This paper mobilises the psychoanalytic concepts of desire and enjoyment to better understand how processes of education aimed at extending and defending democratic life might respond to and engage with populist politics. I approach this task by engaging with a particular vector of Mouffe and Laclau's political philosophy, moving from a critique…

This article argues that curriculum work can benefit from signifiers of Bildung to promote democracy in public education. The argument is built on the premise that cultural and intellectual traditions that value Bildung presume a link between the inner cultivation of the individual and the development of better societies (Horlacher 2017). I start…

This article advances and illustrates the concept of "leaderhood" and argues for its role in the rediscovery and renewal of the inclusive, future-oriented spirit of the enterprise of education. Leaderhood, with its links to such concepts as "citizenhood", "elderhood", and "parenthood", is intended to convey…

Research on inclusion in early childhood educational (ECE) settings points to the need for a deeper understanding of professionals' perceptions of the dilemmas and challenges situated in the varying contexts of these settings. Viewing inclusion as a complex phenomenon, this study uses the Deweyan theory of democracy as a lived experience to…

We present an argument for a higher priority for art in the educational system and "make a case" for the arts--to provide a rationale for its priority in adult education. This is the plan: to provide this rationale; to present practical guidelines for the processes of engaging in art that may be transformative and critical for…

One of Pat Carini's great accomplishments is the collection of children's visual, written and other work that became the Prospect Archive of Children's Work, now housed at the University of Vermont. This article recounts the story of the archive--a long collaboration with Prospect colleagues, teachers, and others--from its beginnings in the 1960s…

The guidelines followed by many educational boards recommend behavioristic practices for dealing with student discipline; however, Lawrence Kohlberg's idea of organizing schools as "just communities" suggests a more promising approach. It translates to the school context the core principle of Habermas's discourse ethics: "those…

Although inquiry-based instruction has been a centerpiece of progressive visions of social studies education almost since its inception as a school subject a century ago, teachers often struggle to conceptualize it in ways that make true inquiry possible for their students. In this essay I suggest that social educators strengthen their connection…

In "Deliberative Policymaking," Elizabeth Grant advances a fresh framework for making collective decisions about US schools. Grant argues that education policy itself can be made fundamentally better by improving education policymaking methods. Informed by accounts of recent policymaking actions as well as her own considerable experience…

In a time of for-profit schooling, continuing segregation, racism, book banning, unconscionable inequality, and antiquated approaches to pedagogy, the prescription for democratic schooling seems daunting. Yet the path is clear: We need to change society to enable democracy in schools; we need democratic schooling to bring the public out of its…

The assault on democratic values is not new--nor is the effort to promote the critical literacy skills necessary to understand the cultural, economic, moral, and social issues that underline these social concerns. Unfortunately, in modern society we have conflated an associated way of living with government, and government with politics, and…

In this article, the central question is how the relationship between democracy and education can be understood in terms of civic literacy. By taking as a point of departure John Dewey's basic understanding of democracy in terms of communication and experience, which also forms the basis for the pragmatist knowledge concept of "transactional…

In democratic education, schools are places where democracy holds center stage, where students explore the aims and assumptions that underpin democracy, and where students develop a shared understanding of core values. Despite the democratic promise of schooling, however, schools often fail to prepare people to interrupt racism, classism, gender…

This article puts in conversation Georges Bataille's contributions to critical theory of fascism with contemporary affect theory, and outlines some implications for antifascist education. The purpose is to critically engage with the role of affectivity in fascism and antifascist education and unpack the risks entailed in antifascist education as a…

This article argues that contemporary education policies promoted by UNESCO and the OECD are embracing two distinct post-humanist visions, which I call the 'sustainable futures' and the 'techno-solutionist' strand. I will relate these strands to two conflicting agendas of education after World War II: the humanistic-emancipatory perspective…