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Recent studies claimed that the absence of a paradigm is a challenge to developing education for sustainable development and soft skills competencies. This integrative study examines stimulating these transferable and transversal competencies through constructivist approaches to teaching from the cognitive, social, radical, and critical perspectives. The study argues that the use of constructivist approaches to teaching can contribute to the achievement of education for sustainable development and soft skills competencies through the delegation of power from teachers/lecturers to students. This, in active and interactive classrooms, empowers students and builds their confidence to develop on the personal, academic, and professional levels. The use of the cognitive constructivist approach assists in developing competencies based on a clear understanding of the cognitive structures of students in a vibrant classroom environment. The use of the social constructivist approach assists in constructing individualized learning environment based on predetermined zones of proximal development in sociocultural contexts. The radical and critical constructivist approaches to teaching, through the rejection of conventional epistemologies, allow students the freedom to creatively address issues related to environmental, economic, and social sustainability. This becomes effective through the fostering of self and social awareness, challenging existing ideas, and provoking innovative thoughts that are necessary to shape a sustainable future.

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are faced with managing how to respond to student disclosures of grief in the classroom but often lack grief training from their universities when these instances occur. Good and Mad grief, and Critical Grief Pedagogy (CGP) are the frameworks for which this study is positioned. Through interviews with GTAs in the United States, we explore their experiences when engaging with student grief disclosures and revealed three main themes: "regulations and boundaries, transactional exchanges in institutions," and "the classroom being a human space." We also discuss how GTAs use CGP to manage these interactions. We further suggest that GTA training should include CGP to help prepare future instructors for student grief and welcome grief into the classroom.

This paper uses critical policy analysis to investigate how the concept of equity has been co-opted to promote a neoliberal agenda in education reforms in Manitoba. Early provincial reform documents contained a narrow definition of equity focused primarily on closing achievement gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. These reform documents were rejected by the public, in part due to concerns about equity. The Manitoba Education Action Plan was introduced in 2022, which more explicitly focused on achieving equity as part of the education reform process. However, the framing of equity in the Action Plan was narrow, emphasizing individualism rather than a more systemic pursuit of equity. While some recommended actions in the Action Plan have promoted a more inclusive and culturally responsive education system, other actions have advanced a neoliberal agenda focused on work-readiness and accountability, while actions to remove barriers to education have been undertaken with limited urgency.

The most important skill in modern education is critical thinking and its necessary elements are agencies and voices which are force, ability, or power to make decisions or changes. Despite numerous efforts to increase Thai students' critical thinking skills, their ability to construct social and academic arguments is still far too weak. In addition, while these efforts mainly focus on students' critical thinking skills, little attention has been given to other education stakeholders such as education, institutions, schools, and teachers which potentially provide room for teachers and students to be critical. In this study, we investigated the ideological indexation of education stakeholders in a series of Thai educational policies (TEPs) years 2016-2018 from the Ministry of Education, Thailand. In TEPs, we utilized the corpus linguistic frequency function to locate the possible stakeholders and applied the framework of syntactic corpus analysis for agency identification (FO-SCAAI) to lexically elicit their agencies and voices which are important elements in modern education. The findings revealed an understanding of the representation of varying degrees of education stakeholders' agencies in TEPs. The implications of this study will lead to the realization that education stakeholders lack agencies and voices. We hope that upon realizing their lack of agency, the involved parties will make changes by providing more agencies to education stakeholders through modern education in Thai education policies.

The use of commercial digital platforms in public schools like Google and Microsoft, which was exacerbated during the pandemic, requires analysis to encourage a safer and more appropriate educational use. The research objective behind this article was to analyse the concerns of school students in obligatory primary and secondary education in public schools within the Autonomous Region of Catalonia (Spain) together with the opinions of their families regarding the use of digital platforms offered by large technology companies (BigTech) in schools. This is a mixed design study, consisting of eight discussion groups with pupils (n = 56) and a questionnaire issued to 2,330 family members. The results show that both students and families are concerned about the lack of knowledge surrounding the data they generate when using these digital platforms, and their effect on democratic school governance and the reproduction of gender stereotypes. In conclusion, the study suggests it is necessary to create greater critical awareness among children, adolescents and families at all socio-economic levels, particularly in those who are most vulnerable.

A hyper-standardized and alarmist educational climate in the U.S. propagates deficit discourses about students and creates a roadblock for teachers seeking to center their students' lives through critical and multicultural pedagogies. Scholars have called for attention to mapping as a pedagogical tool to unearth and push back against sociospatial injustice. In line with this, I offer the tool of "critical geospatial mapping" and provide two examples of how its application allowed preservice and in-service teachers to see the previously unseen strengths and resiliencies of historically-marginalized and multicultural communities. This allowed them to critique and reframe deficit narratives.

This study explores the identities of Korean American college students through identity journey maps during a faculty-led study abroad program in Korea. Drawing from Asian Critical theory (AsianCrit), this study presents how participants of Korean descent challenged a monolithic and unitary notion of Korean American identity while acknowledging the multifaceted, dynamic, and fluid nature of their transnational identity. Furthermore, it suggests that identity journey maps can serve as a pedagogical tool to counter racial stereotypes and discrimination against Asian Americans.

