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Ruyu Hung, Cultivation of Self in East Asian Philosophy of Education, (Routledge) 2019

This book provides exciting and significant inquiries into the cultivation of self in East Asian philosophy of education.

The contributors to this volume are from different countries or areas in the world, but all share the same interest in exploring what it means to be human and how to cultivate the self. In this book, self-cultivation in classical Chinese philosophies—including Confucianism, neo-Confucianism, and Daoism—is scrutinised and elaborated upon, in order to reveal the significance of ancient wisdom for today’s educational issues, and to show the meaningful connections between Eastern and Western educational thoughts. By addressing many issues of contemporary importance including environmental education, equity and justice, critical rationalism, groundlessness of language, and power and governance, this book offers fresh views of self-cultivation illuminated not merely by East Asian philosophy of education but also by Western insights.

https://www.routledge.com/Cultivation-of-Self-in-East-Asian-Philosophy-of-Education-1st-Edition/Hung/p/book/9780367359348

Gert Biesta, Obstinate Education: Reconnecting School and Society, (Brill | Sense: Leiden) 2019

What should the relationship between school and society be? Obstinate Education: Reconnecting School and Society argues that education is not just there to give individuals, groups and societies what they want from it, but that education has a duty to resist. Education needs to be obstinate, not for the sake of being difficult, but in order to make sure that it can contribute to emancipation and democratisation. This requires that education always brings in the question whether what is desired from it is going to help with living life well, individually and collectively, on a planet that has a limited capacity for giving everything that is desired from it.

This book argues that education should not just be responsive but should keep its own responsibility; should not just focus on empowerment but also on emancipation; and, through this, should help students to become ‘world-wise.’ It argues that critical thinking and classroom philosophy should retain a political orientation and not be reduced to useful thinking skills, and shows the importance of hesitation in educational relationships. This text makes a strong case for the connection between education and democracy, both in the context of schools, colleges and universities and in the work of public pedagogy.

https://brill.com/view/title/55081

Kamp, Annelies, Education Studies in Aotearoa: Key disciplines and emerging directions, (NZCER Press) 2019

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the core disciplines, and contemporary concerns, that inform the study of education in Aotearoa. As a collection, the work provides a critical account of education policy trajectories and speculates on their limits and possibilities in the changing social and political landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand in the first half of the 21st century.

The work has two aims. First, to serve as an introductory text for students in initial teacher education and other education programmes. Secondly, to be a resource for practitioners, policy makers, administrators and other stakeholders seeking to update their knowledge of the disciplines that comprise education studies, and their application in the current environment. It builds on the premise detailed in the Introduction: that all educational theory—in Aotearoa and beyond—must be understood and applied with due regard to personal, historical, and global context.

https://www.nzcer.org.nz/nzcerpress/education-studies-in-aotearoa

Lund, Birthe & Arndt, Sonja, The Creative University: Contemporary responses to the changing role of the University, (Brill/Sense: Leiden) 2019

The concept behind the Creative University is about knowledge cultures, critical creative thinking and innovative learning processes, situating the university as flexible, open and responsive to contemporary educational ideologies. Its vision reflects world-wide interest in students' engagement with diverse knowledges that challenge and break with habitual actions and thought and elevates creativity as central to the design of new and innovative pedagogies.

In this book leading authors position the university to invite exploratory constructions and approaches that respond to past, present and future social and educational tensions and developments. This volume is a provocation for discovery, fostering and critiquing creativity, and advancing innovation.

https://brill.com/view/title/39290

Thomas, Louise M., Reinertsen, Anne B., Academic Writing and Identity Constructions, (Palgrave Macmillan) 2019

This book presents multiple cultural and contextual takes on working performances of academic/writer/thinker, both inside and outside the academy. With worldwide, seismic shifts taking place in both the contexts and terrains of universities, and subsequently the altering of what it means to write as an academic and work in academia, the editors and contributors use writing to position and re-position themselves as academics, thinkers and researchers. Using as a point of departure universities and academic/writing work contexts shaped by the increasing dominance of commodification, measurement and performativity, this volume explores responses to these evolving, shifting contexts. In response to the growing global interest in writing as performance, this book breaks new ground by theorizing multiple identity constructions of academic/writer/researcher; considering the possibilities and challenges of engaging in academic writing work in ways that are authentic and sustainable. This reflective and interdisciplinary volume will resonate with students and scholars of academic writing, as well as all those working to reconcile different facets of identity.

https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783030016739

Jackson, Liz & Peters, Michael A., Feminist Theory in Diverse Productive Practices: An EPAT Gender & Sexualities Reader, Volume VI, (Routledge) 2019

Feminist Theory in Diverse Productive Practices is the second of two volumes examining gender and feminist theory in Educational Philosophy and Theory. This collection explores the difference that gender and sexual identities make both to theorizing and working in education and other fields. As the articles contained in this text span nearly 40 years of scholarship related to these issues, this volume sheds light on how feminist, gender, and sexuality theory has evolved within and beyond the field of philosophy of education over time.

