In recent years, there has been a marked shift in concern among some philosophers of education from political transformation to personal transformation. In the past, critics of liberalism, both egalitarian and communitarian, promoted political, social, economic and educational reform--but always subscribed to the freedom of the individual, the…

Breaking stereotypes and changing generational outcomes of historically excluded students requires educators who are willing to be what civil rights leader John Lewis called "good troublemakers." Transformational, culturally competent educators can make a significant impact in the lives of students, classrooms, and communities. This…

This paper examines the complex interweaving of the 'personal' and 'professional' in the affective labour of teachers. In line with theorisations of affective labour, contemporary school-teaching involves practices of self-work and self-making, as much as practices of curriculum and pedagogy. One emergent form of self-work, reflective of…

In this article, the "Bild" or image of the sculptor used by Plotinus and adapted by his Christian follower Meister Eckhart forms the basis of a reflection on the religious or otherworldly dimension in ethics (as opposed to a reductionist or functionalist conception of ethics with its focus on human happiness in the sense of worldly…

Montessori teacher education includes an intensive and ongoing teacher transformation. This experience aids in the development of a clearly defined teacher identity. Research on teacher identity broadly has shown that while such an identity can offer guidance and support, it can also limit teachers and prevent them from exploring other strategies…

In this essay, we describe our path toward a shared understanding of a love-based onto-epistemic orientation to de/coloniality. Our exploration includes the negotiation of our intersectional and entangled identities, subject positions, and understandings of research ethics in education. A de/colonial sensibility is critical in urban educational…

This paper outlines a theoretical context for research into "the subject of ethics" in terms of how students come to see themselves as self-reflective actors. I maintain that the "subject of ethics," or ethical subjectivity, has been overlooked as a necessary aspect of creating politically transformative spaces in education. At…

Conceptual in nature, this paper revisits the debate on the nature and ethical implication of what it means to conduct research with/in immigrant communities. The view from "inside" is different from the view from "outside," I am contending, and both are mediated by what I am calling "I-Thou Research Ethics." This is…

This paper features a discussion of how educators can channel anthropological practices towards the enhancement of experiential learning (EL) teaching methods, particularly on the topic of religion across the Asia-Pacific. I argue that our capacity to achieve curricular objectives through EL calls for an attentiveness to the affinity between the…

Aristotelian-inspired accounts of virtue acquisition stress guided practice and habituated action to develop virtue. This emphasis on action can lead to the "paradox of striving". The paradox occurs when we try too hard to act well and thereby spoil our efforts. I identify four forms of striving--forcing, impulsivity, overthinking, and…

To understand long-term motivations for second language (L2) learning/socialisation, this study analyses the biographical narratives of 30 Hong Kong Chinese who are proficient in Japanese by using ethnographic interviews. From a situated learning perspective, our research findings originate in the participants' transformational episodes and centre…

This article investigates Greek-Cypriot primary school teachers' challenges to enact critical hermeneutics in religious education (RE) within a confessional context. Critical hermeneutics combines elements from critical and hermeneutical theories, emphasising the importance of grounding the conceptualisation of religious and secular truth-claims…

In professional practice contexts, the technical questions are rarely the ones that prove most difficult. Rather, the real questions that arise from complex and ambiguous contexts, and that require learners, teachers, and leaders to examine deeply held beliefs about selfhood, integrity, ethics, and justice, often prove to be the most challenging.…

Faced with the facts of economic inequality, the wealthy are confronted with a particular set of moral, social, and political questions, not least of which is the question of how to preserve a sense of being a "good" human being. In the case of justifying privilege, the problem becomes how to position oneself as being uniquely able to enact a…

This paper is threefold. It is grounded in the philosophical work of two educational theorists: John Dewey and our contemporary Nel Noddings. It also brings into the conversation the ancient system of Tarot, arguing that its pictorial symbolism embodies intellectual, moral, and spiritual "lessons" derived from collective human experiences across…