ABSTRACT

This book explores democratic possibilities for education after the critique of the impact of neo-liberalism on educational policy and practice. Together, the authors investigate the contours of a ‘new publicness’ of education.

This edited volume refers to well-established critiques that expose how neoliberal governance has normalised the privatisation of public life and undermined the public nature of education. Through historical reconstruction, theoretical exploration, and analyses of educational policies and practices, chapters take a novel approach by investigating democratic possibilities within and beyond the current neoliberal hegemony in education. Covering a range of educational settings – from early childhood education through to higher and professional education – chapters spotlight the Irish educational and political context, as well as exploring international implications.

Ultimately, this book opens up new avenues for discussion around public education and its future, and will therefore be of great interest to researchers and students in the fields of educational theory, education politics, educational policy and democratic education.

chapter 1|7 pages

Introduction

The publicness of education

chapter 2|18 pages

The ‘publicness’ of primary education in Ireland

Tracing its historical lineage

chapter 3|13 pages

The forgotten language of public education

From Hope to Equality

chapter 4|16 pages

Curriculum

The great public project

chapter 8|12 pages

New modes of marginalisation

Teachers' ways of knowing themselves

chapter 9|20 pages

‘Among Others’

Reinventing initial professional education with student teachers and youth workers

chapter 10|16 pages

Public parents

Reclaiming publicness of education in the new tyrannies

chapter 12|12 pages

Expanding the publicness of education

Worlding the world in a time of climate emergency

chapter 13|5 pages

Conclusions

The new publicness of education