During the second half of the 20th century, a new pedagogical movement emerged, which centered around the concept of "critical thinking." While the movement soon became a significant player in the pedagogical field, its proponents continued to develop the theoretical and practical aspects of critical thinking, aiming to transform it into…

Some see research as an esoteric, other-worldly, practice only to be completed by those unable to do anything 'real'. Others--including some academics working in universities--see it as 'just another thing to do', a burden on already overworked staff, used as an excuse to set even more performance goals. Within initial teacher education, the…

This article brings stories of teaching and learning to teach in China into conversation with Aristotle's intellectual virtue "techne" and its reinterpretations. The intent is to challenge the overwhelming trend of instrumental rationality in teaching and teacher education in both China and Canada. I explore and thicken the concept of…

Creativity is a commonly used word in education circles, yet it is also seen as something that is being undermined by contemporary agendas of standards, testing and an increasingly strong focus on core subjects that are used as indicators of school performance, which are impacting the work of teachers. This paper starts from Ball's 2006 paper 'The…

In the last few years, there is a strong inclination to see a technological development, economic growth and social cohesion as the goals of education and therefore teachers are taken to be responsible for social solidarity and for national success in the global economic competition. This paper rejects the reduction of teaching to maximize…

In this article, I argue that technocratic forms of education are miseducational and intricately tied to matters of social inequity and colonialism. Through outlining the epistemic limitations, as well as drawing on decolonial scholarship, I point out that technocratic logics in education intentionally ignore the people, places, and…

Upon beginning their school-based teaching practica, teacher candidates enter a realm of practice that is at once uncertain, vulnerable, and particular, and where good educational practice centers on teacher's ability to see and to judge and to act ethically with others in concrete situations and ways. An important question for teacher education…

In order to show the potential unification between studying the school's academic curriculum and developing moral virtues, two matters commonly considered to be separated, I suggest the approach of worthy leisure education. Drawing on the tradition of paideia and liberal arts education, I describe the inner connection between school and leisure…

In the spirit of reformulating notions of critique, this response builds on the creative research experimentation that the authors enacted to consider air differently. The authors continue to be lured by generosity, curiosity, surprise, and wonder and suggest two feminist responses that relate to and generate knowledge in alternative ways. Two…

This article offers an examination of posthumanist epistemology. Building on wider claims that "posthumanist" theorists risk disavowing the historicity of their concepts, the article asks why the posthumanist image of the researcher has proven attractive to humanities and social sciences scholarship in recent years. In examining this…

New materialist and posthuman research methodologies are quickly gaining traction in educational research. According to its proponents, new materialism takes us to radically new places of praxis as it reconfigures central notions such as data, researcher positioning and critique. Here I consider how the notion of 'data' is invoked in an example of…

This article outlines and critically reflects upon four tensions--framed as "double-binds'--in new materialist scholarship on childhood and education. Firstly, I tackle arguments about data and the role of the researcher in studies of education, which I reframe as a question of intentionality. Secondly, I critically consider debates about the…

Practitioner research, as one example of research supported by universities, has developed in unexpected ways, some of them unhelpful and has not always generated the benefits predicted. This paper argues that practitioner research has become shaped more by the needs of universities than by the schools and teachers it was hoped it would serve. The…

This paper is a reply to Mary L. Rasumussen's paper, "Critical Exchange: Religion and Schooling: What Should Their Relationship Be?" In this paper, Julian Stern makes three claims: (1) the need for a messy conversation; (2) the need to include "whole" people in schools; and (3) the need to consider existentially significant…

This essay juxtaposes the current disorientation about the course of global political changes, the emergence of theories which accentuate the present as the domain of education, and punk culture with its proclamation that there is no future, as premises on which the question of radical theory is raised. Acclaiming the works of colleagues who…