Unschooling Racism

This book draws on critical race theories and teachers’ testimonials grounded in 20 years of teaching experiences to reveal the ways in which racial and cultural biases are embedded in school curricula, and both their intended and unintended consequences on the learning and well being of students of color. More specifically, this book examines how these biases have played a significant role in the mis-education, misrepresentation, and marginalization of African American, Native American, Latino and Asian students. But the analysis doesn’t stop there. The author goes beyond the school walls to underscore how systemic racism, paired with colonialism, has impacted the lives of racially marginalized groups in both the United States and developing countries. This book uncovers these injustices and proposes alternative ways in which racism can be unschooled.

This volume explores unschooling as a growing phenomenon within the broader field of home education and considers the unique position of parents who engage in this self-directed form of education with their children. Drawing on an in-depth hermeneutic phenomenological study, the volume investigates the double consciousness of parents as they balance the costs/benefits of unschooling and navigate the roles of leading/following and parenting/teaching in the education and upbringing of their children. The author conceptualizes unschooling in the context of curriculum theory and situates it within the larger home education movement. By highlighting the fluctuating, (un)divided position that parents assume, the volume examines how learning and living are rendered inseparable in unschooling, thereby revealing unschoolers’ experience of a curriculum of learning-through-living. This book will be of great interest to researchers, scholars, and postgraduates working across the fields of curriculum studies, parenting and family studies, and the sociology of education.

This text offers pre-service and in-service teachers pragmatic strategies for teaching middle-grades literacy in culturally proactive and sustaining ways. By demystifying big ideas and complex concepts, Domínguez and Seglem provide clear pathways and lessons for illuminating and engaging with race, ethnicity, culture, and identity in the middle-grade English Language Arts classroom. While addressing social justice, equity, diversity, and liberation can seem intimidating or unrelated to classroom practice, the authors demonstrate how weaving such questions into instruction benefits students’ development. The guidance, strategies, and lessons in this book provide an answer to the question: What does decolonial literacy teaching look like? Concrete but not prescriptive, the authors encourage us to reconsider accepted logics of schooling, so that we can better support adolescents as they navigate complex identity landscapes. Bringing together disparate conversations around reading, writing, identity, and decolonial thinking, and specifically tailored to the middle grades, this book serves as a comprehensive toolkit for praxis and covers such topics as cultural change, community connections, and racial literacy. Each chapter features tips on reading and writing instruction, Teacher Spotlights, Planning Questions, and Additional Resources to make it easy for educators to apply the strategies to their own contexts. An accessible entry to addressing challenging questions around identity in the classroom, this book is essential reading in courses and professional development on ELA and literacy methods as well as teaching culturally and linguistically diverse students. For teachers looking to push toward equity and reshape literacy education so that it serves all middle-grade students, Domínguez and Seglem offer plenty of accessible and motivating places to start.

Orelus' valuable study draws on the scholarly work of sociocultural and postcolonial theorists, as well as testimonies collected from study participants, to explore accentism, the systemic form of discrimination against speakers whose accents deviate from a socially constructed norm. Orelus examines the manner in which accents are acquired and the effects of such acquisition on the learning and educational experiences of linguistically and culturally diverse students. He goes on to demonstrate the ways and the degree to which factors such as race, class, and country of origin are connected with nonstandard accent-based discrimination. Finally, this book proposes alternative ways to challenge and counter the accentism that minority groups, including linguistically and culturally diverse groups, have faced in schools and in society at large. It will be of interest to all of those concerned with linguistic/accent-based prejudice and the experience of those who face it.

Home education is the fastest growing educational movement in the world, yet the research remains limited on why and how it has become so popular. As more and more families seek to homeschool, it is imperative that further studies are undertaken to understand how students’ lives are impacted, as well as the challenges and opportunities that arise from this method of schooling. Global Perspectives on Home Education in the 21st Century is an edited collection that focuses on the major factors behind the global rise of the home education movement and explores many of the current issues faced in relation to homeschooling. The book examines key themes that include parents’ and children’s experiences of home education, how and why families choose to home educate, and what happens to home educated children once they are finished. Including topics such as unschooling, self-directed learning, willed learning, and holistic education, this book is primarily intended for home educators, school administrators, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and students.

To help researchers, educators and policy makers understand and support the development of 21st-century skills in schools, this edited volume explores the various iterations of "soft" skills with a particular focus on their implications for values and evaluates ways in which "soft skills" and "hard" values can be integrated. Discourse throughout the 21st century has focused on the changing nature of work, the need for new skill sets and the disruptive effects of new technologies. This has been a neo-liberal discourse that subordinated personal and individual needs to the needs of a productive workforce delivering more and more efficiencies linked to higher and higher profits. The solution is often seen to be in the development of a school curriculum that focuses on work-ready skills for an increasingly complex work environment and its demands. Agencies such as OECD and UNESCO highlight the need to link the skills agenda with complementary values. Yet this process is at a very early stage. The proponents of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) for example highlight the impact of new technologies, not just on work but also on the social world. Yet they neglect to explore the values that would be needed in these new disruptive environments. This book takes up that issue and lays out the multiple value systems that are available for this new 21st century world. It is an important resource for policy makers, academics and teachers with responsibility for a new generation.

Education has become synonymous with schooling, but it doesn't have to be. As schooling becomes increasingly standardized and test driven, occupying more of childhood than ever before, parents and educators are questioning the role of schooling in society. Many are now exploring and creating alternatives. In a compelling narrative that introduces historical and contemporary research on self-directed education, Unschooled also spotlights how a diverse group of individuals and organizations are evolving an old schooling model of education. These innovators challenge the myth that children need to be taught in order to learn. They are parents who saw firsthand how schooling can dull children's natural curiosity and exuberance and others who decided early on to enable their children to learn without school. Educators who left public school classrooms discuss launching self-directed learning centers to allow young people's innate learning instincts to flourish, and entrepreneurs explore their disillusionment with the teach-and-test approach of traditional schooling.

A powerful book comprising stories of anti-racist action by higher education scholars including researchers and teachers at various stages of their careers. Aimed at and relevant for anyone in education, it encourages reflection on the tolerance of racist structures and strategies to help enact positive change. An edited volume, each chapter discusses the author's experiences of racism, including how they became part of anti-racist teaching activism through a growing understanding of the impact of racism in education. Common themes are highlighted throughout so readers can engage with relevant ideas and issues to draw inspiration for their own anti-racist action. The book draws attention to the idea that while discussion is welcome, it should be a pre-cursor to focused action. It shows exactly how university lecturers, teachers and anyone involved in education can contribute in a meaningful way to the change that is needed. To promote critical thinking, each chapter includes challenging questions and suggested additional readings/resources.