The aim of the article is to posit the question whether, or under what conditions 'instrumentalism' can be seen as a viable target of the philosophical critique of education. Firstly, I will briefly review and compare three critical conceptions in modern philosophy that interpreted Western civilization as a form of instrumentalism, yet, at the…

Curriculum change is an intricate, lengthy process, requiring commitment, cooperation and compromise amongst the agencies and stakeholders involved; its development is more complex in divided societies, particularly when the subject content is open to contention. The addition of Local and Global Citizenship (LGC) to the Northern Ireland (NI)…

Philosophy for Children (henceforth P4C) is a program and a pedagogy for teaching philosophy in k-12 school that was first developed by Matthew Lipman and Ann Margaret Sharp. The P4C approach is generally presented as a valuable form of education for democratic citizenship. This relationship is so obvious that it often remains underdeveloped: P4C…

The theme of childhood and education in Lyotard's philosophy provides an interesting field of reflection combining education studies and continental philosophy. Childhood in Lyotard's thought is mostly understood as "infantia," a concept that appears towards the end of his work. The claim of this article is that childhood in Lyotard's…

'Mindfulness' is a term which holds increasing currency within educational research, policy and practice. However, there is substantial variation in its use, especially with respect to its historical roots in the Buddhist tradition. I develop a conceptual distinction between 'thin' mindfulness and 'thick' mindfulness, with attendant ontological,…

This position paper examines the phenomenon of the McNamara Fallacy to analyse flawed conceptions of "success" in mathematics learning, normalised assessment structures and their implications for mathematics education. The established presence of the McNamara Fallacy and the ramifications of this statistical fallacy provide a foundation…

Schools in southern Africa use tourism partnerships as a source for establishing philanthropic funding and philanthropic networks. In these partnerships, there is often an exchange of funds for use of the school for tourism purposes. Little is known about the influence of tourism on schools. Drawing on interviews with teachers and tourism…

A shift in primacy from online participatory cultures to algorithmic cultures invites new questions about literacies in digital contexts. This article contributes to the conceptualisation of literacies in algorithmic cultures through sociomaterial and affect theories. It develops a sociomaterial perspective that proposes felt, observable moments…

School psychology has heavily relied on quantitative methodology to create and sustain our knowledge of best practices regarding academic, behavioral, and mental health outcomes for students. Nevertheless, underlying assumptions of the neutrality of quantitative data have obfuscated how school psychology research has perpetuated oppressive…

The internationalization of higher education, driven by globalization, has developed structural diversity on a global scale. This study examines the theoretical and practical transformations in higher education internationalization since the millennium through a rigorous four-stage selection process guided by six inclusion criteria. Using Nvivo14…

People generally recognize the benefits of responding to failures with self-compassion (i.e., with self-kindness, a sense of common humanity, and mindfulness) rather than self-criticism. In this research, we replicated this effect with passionate students who had all reported that academics was a pursuit that they enjoyed and was important to…

Art educators are adept at using images to communicate and spark dialogues. But what happens when the conversations that are needed in classrooms concern topics that are intentionally silenced or repeated so often that contradictions become invisible? The dilemma of visibility is central when talking to students about Whiteness, which White people…

The authors describe Literary Analysis and Writing, an integrated instructional routine, developed through a formative experiment research project, that prompts students to uncover the deeper meanings of literary texts. The routine weaves together brief preteaching of carefully selected vocabulary words, whole-class assisted reading of text, close…

This article explores how key ideas from the critical theory of Oskar Negt can be utilized to address critiques and further enhance Mezirow's theory of transformative learning. The implications of Negt's work on the dialectical nature of experience are identified. So too are the connections he makes between experience, social structures, and…

In the past years, there has been an intensive discussion on the topic of academic freedom in the university. More precisely, it has been criticized that the university is confronted with a growing intolerance and the request to limit free speech. This contribution takes a case at a German university as point of departure. It shows how the current…