Dewey: Education, Social Justice, and Democracy

Today I participated in the conference 'Education, Social Justice, and Democracy: Critical Issues in 21st Century Education'. This was a Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain event celebrating the centenary of John Dewey's influential text Democracy and Education, focusing on social justice and inclusion in 21st century education. I was delighted to have the opportunity to present preliminary findings from my own research in a talk called Co-Creation of the Curriculum: Living Democratic Values in Learning and Teaching, drawing on Dewey's democratic ideals and showing how many academic staff participants in my study were motivated to co-create the curriculum with their students by wanting to facilitate democratic engagement in the classroom. Furthermore, co-creation of the curriculum helps students draw on past experiences inside and outside of the classroom to engage them with current learning that is more accessible, inclusive, and rewarding since it is relevant to their own goals and interests.

Several of the talks focusing on primary and secondary education helped me reflect in new ways on my own research. In particular, I saw parallels between Diana Murdoch's research on inclusive education and themes in my work including the feelings of isolation and invisibility when a learning environment doesn't foster care and the inclusion of all voices in the classroom at any level of study. I see co-creation of the curriculum as an opportunity for developing community, care, and inclusion in education. Furthermore, co-creation of the curriculum is often referred to as a fun and creative process that engages both students and staff to learn from each other. The presentation by Adrian Skilbeck highlighted Dewey's notion that play should occur across the curriculum by engaging students imaginatively and creatively to combine work and play in learning. I was particularly struck when he noted Dewey's idea that the role of teachers is to foster engagement, inquiry, and playfulness; I would like to explore these concepts in my own research. Furthermore, Holly Linklater showed her work in which pupils have 'co-agency' in primary school classrooms alongside staff so that pupils' exploration, choices, and reflections create dynamic learning environments when teachers build community in the classroom and attend to the imagination, individuality, and co-agency of children. It is great to see co-creation of the primary school curriculum and to think about why co-creation of the higher education curriculum is considered more controversial.

A keynote address by Prof Leonard Waks who summarised Dewey's ideas that education should emphasise engaging experiences that help students to practice democratic means that help them develop as stronger actors in a democratic society. Like I do in my work, Waks highlighted the necessity of engaging students in learning and continuous readjustment within the context of an ever-changing world. Waks then tried to relate Dewey's ideas of democracy in education to the idea that the Internet has produced Education2.0 which is liberating students from a reliance on single sources of information and single conceptions of knowledge. However, Waks' superficial and idealised view of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) stimulated good critique from the audience of why we need to look more closely at some undemocratic aspects of MOOCs.

Another theme that I took away from a different set of sessions was how Dewey's work on democracy and education highlights the importance of informed participation of citizens in multicultural democracies. Presentations highlighted the importance of multiculturalism and informed learning about Islam in American schools to recognise cultural diversity and accept differences (Liz Jackson), using education to understand the causes of injustices against women in Iran and look at how to include them more widely in the workforce (Hoda Mobasseri), and using citizenship education in Pakistan to promote social justice (Khurshid Sana Kahn).