This systematic review aimed to provide a comprehensive view of critical pedagogy-informed collaborative professional development practices in English language teaching. Using four databases and relevant keywords, we found 67 studies conducted in Asia, South/Central/North America, Europe, Australia, and the Gulf countries and systematically analyzed them. Results show that critical collaborative practices enabled teachers to develop a critical stance, implement pedagogically critical actions, and initiate social change regarding social awareness and power distribution. However, these changes, visible in teachers' pedagogical practices, have not expanded onto a macro-social level. Implications for language teacher development program planners and policymakers are discussed.

Purpose: This study considers the pedagogical dimensions of an event concept ]that combined participatory theatre and social scientific research to approach questions relating to ethnic relations and racism. The article aims to establish, with the help of a practical case example, the notion of public social pedagogy. Approach: Ethnographic research on 24 participatory theatrical events. The analysis utilizes the taxonomy of public pedagogy by Gert Biesta to provide an empirically informed theoretical 'autopsy' of the events. Findings: The analysis shows the pedagogical and societal importance of fostering encounters, encouraging communal discussion and nurturing dialogic competencies. "Public social pedagogy" would specifically address pedagogical processes relating to the public sphere, which revives the tradition of public deliberation. Practical implications: The study directs attention to pedagogical processes within the public sphere which have not been very prominent in social pedagogy or citizenship education. The autopsy of the participatory theatrical events provides perspectives for similar artistic interventions.

Background: Given that K-12 schools necessitate leaders who can advance equity and justice, preparation programs in higher education institutions have prioritized the development of equity-oriented school leaders. However, there has been relatively limited exploration of pedagogical approaches that equip educational leaders to navigate adverse emotional responses and utilize their discomforting emotions as a source of transformation toward equity-oriented principles. When negative emotions are suppressed and/or unexplored within leadership development programs, adult learners will likely miss crucial opportunities for personal growth and transformative change. Purpose: This theoretical article aims to enhance and expand existing scholarship on the pedagogies of emotional discomfort by developing a conceptual-pedagogical framework for preparing equity-driven school leaders. Conceptual Model: We explore the role of emotions in/as learning, drawing insights from the learning science literature, and analyze empirical studies in leadership education to unravel how and why discomforting emotions are triggered and operationalized when learning about racism and inequities. We present a framework, the pedagogy of discomfort toward critical hope, drawing on scholarly work bridging emotional discomfort and critical pedagogy, and exemplified by various examples of pedagogies of discomfort. Building on this foundation, we introduce an emotional scaffolding design centered around three concepts: generating discomfort to make oppression and privilege visible, guided emotion participation for engaging critical reflection and dialogue, and appraising emotions with metacognitive and meta-affect tools. Discussion and Implications: This article extends the scholarship on teaching and learning for developing equity leaders by bridging insights from learning science and critical pedagogy.

This community-based action research (CBAR) project acknowledges and disrupts existing systemic barriers to bring teacher candidates and grassroots youth organizers together through dialogue and reflection for transformative action. The practice of community-based pedagogy is described and utilized to demonstrate how critical understandings of community may imagine new ways of learning in conventional teacher education programs. This process enhances teacher candidates' understanding and use of community-based pedagogy while supporting youth organizers in social justice initiatives within schools and communities. The findings, which draw from the CBAR project of a white, cis-gender woman who is a teacher educator-scholar-community organizer, provide implications for teacher educators aiming to foster collaborative partnerships with youth-centered grassroots community organizations and intergenerational community members. Teacher educators are invited to engage in paradigm shifts to curate community-based teacher education programs that are stimulated by and benefit local schools and communities.

Countries in the global South, such as Pakistan, face challenges to determine their education policies without any external pressures. The national sphere of authority of the state has to deal with both global and national policy pressures. The travelling policy gets embedded in the local context adjusting to the local demands. However, for this embedding to take place smartly, the host/adopting country needs to demonstrate critical engagement. The developing countries are faced with a plethora of policy prescriptions from the global space; sometimes in the name of 'best practices' and at others in the name of funding conditionality or priority. Due to the absence of multi-actor critical engagement, the policies exist only during the project and as soon as the project is over, the policy is shelved. The article presents the case of a critical policy engagement -- 'teaching license policy dialogues'. This is an independent university-led effort to improve the teacher management system in Pakistan. A four-stage policy advocacy process is adopted to create critical policy space. It comprised (i) development of concept, (ii) preparation of green papers, (iii) policy dialogues and (iv) launch of the White Paper for policy consideration. The case shows a critical way of engaging with a global policy along with all stakeholders, assessing its efficacy, and make alterations as per contextual needs. We hope that our attempt at critical policy dialogue, which promotes critical engagement of multiple stakeholders on equal footing without pressure from a donor, might offer a better way forward. In this way, the policy may not be seen as a push from global space, rather it would be seen as a negotiation between global-national space. We further highlight the crucial, yet rare role of academia in the global South, which is desperately needed.

This paper presents a critical exploration of a reported decline in student achievement in Australia (2000-2020). Declining student achievement is framed as symptomatic of broader dysfunction within the education system. The context of declining student achievement is articulated through a Bourdieusian being critical sociology of education. This is achieved using the concepts of illusion and educationalisation as they intersect with Australian schools, in which classroom teachers are given responsibility for solving social and economic ills. As such, due consideration of the goals and commitments to action in the Melbourne Declaration (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA, 2008), and the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration (Education Council, 2019) is provided. Drawing from these formative documents, the 'stakes' that matter are examined highlighting the potential misalignment between equality of opportunity in ameliorating educational disadvantage and the priorities of modern educational discourse.

