The article investigates the instrumentalizing and ontological effects of the concept of equality of educational opportunity (EEO). Starting with the Coleman report (Coleman et al., 1966), through the democratization of secondary and tertiary education, and reading it in light of the recent debate on educationalization of social problems (Smeyers…

This article is the third of three on "Sources of Authority in Education." All use the work of Amy Gutmann as a heuristic device to describe and explain the prevalence of market-based models of education reform in the US and the business-influenced Global Education Reform Movement. The other two are "Negating Amy Gutmann:…

The election of the first indigenous president in Bolivia, Evo Morales (leader of the Movimiento al Socialismo, MAS), and of Rafael Correa in Ecuador (leader of Alianza País, AP) were important turning points in the social and economic history of these two countries. Both were elected with anti-neoliberal platforms of social movements. Their…

This article explores the values that bridge democracy and community dance. Policymakers show an interest in promoting democracy, including the very values shared between community dance and democracy. Observing this, we propose that policy may benefit from examining the pedagogy and practices of community dance, and incorporate relevant aspects…

Thailand is a good example of a developing country which is struggling with globally common problems in trying to find solutions for sustainable education development. Education is one of the important methods to build the mindset of Thai people toward sustainable development (SD). The co-production approach is a way of improving public services,…

The 2011 Chilean student protests were a powerful social movement aimed at transforming education and, with it, the social spaces and formations of daily life. This social movement was pedagogical because students transformed the city into a classroom to gain control over the production of space. In this vein, the student movement provided a…

An exploration is presented of how education policy and practice may be used to transform society. Specifically, connections are made between Paulo Freire's teaching strategies and radically democratic organizing. The connections are contextualized within the prefigurative tradition, which explores how the democratic process is central to…

Democratic governance of cultural diversity is one of the more important worries of the majority of European states. A few years ago, this concern existed mainly in central and northern Europe; today, however, it has become a matter of general interest for the whole continent. This is shown through two relevant facts: the European Union declared…

As international standards are continually publicized, countries across the globe have adapted educational policies to meet the demands of the global market, which has led to much emphasis on specific subjects and teaching methods. Although modern educational policies tend to focus on rhetoric about inclusion, systematic segregation remains in…

The manner in which the built environment is constructed has a tremendous effect on the degree to which health, wealth and social outcomes are distributed within a society. This is particularly evident when a crisis of the natural environment affects the built environment, as was the case after the Haitian earthquake of 2010. Understanding the…

The transformation of South Africa from a deeply iniquitous apartheid regime to a more inclusive democratic dispensation remains a huge challenge for all South Africans and its social institutions. The university remains one institution that is under severe pressure to transform. This pressure is exacerbated by the deeply entrenched apartheid…

In this article, the author explores the neoliberal impacts on higher education in Bangladesh, how market-driven policies might limit the education of arts, humanities and social sciences, and whether or not this phenomenon may have consequences for the future of democracy in the country. First, the author focuses on the privatisation of higher…

This article draws on autonomist theory in order to examine the role of creativity in educational policy and governance. Drawing examples primarily from the North American context, it suggests that extant efforts to manage creativity in secondary and higher education are ultimately unstable, revealing what the Edu-factory collective has referred…

Democratic policy production requires the input of citizen voices, ideally through a process that actively engages a broad range of stakeholders in decision-making. This article describes Ontario's curriculum policy formulation process during the 1990s, based on archival documents and interviews with 16 policy actors. The privatization of…

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of Henry Giroux's contribution over the years to critical thinking in education and beyond. It focuses primarily on Giroux's recent works concerning the changing nature of the State (from the social to the carceral and neoliberal state), the war against youth and children, the culture of militarisation,…