I am delighted to have the opportunity to write this foreword for Karyn Cooper s and Robert White s splendid and compelling edited text on The Practical Critical Educator. Critical practice in education is grounded in two bodies of thought and action: critical theory and critical pedagogy. Drawing on classical Marxism and its articulation of how oppression and injustice arose through capitalism s economic exploitation of labour, critical theories of society took a cultural turn in the writings of Adorno and Horkheimer, European Jewish refugees who fled to America, where they articulated how...

Here is a book with numerous applications. It is intended to situate self-examination and issues-based learning in reality in a professional context in which teachers and students work to shape practices and identities. In this way, teachers can explore who they are as individuals, their understandings of themselves and their experiences, as well as the impact of these experiences in the classroom, the school, and the community. As a course book on teacher development, both for undergraduates and for teachers embarking on post-graduate work, the focus on real-life experience forges powerful...

Critical Literacies in Action: Social Perspectives and Teaching Practices asks how educators can become more experienced in order to truly support literacy, particularly for children of poverty or for those who have been labeled "at-risk". This is especially important in current times, since a literate individual is one who is more successfully able to situate him- or herself within a continuum of lifelong learning in order to fulfill personal goals and to participate fully within the wider societyal context.

Although the word "literacy" has been with us for a very long time, the very...

This volume examines the procedures that school boards follow in selecting principals and their deputies, and analyzes how leadership change affects a school's teaching and administration staff. It advocates a more inclusive approach to leadership succession.

Contributors to this volume examine structures and processes that school boards have in place directly relating to the process of principal or vice-principal succession. As well, they consider the effect that these structures and processes have upon staff and administrators themselves. These contributors investigate policies, procedures and practices that school boards employ in terms of leadership succession, and explore implications of these constructs for the sustainability of school improvement. This volume presents an overview of the process of principal or vice-principal succession,...

This volume brings together important voices regarding constraints and potential possibilities for democracy in action. The book addresses various understandings of democracy and provides specific critiques. Connections between critique, critical literacy, and its potential for society and education are presented and organized smoothly and accessibly, facilitating easy engagement with the ideas within. These ideas have been carefully thought through so that the text becomes accessible, comprehensible and logical. Readers may benefit from this work through its synthetic, international and...

This volume brings together important voices regarding constraints and potential possibilities for democracy in action. The book addresses various understandings of democracy and provides specific critiques. Connections between critique, critical literacy, and its potential for society and education are presented and organized smoothly and accessibly, facilitating easy engagement with the ideas within. These ideas have been carefully thought through so that the text becomes accessible, comprehensible and logical. Readers may benefit from this work through its synthetic, international and...

Student Voice: A Companion to Democracy and Its Discontents serves two primary purposes. First, as the title of the volume suggests, it serves as a companion text to Democracy and Its Discontents: Critical Literacy across Global Contexts (Sense Publishers, 2015). Second, the volume features critical dialogues between emerging and established scholars in the field of critical literacy education, broadly defined. It brings together a collection of essays that speak to the possibilities of taking a critical approach to language and literacy education. The contributing authors draw on their life...

Student Voice: A Companion to Democracy and Its Discontents serves two primary purposes. First, as the title of the volume suggests, it serves as a companion text to Democracy and Its Discontents: Critical Literacy across Global Contexts (Sense Publishers, 2015). Second, the volume features critical dialogues between emerging and established scholars in the field of critical literacy education, broadly defined. It brings together a collection of essays that speak to the possibilities of taking a critical approach to language and literacy education. The contributing authors draw on their life...