This study investigates the emergence and supply-demand dynamics of a market for low-fee private schools (LFPS) at the level of early childhood care and education (ECCE) in a slum of Lusaka, Zambia. Based on data collection over 1.5 years, the study reveals that, despite a government policy to support ECCE, over 90% of ECCE centers are private;…

This article unpacks and critiques the scholarship of Elizabeth Rata on the politics of knowledge in education. Rata represents a widespread, though covert, influence within the global academy of an imperialist form of philosophical universalisn, which has particular significance for Aotearoa New Zealand due to her vocal opposition to Kaupapa…

A textbook activity on symbols was intended as thought provoking but instead elicited a confrontational reaction by one student which left Dr. Jackson and the university searching for a response. When the topic spread through the channels within the university, matters got worse. This disguised case examines the lesson, conflict, and aftermath…

In this article we consider historical and contemporary ideologies of childhood in China and critically examine notions of 'child' and 'childhood' in Chinese children's literature. We analyse the themes and knowledge that relate to relevant historical and contemporary political events and policies, and how these contribute to the production of…

On the whole, futurists usually suffer badly. Unforeseen challenges, new political realities, technological breakthroughs, and cultural patterns shape futures as well as markets. As one realist once said, "real life happens in-between plans." I suspect the future reality lies somewhere in between these two possible pathways. The larger…

This paper analyses how the discursive construction, valuation and subjective experience of human capital is evolving in parallel with crises of capital as a world-system. Ideology critique provides tools for analysing policy 'fictions' that aim to sustain investment in human capital through education. Foucauldian analytical tools enable analysis…

An African American community and an all-White school board struggled along racial lines over re-naming an elementary school. In opposition to the name change, the school district enforced its school naming policy via a race-neutral approach in practice. The study chronicles an African American community's successful political actions in…

Through sustained ethnographic field work that inquired into youth participatory action researchers' political identity development, I identified a politicized discourse engaged by youth during their early stages of action research that I have termed Black resilience neoliberalism (BRN). This study explicates BRN theory, tracing its connection to…

In this article we offer a broad historical overview of how the "Malvinas cause" has been taught in Argentine schools over the years. It is divided into four parts: first, we focus on the period prior to the 1982 armed conflict in order to analyse how the issue had traditionally been conceptualised and thus, offer a reflection on the…

This article begins with an account of an improvised classroom in a refugee camp. From this account, and building on Heidegger's' analysis of spatiality, two fundamental characteristics are identified as: first, that classrooms are 'sanctioned-off' from the world, and secondly, that educational situations involve attention to the world. Arendt's…

This policy study traces the history of school finance in Colorado over four and a half decades and describes how the available levers of direct democracy in the state have led to a seemingly insurmountable political logjam that is restricting budgets for all essential government services. Precollegiate education is particularly affected as…

An international consensus seems to have developed in educational research--and among educational planners and policymakers--during the last 10-15 years proclaiming that learning is, and must be, a visible phenomenon. This paper questions this predominant view and serves an assemblage of points offering educational scientists at least four…

Despite decades of equity- and inclusion-oriented discourse and reform in mathematics education, Black learners in the U.S. continue to experience dehumanizing and violent forms of mathematics education. I suggest that equity for Black learners in mathematics education is a delusion rooted in the fictions of white imaginaries, contingent on…

In November 2011, a coalition of New York City (NYC) education organizers and advocacy groups launched the PS2013 campaign to place public education at the center of the 2013 mayoral race. Activists developed a complex and situated communications strategy to influence a new space of political engagement, namely mayoral elections. This article is…

In this article, I report findings from an investigation into the politics and coordination of school fundraising in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Theoretically grounded in institutional ethnography and critical policy analysis, the study began from the standpoint of parents asked to give money to their…