In this study, researchers used a longitudinal multisite qualitative cross-case study to examine the beliefs and practices of five beginning teachers related to critical historical inquiry. They collected interview, observation, and classroom artifact data over a 5-year period, from teacher preparation through the teachers' 4th year in the classroom. Using critical theory as the frame, the researchers found that the beginning history teachers tended to move along two pedagogical continuums: one related to the criticality of content and the other related to didactic- or inquiry- based instruction. Teachers were more successful in engaging in critical historical inquiry practices if they had well-developed conceptual and practice tools and had opportunities to teach within school contexts that supported the use of critical historical inquiry.

In middle-grades settings, students are cultivating critical consciousness to apply general knowledge of equity to their local context(s) (Nojan, 2020). As educators work to foster environments that allow middle-grade students to cultivate critical consciousness, expectations have shifted in the area of leading for equity. We have outlined a leadership framework we believe will advance the collective critical consciousness with examples for middle-grade contexts. Our focus is working toward equitable outcomes through one's sociopolitical development and creating ways to further the collective critical consciousness of the entire school community through a distributed leadership perspective. Through this lens, our hope is to outline how educational leaders may develop their critical consciousness in the context of their priorities as well as work towards a shared sense of critical consciousness and sociopolitical action in the classrooms, schools, districts, and the wider community.

The present study identifies and maps the reflexive praxis of two experienced English as a foreign language (EFL) instructors as they reconstruct and negotiate textbook material in situ. An abundance of critical studies underscoring social injustices in the contents of globally published EFL textbooks do not sufficiently address the negotiation of their multimodal discourses during class time. Although reflexive teaching practice in language learning classrooms has a robust pool of research, limited scholarly attention has been given to the active negotiation of a textbook's multimodal discourse in Korean university classrooms. The present study asks: (1) How do two instructors at different Korean universities negotiate the contents of an EFL textbook with their students during class? (2) How do the students react to the multimodal discourse negotiated in their textbooks? (3) What pedagogical implications do the findings lend to EFL textbook instruction in Korean university contexts? Using Norris' (2004) framework for video transcription of multimodal interaction in two Korean university English communication classes, the findings reveal that reflexive negotiation between students and instructors is a kind of rhetorical accomplishment that lessens the potential for cultural marginalization in the multimodal discourse of EFL textbooks. Implications suggest that textbook reflexivity in situ raises the value of student EFL learning investments.

This paper presents a literature review of science teaching approaches that seek to support equity in science classrooms, focusing on marginalization based on (i) race/ethnicity, (ii) social class/socioeconomic background, and (iii) religion. Considered were approaches that science teachers can use in science classes in secondary schools. They were analyzed and discussed against the backdrop of critical pedagogy by Paulo Freire and the educational theory by Hannah Arendt, which constitutes a novelty in science education research. The review used meta interpretation combined with systematic searches in the ERIC database. It is, thus, limited to works published in English. A total of 930 articles (2013-2021) were identified out of which 64 were fully analyzed. The analysis shows that most approaches strive to provide more equal access to the existing science knowledge and structures of the community. This corresponds to the introduction to the "old world" in a conservative interpretation of Arendt's term. I argue that in addition, it is necessary to employ a more radical interpretation of the "old world" as fundamentally plural which is done in translanguaging and grappling with racism. Further, the transformative nature of science education needs to be strengthened in terms of Freire's critical pedagogy and Arendt's concept of natality. This means allowing students to become aware of oppressive structures to induce change. Only youth participatory science, youth participatory action research, and grappling with racism explicitly aim for this. This shows that nuanced perspectives on equity in science education are needed.

Racism against Asians is often ignored worldwide, and the field of mathematics education is no exception. The anti-Asian racism unveiled during the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates that we rethink the current discussions of equity and social justice in mathematics education regarding how the needs of many Asian students have been forgotten and often excluded from these discussions. When Asian students are mentioned, it is often for the purpose of reifying a racial hierarchy of mathematical ability (Martin, "Teachers College Record" 111(2):295-338, 2009; Martin et al., 2017). Based on an analysis of the particularities of the U.S. context, this essay argues that the "model minority myth" and other covert forms of anti-Asian racism, such as yellow peril and forever foreigner myths, racialize Asian Americans and create a monolithic view of diverse groups of people with different histories and needs, including within mathematics education. While incorporating current race and racism concepts from Asian Critical Theory (Iftikar & Museus, "International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education" 31(10):935-949, 2018), we aim to conceptualize the racialization that Asian-American students experience in mathematics classrooms and how it affects their well-being, and propose implications to (re)construct Asian-American students' counterstories and identities in mathematics education. We also scrutinize mathematics education researchers' and educators' roles in advancing equity for all students by countering the hidden racism toward Asian Americans.

The aim of this paper is to explore high school students' critical consciousness development in the context of youth participatory action research (YPAR) focused on food security at an alternative school in Alabama. The YPAR project took place in an elective agriscience class with 10 students (Seven Black, two white, one Latino) who were in the 10th to 12th grades. Utilizing data from researcher notes, classroom observations, and archival classroom documents, we present students' YPAR project outcomes to share their research-driven solutions to food insecurity in their community. Vignettes of classroom dialogue are also constructed to illustrate moments of reflection in the YPAR context about food security. We present three "critical moments," or instances of social analysis, to illustrate how students' individual-level attributions occurred alongside teacher dialogue and student-led investigation of structural inequities in the community. Findings illustrate how students' nonlinear critical consciousness development consisted of reliance on individual-level attributions in classroom dialogue co-occurring with systems-thinking activities and other YPAR project outcomes. This paper has implications for research on the imperfect and wavering nature of adolescent critical consciousness development in YPAR.

