ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the epistemic and pedagogic dimensions of education in a democracy. Focusing on the relationship between democracy, citizenship, and identity formation, it presents objections to liberal citizenship and its ideological commitments to individualism, independence, and rationality and offers an alternative radical theory of democracy and democratic citizenship. The book offers a reclassification of educational approaches to teaching democracy centred on the distinction between education for democracy and democratic education. It provides an overview of the theory and practice of the philosophy for children approach to education, including an examination of the inter-relationship between its curriculum and pedagogy of the community of inquiry. The book examines the relationship between pedagogy, epistemology, and inquiry. It argues that education aimed at social reconstruction needs to reject both the theory/practice and human/nature dualisms.
