Critical teacher education for economic, environmental and social justice: An ecosocialist manifesto (original) (raw)
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Critical Teacher Education for Economic, Environmental and Social Justice JCEPS16(3)
Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 2019
t In this paper we set out proposals that constitute a democratic Marxist manifesto for teacher education for economic, environmental and social justice. In doing so, we of course recognise structural limitations on progressive action but also that teacher agency is shaped and not erased by these. We therefore sketch the strategic shape a transformative UK teacher education might take in resistance to attacks on workers from longstanding neoliberal hegemony and, more recently, from so-called ‘austerity’. Keywords: Teacher Education; Social Class; Marxist; Eco-Socialist; Economic Justice; Environmental Justice; Social Justice
Ecosocialism, Radical Pedagogies and Everyday Academy with Capitalism Nature Socialism
This special edition proposal predicates a discussion on pedagogical experiments that rest on ecosocialist principles. As an offshoot of political ecology, ecosocialist potential has rarely been analyzed or taken seriously by political philosophers, social thinkers or even natural scientists. Similarly ecosocialist trends to teaching are seldom mentioned in texts on libertarian educational theory and definitely not in mainstream institutionalized curricula or practice. Therefore, over the course of these articles, we elaborate upon the ecosocialist vision that prefigures a collective co-existence of selfliberated people outside of any hierarchical gender-class-race differences 1 (Kovel 2002) established on anarcha-communist principles (Engel-DiMauro 2012) and how such holistic trends could revolutionize higher education environmental and social justice pedagogies.
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The three of us have been passionate about having a special edition of CNS devoted to pedagogies that were attuned to history, power and politics. We wanted to explore pedagogies with ecosocialist potential that followed a multidisciplinary and intersectional approach that are rarely analyzed or taken seriously by political or social thinkers or even natural scientists. That is despite the fact that nearly all of those who engage in research and academic work spend some of their time teaching, or have done so at some point in their career.
Ecocrtical Scholarship toward Social Justice and Sustainability in Teacher Education
Issues in Teacher Education, 2018
Teaching in our current moment in history is a challenging task. While teachers may ostensibly focus on one designated subject or content area, they can find themselves struggling to help students grapple with, and respond to, the complex and interrelated problems facing society and the world. However, exciting work is being done to help teachers do just this—to courageously confront and critically and creatively examine the injustices of violence and destruction that are increasingly sanctioned all around us. Furthermore, this kind of work is being done with a fierce commitment to the possibilities that PreK-12 and higher education classrooms can be places of such transformation. This special issue of Issues in Teacher Education provides highlights from diverse scholars working at the intersections of social justice and sustainabil-
Toward an Anti-Capitalist Teacher Education
Journal of Educational Thought, 2013
This paper outlines the culpability of teacher education in perpetuating the neoliberal turn in education and addresses what must be done to reverse course and carve out a teacher education that is wholly committed to combating the disastrous effects of capitalist exploitation on both teachers and students. After an examination of neoliberal educational policy at both the national and global level, the author moves to teacher education to identify elements of teacher education that are currently supporting the neoliberal educational agenda. Finally, the author identifies a new vision and aim for teacher education that places a critique of capitalism at the center of teacher training as we work collectively to combat oppression, in all of its forms, and to ground the work of all teachers in an anti-oppressive (Kumashiro, 2009) pedagogy that includes anti-capitalism as a fundamental aim for all teachers and classrooms. Cet article montre que l'éducation rend les maîtres fautifs de favoriser un mouvement néo-libéral dans la politique de leur enseignement. On aborde dans cet article les mesures à prendre pour faire marche-arrière et ainsi refaçonner l'éducation des maîtres qui doit être entièrement consacrée à combattre les effets catastrophiques de l'exploitation capitaliste, que ce soit chez les enseignants ou chez les élèves. Après avoir analysé la politique néo-libérale dans l'enseignement sur un plan national (Etats-Unis) comme sur un plan international, l'auteur essaie de déterminer les éléments de l'éducation des maîtres qui, aujourd'hui, soutiennent le programme néo-libéral dans leur enseignement. Dans la dernière partie, l'auteur définit des nouveaux but et vision pour la formation des professeurs d'école avec, comme point central, une critique du capitalisme puisque nous menons tous la même action ; celle de combattre l'oppression sous toutes ses formes et de faire le travail en amont afin que tous les maîtres appliquent une pédagogie anti-oppressive (Kumashiro, 2009) avec l'anticapitalisme comme aboutissement fondamental pour tous les maîtres et dans tous leurs cours.
Education Beyond Capitalist Discipline
This is a draft of a paper published in an online publication "Green Theory and Praxis," sometime in 2009, which was later lost when GT&P was hacked. It offers a brief history of schooling for capitalist discipline and an overview of the practices of schooling for capitalist discipline before proceeding to a proposed model of schooling for ecological discipline as developed through progressive education (Dewey) and revolutionary critical pedagogy (McLaren).
