ABSTRACT

Educational Dilemmas uses cultural psychology to explore the challenges, contradictions and tensions that occur during the process of education, with consideration of the effect these have at both the individual and the collective level. It argues that the focus on issues in learning overlooks a fundamental characteristic of education: that the process of educating is simultaneously both constructive and disruptive.

Drawing on research from Europe, America and Asia, chapters in this volume present and analyse different experiences of the tension between disruption and construction in the process of education. Situating educational discontent within the wider context, the book demonstrates how this issue can be exacerbated by the tension between the commodification and democratisation of educational systems. This book demonstrates that these issues permeate all levels of education and, as a result, emphasises how vital it is that educational discontent is considered from a new perspective.

Educational Dilemmas is essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of psychology and education. It should also be of great interest to school psychologists, teachers and therapists.

chapter |21 pages

Introduction

The inherent ambivalence of educational trajectories and the zone of proximal development with reduced potential

chapter 4|22 pages

Mental health 101

Interpreting emotional distress for Canadian postsecondary students 1

chapter 7|13 pages

In deep water

University students’ challenges in the processes of self-formation, survival or flight

chapter 9|25 pages

“I see stress in many places around me, but as such, I’m over it”

Understanding psycho-cultural dimensions of university students’ experiences

chapter |3 pages

Afterword on educational dilemmas