Re-imagining Education for Democracy

Stewart Riddle, Michael W. Apple

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780367197100
• eBook ISBN: 9781000006926
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Contemporary education research, policy and practice are complex and challenging. The political struggle over what constitutes curriculum and pedagogy is framed by quasi-markets and technocratic models of education. This has had a significant effect on larger issues of policy. But it has also had profound effects inside educational sites in terms of the economics and politics of what is and is not considered 'legitimate' knowledge, over what should be taught, how it should be taught, and by whom.

Re-imagining Education for Democracy takes up the unfinished project of resisting the de-democratisation of education and growing levels of social and educational inequality. Where are the spaces for change and articulating hopeful alternatives? How might we imagine and produce different futures? What are the opportunities for affirmative interference, and how could we produce a more sustainable re-imagining and re-doing of the critical project of education?

The work is framed within two complementary sections: the first addresses some key policy, political and philosophical concerns of contemporary educational contexts, while the second provides a series of empirical case studies and other local–global narratives of resisting and reframing dominant discourses in education around the world. The chapters provide a range of empirical, methodological and conceptual focuses, from different educational communities and international contexts, engaging with the proposition of re-imagining education for democracy in multiple and diverse ways. This book will be essential reading for researchers and students of education research, policy and practice.

1

EDUCATION AND DEMOCRACY IN DANGEROUS TIMES

Stewart Riddle and Michael W. Apple

There is little doubt that we have reached a point in the global milieu the multiple collapsing systems that upheld much of the previous century are beginning to be felt in profound ways. Capitalism, long lauded as the means for creating lasting economic prosperity and raising the working class up to a massified consumer class, has been rupturing through multiple financial collapses and the complete runaway corporate terrorism of the past decades. Liberalism, the ideological mainstay of Western democracies, is rapidly being replaced by hyper-evangelical, neo-conservative and populist movements that are built on platforms of hate, segregation and fear of the Other. All over the world, there is a tilt to fascist, racist and misogynist forms of tyranny and oppression. This is to say nothing of the collapsing environmental ecosystems, on which our very existence depends. We are living in dangerous times.

In this book, we seek to consider the importance of education and sustainable democracy in a time of dangerous uncertainty. By engaging with multiple perspectives on participatory democracy and education, we hope to more fully understand the principles of a sustainable and collective commitment to civic virtue through education. What does it mean for democracy in a time of enormous global uncertainty and challenge, when the structures that have upheld the story of Western liberal democracies—capitalism, (neo)liberalism, and democracy—are either straining or completely coming apart? The rise of neo-fascism and increasing global tensions require us to consider how we might better inoculate societies from the social diseases of war, inequality, and potential social collapse.

All over the globe, economic, political and social inequality is on the rise. There is an increasing division between all levels of society and across different groups, which is manifested in the rise of the ‘alt-right’ in places like the United States, the backlash politics of Brexit in the UK, the expanding support for retrogressive politics in Brazil and other nations in Latin America, as well as the growing current of fascist and anti-immigration politics in Europe and elsewhere. It seems that nowhere is immune from the rising tide of antidemocratic social disorder, which brings with it extraordinary challenges for young people who are also concerned with the effects of climate change, rapidly advancing technological change, employment precarity, in addition to the growing social inequality and division.

While democracy might be an old idea, it is currently in a state of profound crisis. In his classic 1954 essay, Mass Society and Liberal Education, C. W. Mills (2008) describes truth, justice and open dialogue in Western liberal democracy as a fairy tale, arguing that the desired community of ‘publics’ has been replaced by ‘mass society’, mediated by mass consumerism, market logic and corporate messaging. Taking up a similar vein, Rancière (2006) suggests that the prevailing public construct is one of massified individualism—a toxic blend of hyper-Capitalism, self-interest and disconnection from civic participation. In The Struggle for Democracy in Education, Apple argues:

In essence, there is an ongoing contest over different versions of ‘democracy.’ ‘Thick’ understandings of democracy that seek to provide full collective participation in the search for the common good and the creation of critical citizens are up against ‘thin’ market-oriented versions of consumer choice, possessive individualism, and an education that is valued largely as a tool for meeting a set of limited economic needs as defined by the powerful.

