Knowledge is a fundamental aspect of education, but something that education research rarely addresses head-on. Dr. Kate O’Connor (La Trobe University) specialises in the sociology of knowledge, and in this episode talks about her work around curriculum development, online teaching, and the increasing pressure for academics to engage in open scholarship.
Prof Jen Gilbert (York University) is a leading international researcher in the area of sexuality, gender and education. We talk about school as a site of sexuality, Jen’s use of storytelling methods, tips for dealing with the media, and how perceptions of ‘risk’ have altered since COVID.
“Historians remind us of what we might prefer to forget” Johannes Westberg (University of Groningen) is one of Europe’s rising historians of education. We talk about his recent paper: “What we can learn from studying the past: The wonderful usefulness of history in educational research”, and consider the benefits of thinking more critically about sources of evidence, drawing on historical comparisons, and how history provides a valuable ‘psychological distance’ from emotive debates.
Frank Pasquale (Brooklyn Law School) is a leading commentator on the social and legal consequences of AI, robotics and algorithms. Drawing on his 2020 book ‘The New Laws of Robotics’, Frank talks about various emerging issues around education and AI – from the changing status of professional educators to the possible regulation of ed-tech.
In this episode, Troy Heffernan (La Trobe University) talks about the continuing relevance of Pierre Bourdieu’s ideas to contemporary higher education. We talk about the importance of Bourdieu’s notion of ‘cultural trajectories’, his 1990 book ‘Homo Academicus’, and Troy’s own use of Bourdieu to make sense of rising tensions between university middle-managers and academics.
Despite their social democratic origins, Swedish schools now depend heavily on the support of commercial companies. Professor Malin Ideland (Malmo University) talks about her research into Sweden’s diverse ‘edu-business’ and ‘edu-prenuer’ sectors. Malin describes the breadth of work that these private actors take on, their underpinning ideology, alongside the impact this is having on public education in Sweden.
Chris Gilliard (@hypervisible) is a leading critic of surveillance technology, digital privacy, and the problematic ways that tech intersects with race and social class. We talk about the automated forms of surveillance that are coming into schools and colleges – from ‘online examination proctoring’ to the use of ‘Alexa’ in classrooms. Why do people in EdTech seem reluctant to call out the harms arising from these technologies? Can we ever trust ‘big tech’ companies like Amazon? What hope is the...
Gert Biesta (University of Edinburgh) is one of the best-known – and most interesting - current philosophers of education. We talk about Gert’s recent interest in the work of Klaus Prange, the need to come up with better questions (rather than answers), the prominence of ‘empty concepts’ in education, and advice for early career academics starting out in education research. Full text transcription of the interview: https://criticaledtech.com/2022/01/11/approaching-education-from-the-inside-out-a...
“Laptops will make a good school better, but they won’t make a bad school good” In this episode, we join Mark Warschauer (UC Irvine) for an overview of his 30 year career researching digital learning. We talk about why digital technology continues to be hyped as a ‘game changer’ in education, how children talk to computers as compared to humans, and Mark’s experience of editing the AERA Open journal. Text transcript of the interview: https://criticaledtech.com/2021/11/30/digital-learning-an-inte...
Educational philosopher Carl Anders Safstrom (Maynooth University) joins us to talk about the past, present and future of ‘public education’. We trace the origins of the idea from post-war Europe back to the writing of John Dewey, and even further to the Ancient Greek ‘Sophists’. Carl Anders also considers how models of public education differ dramatically between countries – highlighting recent reforms of Swedish schooling as a cautionary example.
How do students learn to interact with others? How do teachers cope with stress? In this episode, we join psychologist Rebecca Collie (UNSW) for an overview of her work on social and emotional development in schools. We talk about how students’ disruptive behaviours impact teachers, the concept of workplace buoyancy, and the challenges of doing rapid research on how teachers coped with the COVID lockdowns.
Does the idea of ‘globalisation’ still have any relevance for understanding education in the 2020s? Fazal Rizvi (University of Melbourne) talks about what education policy now looks like in light of the rise of Asia, alongside increased worldwide shifts toward nationalism, popularism, and anti-globalisation. We also discuss the digitization of society, the significance of post-colonial theory, and how education research needs to retain hope for the future.
Val Mendes (UNESCO) brings a global perspective to the topic of AI and education – particularly in light of UNESCO’s focus on educational policy and practice around the world. We talk about the importance of seeing AI in ‘narrow’ terms, the idea of ‘augmented’ intelligence, what UNESCO is doing to support AI and education, and the big questions of what can AI do well in low- and middle-income countries. A full transcript of the interview is available online: https://criticaledtech.com/2021/08/09...
What is the educational potential of artificial intelligence? Erica Southgate (University of Newcastle) talks us through some of the key issues surrounding the emergence of educational AI technology. We talk about the importance of AI explainability, the idea of big tech companies working alongside education communities, and the complex questions about the changing nature of learning with AI. A full transcript of the interview is available online: https://criticaledtech.com/2021/08/02/ai-and-edu...
