This paper draws on the concept of affective atmospheres to theorize how democracy and democratic education take hold and circulate in classrooms and schools. The paper asks under which circumstances affective atmospheres are experienced or even 'engineered', encompassing affective and material features that (de)legitimate democracy, democratic…

When do teachers need to deal with sociopolitical issues impartially and when are they justified in taking a stand? In the academic literature, attempts to answer this question have centered on the relative merits of four criteria of "controversial issues": the epistemic criterion, the behavioral criterion, the politically authentic…

This article presents a memorable method to introduce new students to the concept of political needs. Using an adaptation of Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" to one of "Hierarchy of Political Needs" the instructor presents how needs for "physiological survival," safety, belonging, "recognition," and…

Against the prevailing outcomes-based education and the instrumentalization of education, a movement has arisen towards holistic education. This aims to go beyond objective measurement of the outcomes of education in order to treat the student as a whole person. In this paper, we shall examine some strands of education in Japan which in some way…

This paper presents how language-in-use, and its political features, shapes our world(s) and the potential or limitations of our agency in it. It proposes that, with the democratic relational practices of Action Learning, we can, together, enhance social justice and wellbeing for all.

What does a learning center for civic education do in a museum environment? How and why can democracy be taught in a museum? The Museum Arbeitswelt in Steyr, Austria, offers with its "Politikwerkstatt" a learning environment for people of different age groups where they can learn, discuss, and talk about democracy. This article shows the…

Many teachers and education scholars are quick to endorse discussing controversial issues in classrooms, especially in the context of "divisive concept" legislation that proposes bans or limitations on how contentious matters are taught in schools. This approach, however, may not be the best choice in a post-truth and populist setting…

People who engage in the life of a school is in a unique position to isolate and push back against the growing white nationalist movement and the hateful narratives it touts. Their job is to build schools where everyone feels valued and where our students can grow to be engaged citizens of an inclusive democracy. This sidebar article is adapted…

This paper reads Marx's distinction between the method of inquiry and presentation as distinct and Marxist pedagogical logics that take the form of learning and studying. After articulating the differences and their current conceptualizations in educational theory, I turn to different interpretations of the "Grundrisse" and…

The term "freethinking" originated in the 17th century to describe inquiry into beliefs which were accepted unquestioningly. Feminists such as Mary Wolstonecraft, abolitionists like Frederick Douglass, and novelists such as Mark Twain and Zora Neal Hurston are among the many who dared to simultaneously challenge religious dogma,…

Over the last 25 years, cultural competence education has gained prominence in various helping professions (Kaihlanen et al., 2019; Shepherd et al., 2019; Stubbe, 2020). Interestingly, there are opposing perspectives regarding whether cultural competence training is necessary and/or relevant in such fields. Examples of such divisions are captured…

The optical lantern projector was first introduced as a teaching aid into schools all over the world at the turn of the twentieth century. Because slides were expensive, special slide lending services played an important role in supplying schools with images they could project. Existing studies on the use of this new medium in education have…

In this intellectual history, the author traces the refashioning, fall, and re-emergence of the reception of Dewey's work between 1960 and 1988 by student-centred radicals, de-schooling advocates, neo-Marxists, critical educators, and feminist pedagogues--scholars collectively known as the New Left. New Left scholars rejected the assimilationist,…

The penetrating philosophical and political writings of Hannah Arendt has offered humankind provocative and insightful analysis on political action, moral behavior, and human freedom. All the more arresting, are Arendt's writings on education, fully expressed in her work, "Crisis in Education." This article investigates Arendt's…

Educating in a convulsed political context demands a detailed analysis of the new circumstances of our times, especially the current democracy crisis. According to the latest reports issued by international evaluation organisations, one of the greatest challenges for democratic citizenship is the emergence and rise of authoritarianism within the…