Edition One: Teaching and Learning as social practices

Guest Editor: Dr. Neil Hooley, Victoria University

To prompt your response to this this theme you might consider the following statement: In the tradition of Dewey (1916), we see education and learning as a democratic process for all citizens regardless of background and a ‘continuity’ between epistemological and ontological cognition. This means that knowledge is constructed from culture and experience and that formal education needs to connect the life experience of children and communities with the key ideas and practices of the (school) curriculum.

In the tradition of Freire (1972), we encourage a ‘critical praxis’ where the continuing process of praxis assists groups and communities in developing a critical consciousness so that coercion can be resisted and social conditions altered. Arnold, J. Edwards, T. Hooley, N. and Williams, J. (2012) ‘Conceptualising teacher education and research as ‘critical praxis’, Critical Studies in Education Vol. 53, No. 3, October 2012, 281–295