Encountering Education

In the World Library of Educationalists, international experts compile career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces – extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, major theoretical and practical contributions – so the world can read them in a single manageable volume. Readers will be able to follow the themes and strands and see how their work contributes to the development of the field. This volume brings together the selected works of Fazal Rizvi. Born in India, Fazal Rizvi has lived and worked in a number of countries, including Australia, England and the United States. Most of his educational encounters have been 'in the global'. He has developed a keen sense of the multiple and conflicting ways in which transnational ties and interactions are transforming the spaces in which identities and cultures are forged and performed, and in which education takes place. Much of his research has sought to examine how educational systems around the world have interpreted and responded to the challenges and opportunities of globalization. In this collection of his papers, written over a period of more than two decades, Fazal Rizvi seeks to understand the shifting discourses and practices of globalization and education, critically examining the ways in which these are: reshaping our sense of identity and citizenship, and our communities creating transnational systems of ties, networks and exchange taken into account in the development of policies and programs of educational reform producing uneven social effects that benefit some communities more than others. Fazal Rizvi's analysis shows how recent global transformations have mostly been interpreted through the conceptual prism of a neo-liberal imaginary that have undermined education's democratic and cosmopolitan possibilities.

Directly inspired by Indian British activist Satish Kumar’s 2013 seminal work ‘Soil, Soul and Society’, this book rethinks education in line with thoughts around the current climate crisis, the purpose of education in a post-pandemic world, and the mental health of children, teachers and youth across societies. Acknowledging the realities of a world battling with the after effects of COVID-19, the author envisions a future for education that realises real-world solutions to contemporary existential, ecological and societal challenges that might otherwise be limited to an imaginary or idealist space. Offering a novel approach through a combination of narrative-based inquiry and auto-ethnographic study, the book provides a synthesis of ideas from both Kumar and political philosopher Hannah Arendt not usually linked to debates in sustainability education. Ultimately providing a critique of a predominantly Western-orientated, global education movement, this interdisciplinary book will appeal to scholars, researchers, and post-graduate students involved in education theory and the philosophy of education, as well as indigenous and sustainability education more broadly.

This book draws together theories, research, and practice on knowledges and pedagogies of place across educational settings. Using empirical research on learning across education systems, each chapter highlights different concepts of place in various contexts such as environments, understandings of place like those experienced by communities and opportunities for embedding place in learning. Chapters are co-constructed by authors working collaboratively across different contexts, tackling key themes such as justice, mobilities, changes, and sustainability, through place. The book indicates how educators can apply creative approaches to teaching within, through and about place in education and will therefore be of relevance to a wider range of academics, teachers and practitioners working in early years settings, schools, universities and other educational context.

Encounters with Materials in Early Childhood Education rearticulates understandings of materials—blocks of clay, sheets of paper, brushes and paints—to formulate what happens when we think with materials and apply them to early childhood development and classrooms. The book develops ways of thinking about materials that are more sustainable and insightful than what most children in the Western world experience today through capitalist narratives. Through a series of ethnographic events and engagement with existing ideas of relationality in the visual arts, feminist ethics, science studies, philosophy, and anthropology, Encounters with Materials in Early Childhood Education highlights how materials can be conceptualized as active participants in early childhood education and generators of human insight. A variety of examples show how educators, young children, and researchers have engaged in thinking with materials in early years classrooms and explore what materials are capable of in their encounters with other materials and with children. Please visit the companion website at www.encounterswithmaterials.com for additional features, including interviews with the authors and the teachers featured in the book, videos and photographs of the classroom narratives described in these pages, and an ongoing blog of the authors’ ethnographic notes.

What does it mean to consider the world of AI through a Christian lens? Rapid developments in AI continue to reshape society, raising new ethical questions and challenging our understanding of the human person. Encountering Artificial Intelligence draws on Pope Francis’s discussion of a culture of encounter and broader themes in Catholic social thought in order to examine how current AI applications affect human relationships in various social spheres and offers concrete recommendations for better implementation. The document also explores questions regarding personhood, consciousness, and the kinds of relationships humans might have with even the most advanced AI. Through these discussions, the document investigates the theoretical and practical challenges to interpersonal encounter raised by the age of AI.

This book collects recent and creative theorizing emerging in the fields of curriculum studies and curriculum theory, through an emphasis on provoking encounters. Drawn from a return to foundational texts, the emphasis on an ‘encountering’ curriculum highlights the often overlooked, pre-conceptual aspects of the educational experience; these aspects include the physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of teaching and learning. The book highlights that immediate components of one’s encounters with education—across formal and informal settings—comprise a large part of the teaching and learning processes. Chapters offer both close readings of specific work from the curriculum theory archive, as well as engagements with cutting-edge conceptual issues across disciplinary lines, with contributions from leading and emerging scholars across the field of curriculum studies. This book will be of great interest to researchers, academics and post-graduate students in the fields of curriculum studies and curriculum theory.

This text rearticulates understandings of materials—blocks of clay, sheets of paper, brushes and paints, fabrics, and plastics—to formulate new ideas about what happens when we think with materials and apply them to early childhood development and classrooms. Through a series of ethnographic examples and engagement with existing ideas of relationality in the visual arts, feminist ethics, science studies, philosophy, anthropology, and environmental humanities, Encounters with Materials in Early Childhood Education highlights how materials can be conceptualized as active participants in early childhood education. Updated to include choreographies with fabrics and the process of reparation with plastics, this second edition shows how educators, young children, and researchers have explored what materials are capable of in their encounters with other materials and with children. The book is key reading for undergraduate students, graduate students, and pre-service teachers in early childhood education and art education programs. Access the Instructor and Student Resources at www.encounterswithmaterials.com.