Lifecourse

Yvonne Hillier

Sam Duncan

Margaret Gregson

Lawrence Nixon

The definitive textbook for reflective professionalism, drawing on the experiences of Margaret Gregson, Yvonne Hillier and their team along with the findings of the TLRP.

Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education

David R. Cole

Christopher Naughton

This volume has been brought together to generate new ideas and provoke discussion about what constitutes arts education in the twenty-first century, both within the institution and beyond. Art, Artists and Pedagogy is intended for educators who teach the arts from early childhood to tertiary level, artists working in the community, or those studying arts in education from undergraduate to Masters or PhD level. From the outset, this book is not only about arts in practice but also about what distinguishes the ‘arts’ in education. Exploring two different philosophies of education, the book asks what the purpose of the arts is in education in the twenty-first century. With specific reference to the work of Gert Biesta, questions are asked as to the relation of the arts to the world and what kind of society we may wish to envisage. The second philosophical set of ideas comes from Deleuze and Guattari, looking in more depth at how we configure art, the artist and the role played by the state and global capital in deciding on what art education has become. This book provides educators with new ways to engage with arts, focusing specifically on art, music, dance, drama and film studies. At a time when many teachers are looking for a means to re-assert the role of the arts in education this text provides many answers with reference to case studies and in-depth arguments from some of the world’s leading academics in the arts, philosophy and education.

Philosophy and the Arts in Education

Art, Artists and Pedagogy

Michael S. Katz

Susan Verducci

This volume has its origin in the Francis T. Villemain Memorial lectures at San Jose State University – a lecture series established in 1992 to honor the memory of 1 Dean Francis T. Villemain. All the essays in this volume, with the exception of those by Gert Biesta, Susan Verducci, and Michael Katz, were developed from l- tures given as part of the series. The general rubric of the lectures was “democracy, education, and the moral life” – a title reflecting Villemain’s lifelong love of the work of John Dewey whose preface to his famous work in 1916, Democracy and Education, suggested that the purpose of education was to develop democratic ci- zens, citizens infused with the spirit of democracy and the capacity to think and act intelligently within democratic settings. Of course, for Dewey, democracy was not to be conceived of as merely a political form of government, but as a shared form of social life, one that was inclusive rather than exclusive and one that was capable of adapting to the changing features of contemporary social and political reality. Francis T. Villemain’s appreciation for the intersections of the values of dem- racy, education, and the moral life was heightened by his doctoral work at Teachers College, Columbia University in the 1950s – where Dewey’s legacy remained a powerful one. But it also continued during his career at Southern Illinois University where he collaborated in compiling and editing the collected works of John Dewey.

Education, Democracy and the Moral Life

"In this book, Gert Biesta presents a new approach to contemporary art education by showing the unique possibilities the arts offer to establish a dialogue with the world around us. This approach to art education is based on teaching as a process of showing, where the teacher shows the student what could be good, important or meaningful to master in the world. As a starting point for illustrating this method, the book proposes 'How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare' (1965) by Joseph Beuys, which Biesta uses in order to draw out a number of important lessons about teaching"--Publisher's website.

Letting Art Teach

Sarah Robinson

Mark Priestley

Recent worldwide education policy has reinvented teachers as agents of change and professional developers of the school curriculum. Academic literature has analyzed changes in how teacher professionalism is conceived in policy and in practice but Teacher Agency provides a fresh perspective on this issue, drawing upon an ecological theory of agency. Using this model for understanding agency, Mark Priestley, Gert Biesta and Sarah Robinson explore empirical findings from the 'Teacher Agency and Curriculum Change' project, funded by the UK-based Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Drawing together this research with the authors' international experiences and perspectives, Teacher Agency addresses theoretical and practical issues of international significance. The authors illustrate how teacher agency should be understood not only in terms of individual capacity of teachers, but also in respect of the cultures and structures of schooling.

An Ecological Approach

Teacher Agency

Charles Bingham

Demonstrates the importance of Ranciere's educational thought and how educational theory needs to be informed by his philosophical project.

Jacques Ranciere: Education, Truth, Emancipation

Making a Difference in Theory brings together original work from an international group of authors on the roles of theory in educational research and practice. The book discusses the different roles theory plays, can play and should play, both from a historical perspective and in light of contemporary discussions and developments. Particular attention is paid to the question of whether there are or should be distinctively educational forms of theory and theorising. The double engagement with the theory question in education and the education question in theory and theorising provides original insights in what theory does, might do or should do in educational research and practice. With contributions from internationally renowned authors in the field of educational theory, research and practice, the book will be of value to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in education.

