Postformal Education

This book explains why the current education model, which was developed in the 19th century to meet the needs of industrial expansion, is obsolete. It points to the need for a new approach to education designed to prepare young people for global uncertainty, accelerating change and unprecedented complexity.The book offers a new educational philosophy to awaken the creative, big-picture and long-term thinking that will help equip students to face tomorrow’s challenges. Inside, readers will find a dialogue between adult developmental psychology research on higher stages of reasoning and today’s most evolved education research and practice. This dialogue reveals surprising links between play and wisdom, imagination and ecology, holism and love. The overwhelming issues of global climate crisis, growing economic disparity and the youth mental health epidemic reveal how dramatically the current education model has failed students and educators. This book raises a planet-wide call to deeply question how we actually think and how we must educate. It articulates a postformal education philosophy as a foundation for educational futures.The book will appeal to educators, educational philosophers, pre-service teacher educators, educational and developmental psychologists and educational researchers, including postgraduates with an interest in transformational educational theories designed for the complexity of the 21st century. This is the most compelling book on education I have read for many years. It has major implications for all who are in a position to influence developments in teacher education and educational policy. Gidley is one of the very rare scholars who can write intelligently and accessibly about the past, present and future in education. I was challenged and ultimately convinced by her contention that ‘what masquerades as education today must be seen for what it is – an anachronistic relic of the industrial past’. Gidley’s challenge is to ‘co-evolve’ a radically new education. All who seek to play a part must read this book. Brian J. Caldwell, PhD, Educational Transformations, former Dean of Education at the University of Melbourne and Deputy Chair, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)

In this work, the authors' primary purpose is to clarify the conceptual issues that underlie effective online teaching and to offer practical guidance to educators and corporate trainers who plan to teach in a virtual environment.

This book explores the future of doctoral research and what it means to be involved in all stages of the process, providing international insights into what’s changing, why it’s changing and how to work best with these changes. It looks at the key issues that have been thrown into sharp relief by crises such as world pandemics. Drawing on work from outstanding authors, this book shows the ways in which the doctoral process has altered the supervisor/supervisee model and the challenges that now need to be managed, and demonstrates the importance of aligning all the stakeholders, systems and processes to ensure a successful future for doctoral education. Bringing together a range of perspectives, innovative practices and rigorous research, this book tackles topics such as: how doctoral research changes in keeping with the global expansion and transformation of doctoral education programmes the significant influence funding bodies – be they charities, governments, businesses or non-governmental agencies – can have on doctoral research the extent to which doctoral research penetrates daily life and vice versa how to encourage and embed an ethical approach to research, as well as university responses to external challenges. Uniquely international and bringing together the many stakeholders in the research business, this book is essential reading for all doctoral supervisors, candidates and anyone involved in designing or organising research programmes for early career researchers and doctoral students.

Education, spirituality and creativity help to navigate possible courses of action, in a life marked by commercialization and loss of meaning. Education that promotes knowledge and managing information while neglecting autonomous cognition and creative action can be found everywhere. On the other hand, education, spirituality and creativity are essential for a life led with awareness, empathy and criticism that are reflected upon in the present anthology by authors from Brazil and Europe. They inspire new educational approaches and encourage immersing oneself in undefined and uncertain phenomena.The Editors

In a world gone mad with standardized curricula and the degradation of the profession of teaching, P. L. Thomas and Joe Kincheloe attempt to bring sanity back to the discussion of the teaching of some of the basic features of the educational process. In Reading, Writing, and Thinking: The Postformal Basics the authors take on the “rational irrationality” of current imperial pedagogical practices, providing readers with provocative insights into the bizarre assumptions surrounding the contemporary teaching of reading, writing, and thinking.

This book discusses the educational systems into which students with refugee backgrounds are placed when relocated into many of their new homelands. It discusses the current climate of neo liberalism which pervades schooling in many western countries and the subsequent impact on curriculum focus and teaching strategies. It proposes ways in which these students, who are currently the most vulnerable students in school, can be educated with policies and perspectives which respect the diversity and uniqueness that characterises the world today as the result of the global unrest and subsequent diaspora. The impact of power, politics, people and pedagogies on the prospects of these is investigated and a model for holistic education, which includes the wisdom and care of pedagogical love is discussed as way in which a more human and compassionate approach to education for these and all students of difference can be integrated into school communities despite neo liberal imperatives in education. Research indicates that schools which are spaces of safety and belonging, through leadership of care and empathy, can provide successful educational opportunities for students who have asylum seeker and refugee backgrounds and experiences.

This volume seeks to add a unique perspective on the complex relationship between psychology and politics, focusing on three analytical points of view: 1) psychology, politics, and complex thought, 2) bio/psycho/social factors of masculinity and power, and 3) underlying factors in political behavior. Contributors examine recent political events worldwide through a psychological lens, using interdisciplinary approaches to seek a deeper understanding of contemporary political ideas, psychologies, and behaviors. Finally, the book offers suggestions for surviving and thriving during rapid political change. Among the topics discussed: Biopsychological factors of political beliefs and behaviors Understanding political polarization through a cognitive lens Impact of psychological processes on voter decision making Motivations for believing in conspiracy theories Nonverbal cues in leadership Authoritarian responses to social change The Psychology of Political Behavior in a Time of Change is a timely and insightful volume for students and researchers in psychology, political science, gender studies, business and marketing, and sociology, as well as those working in applied settings: practitioners, government workers, NGOs, corporate organizations.