In this study, we drew on the m(ai)cro framework, which centers racism as a macrosystem, to examine how college-going emerging adults made meaning about society and themselves during the 2020 U.S. presidential election and 2021 inauguration. This period was marked by racial justice protests, a global pandemic, anti-Asian violence, and the storming of the U.S. Capitol by predominantly white Trump supporters. Using the constructs of critical consciousness and racial identity meaning making, we analyzed participants' reports of recent race related conversations. Our sample included 47 students (M[subscript age] = 19.71, SD = 1.72; 81% female, 17% male, 2% other; 45% Asian/Asian American, 30% white, 13% Latinx/Hispanic, 4% Black/African American, 4% Multiracial, 2% Middle Eastern/Arab) at a private, predominantly white university in the U.S. Midwest. Hybrid inductive-deductive analysis showed that a majority reported conversations with peers, focused primarily on racial inequity and justice. For many participants of color, conversations about topics including protests and anti-Asian violence were woven into their racial identities. In contrast, although many white participants discussed events such as the Capitol insurrection, none made links to their racial identities. Our findings highlight connections between critical consciousness and racial identity, and the importance of context and participant positionality in developmental research.

This article argues that in pluralistic, secular, democratic schooling we need a concept of critical character education. There are substantial challenges to the theory and practice of character education, which indicates that character education is a "problem" in the philosophical sense. The way forward is to cultivate a critical theory of character education, which is democratic, culturally responsive, socially relevant, and philosophical complex. This understanding of character and virtue as a problem is grounded in the philosophical tradition from Socrates to Alasdair MacIntyre. The theory of education grounding the idea of critical character education is found in sources such as Dewey, Freire, and Noddings. As we confront global challenges to democracy, the way forward must include a theory of critical character education.

This article considers how neoliberalism has created a reductionist view of lifelong learning in the UK focused on upskilling workers for the labour market. This critical policy analysis uses Marx's theory of labour-power, as conceptualised by Glenn Rikowski, to examine the Skills and Post-16 Education Act, 2022 and to identify its ideological roots, its distribution of power, resources and knowledge, and the potential effect it will have on inequality. Findings indicate that while the Act aims to make it easier for adults to study more flexibly, not all adults will have the labour-power attributes and financial resources to access the higher-level qualifications prioritised for funding. This article argues that the Act represents a general deepening of neoliberalism in lifelong learning that will further stratify adult education and increase inequalities. This article concludes that policy has shifted from widening participation in lifelong learning linked to social enrichment and the development of democratic citizenship, to widening participation in higher levels of education and training aimed at enhancing labour-power for the capitalist labour market.

As critical educational policy scholarship continues to move toward transformational knowledge production, critical and contextualized quantitative methods are central to justice and equity. In this study, the authors used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), guided by quantitative critical race methodology, to examine teachers' beliefs about their ability to instantiate critical pedagogy--"critical pedagogical efficacy." We parametrized a latent path model to examine the additive influence teacher solidarity for justice has on the relationship between teacher justice collaboration frequency and critical pedagogical efficacy. The model estimate indicated the cruciality of teacher solidarity in improving critical pedagogical efficacy beliefs. Our study's discussion section offers implications for teachers, leaders, policy actors, and critical quantitative researchers contributing to, or planning to join educational justice movements.

Based on an action research project, this paper provides innovative teaching approaches for ELT to ensure gender equality through critical pedagogy. The qualitative study focuses on the reconstruction of students' perceptions through the analysis of group/peer talk allowing for the display of changing viewpoints after having dealt with feminist issues in class. Given the still limited representation of multiple individuals not only in society but also in secondary ELT coursebooks, critical educational practices have been concerned with the transformation of exclusionary schooling practices for the purpose of ensuring a just and equal future. Critical language education has been known to promote students' autonomy and sense of responsibility when it comes to the abolition of oppression and marginalization. Likewise, feminist approaches have the goal of fostering feminist principles and ethics of gender equality. The study, conducted in a German secondary school, reveals that the majority of learners welcome an exploration of feminist matters in the ELT classroom, because they recognize the significant connection between language learning and the exploration of societal issues. The implementation of critical and feminist ethics helped students become aware of prevailing gender inequalities; and their willingness for societal transformation highlights a visible increase in learner autonomy.

Many psychologists working in schools acknowledge how their work contributes to the reproduction and mitigation of societal injustices. While professionals engaged in education systems and classrooms may hope to achieve the latter, disciplinary conventions can compete with best intentions. In response, psychologists working in schools have recently been encouraged to realize anti-oppressive schooling by practicing what is referred to as critical school psychology. Although potentially new for school psychology, critical work bridging education and psychology has been available for some time in North America and internationally. To encourage the use of psychology in support of justice and in resistance to oppression, we review some of this work and invite those interested to consider psychosocial justice as an ethical orientation to enmeshed theory~practice. The purposeful engagement of critically informed work from outside traditional divisional silos will not eradicate every problem facing schools today, but such action will, at the least, provide concerned practitioners options for collaborative knowledge-making and more preferred ways of working.

This article develops a framework for understanding and analyzing the intermediary work of platform technologies, and their owners, as an emerging form of platform governance in educational systems. Our investigation is guided by two questions: (a) How do platform technologies shape policy by brokering relations among commercial, technical, and educational actors? And (b) how might these relations contribute to, or compromise, educational equity as they are folded into existing governance regimes? We address these questions by bringing together two critical orientations--critical policy analysis and critical platform studies--to map the power and politics of platformization in and across education systems.

