Part of the ground-breaking series Key Thinkers in English in Education and the Language Arts, this text focuses on the work of British curriculum theorist, John Dixon. Regarded widely as the de facto ‘father’ of the influential ‘Growth’ model of English, this book accessibly presents Dixon as a much broader thinker around the nature of subject English, and, in particular, as a key theorist around writing and literary response. By concentrating on three major book publications and...

English Language Arts as an Emancipatory Subject explores the changing nature and history of the English Language as an emancipatory subject, as well as how its current activities and projects address and challenge inequalities.Various forms of critical literacy have established English teaching as a radical force for social justice and subversion. However, the expert contributors to this book question whether English is a force for good in its capacity to develop literate...

At a time when knowledge is being 're-valued' as central to curriculum concerns, subject English is being called to account. Literary Knowing and the Making of English Teachers puts long-standing debates about knowledge and knowing in English in dialogue with an investigation of how English teachers are made in the 21st century.This book explores, for the first time, the role of literature in shaping English teachers’ professional knowledge and identities by examining the ...

The fourth volume in the successful IFTE series provides an international perspective on the knowledge and professional development of the English teaching workforce. It provides a state-of-the-art review of English teaching and teachers and how they are developed over time.With contributions from leading scholars around the world, this volume is divided into four sections that follow the journey of an English teacher from being a student, to the latter stages of professional devel...

In Engaging Schooling, the authors use case studies to engagingly demonstrate how schools can use pedagogical change to enable students from low SES backgrounds to benefit academically and socially from their schooling.The book, which builds on Exemplary Teachers of Students in Poverty from the same research team, deals with key issues around the reshaping of schooling and teaching, focusing on structures for mentoring and research practice among teachers. It sign...

Resisting Educational Inequality examines poverty, social exclusion and vulnerability in educational contexts at a time of rising inequality and when policy research suggests that such issues are being ignored or distorted within neoliberal logics.In this volume, leading scholars from Australia and across the UK examine these issues through three main focus areas:Mapping the damage: what are our explanations for the persistent nature of educational ...

The seminal Dartmouth Conference (1966) remains a remarkably influential moment in the history of English teaching. Bringing together leading voices in contemporary English education, this book celebrates the Conference and its legacy, drawing attention to what it has achieved, and the questions it has raised.Encompassing a multitude of reflections on the Dartmouth Conference, The Future of English Teaching Worldwide provides fresh and revisionist readings of the meeting a...

Recent worldwide education policy has reinvented teachers as agents of change and professional developers of the school curriculum. Academic literature has analyzed changes in how teacher professionalism is conceived in policy and in practice but Teacher Agency provides a fresh perspective on this issue, drawing upon an ecological theory of agency. Using this model for understanding agency, Mark Priestley, Gert Biesta and Sarah Robinson explore empirical findings from the 'Teacher...

Schooling, Society and Curriculum offers a much needed reassessment and realignment of curriculum studies in the UK and international contexts. Comprising a collection of eleven original chapters by prominent, nationally and internationally known experts in the field of curriculum studies, the book leads and fosters critical, generic debates about formal education and its relationships to wider society.Focusing on key debates that have been present for as long as formal st...

Do we have a literacy crisis?Fierce debates in the media over how to teach children to read and write have reached new heights in recent years. The intensity of the debates is not surprising as literacy education matters to everyone, but there is collateral damage. Public confidence in literacy teachers has been undermined and many believe we have a literacy crisis in our schools.The Literacy Wars explains the reasons for the often bitter disagreements between the ...

This book weaves together different strands of research in the area of lifelong learning that concentrates particularly on learning in alternative settings and ways, such experiential learning and informal and community learning. Drawing upon international research, the book examines how these strands of research can contribute to each other.The contributions to this book are based on material presented at a conference at the Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning, UK, and they f...

Lifelong learning has developed enormously as a distinct area of study within education in recent years not least because numerous governments and educational strategists have become very vocal supporters of new ways of learning throughout all stages of life. This guide to the topic brings together new writing from some of the leading thinkers in the field to offer a broad ranging and detailed snapshot of the position to date. The book provides a critical summary of current developments in...