This book describes how neoliberalism as societal philosophy works to limit human potential in our school systems. Analyzing contemporary school reform and control, punishment, and pathologization in schools, this book outlines a theory of emancipation and a process by which pedagogy can build solidarity in classrooms and society more broadly.

Beginning from the premise that a range of Marxist theoretical tendencies, or Marxisms, inform recent critical scholarship in education, this volume reaffirms, rearticulates, and interrogates central philosophical and practical commitments in this tradition. Chapters engage important issues confronting the field in the present conjuncture in global capitalism, including the meaning of democratic education, neoliberalism’s ideological and material assault on teaching and learning, relationships between race and class in schooling and society, models for critical and emancipatory pedagogy, the implication of education in imperialism and colonialism, and links between education and revolutionary organizations and movements. Rather than attempting to provide a comprehensive view of the field, this volume presents a diverse set of crucial interventions that take up foundational as well as contemporary developments in Marxist theory and consider their implications for the field of education. The chapters in this book were originally published as journal articles by Taylor and Francis.

Reframing central categories in Western critical thought, this book investigates the relationship between capitalism and coloniality in society and education, and reconceptualizes emancipatory theory and pedagogy in response. De Lissovoy exposes a logic of violation at the heart of capitalist accumulation and argues that we need to attend to ontological and epistemological orders of domination within which subjectivity takes shape. Systematically bridging the theoretical traditions of Marxism, Latin American decolonial thought, and critical pedagogy, De Lissovoy shows how a new critical imaginary can reorder curriculum in schools and other educational spaces, organize a form of learning beyond the capitalist imperatives of imposition and exploitation, and reconstruct pedagogical relationships in the mode of a decolonial and democratic commons.

“In this era, when ‘commonsense’ in educational discourse is so deeply framed by neoliberalism, we must better understand both the uniquely situated and the insidiously interconnected nature of so-called reforms. Thank you to Keith M. Sturges and colleagues for illuminating exactly this in their important and hard-hitting new book that reveals not merely how neoliberal reforms are designed to reinforce inequity, but also how the contradictions within provide ample opportunity to collectivize and act with hope.” – Kevin Kumashiro, author of Bad Teacher!: How Blaming Teachers Distorts the Bigger Picture “In this important volume, editor Keith M. Sturges has taken the most useful discussions of neoliberalism and – with great precision, clarity and utility – seen them applied to the education arena. Over 13 chapters, leading education thinkers lay bare sets of realities that the broader public, school administrators, and policy makers would do well to fully understand. These range from the impact of neoliberal thinking upon chartering, parent involvement, teacher training, school climate, funding and more. I’ll be using the chapters in this text in a variety of ways. They’ll inform conversations with local, state and federal policy makers, and inform conversations with school leaders and district leaders. I’ll also be assigning the text in my graduate seminar on education policy. Finally, the chapters will inform several lectures in my undergraduate class on ‘The Promise and Peril of Public Education.’ What a gem of a volume!” – Kevin Michael Foster, Executive Director, The Institute for Community, University and School Partnerships (ICUSP)

Horizons of the Future: Science Fiction, Utopian Imagination, and the Politics of Education examines the relationship between science fiction, education, and social change in the 21st century. Global capitalism is ecologically unsustainable and ethically indefensible; time is running out to alter the course of history if humanity is to have hope of a livable future beyond the next century. However, alternatives are possible, offering much more equality, care, justice, joy, and hope than the established order. Popular culture and schools are key sites of struggles to imagine such alternatives. Drawing on critical theory, cultural studies, and sociology, Slater articulates the promising connection between science fiction and the future of education. He offers cutting-edge engagement with themes, perspectives, and modes of imagination in science fiction that can be mobilized politically and pedagogically to envision and enact critical forms of education that cultivate new utopian ways of relating to self, society, and the future. This thought-provoking book will be of interest to scholars and students in the social sciences and education.

This Handbook explores the discourse within the field of educational leadership and management. It provides a clear analysis of the current field as well as older foundational ideas and newer concepts which are beginning to permeate the discussion. The field of educational leadership and management has long acknowledged that educational contexts include a variety of leaders beyond school principals and other school officials such as informal and middle level leaders. By looking at the knowledge dynamic rather than a static knowledge base , this Handbook allows research to be presented in its multidimensional, evolving reality.