In the face of calls for the standardization and professionalization of leadership education, a sub-field in higher education, it is important to understand who leadership educators are and how they come to understand themselves as belonging to this sub-field. Recent critiques have arisen about the overwhelming whiteness that permeates the knowledge accepted within leadership education. To be cognizant of that critical perspective, this article applies the critical whiteness studies framework to analyze existing literature about leadership educator identity and socialization. It concludes with recommendations for the field of education to implement in order to combat the impact of whiteness on the field of leadership education.

This paper advances a theoretical analysis of the similarities and differences between critical theories of education and Indigenous theories of education along three main themes: epistemological and ontological groundings, the means of education, and political projects. While both schools of theory critique neoliberal and neoconservative tendencies in curriculum and in the political economy of education, and both promote pedagogies favoring freedom from oppression, respect, and sustainability divergences in the two schools of thought are important to grasp for theoretical and strategic reasons. This paper delineates these differences and arrives at the following broad conclusions: (1) while critical theories of education are epistemologically contentious, Indigenous theories of education are ontologically rebellious; (2) while critical scholars emphasize protecting and improving public schools in the name of preserving a public good, they largely ignore how the political economy of education and different political goals encourage Indigenous educators to turn towards options beyond the traditional public school for creating alternative educational spaces; and (3) while critical scholars promote a remaking of the public sphere to increase the participation and opportunities of all individuals within it, Indigenous scholars in education favor a model of schooling capable of raising citizens that are "first" citizens of their own communities, and then citizens of broader communities; this tension might be best illuminated by a liberal versus a communitarian political philosophy. This paper concludes in arguing that while the two bodies of literature have much in common, a pro-public school discourse, as well as new theories for intercultural pedagogy, should address the divergences evident in these themes.

Calculus continues to be an important topic of discussion among mathematics education researchers given how it often acts as a gatekeeper for students in STEM. In their extensive 2017 review of calculus literature, Larsen and colleagues identified two main areas of applied research that had largely been neglected: research related (1) to efforts to improve calculus teaching and learning and (2) to equity and social justice. In this review we investigate how scholars have answered this call by reviewing recent literature related to these two themes. First we identified some promising intervention studies that investigated changes at the course level (e.g., calculus courses intended for engineering students) and at the level of specific calculus topics (e.g. using digital tools to help students understand the Fundamental Theorem). Second, we identified several studies on diversity, equity, and inclusion. We found that some studies in this collection still approached this research through traditional methods (e.g., so called achievement gaps) but we also identified promising new directions for research in which scholars utilize critical theories and provide counter-narratives that highlight the strengths of calculus students from historically marginalized groups. We conclude our review by discussing future directions we hope to see in the field that we argue will strengthen current work.

The 21st century has been riven by information challenges, from mis/disinformation campaigns, fake news, and propaganda to online conspiracy theories. At a time when more people are literate than perhaps at any other time in history, we still see the rise and viral global spread of unhinged conspiracy theories across the web. The existence of such crowd-sourced conspiracy theories presents unique challenges for scholars and teachers of information literacy (IL), who face intractable challenges in inculcating healthy information practices. This is especially visible when we compare current IL frameworks with principles espoused within these conspiratorial movements. The online conspiracy theory QAnon demonstrates a particularly thorny problem for IL efforts because QAnon operates according to many of the same principles espoused in literacy frameworks. Since its inception in 2017, QAnon has become one of the most complex online conspiracy theories precisely because it relies on a complex set of informational practices enacted by thousands of followers known as anons. In this article, I argue that internet conspiracies such as QAnon weaponise IL through incitement to "do your own research". I apply a qualitative approach to compare established principles advocated by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) to social media posts by Q and his anons to demonstrate the striking similarity in orientation toward questions of authority, context, literacy and research. In my analysis, we need new models for IL to combat conspiracism through a better understanding of the political contours of information ecosystems precisely because these similarities preclude effective engagement, and I conclude by gesturing toward future interventions.

This paper inquires into a practical logic of what can be called socially just education in late modern societies, based on a reexamination of critical pedagogy, and clarifies the boundary-crossing nature of this education and the dilemmas that it inevitably entails. The discussion first addresses and reexamines certain oppositional arguments made by the most influential authorities of critical pedagogy, Michael Apple and Henry Giroux, to discern the directionality for a practical logic of socially just education. Second, to underpin the theoretical considerations, the paper refers to Nancy Fraser's concepts of social justice--the politics of recognition, redistribution, and representation--and, by reinterpreting the politics of redistribution based on the theory of cultural capital of Pierre Bourdieu, seeks to construct the vital part of a practical logic of socially just education in late modernity. To complement this model, the paper invokes Gert Biesta's discussion of how schools should teach democracy. Last is an overview of the dilemmas that must be faced when attempting to put socially just education into practice in the late modern era, along with proposed guidelines for tackling these dilemmas.

The Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture is a non-profit organization that has been developing place-based education models since it was established in 1970. Situated in an urban environment, the Chicago Center operates at the intersection of higher education and place-based education with a pedagogical approach that centers and elevates community voices. Place-based education initiatives provide students with educational opportunities emphasizing active, experiential learning by immersing the participant in local communities and critically examining their context. The Chicago Center enriches place-based education by using a first-person instructional approach--First Voice Pedagogy--to expand the traditional classroom and link liberal arts education to applied learning through exposure to community-based leaders and organizations. In this article, I review relevant literature that centers on place-based education and propose a paradigm shift in place-based education that draws on critical service learning. The article grapples with several questions on the relationship between place, urban environments, and more inclusive approaches. It concludes by offering encouraging practices to establish more inclusive place-based initiatives.

The article proposes and illustrates a methodological framework that aligns with the action-research models and utopian methodology in particular, although it represents a more substantial leap forward, especially regarding the distributed nature of decision making in the different processes of research/intervention, and its multiple and systematic nature (linking theory, practice and politics). It is developed through four main phases: i) collective identification of the needs and the object of the study, ii) expansive co-design of the action-research, iii) dynamic and multiagency implementation, and iv) critical and participatory reflexive evaluation. It is examined more specifically how the phases proposed here can be illustrated by an ongoing project called 360Education Alliance ("Aliança Educació 360") conducted in the context of Catalonia, Spain. It consists of a partnership presented in January, 2018, that currently involves more than 300 entities for promoting a community vision of education based on improving equity and social justice. Some opportunities deriving from this methodology are mentioned in the conclusion, emphasizing the transversal role of self-criticism as permanent inquiry of multiple agents involved in the process, including the participants themselves.

A growing scholarly literature in a subfield of applied linguistics focuses on language testing and language requirements for migrants. We sought to understand what theoretical paradigms and methodological approaches have framed this research and propose future research directions. To this end, we conducted a systematic review of articles on language testing and migration published between 2001 and 2022 in the applied linguistics field. For each of the 46 studies which met inclusion/exclusion criteria, we randomly selected a control article from the same journals. Both the test corpus and the control corpus were double coded for theoretical and methodological characteristics and analysed using contingency tables, Mann-Whitney tests, and forward stepwise logistic regression to predict group membership. The findings revealed that literature on language testing and migration is highly reliant on critical theory and less reliant on features associated with empirical methods. We suggest that research in this domain would benefit from methodological reflexivity (i.e. questioning prevalent assumptions and employing theoretical variety) and that complementary approaches could lead to a more nuanced research consensus and promote research-policy collaboration.

Background: Over the past several decades, understandings of civic knowledge and engagement have been enlarged in productive ways; the field has been transformed by contributions rooted in and showcasing critical, cultural, transnational, activist, and participatory approaches to the civic. Civic action research fits neatly amid these new articulations of the civic; multiple studies attest to its potential for creating civic learning experiences that build on young people's strengths and provide space for critical analysis and informed action. In this social design project, civic action research investigations conducted by youth in communities impacted by structural inequality catalyzed densely interwoven, affectively infused networks of cross-district interaction and action: critical ecologies of civic learning. Focus of Study: This article retheorizes civic learning in light of findings from a research initiative rooted in the question: "How might civic inquiry be used to create school district practices that nurture and integrate the civic voice of youth?" Research Design: In this 18-month-long social design collaboration between a university-based research team and two public school districts in the northeastern United States, youth in five participating schools--two high schools and three middle schools--carried out civic inquiry projects under the guidance of experienced social studies teachers. In these projects, young people examined their communities, selected issues to investigate, designed and carried out research, analyzed data, communicated findings, and took action. Data collected by the adult researchers included observations of club sessions, focus groups with students, interviews with adult stakeholders, and observations of "civic voice events" involving both youth and adults. Interdisciplinary, iterative reading and thematic coding led to the development of the conceptual framework that is the focus of this article. Conclusions or Recommendations: This article illustrates and theorizes "critical ecosystems of civic learning." In this project, civic learning was collectively produced rather than vertically transmitted--a joint activity of youth and adults. A historically and structurally situated phenomenon, civic learning was not separable from the resources, assets, and experiences that young people brought with them as civic actors. Civic learning was not bound by the container of the classroom--it moved and flowed across settings, accruing through the interactions of people inhabiting varied perspectives. Finally, civic learning was affective and relational, engaging emotion and fostering connection. Building upon and extending critical and participatory reframings, a critical ecosystems theorization of civic learning can help us to envision deeper, more expansive forms of civic education that support, activate, and empower young people from across a broad spectrum of communities, propelling us toward a more just and inclusive civic future.

Purpose: In this article, I examine the importance of cultivating critical hope while leading a school through a crisis. I analyze how the concept of critical hope functions when principals use it as a lever to lead toward crisis recovery. The analysis is informed by literature from the fields of education and positive psychology. Research Methods/Approach: For this qualitative study, I used a cross-comparative approach to uncover how principals operationalize critical hope to engender hope throughout their school buildings and maintain a sense of hopefulness to continue leading. To do so, I interviewed 50 principals from across the United States who have led through at least one crisis. Findings: I found that principals are constantly cultivating and engendering critical hope for their schools and for themselves. The findings also suggest that critical hope is essential to a principal leading through a crisis. Implications: This research contributes to our understanding of the relationship between critical hope, crisis, and educational leadership. It also extends research on leadership competencies and dispositions toward effective school leadership postcrisis.