Neoliberalism and Justice in Education for Sustainable Development: A call for inclusive pluralism
2016
Commonly conceived, sustainable development is concerned with social and economic equity and maintenance of ecological stability for future generations. The Brundtland Report addresses the ethical principles of intragenerational and intergenerational equity as fundamental pillars of sustainable development. This equity is often defined in economic terms, involving fair distribution of natural resources, and in practice dependent on the workings of a neoliberal market economy. Simultaneously, it is assumed that democratic learning enables students to be critically rational and ethical agents able to make informed choices in regard to sustainability challenges. This article questions whether the benefits of sustainable development should be meant for humans only, and whether concern for environmental sustainability should be limited to the environment's ability to accommodate social and economic equity. It is argued that the dominant form of pluralism employed within education is essentially anthropocentric, prioritizing social justice over interests of more-than-humans. This article will argue for a bolder move in the direction of inclusive pluralism through eco-representation and reinstatement of education for nature.
Ecocritical contestations with neoliberalism: Teaching to (un)learn " normalcy "
This article seeks to address often overlooked cultural assumptions embedded within neoliber-alism; specifically, the researchers explore what ecofeminist Val Plumwood describes as centric thinking, leading to a logic of domination. The authors argue that social justice educators and activists who are committed to critiquing neoliberalism must take into consideration the ways in which a logic of domination undergirds the unjust and destructive social and economic ideologies and policies that constitute neoliberalism. The authors examine and share pedagogical moments from experiences in teacher education seeking to: (a) challenge and disrupt dualistic thinking; (b) interrupt perceptions of hegemonic normalcy—referring to a socio-cultural process by which actions, behaviors, and diverse ways of interpreting the world are perceived by dominant society as " fitting in " and being socially acceptable; and, (c) contest false notions of independence—the degree to which an individual is perceived as able to meet their social and economic responsibilities on their own—as measures of success in schools and society. The authors detail how they work with(in) teacher education programs to introduce how an ecocritical approach, drawing from ecofeminist frameworks, identifies and examines the impacts of neoliberal policies and practices dominated by " free " market ideology. The authors assert that educators, especially teacher educators, can challenge harmful discourses that support the problematic neoliberal understandings about independence that inform Western cultural norms and assumptions. Concluding, the authors share a conceptualization for (un)learning the exploitation inextricable from the policies and practices of neoliberalism.
Environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD) researchers and practitioners offer a well-founded critique of authoritarian tendencies and the threat of student indoctrination into neoliberalist values. Neoliberalism advocates economic growth through open markets and tends to ignore sustainability imperatives. Some researchers are also wary of any type of advocacy in education for the fear of indoctrination, warning against using education as a tool for behavioral change, regulated according to predetermined guidelines. This article supports the critics’ caution against neoliberalism, which privileges economic development and tends to ignore other concerns. This article addresses the question of how could educators create meaningful EE/ESD programs within or as an alternative to neoliberalism and discuss larger societal implications of transition to more progressive models. It is proposed that educational practice can be more effectively utilized in order to address unsustainable practices, by engaging with the most effective modes of sustainability and particularly important, critically reflecting upon realistic possibilities of decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation. It will be argued that we need a more focused EE/ESD that takes as its basis our common future on the planet of finite resources that necessarily need to engage more ‘radical’ perspectives.
Teacher Education and Resistance within the Neoliberal Regime Making the Necessary Possible
Teacher Education and Resistance within the Neoliberal Regime , 2014
The neoliberal assault on public education impacts children, schools, and teachers at every level, often in explicitly devastating ways. From school closings, to teacher fi rings, high-stakes testing, high-control charters and the school-to-prison pipeline, teachers, students, and parents experience the violence of this assault each day. It can be diffi cult, if not sometimes impossible, to fi nd our way toward not only resisting the attack but also toward claiming a space and vision for the public schools we want. These same "no excuses" reforms that are crippling K-12 public education have come to teacher education. Fast-track programs, with excessive regulation on the one hand, deregulated alternative certifi cation programs on the other, and surveillance through hyperaccount-ability, not only threaten the space we have but distract us from critical refl ec-tion and the development of teacher education as liberatory practice. In this essay we name the practices and policies that are undermining teacher education and look to imagine how our resistance can be part of the enactment of radical teacher education. Resisting the neoliberal assault on education requires a social movement. It requires teachers and teacher educators who have both political consciousness and the will to act. Teacher educators must not only name the dangerous impact of neoliberal policies but reveal how they work to distract us from essential questions of economic and racial justice and of our participation in creating more just and democratic communities. We must redefi ne what counts as educational justice to include anti-poverty social reform such as universal health care, job creation, and higher wages (Anyon, 2005) and align our practice with this broader, more contex-tualized understanding. This means preparing new teachers not only for the classroom but also for community engagement and activism. In this way, the enactment of critical social justice teacher education is part of the struggle for social context reform (SCR).