The theory question in education and the education question in theory

Michael A. Peters

Introduction: The promise of politics and pedagogy / Michael A. Peters and Gert Biesta -- Deconstruction, justice, and the vocation of education / Gert Biesta -- Derrida as a profound humanist / Michael A. Peters -- Derrida, Nietzsche, and the return to the subject / Michael A. Peters -- From critique to deconstruction : Derrida as a critical philosopher / Gert Biesta -- Education after deconstruction : between event and invention / Gert Biesta -- The university and the future of the humanities / Michael A. Peters -- Welcome! postscript on hospitality, cosmopolitanism, and the other / Michael A. Peters.

Derrida, Deconstruction, and the Politics of Pedagogy

Winner - AERA 2011 Outstanding Book Award Jacques Rancière: Education, Truth, Emancipation demonstrates the importance of Rancière's work for educational theory, and in turn, it shows just how central Rancière's educational thought is to his work in political theory and aesthetics. Charles Bingham and Gert Biesta illustrate brilliantly how philosophy can benefit from Rancière's particular way of thinking about education, and go on to offer their own provocative account of the relationship between education, truth, and emancipation. Including a new essay by Rancière himself, this book is a must-read for scholars of social theory and all who profess to educate.

Trish Spedding

Paul Wakeling

Patricia Hannam

Education, Education, Education: Reflections on a Missing Dimension / Gert Biesta -- 'Buddhism Is Not a Religion, But Paganism Is: The Applicability of the Concept of 'Religion' to Dharmic and Nature-Based Traditions, and the Implications for Religious Education / Denise Cush and Catherine Robinson -- Reflections on the Seminar on Religion and Education: The Forgotten Dimensions of Religious Education / Joyce Miller.

The Forgotten Dimensions of Religious Education?

Religion and Education

Patrick Howard

Tone Saevi

Andrew Foran

Phenomenology and Educational Theory in Conversation challenges the abstract-technical understanding of education to orient the reader to the importance of relationality, intersubjectivity, and otherness to renew and reclaim the educational project. This book treats education as a matter of existence, relationality, and common human concerns. It offers readers an alternative language to reveal and challenge the humanistic encounters that often disappear in the shadows of neoliberalism. The phenomenologists, and educational theorists featured here, offer insights that connect fully and concretely with the everyday lives of educators and students. They offer another language by which to understand education that is counter to the objectifying, instrumentalist language prevalent in neoliberal discourse. This book will be of great interest for academics, researchers, and post-graduate students in the fields of pedagogy, phenomenology, educational theory, and progressive education.

Back to Education Itself

Phenomenology and Educational Theory in Conversation

An analysis of modern curricular policy trends, drawing upon Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence, and featuring inputs from acknowledged experts in the field.

New Trends in Curriculum Policy and Practice

Reinventing the Curriculum

Martin Hughes

Kathryn Ecclestone

Like many ideas that inform policy, practice and research, ‘transition’ has many meanings. Children make a transition to adulthood, pupils move from primary to secondary school, and there is then a movement from school to work, training or further education. Transitions can lead to profound and positive change and be an impetus for new learning for some individuals and be unsettling, difficult and unproductive for others. Transitions have become a key concern for policy makers and the subject of numerous policy changes over the past ten years. They are also of interest to researchers and professionals working with different groups. Transitions and Learning Through the Lifecourse examines transitions across a range of education, life and work settings. It explores the claim that successful transitions are essential for educational inclusion, social achievement, and economic prosperity and that individuals and institutions need to manage them more effectively. Aimed primarily at academic researchers and students at all levels of study across a range of disciplines, including education, careers studies, sociology, feminist and cultural studies, this book is the first systematic attempt to bring together and evaluate insights about educational, life and work transitions from a range of different fields of research. Contributions include: The transition between home and school The effects of gender, class and age Transitions to further and higher education Transitions for students with disabilities Transitions into the workplace Learning within the workplace Approaches to managing transitions

Transitions and Learning Through the Lifecourse

Transitions and Learning through the Lifecourse

Danny Wildemeersch

Maria De Bie

This books explores the relationships between learning, democratic citizenship and the public sphere from thee interconnected angles: theory, methodology and research. The main message of the book is that civic learning necessarily has a public character, as it is learning that emerges from engagement in democratic processes and practices that occur both at the centre and the margins of society. Through a combination of theoretical development, methodological reflection and empirical case study, the chapters in the book provide new insights in the complexities of learning in the context of the ongoing struggle for democracy.

Gert Biesta

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