In this paper, we present an example of how the selected texts (on the footballer Mo Salah) can potentially be discussed in the university EFL classroom especially (Critical) Discourse Analysis course using Freire's seminal work on Critical Pedagogy (CP). We do it by firstly introducing Freire's concept of CP which includes problem posing education and dialog as elaborated by Durakoglu et al. (2013). Then we move on to highlight the previous works conducted on CP in Indonesian EFL contexts and provide critical analysis of how the particular texts drawn from Anwar's (2020) unpublished thesis on Mo Salah's phenomenal career could be analyzed using Freire's concepts. Closing this reflection, we locate this paper within critical approaches to English Language Teaching such as post-method pedagogy and post-structural and post-colonially informed teaching.

Raising children and young people's climate awareness through actions outside of school could be integrated into pedagogy; instead of the individual-oriented approaches in school, educators should develop a critical pedagogy where community change and political activism are at the core. In this article, we examine how a reformulation based on critical pedagogy literature can mobilize pupils so they can implement responsible and realistic climate actions. To support this process and especially the efforts of teachers in school, we developed a model demonstrating how this can be done. The model is theoretical and normative, and the design was inspired by the experiences from national and international research and development projects. This article draws on Paulo Freire's concept of critical pedagogy.

This article is about the multidisciplinary Community of Practice (CoP) initiative that was implemented in the summer of 2020- summer of the pivot- at a Canadian post-secondary institution to prepare faculty, staff, and students for remote teaching and learning while navigating pandemic conditions created by COVID-19. The CoP as a case study using Critical Theory as a theoretical framework examines the experiences of a collective group of faculty and staff from different disciplines leading a multidisciplinary university-wide initiative and the implications of the approach for promoting effective pedagogies for teaching and learning remotely. Findings based on feedback from workshop attendees, reflections from the CoP facilitators, and comments forwarded to senior administrators about the impact and the effectiveness of the program indicate positive results. It is recommended that although the CoP initiative was originally conceived as a response to the summer of the pivot, it should become an integral approach to promoting dialogue and innovative strategies to advance equitable practices in higher education by cultivating community networks. The findings serve to continue constructive dialogues and discussions about how universities can transition, pivot, and mobilize innovatively and creatively to prioritize equitable teaching and learning conditions that challenge the status quo. This requires a long-term commitment by higher education institutions to break away from historically normalized practices and invest in innovative ways to identify and meet the needs of various stakeholders.

The purpose of this paper is to identify key characteristics and forms that both research approaches use within the applied field of education. In this paper, we ask--how are CPAR and IS-GR similar and different? And, can tools or propositions from each be used in tandem within a research project? We invite readers to consider useful frameworks created to address problems of practice. Drawing strength from our diverse backgrounds (fields of study and professional roles), we aim to identify clear overlaps and divergent perspectives between the two approaches to aid scholarly practitioners in making informed decisions about the research frameworks they choose to take up to address pressing problems of practice in education.

In the wake of recent political events, rural people and places experience unfiltered and uncensored criticism. For the approximately 20% of America's children who are growing up in rural places, these stereotyped narratives are damaging and dehumanizing. To ensure the wellbeing of rural children across the United States, teacher education programs must prepare teacher candidates to view rural schools from a strengths-based perspective. To do this, teacher education programs must consider the importance of critical pedagogy of place and the essential role of strong school-university partnerships. This article provides a historic and current look at rural schools, discusses the impact of rural stereotypes, and charts an initial path for teacher education programs to change the current narrative about rural schools. Perspectives that address rural stereotypes through a critical lens are essential for all educational stakeholders, no matter their locale.

Grading approaches differ in undergraduate higher educational settings, but most often reflect traditional systems that support an unbalanced power dynamic that does not acknowledge or support continuous learning. These practices are then taken up by pre-service teachers and applied within their future classrooms with children. Using Critical Theory and Transformative Learning Theory, we analyzed our own grading practices for the purpose of designing and implementing a more equitable approach to assessment. The process led us to think about what we want grades to represent and what matters most to us as educators. The paper includes our process and the challenges we have faced. We hope it is a valuable resource for educators who are considering adjustments to their grading systems.

Digital games can be used as educational tools for tackling structural inequalities and promoting social justice. Designing games with these purposes is a complex task that requires a myriad of combined expertise, including games' mechanics, software development, educational game design, pedagogy and knowledge of the educational topic (which can target specific social issues). Democratising the design of educational games is used to increase the agency and participation of diverse and novice groups throughout design processes and can be used to improve the efficiency of such games as it directly leads to the inclusion of broad voices, knowledge, experiences and perspectives. This research adopted a Design-Based Research methodology to create, evaluate and validate 13 design principles to democratise the design of educational games for social change. Three research phases were implemented in turn: a preliminary, prototyping and evaluation phase. The preliminary phase was based on creating these principles by grounding them on fundamentals of Critical Pedagogy, a theory of education which presents pedagogical techniques to accelerate learning, engagement and social change. The prototyping phase was based on conducting semi-structured interviews to assess and improve these principles with educational and game design experts. During the evaluation phase, these principles were applied and evaluated during two weekend-long game design events, called Game Jams. These were open to anyone interested in creating a digital game to raise awareness of gender inequalities, and 13 of the 23 participants (57%) had no previous experience in game design. This research presents theoretical and practical contributions related to how to democratise educational game design for social change. It evidenced the relevance of facilitating design principles that address "what" could be done to trigger learning in games; "why" this learning could be facilitated, from both pedagogical and gaming perspectives; and "how" to implement these principles into educational games.

