The implementation of equity-oriented reforms is never simply a technical matter: it involves directly engaging with the norms and politics responsible for reproducing inequitable opportunities and outcomes, and with efforts to promote educational justice. To date, there has been little research on how leaders in science education navigate the…

What happens to public opinion when prominent partisan officials intervene in education policy debates? We analyzed the results of 18 survey experiments conducted between 2009 and 2021 with nationally representative samples of U.S. adults. Each experiment explored the effect of an endorsement of a specific education policy by a high-profile…

A crucial hurdle to addressing climate change is science denial. While research suggests that science denial is related to judgments individuals make about the credibility of information sources, less is known about how source credibility and characteristics of the individual interact to affect science denial. In the present study, we examined the…

Universities in many liberal democracies, such as the US, the UK, or Germany, grapple with a pivotal question: how much room should be given to controversial utterances? On the one side, there are those who advocate for limiting permissible speech on campus to create a safe environment for a diverse student body and counter the mainstreaming of…

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…

Political knowledge and democratic attitudes are recognized in contemporary studies as important dimensions of democratic political culture. Furthermore, knowledge and attitudes can be seen as integral parts of political competence. Unlike other dimensions of political culture such as, for example, political participation, political interest,…

This article critically engages with Philip Pettit's civic republican theory, particularly his account of what it takes to realize non-domination in society. Despite providing a comprehensive analysis of the institutional prerequisites for realizing non-domination, Pettit surprisingly overlooks the critical role of education in achieving this…

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the ensuring culture wars, the American school choice coalition has almost completely unraveled, but many school choice advocates assert that the coalition can be rebuilt. In this essay, I argue that the school choice coalition dissolved not because of politics or circumstance, but because the…

While education has historically enjoyed widespread bipartisan support, the aftermath of the pandemic, among other factors, has dramatically reshaped the field's political climate. This transformation, marked by increasing political tensions that impact students, schools and teachers, signifies a shift away from traditional educational policy…

Purpose: There are several connections between education and disinformation, including the association between years of schooling and vulnerability to unfounded hypothesizing. The purpose of this paper is to inquire into a competing explanation: political leaders might be exploring powerful teaching and learning strategies to disseminate agendas…

New Zealand National Party's 2022-2023 policy of Social Investment, which if adopted, will legitimise the management of young unemployed in the name of correcting and helping them. Zygmunt Bauman's (1989) concept of 'rational bureaucratic culture' is used to examine the aims to bring the 'abnormal' citizen into the tax-paying fold. The policy will…

The rise in support for Scottish independence between the 1970s and the 2010s has shaped Scottish politics and policy profoundly. The rise provokes a paradox: in this same period, the average educational level of people living in Scotland has also risen strongly, and yet, at each particular moment in time, higher levels of education have been…

This teaching case explores the complexities of teaching students about race and racism, a struggle complicated by political efforts to restrict the discussion of critical educational theories. It emphasizes the political ideologies that faculty must consider as they teach in an academic setting. The case narrative illuminates the complexity of…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the impact of political polarization on public school leaders and how they lead their districts. The central research question being explored is: how has the increased divisiveness and political polarization of issues in the United States impacted public school superintendents and how they…

This essay contributes to scholarly discussions on the affective politics of demagoguery, especially in relation to the rhetoric of white victimhood and resentment, by exploring how civics education could formulate an anti-demagogic pedagogical response. Contemporary understandings of demagoguery as a rhetoric that emphasizes in-group identity and…