(Apple et al., 2018, pp. 4–5)

In Hatred of Democracy, Rancière (2006) argues that we do not have democracy in contemporary times, but rather we have a system of politics and economics that operates at the level of society. Rancière suggests that instead of at the societal level, democracy is to be found in the encounters between individuals, in the moment where one person’s will and intelligence meet another’s and through that encounter, equality comes into existence. This is where education, and particularly formal sites such as schools and universities, become important in the struggle against hegemonic political and social discourses, given that education at its most fundamental is about encounters between the wills and intelligences of different individuals—operating as a kind of micro-society, where people come into constant contact with each other and negotiate civic virtues through either more democratic or authoritarian ways.

Here, neither Rancière nor we are referring to the neoliberal understanding of the individual self as consumer. Nor are we supporting a vision of what has been called the ‘possessive individual’ that has been a core product of modern capitalist societies. Under such a position an individual is conceived as the sole proprietor of his or her skills and owes nothing to society for them (Macpherson, 1965). Rather, we are supporting a vision of participatory democracy as based in daily practices in all parts of our lives as we interact with other individuals to create a more responsive and equal ‘we’. The thick democracy of daily life then becomes the firmament upon which a more equal polity is ongoingly and collectively formed and experienced in all our institutions, including education.

Roosevelt is said to have declared education as the safeguard of democracy. We suggest that it is much more. Education should be for a democracy that offers possibilities for radical collective transformation, the re-imagining of societies and the reconstruction of institutions, including education, in the interests of those who are currently least advantaged. There is a very long history of the struggle to build and defend an education that assists in the creation of such a concern for what is best thought of as thick democracy (see Apple, 2013; Au, Brown & Calderon, 2016; Warmington, 2014). Yet, the issues are even more pressing today. There is an additional problem in education’s response to the challenges of democracy in contemporary times, since in all too many nations of the world, democracy is increasingly viewed as a dangerous concept and an even more dangerous practice. This book aims to address the question of what democracy for education might look like, as well as better understanding how schools, universities and other sites of formal learning, might offer possibilities for a more radical participatory democracy. The principle of a sustainable and collective commitment to civic virtue through education is perhaps more critically important than ever before.

It can be supposed that a Hegelian dialectic might offer little in terms of a productive response to these crises. A more dialogic response is required, where plurality and difference are emphasised as a productive counter to the massified and stratified political, economic and social structures of contemporary capitalist societies. Therefore, we have assembled a collection of essays that do not share an easily defined set of central principles or guiding forces, beyond an engagement with the proposition of re-imagining education for democracy. The choice of the preposition ‘for’ is quite deliberate, as we would suggest that much engagement with the problem of democracy is one that is ‘of’ education; that is, arising from the various curricular, pedagogical, institutional, political, moral, and social dimensions of schools, colleges, and other formal sites of learning.

The struggle for reclaiming education as a site of potentially radical transformative praxis and critical civic participation is by no means a new one. It has been the focus of decades of scholarly work and activism by progressive educators (see, for example, Apple & Beane, 2007). But perhaps it is less a question of whether education can change society (Apple, 2013) and more, whether the changes are of a kind that we could accept. Take the perfect storm of neoconservative, neoliberal, and religious right influence on schooling in the United States (Apple, 2006). There can be little doubt that forces are at work on changing society through changing education.

The political struggle over what constitutes curriculum and pedagogy is framed by quasi-markets and technocratic models of education, where issues of equity, access, fairness and social justice are replaced by an increasing emphasis on standardised testing, teacher quality and comparisons of school performance. This has had a significant effect on larger issues of policy. But it has also had profound effects inside educational sites in terms of the economics and politics of what is and is not considered ‘legitimate’ knowledge, over what should be taught, how it should be taught, and by whom—and over who should be involved in these decisions.

To more fully understand this situation, it is crucial to understand the social realities of schooling. What is happening today makes these issues even more significant. Although it is not the only force that is present, in all too many nations neoliberalism and its attendant policy initiatives are changing our common sense not only about the politics of the larger society, but profoundly about education itself. Such things as audit cultures, performance pay, never ending competition, privatisation, attacks on teachers and teacher unions, raising standards while reducing support for public schools, a climate of white supremacy and anti-immigrant mobilisations, a culturally restorative project to reinstall what is assumed to be high-status knowledge in schools, a reduction of what is seen as crucial knowledge to only that which serves the economic interests of dominant groups, the defunding of the arts, and similar ‘reforms’ are increasingly transforming what counts as a good school, a good teacher, a good curriculum, a good parent and a good student, a good community, legitimate culture, important evidence, and so on (Apple, 2006; see also Ball, 2012; Lynch, Grummell & Devine, 2012). Education has once again become a site of crucial struggles over authority and identity, indeed over both the very meaning of being educated and who should control it.