Key themes explored in the book include women’s ways of knowing, the challenges women (and girls) face in taking up professional employment across diverse fields historically and today, and how feminist and related theories can enable women in professional development roles to empower each other. The book tells a rich story of how gender and sexuality theory has been brought to bear on discussions of educational practice in diverse fields over decades of publication of Educational Philosophy and Theory.

Feminist Theory in Diverse Productive Practices will be key reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of philosophy of education, philosophy, education, educational theory, post-structural theory, and the policy and politics of education.

https://www.routledge.com/Feminist-Theory-in-Diverse-Productive-Practices-An-Educational-Philosophy/Jackson-Peters/p/book/9780367109837

Jackson, Liz & Peters, Michael A., From ‘Aggressive Masculinity’ to ‘Rape Culture’: An EPAT Gender and Sexualities Reader, Volume V, (Routledge) 2019

From ‘Aggressive Masculinity’ to ‘Rape Culture’ is the fifth volume in this series and explores the relationship between gender and sex roles and socialisation and education, foregrounding issues of inequity and different forms of oppression in various contexts. It tells a rich story of transformation of a field over nearly half a century, in relation to the theorisation of gender and sexuality in educational philosophy and theory. The transformation of this field is mapped on to broader social trends during the same period, enabling a better understanding of the potential role of educational philosophy and theory in developing feminist, queer, and related veins of scholarship in the future.

The collection of texts focuses on a wide range of topics, including nature versus nurture and the debate over whether gender and sex roles are natural or based upon culture and socialisation, gender and sexual binaries, and how power is organised and circulates within educational spaces (including possibly online spaces) with regard to enabling or disrupting sexually oppressive or violently gendered social conditions. Other important trends include Internet activism and the use of intersectional theory, postcolonial theory, and global studies approaches.

From ‘Aggressive Masculinity’ to ‘Rape Culture’ will be key reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of philosophy of education, philosophy, education, educational theory, post-structural theory, the policy and politics of education, and the pedagogy of education.

https://www.routledge.com/From-Aggressive-Masculinity-to-Rape-Culture-An-Educational/Jackson-Peters/p/book/9781138314108

Jackson, Liz, Questioning Allegiance: Resituating Civic Education, (Routledge) 2019

Education about living in society and in the world is a vital task of schools. Yet such civic education is not always critically examined, and few among us have been encouraged to reflect on our civic education experiences. Around the world, one’s civic education most often looks like a black box. How it works is unclear. When human harm, violence, and oppression can be seen in a wide variety of contexts, it is worth critically examining civic education. Could it be that civic education is not playing a helpful role in society? Can it be done differently and better? As one reflects on the contemporary social world, it is helpful to examine the assumptions surrounding education for living together, to think about current modes and possible alternatives. Otherwise, one might end up promoting allegiance to civic and partisan entities which are themselves black boxes (the ‘nation’, the ‘people’), failing to notice when and how what goes on in civic education is morally questionable.

This book aims to elucidate some of the black box of civic education, and focuses on some of its main operations across contexts. Offering a new framework for students and academics, this book questions existing thinking and shifts the focus of attention from the right balance to strike between local, national, and global allegiances to the more fundamental question of what counts as ‘local’, ‘national’, and ‘global’, and what might be involved in cultivating allegiances to them. It looks at allegiance to not just transnational but also sub-global ‘civilisations’ and it problematises the notion of the ‘local community’ in new ways.

https://www.routledge.com/Questioning-Allegiance-Resituating-Civic-Education-1st-Edition/Jackson/p/book/9781138351110

Pham Lien, International Graduates Returning to Vietnam, (Springer : Singapore) 2019

Discourses in international education have largely focused on economic and political imperatives, which emphasise institutional measures such as student mobility, international partnerships and alliances as evidence of efficiency and achievement. This book shifts that thinking to consider international education as a potentiality for ethical development. Combining Amartya Sen’s capability approach and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social practices to conceptualise normative agency and situated freedom, the book examines returning Vietnamese international students’ involvement, or at least scope for agentic involvement, in their everyday practices, and, from that, understanding their empowerment as a process of personal and social change.

