For at least half a century, there has been a broad consensus that indoctrination is a pernicious form of miseducation and a distinctive vice of teaching. In recent years, a number of educational theorists have sought to cast doubt on this view. They suggest that the attention traditionally given to the threat of indoctrination, and the anxiety…

This paper considers notions of spaces and relations in research design for critical education researchers, based on Freirean principles of empowerment education. Three reflective 'narratives of praxis' from community-based research are explored. The first narrative takes a community arts approach to research and is situated in an urban…

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…

Decolonization of higher education policy and practice has become an increasing concern and interest in recent years. This article provides a critical review of the application of decolonization to higher education. It discusses what its proponents mean by the term and how they seek to apply it in practice. It identifies outstanding issues with…

Researchers define gamification as the phenomenon of creating "gameful experiences" and the use of "game mechanics" in non-gaming contexts (Deterding et al. 2011; Hamari et al. 2014). Gamification within education is the translation of design elements historically associated with gaming, e.g., embodiment, restructured…

In the interdisciplinary field of education, critical race theory (CRT) is the predominant framework for studying racism. However, some have argued CRT lacks a racial theory and that CRT-education scholarship should examine how education "racializes" (i.e. contributes to making racialized categories). In this theoretical article, I…

In this paper, I start from a posthumanist understanding of subjectivity to stress how our ways of relating do not follow from previously formed intentions but emerge in assemblages. The fact that we hold certain theoretical ascriptions does not assure that we will relate in ways that are consistent with them. We might intend to embrace…

For the first time, Walter Benjamin's critical comments on educator and philosopher Rudolf Steiner are examined in depth. In particular, Benjamin detected protofascist themes within Steiner's seemingly progressive notion of child-centered, arts-based, developmentally appropriate early childhood education. But this does not mean that Benjamin…

If there is one thing all university rankings have in common, it is that they are the target of widespread criticism. This article takes the many challenges university rankings are facing as its point of departure and asks how they navigate their hostile environment. The analysis proceeds in three steps. First, we unveil two modes of ranking…

This study examines the challenges of humanism and education in the 21st century as addressed by the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk in his Elmau Speech (1999). In this lecture, titled "Rules for the Human Zoo", Sloterdijk argues that the traditional notion of humanism, specifically "humanism as a literary society," has…

Media literacy encourages the construction of critical thinking and stimulates skills that foster a constructive attitude and use of media and information and communication technology. In recent years, programmes have been developed in educational contexts with the aim of promoting the construction of media literacy in adolescents. In the present…

Much thinking in psychology and related forms of psychotherapy is in the grip of a conception of inner-outer relationships that distorts the reality of our lives and world. In his later work, and in the last years of his life especially, Wittgenstein battled against this. In the course of his criticism, he developed vivid images that challenge…

In the context of the ongoing debate on the ontology of education, where instrumentally defined functions and aims are seen as external to what education is and the focus is on defining "the educational," Tomasz Szkudlarek explores a reverse route in an attempt to see, first, what is "the instrumental" before asking how it…

Learning from Freire can be a live-long endeavor, always adding humor, rigorous critical theory, and narrative. This article addresses the theoretical and cognitive ways in which Freire can be embraced. Moving far beyond banking education and fixed ideological notions of Freire's work, it is important to consider the tentative when reading and…

Many reviews referred to as 'systematic reviews' in ecology are not consistent with best practice in that they generally lack appropriate critical appraisal of included studies. This limitation is particularly important in applied ecology, where there have been increasing calls for more systematic reviews to guide decision making. To identify the…