ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. The book focuses on some simple truths about teaching and learning for equity. It focuses on the norms, assumptions and the use of language—including the very words that have loved so dearly such as equity, social justice, achievement, school, learning differences, diversity. A fundamental part of the work is understanding that education discourse has functioned as a cultural tool to maintain hierarchies in social and class relationships, extending well beyond the realm of discourse or ideology. Dominant ideologies and discourse continue to frame individuals and individual identities through language. So, in order to reimagine a totally different future for practice, for how to do schooling, for how to build a more human egalitarian society, one must challenge to hold most dear, including the words, all that aims to define human beings, intellectuals, teachers.