Yet, and this is critical to remember, at the same time all of these dynamics have opened up possibilities and spaces in multiple arenas for speaking and acting back. In nearly every nation and region represented in this book and in so many places throughout the world, committed educators singly and collectively with others are speaking back and acting against dominant tendencies (e.g. see Ferman, 2017; Laes, 2017).

One example of speaking and acting back occurred in November 2017, when nearly two hundred researchers, educators and policy-makers attended a three-day research event at the University of Southern Queensland in Springfield Central, Australia. The event was the ‘Re-imagining Education for Democracy Summit’ and included keynote presentations from Michael W. Apple, Pat Thomson, Anna Yeatman, Anne Aly and Bob Lingard, alongside 80 symposia, workshops, research papers and seminars. The underlying motivation for the summit was to bring together people who shared a concern for the increasing marketisation and corporatisation of education, as well as a commitment to the project of democratising education. The conversation ranged far and wide, and while there was no direct outcome of the event such as a manifesto or statement of commitment, there have been multiple collaborative projects arising since that have taken their cue from the summit. This book is one such project.

In this edited collection, we encouraged authors to consider how their scholarly work takes up an aspect of the unfinished project of resisting the de-democratisation of education and resists the growing levels of social and educational inequality in contemporary education contexts. We asked them to consider spaces for change and articulating hopeful alternatives, as well as imagining and producing different, more democratic futures. We asked, what are the opportunities for affirmative interference and how could we produce a more sustainable re-imagining and re-doing of the critical project of education? As such, contributions to this book provide a range of approaches to educational theory, policy and practice that offer critically democratic alternatives. Rather than simply accepting schools, universities and other sites of formal and informal education to simply be reflections of economically and socially dominant groups, contributing authors offer different narratives of resistance and hope.

This book has several contributions from scholars working in different educational contexts and communities around the world. Unsurprisingly, there is a leaning towards antipodean scholarship in this volume, given that the impetus for its formation came from that Re-imagining Education for Democracy Summit, held in Queensland, Australia. The book is in two complementary sections: Part I addresses some key policy, political and philosophical concerns of contemporary educational contexts, whereas Part II provides a series of empirical case studies and other local-global narratives of resisting and reframing dominant discourses in education around the world. Contributing authors from Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Sweden, Thailand, the United States of America and the United Kingdom provide international and comparative perspectives on how education might be re-imagined for democracy in multiple ways.

Stich and Cipollone (Chapter 2) explore the concept of shadow capital and its relation to democratisation, which gives the appearance of extending cultural capital to marginalised groups, while lacking any real function or effects. They argue that attempts to democratise public schooling can result in unintended outcomes, including further legitimating existing inequalities. Instead, they suggest that democratisation should be uncoupled with dominant forms of cultural capital, reclaiming pluralism and connectedness in more localised attempts to democratise schooling.

In Chapter 3, Rowe and Gerrard work with Mouffe’s agonistic concept of politics to consider implications for the democratic right of peaceful assembly through the rise of the social movements. They argue for the possibility of more inclusive and equitable educational practices arising from a commitment to the relationality of teachers and students as political actors. In doing so, agonistic democracy might offer a counterbalance to the limitations of a logic of rational consensus.

Examining the relationship between data-driven regimes and accountability practices in schools, Spina, Harris, Carrington and Ainscow (Chapter 4) argue for more ethical leadership in how such practices inform the work and lives of teachers and students. They suggest that educators working with more collective and critical modes of inquiry and reflection can resist the marketisation and proletariatisation of their work.

In Chapter 5, Zipin and Brennan consider the potential for realising a more pragmatic-radical democracy through curriculum projects, where students investigate projects of importance to them and work as co-researchers in inquiry rather than passive recipients of knowledge. They argue for engaging with young people’s funds of knowledge in collaborative and dialogic ways, as part of a larger commitment to robust democratic practice through curriculum inquiry.

In Chapter 6, Bellingham, Thomas, Charman, Dixon and Cooper consider the potential for increasing educational consciousness through public pedagogy. Sharing the case study of one project that sought to deeply engage learning within place and community, they argue for a broader democratisation of education through attending to situated and collective public knowledge as curriculum.

Foregrounding teachers’ iterative, projective and practical-evaluative agency, Alford, Sch...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• List of contributors
• 1. Education and democracy in dangerous times
• PART I: Contemporary education contexts and the challenges for democracy
• PART II: Local–global narratives of resisting and reframing education
• Index