In this paper, I offer a defence of aesthetic education in terms of aesthetic experience, claiming that aesthetic experience and art appreciation is a vital component of a flourishing life. Given schools have an important role to play in helping prepare young people for their adult lives, it is crucial they should consider how best to equip…

Gert Biesta is one of the leading contemporary educational theorists. He was a keynote speaker at the recent ATEA Conference (July, 2019) at the Sunshine Coast in Australia and generously gave Stephen Heimans some time for an interview in which Gert talked about his latest work and the trajectory of his thinking and writing over his career.

In this commentary, the author considers the rise of algorithmic personalization and the power of propaganda as they shift the dynamic landscape of 21st-century literacy research and practice. Algorithmic personalization uses data from the behaviors, beliefs, interests, and emotions of the target audience to provide filtered digital content,…

Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration has been associated with the psychology of giftedness for four decades, and Sal Mendaglio has significantly contributed to the thoughtful understanding of the theory throughout those 40 years. In this interview, Mendaglio discusses the relationship between the theory of positive disintegration and the…

"Systemic racism" implies that racist policies are embedded in laws and institutions. That claim is patently false as evidenced by Americans having elected a biracial president for two terms and, more recently, a biracial vice president--not to mention blacks serving in the cabinet, in the highest ranks of the armed services, and in…

This paper discusses the repercussions of a new metaphysics--speculative/weird realism--for education and pedagogy. A historic shift is taking place in present-day continental philosophy, which involves an explicit and renewed call for "realism." One of the most salient features of this development is a revitalised interest in…

Reverend Father Professor Amechi Nicholas Akwanya is one of the towering scholars of literature in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world. For decades, and still counting, Fr. Prof. Akwanya has worked arduously, professing literature by way of teaching, researching, and writing in the Department of English and Literary Studies of the University of…

Philosophers of education regularly undertake the challenging task of defining their field and what it is they do. John White and Harvey Siegel are no exception: Siegel categorizes philosophy of education as a branch of philosophy, and White responds that philosophers of education would do better to adopt a Deweyan perspective. White claims that…

In the context of research universities, what kind of places and spaces can we create for ourselves that foster a holistic vision of learning and community, a vision that is responsive to the shifting social and ecological landscapes of the Anthropocene? How can these spaces simultaneously address the need to nurture both personal and cultural…

The author's entry into the Applied Theatre field coincided with "Research in Drama Education" ("RiDE's") inaugural issue in 1996 and, for the ensuing two decades, her practice has been primarily with "vulnerable" children. The purpose of this article is to interrogate a growing concern: that applied theatre's…

This issue of the "European Journal of Education" examines a crucially important, though largely overlooked, area in educational design research: architecting and building physical educational environments. Effective policymaking in school design necessitates the negotiated, shared and timely input of key educational stakeholders,…

The interview, which took place on the eve of the 2012 American presidential election, coincides with the publication of three major works by or about Hilary Putnam. It begins and ends with the topic of science, drawing attention to science's profound importance but also to its contemporary forms of distortion. It explores Putnam's…

This essay is an attempt to add to the argument that beauty matters in education through offering a reciprocal but interconnected point: if the dynamic harmony and deep connectedness of beauty need to be taken seriously, so must their aesthetic converse--the disharmony and estrangement of failure. While the discourse of philosophical aesthetics…

In 2009 Harvey Siegel edited "The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Education." This article develops a theme, prompted by reflection on several essays in that volume, about the nature of philosophy of education and its relation to philosophy. Siegel's view that philosophy of education is a "branch" of philosophy is put to…

The seventh annual Sloan Foundation Study of Online Learning revealed that one in four college students took at least one online course in the 2008 academic year--a 17 percent increase from just the previous year. This rapid growth seems to be fueled mainly by a perceived need by universities to be more convenient and accessible for students. This…