Employing reflexive sociology, the research praxis gives Vietnamese returnees voice and opportunities to share candid views about their personal ambitions, struggles and achievements in contributing to the macro development of Vietnam. Its standpoint is that returning international students to be ends rather than means in the development process, who can critically examine their roles in society and enable change as they see valuable. To that extent, the book amplifies the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Target 4.7 ‘Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship’ that promote models of reconciliation between countries and people, invite students to question received knowledge and avoid narratives that entrench views about development and development actors.

https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811359408

Burgh, Gilbert & Thornton, Simone, Philosophical Inquiry with Children: The Development of an Inquiring Society in Australia, (Routledge: Abingdon) 2018

Philosophy in schools in Australia dates back to the 1980s and is rooted in the Philosophy for Children curriculum and pedagogy. Seeing potential for educational change, Australian advocates were quick to develop new classroom resources and innovative programs that have proved influential in educational practice throughout Australia and internationally. Behind their contributions lie key philosophical and educational discussions and controversies which have shaped attempts to introduce philosophy in schools and embed it in state and national curricula.

Drawing together a wide range of eminent scholars and practitioners in the field of educational philosophy, this anthology, the first of its kind, provides not only a historical narrative, but an opportunity to reflect on the insights and experiences of the authors that have made history. The collection is divided into three parts. The overarching theme of Part I is the early years of Philosophy for Children in Australia and how they informed the course that the ‘philosophy in schools movement’ would take. Part II focuses on the events and debates surrounding the development and production of new materials, including arguments for and against the suitability of the original Philosophy for Children curriculum. In Part III, key developments relating to teaching philosophy in schools are analysed.

This collection of diverse views, critical appraisals, and different perspectives of historical currents is intended to stimulate thought-provoking questions about theory and practice, and to increase general awareness both nationally and internationally of philosophy in schools in Australia. It is also intended to encourage readers to identify emerging ideas and develop strategies for implementation.

https://www.routledge.com/Philosophical-Inquiry-with-Children-The-Development-of-an-Inquiring-Society/Burgh-Thornton/p/book/9781138362963

Ceder, Simon, Towards a Posthuman Theory of Educational Relationality, (Routledge) 2018

Towards a Posthuman Theory of Educational Relationality critically reads the intersubjective theories on educational relations and uses a posthuman approach to ascribe agency relationally to humans and nonhumans alike. The book introduces the concept of ‘educational relationality’ and contains examples of nonhuman elements of technology and animals, putting educational relationality and other concepts into context as part of the philosophical investigation. Drawing on educational and posthuman theorists, it answers questions raised in ongoing debates regarding the roles of students and teachers in education, such as the foundations of educational relations and how these can be challenged.

https://www.routledge.com/Towards-a-Posthuman-Theory-of-Educational-Relationality/Ceder/p/book/9781138486966

Stolz, Steven, Alasdair MacIntyre, Rationality and Education: Against Education of Our Age, (Springer) 2018

Despite Alasdair MacIntyre being known as an academic who has made many notable contributions to a range of areas in philosophy, his thinking on education is not as well-known and/or properly understood by most audiences and readerships that predominantly reside in educational contexts. With this in mind, this book aims to provide a critique of MacIntyre’s thinking about education, and hence commences with a central theme found in MacIntyre’s extensive corpus concerning the fragmentation and disunification of ideas found in our culture and society that stems both from the rejection of metaphysics and what it means to be a human being living within the context of history. According to MacIntyre, part of the problem why this has occurred is due to educational institutions, particularly universities failing to resist the pressure exerted from industry and the state to conform. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a type of intellectual dissensus where the shared conceptions of rational enquiry and the role of reason have been replaced by pluralistic notions of private and personal choices concerning the good, and a disillusionment with reason that is ultimately exhibited as apathy and conformism. In order to overcome this apathy and conformism found in our culture and society, MacIntyre’s educational project is concerned with the cultivation of rationality; however, this is not an easy undertaking because it involves students being confronted with alternative – sometimes rather hostile – rival traditions so they both come to see rival points of view and understand that each tradition, including their own, does not come from a neutral or value-neutral standpoint. To MacIntyre, dialectical encounters between traditions is a crucial starting point of a good education, but for intellectual and academic progress to be made, rational enquiry needs to be grounded in a shared understanding of first principles that aims at truth and rational vindication.

https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319922751