This article explores the wider critical and creative powers of education to bring about a society where no one person is valued more than another and where each person is celebrated for their differences -- this the author calls the 'society of equals'. It is argued that discourses of equality are not only co-extensive with democracy; they are…

The Dalton Plan is well known in educational historiography. But there are also unanswered questions such as: how is it possible that a pedagogical experiment begun in the United States in February 1920 had, by the month of March, already come to be known first hand by a visiting English educator? The objective in this article is to find an…

In this article, Morten Korsgaard and Mathias Aldinger examine the educational thinking of Hannah Arendt and accompany their analysis with an educational reading of Søren Kierkegaard's "The Seducer's Diary." The authors argue that their readings of Arendt and Kierkegaard point us to a pitfall in how we often approach the educational…

As the world grows increasingly contentious, education for citizenship demands greater attention. Yet at this perilous juncture, social studies has neglected to take up the task of preparing citizens in a democratic and global society. Social studies has become increasingly fragmented and isolated by disciplinary foci that fetishize academic…

Competition is an essential part of youth sport. But should it also be part of the curriculum in physical education? Or are competitive activities incompatible with the educational context? While some researchers have argued that physical education should embrace the sporting logic of competition, others have criticized the negative experiences it…

A close look at segregated African American progressive high schools in the Southeast during the Jim Crow era offers insights into the "courageous willingness" of black educators to examine and modify their practices. This essay is part of the John Dewey Memorial Lecture series sponsored by the Daniel Tanner Foundation.

The writings of Lester Frank Ward (1841-1913) on education over the last two decades of the 19th century were almost lost until they were brought to the attention of John Dewey (1859-1952). Ward had prophesied that the 20th century would require three universal curriculums to meet the American democratic prospect. Ward acknowledged that nobody…

In John Dewey's educational framework, the process and product are inseparable; achieving democratic ends cannot result from undemocratic means. For him, the full humanization of people depended not upon externally imposed curriculum and management systems, but rather on responding to the intrinsic needs, interests, and powers of the individual to…

Anthony Johnson Showalter (c. 1853-1924) was a music educator, gospel composer, publisher, and considered a pioneer in gospel music and education in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Showalter is notably mentioned in numerous texts and studies related to gospel music; however, little data has been collected regarding the…

This article examines the Jordanian lower-primary national curriculum and its propensity for student-centred teaching and learning. It draws upon Basil Bernstein's sociological theory of pedagogic codes to analyse the curriculum model and the advocated pedagogical approach within official curriculum documents, textbooks and teacher guides.…

Case studies of two biology teachers, Cathy and David, from the same minority-majority, urban U.S. high school, provide insights into their instructional practices while they engaged in long-term professional development (PD). Findings suggest why science teachers engaged with PD may, or may not, adopt more adaptive pedagogical approaches in the…

O'Neill argues that the standard social democratic narrative of state schooling as a consensual, whole-of-society commitment to reduce educational inequalities across the system as a whole, for the collective well being of all, has been displaced by marketplace or commodity progressivism. He takes the position that reducing educational…

Dewey famously believed that we learn through experience, through which we build up habits. Education should be about developing good habits. Experience for Dewey, is not an individual possession but grows out of social interaction, which always takes place in a given culture. Dewey's views on culture are significant in relation to a current issue…

Crisis occupies an ambiguous place in the writings of Hannah Arendt. Not only does crisis undermine categories of judgment, but in doing so it eliminates prejudices as well, forcing us to judge without them. Although Arendt never had an opportunity to fully develop her understanding of judgment, we know that she considered it to be 'the most…

In France, the notion of competence began to be discussed in the early 1990s and was finally enforced in the Education Act of 23 April 2005. Since its emergence, this notion has been strongly opposed by a certain number of teachers, unions and researchers. To understand how competence-based education finally prevailed, I take into account the…