Community-based adult learning (CBAL) focuses on improving the quality of life for the most disadvantaged and has a different ideology, methods, and curriculum from mainstream education. This Scottish case-study investigated the main changes that had impacted on CBAL provision in the preceding three years. These were: a reduction in funding for CBAL and its undervaluing by other professions; the impact of COVID-19 on learning and teaching; the importance of CBAL in promoting wellbeing. It is argued that these Scottish issues are similar in their impact to other Western countries; negatively because COVID-19 has exacerbated inequalities in the education available to the least advantaged, and positively in that CBAL practitioners have demonstrated the value of their work especially in addressing digital inequalities and mental health issues.

In this article we discuss the lived, embodied experience of home-making in relation to identity and belonging through the example of a service-learning project conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in a higher education setting in London, UK. We also explore the notion of belonging-not-belonging as a cultural, material and embodied construct, inspired by critical pedagogy. We draw on posthumanism, new materialism, intercultural studies, (auto-)ethnography and creative practice research as possible lines of flight in deconstructing the dichotomy between home and a 'foreign' territory-other-than-home that sits at the core of intercultural discourses. We present this project as a possible alternative discourse to (un)do more traditional considerations of home-making as a much more complex construct; in the encounter with new territories, humans and other-than-human artefacts, objects, machines and landscapes, we argue that home-making is a continuous, never-finished process that moves the learner and their teachers continuously. We aim to bring to the forefront new emerging considerations of intercultural studies at the intersection with interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional discourses, breaking away from a more traditional and neoliberal view about what belonging means within the context of higher education.

This paper explores possibilities of using language learning autobiographies as a form of identity texts in order to produce suggestions for critical teacher education. Specifically, we examined what insights we might gain by reframing Korean pre-service teachers' autobiographies as a form of identity texts to develop reflective teachers, who affirm their identities and language learning histories. We thematically analyzed autobiographical reflection papers on English learning experiences of 73 undergraduate students enrolled in a compulsory elementary English education course at a public university in South Korea. The analysis revealed the predominance of referral to English private education experiences and a sense of linguistic insecurity felt by these pre-service teachers, who would later teach in public schools. Based on these findings, we provide suggestions for critical teacher education to foster critical language awareness and identity investment for the students. We conclude that language learning autobiographies, while incorporating characteristics of identity texts, might be a useful tool for critical pedagogies.

This paper examines the impact of a structured, multi-dimensional reflection track of a 16-week pilot programme in experimental pedagogics (XP) in The Netherlands. XP is an elective undergraduate programme in which students investigate socially relevant educational problems in local communities and design educational interventions to address these issues through problem-oriented project work (PPL). To accompany the learning journey, students follow a reflection track structured with workshops, learning diaries, and articulated learning essays, that cover cognitive, phenomenological, relational, social, and global dimensions of reflection. The design of the track was informed by an interdisciplinary reflection framework combining inputs from cognitive and critical paradigms. To evaluate and improve the impact of this novel approach to reflection in problem-oriented education, the authors undertook an Education Action Research (EAR) process with the 17 participating students. The evaluation phase of the EAR was conducted using a phenomenographic design to draw out qualitative variations in conceptions of reflection among students who participated in the pilot. Focusing on variations of conceptions allowed the teachers-as-action-researchers to gain a fine-grained understanding of reflection within the XP problem-oriented setting. The findings reveal an outcome space comprising seven increasingly complex reflection categories. A phenomenographic analysis of the categories led us to conclude that there exists a reflection "sweet spot" inside which there is growth in reflection breadth and depth. Outside the sweet spot, students either do not reflect at all, or become so entangled in reflection that an infinite reflection regress appears to derail learning. We conclude by discussing the contributions of these findings to strengthening critical, socially relevant reflection in problem-oriented project work in the context of current global crises, focusing on the role of supervisors in fostering productive reflection.

The focus of ethics in learning analytics (LA) frameworks and guidelines is predominantly on procedural elements of data management and accountability. Another, less represented focus is on the duty to act and LA as a moral practice. Data feminism as a critical theoretical approach to data science practices may offer LA research and practitioners a valuable lens through which to consider LA as a moral practice. This paper examines what data feminism can offer the LA community. It identifies critical questions for further developing and enabling a responsible stance in LA research and practice taking one particular case -- algorithmic decision-making -- as a point of departure.

Internationalization continues to be a priority of the education mandate in British Columbia (BC). While there is currently a lack of exploratory studies on international students' (IS) experiences of challenges in their host institutions, little research has examined their experiences from sociocultural context-based standpoints. This study fills this gap by examining the daily lived experiences of Chinese postsecondary IS in BC through the lens of intersectionality. First, the notions of cultural distance, nationality, and language proficiency were conceptualized as intersectional categories. Next, narrative data were collected from six Chinese IS and then analyzed through an iterative coding framework that connected narrative themes to the theoretical framework of intersectionality. The results show how the interlocking categories created instances of minoritization among the participants due to power imbalances brought upon by compatriots, peers, and federal/institutional policies. Implications in future directions of intersectionality research, policy, and practices are presented.

The ongoing pandemic, COVID-19, has demonstrated how quickly depictions of Asian individuals can shift from "model minority" to "yellow peril" during times of crisis. These times were particularly difficult for Asian postsecondary international students who were directly impacted by these shifting narratives, as many faced discrimination, violence, and prejudice as a result of the rise of anti-Asian hate that occurred across Canada. Thus, utilizing critical race theory (CRT), the purpose of this article is to provide an overview of these contrasting narratives, how the "model minority" and "yellow peril" can contribute to the maintenance of White supremacy, and possible considerations and interventions to better support Asian international postsecondary students during their studies in Canada.