What role does science education have in a ‘post-truth’ era when some people deny climate change, oppose vaccinations, and believe COVID to be a hoax? In this episode, Gale Sinatra and Barbara Hofer talk about their new book – Science Denial: Why It Happens & What To Do About It. We discuss the psychology of science denial – from cognitive biases through to the influence of group identity – and consider the role of schools in fostering nuanced understandings of the scientific process and bas...
‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ is a key educational text - packed with radical ideas about critical pedagogy and the death of the authoritarian teacher. In this episode, we join Carlos Alberto Torres (UCLA) for a deep dive into the background against which Freire was writing, the specific contexts of his ideas, and how we should be engaging with Pedagogy of the Oppressed over 50 years since its publication.
Antero Garcia (Stanford University) talks about his work in the area of media education and civics. We start by talking about the future of civics education in US schooling. We also explore the roles that games and gaming can play in reimagining (and disrupting) what goes on in the classroom. From Trump to Twitch to Paulo Freire in 15 minutes!
“So you’re a science educator? That’s so radical!’ Sara Tolbert (University of Canterbury) is committed to challenging the politics and power that underpin science education. Sara talks about her work in supporting Indigenous knowledge and place-based learning in school, feminist approaches to teaching as care-work, and what we can learn from the classroom ritual of dissecting animals. We also reflect on being a scholar/activist in times of culture wars and growing ‘anti-woke’ sentiment.
“We cannot understand education policy and power in education only by looking at the nation state”. Dr. Jason Beech has just joined Monash University’s Faculty of Education. He talks about the importance of space and networks in comparative education, his work on ‘Global Middle Class’ families and ‘idiosyncratic’ policy enactment, and the differences he expects to see moving from research in Argentina to research in Australia.
Professor Nathalie Sinclair (Simon Fraser University) is a leading philosopher whose work strives to change the way we think about learning and teaching maths. In this interview Nathalie talks about the importance of gestures when explaining mathematical concepts, why students should be encouraged to count on their fingers, and why there is room for aesthetics, values and romance when thinking about how to address mathematical problems.
Many people expect neuroscience to change our understanding of education. Michael Thomas (Birkbeck University) is director of the Centre for Educational Neuroscience in London. In this episode, Michael talks about what educators need to know about how the brain works, avoiding ‘disciplinary wars’ between psychology & neuroscience, and the need to balance a ‘medical model’ of learning with societal concerns about education.
Keri Facer (University of Bristol) is a leading thinker in the area of education futures, and has just completed a term as visiting Zennström Professor of Climate Change Leadership at Uppsala University. We talk about the diverse ways that higher education can respond to the uncertainties arising from climate change – from basic reduction of campus carbon footprints to more complex restructuring processes that might support a large-scale transition to sustainable livelihoods and new ways of livi...
Pat Thomson (University of Nottingham) is renowned for her public work in demystifying academic writing, career-building, and other practical aspects of researcher education. We talk about the benefits of ‘angry’ scholarship, the intimacies of co-authoring, and how to navigate the pressure of H-scores, KPIs and other performance metrics.
Rikke Toft Nørgård (Aarhus University) brings together educational philosophy with design practices and futures thinking. We talk about Rikke’s ‘University of We’ and ‘Playful University’ projects, and discuss the ways that design thinking can play a role in establishing more ethical universities.
“In times of crisis we need to be creative” Simone Eringfeld (Cambridge University) is part of a new generation of education researchers beginning to re-imagine what it might mean to work in higher education. We talk about Simone’s recent ‘Quaran-chats’ project documenting higher education lockdown experiences, Cambridge’s new ‘Post Pandemic University’ initiative, and the pros and cons of beginning an academic career in the 2020s.
“Sociology of education has devoted itself to saving, reforming, improving, perfecting the school … I now believe that it is a doomed enterprise. The school is an irredeemable institution”. Prof. Stephen Ball (IOE London) is one of the world’s most eminent education researchers – a leading voice in the sociology of education, and a founding name in the area of policy sociology. We talk about everything from Foucault to the state of pandemic education. We also discus Stephen’s recent provocative ...
Audrey Watters is a legendary critical voice in the world of education and technology. In this episode we talk about Audrey’s new book – ‘Teaching Machines’ - a history of the automation of education coming out with MIT Press in early 2021. We also talk about Audrey’s work as an independent scholar and writer, and dealing with the online misogyny provoked by being a female critical voice.
Prof. Tamara Moore (Purdue University) discusses her career in the area of Engineering Education – especially her work in developing ‘Engineering thinking’ in K-12 classrooms. We talk about the importance of context in getting children interested in science and maths, why we need to move beyond talk of a ‘STEM pipeline’, and why we all need to appreciate the role that engineers play in shaping everyday life.
Schools are now increasingly shaped by market forces and commercial interests. Listen to Dr. Anna Hogan (UQ) talk about the fast-changing privatization of public schooling. We discuss the diverse ways that private actors are now involved in schools, the difficulties of researching commercial activities in education, and how big corporations have quickly moved to redefine COVID-era schooling.
The coronavirus has pushed families, schools and researchers into new ways of doing things. Listen to John Potter (UCL) talk about how the COVID lockdowns are prompting new questions about children’s play, and the experience of remote schooling. We also talk about the future of academic travel, and new UCL research into academics’ experiences of moving to online teaching and home-working.
