New Perspectives on Education for Democracy

Stewart Riddle is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Southern Queensland. His research examines the democratisation of schooling systems, increasing access and equity in education, and how schooling can respond to critical social issues in complex contemporary times. Amanda Heffernan is a Senior Lecturer in Leadership in the Faculty of Education at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Amanda’s work takes a critical perspective toward school leadership, education policy, and the everyday experiences of educational leaders’ work. She has a particular interest in the work of principals in complex school settings, including those in rural and remote areas. Her research focuses on the contemporary challenges of principals’ work, and what that means for how we can better attract, support, and keep school leaders within the profession. David Bright is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. His research investigates how educational practices are mediated by perceptions of social, cultural and linguistic difference, and explores how difference can be re-imagined to create new possibilities for democratic education. David has a particular interest in the cultural politics of English language teaching, international schooling, and international student programs.

PART I—New ways of thinking about democracy 1. On the need for a new democracy of education in a post-pandemic world 2. Democracy in decline? Developing democratic re-orientations through plurality and deliberation 3. This is what isonomy looks like! 4. Re-imagining aspirations: A new transition planning framework supporting inclusive and democratic actions in schools PART II—Enacting democracy through teaching and learning 5. Country as teacher: Using stories from and for Country in Australian education for social and ecological renewal 6. The ordinary everyday: Centring the embodied practice of classroom teaching 7. Encountering a pedagogy of the world in a university setting 8. Students’ experiences of overt data-talk in the classroom: "It’s all just this stupid system" 9. Teacher workload in Australia: National reports of intensification and its threats to democracy 10. Education for democracy: Culturally responsive practices and curriculum in teacher education 11. Critical affective literacy, feminist pedagogies, and democracy: Exploring possibilities for the high school English classroom PART III—Future thinking for a new era of democracy 12. Combating crisis and despair: Voice, choice, and agency for active, resilient citizenship 13. The certainty of nationalism in uncertain times: Disrupting the national givens of citizenship education 14. Passion as politics: An analysis of Australian newspaper reporting of institutional responses to the School Strikes for Climate 15. Relational pedagogy and democratic education