This book addresses a world-wide audience with reference to a global problem: how the PhD can serve the planet. It examines the role of the PhD, in and of itself, and, as representative of research, the university and evidence-based knowledge, in relation to global crisis and the future of humanity. As such, it speaks to the scholar, the teacher, the policy-maker and the administrator concerned with the role of higher education’s highest award at a time of great global crisis. The approach is critical in that it offers diverse views on these issues and does not seek to privilege one single school of thought. The collected articles span theoretical reflections on key issues through to case-study examples of how PhDs are being deployed and re-thought to address global issues.

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The educational domain provides a platform for social mobility and social change. This book investigates the new National Educational Policy (NEP) to understand how it can bring social justice and transform education in a meaningful way to match the imagination of students from diverse groups. The author discusses matters of emotion and authority in education and argues for the need for educational psychology which takes into account the self-conscious emotions of students and teachers. The book reflects on important topics such as critical pedagogy, dehumanization, power in education through bricolage, legitimacy in education all within the context of critical educational psychology. Through research and observations, it discusses the social-psychological aspect of stereotyping, othering and prejudices in the educational domain. The book will be of interest to students, teachers and researchers working on education, school education, sociology of education, politics of education, and educational psychology. It will also be useful for academicians, educators, policymakers, schoolteachers, and those interested in the politics of education.

As classrooms are becoming more diverse, teachers are now faced with the responsibility of creating an inclusive classroom community. As such, researching classroom pedagogies and practices is an imperative step in curriculum planning. The Handbook of Research on Classroom Diversity and Inclusive Education Practice is an authoritative reference source for the latest scholarly research on ways to effectively teach all students and further refine and strengthen school-wide inclusive pedagogy, methods, and policies. Featuring extensive coverage on a number of topics such as special education, online learning, and English language learners, this publication is ideally designed for professionals, educators, and policy makers seeking current research on methods that ensure all students have equal access to curricular content and the chance for growth and success.

This innovative, much-needed book shares powerful wisdom and practical strategies to help language teachers, teacher educators and peace educators communicate peace, contribute to peace and weave peacebuilding into classrooms and daily life. The clear, six-part Language of Peace Approach underlies more than 50 creative activities that can promote peacebuilding competence in secondary and post-secondary students, current and prospective educators and community members outside of academia. Chapters span the spectrum from cross-cultural peace education to the positive psychology of peace, from nonverbal peace language to transformative language teaching for peace, and from the needs of language learners to the needs of language educators. The book makes a unique and valuable contribution to the discussion of how we can live together peacefully in a changing world.

With its growing recognition in education, the importance of Integral Theory is slowly entering mainstream academia through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. Addressing the theory’s complexity is important for researchers to learn how to apply it in their classrooms and promote a more inclusive educational environment. Integral Theory and Transdisciplinary Action Research in Education provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of the Integral Theory model and its applications within educational contexts. With a diverse array of research problems approached through an inclusive theory framework and featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as graduate student research, inclusion culture, and organizational learning processes, this publication is ideally designed for graduate students, educators, academicians, researchers, scholars, educational administrators, and policymakers seeking current research on the utility and promise of Integral Theory as a meta-framework for methodological pluralism and transdisciplinary research.

Whether it is earning a GED, a particular skill, or technical topic for a career, taking classes of interest, or even returning to begin a degree program or completing it, adult learning encompasses those beyond the traditional university age seeking out education. This type of education could be considered non-traditional as it goes beyond the typical educational path and develops learners that are self-initiated and focused on personal development in the form of gaining some sort of education. Essentially, it is a voluntary choice of learning throughout life for personal and professional development. While there is often a large focus towards K-12 and higher education, it is important that research also focuses on the developing trends, technologies, and techniques for providing adult education along with understanding lifelong learners’ choices, developments, and needs. The Research Anthology on Adult Education and the Development of Lifelong Learners focuses specifically on adult education and the best practices, services, and educational environments and methods for both the teaching and learning of adults. This spans further into the understanding of what it means to be a lifelong learner and how to develop adults who want to voluntarily contribute to their own development by enhancing their education level or knowledge of certain topics. This book is essential for teachers and professors, course instructors, business professionals, school administrators, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the latest advancements in adult education and lifelong learning.

This book marks the centenary of the first Waldorf School, established by Rudolf Steiner in Stuttgart in 1919. With around 1,150 Waldorf Schools and over 1,800 Waldorf Kindergartens established in over 60 countries, this book examines and analyses how the initial impulse of Steiner education has grown over the last century to become a worldwide alternative movement in education. The author documents and compares the growth and development of Waldorf schools and Steiner-inspired educational institutions around the world, and determines the extent to which the original underpinning philosophy has been maintained against the contexts and challenges of contemporary global trends in education. Within such diverse international contexts, it is significant that the schools retain such a distinctive identity, and clearly redefine how ‘alternative education’ can be viewed. This comprehensive volume will be of interest and value to scholars of Steiner education and Waldorf schools as well as alternative education more widely.

This book introduces the educational philosophies of notable African and Asian thinkers who tend to be little recognized in Europe and North America. It offers specific resources for diversification of higher education curricula. The book expands the philosophy of education, in clear language, to include ideas of major non-western educational thinkers who are little discussed in previous publications. It includes critical analysis of non-western concepts and consideration of their relevance to schools worldwide. The book features discussions of how the work of Tagore and postcolonial thinkers offers diverse visions that increasingly inspire a decolonizing approach to education. This book offers a unique emphasis on how a decolonized philosophy of education can especially enable a rethinking of approaches to education in arts and humanities subjects.