Other Education call for papers

This call offers information about dates and how to submit a paper to the new online, open access, peer reviewed journal Other Education, co-edited by Helen Lees and Gert Biesta.
If your work is connected to doing things differently in education, we are the right journal for you.

The invisibility of the alternative alternative: an exploratory discussion of factors that stop us seeing educational alternatives in their vital otherness from the mainstream of educational practice

Submitted as a paper for a conference.

This paper considers a theoretical lack of understanding in education that operates to exclude the possibility that 'alternative education' is very alternative from mainstream education. The argument considers usage of the 'term' alternative in mainstream education and how, when 'alternative' means theoretical and practical educational 'otherness', it is marginalised by some theorists to mean just another aspect of education meant as a whole and complete field. I argue that this is not possible based on empirical data collected and theoretical lines followed that show forms of education such as democratic schooling and autonomous home education function in many ways as a Kuhnian other world.

Staring at the bird in the tree: the redemption of schooling through mind rights?

Submitted to a journal.

This article considers the idea of positive ‘strong silence’ practices as a site of the redemption of the undemocratic project of schooling. Taking a small example of the right for a child to stare out the classroom window during lesson time, the argument follows a thread from the rights of the child to freedoms of thought and personal expression to the idea of a culture change in schools from the democratisation of schooling that strong silences might bring. It is suggested that the unalienable right to stare at the bird in the tree could bring, in its simplicity, a redeemed culture for schooling of rights respecting and silence respecting power towards benefits.

The Necessity of Educational Theory

Co-authored with Gert Biesta. Presented by Helen Lees at British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Institute of London, London, 2011

The necessity of theory in the field of education is in question. A number of publications in recent years have sought to refute the need for theory and theorising in educational research and practice. We show that arguments against educational theory are refutable and that educational studies needs to refute them for the sake of strong development. This paper takes up Gary Thomas’s claims in particular to make a case for the necessity of educational theory. Following criticisms of this work, we move to consider positive uses of theory in education, highlighting its roles and how it serves education as a discipline of activity and debate. In short, an argument is developed that suggests educational theory is needful for education to flourish and be the best that it can be for all those concerned with its uses and development. What Thomas, in particular, identifies as the downfall of educational theory is shown as in fact the downfall of education without theory.

Philosophy of education at the edge of the world: the concept of education revisited...

Presented at Philosophy of Education Great Britain Conference, , New College, Oxford, 2011
Published in proceedings.

This article examines possible implications for the field of philosophy of education of data from a recent research study (Lees 2010) of the discovery, by adults, of alternative modalities of education distinct from mainstream schooling. The 2010 study showed that discovery of educational alternatives such as elective home education (Thomas and Pattison 2007) or democratic schooling of a Summerhillian (Neill 1968) type appears to exhibit characteristics closely matching natural science discoveries as theorised by T. S. Kuhn involving anomaly, crisis, revelation, gestalt switch and revolution (Kuhn 1962). This would suggest paradigmatic ‘worlds’ operate within education. Using the article ‘The Concept of Education Revisited’ (Wilson 2003), the present ‘visit’ to the concept of education uses the implications of the above study on discovery’s data on educational conceptual revolutions to suggest that conceptual analysis of education requires substantial revision in the light of the idea of education as paradigmatic at the level of modality. The article posits that not taking into account the possibility that education can be a paradigmatic field at the level of modality tacitly and by omission philosophically conflates education as a concept with a singular ‘paradigm’ of education to be mostly found in and modelled by mainstream schooling.

‘Transformed’ by the discovery of schooling as one educational paradigm among many

Presented at Philosophy of Education Great Britain Conference, Symposium on Women in Philosophy of Education, New College, Oxford, 2011

To think about education as schooling, is a common mistake. There is a sense that this mistake is part of a dominant ‘world-view’ where valid education happens in and through schools or educational institutions and also often adheres, to varying degrees, to an established educational modality of teacher-led teaching. Elective home education (EHE) is one form of education that disproves the myth of education as schooling. It does so in intriguing and surprising ways that involve new approaches to learning and becoming (Thomas and Pattison 2007; Sheffer 1995). In its very difference from schooling, EHE offers an alternative world-view of education in a human life that many practioners see as transformative. This paper looks at the discovery of EHE as a product of a Kuhnian ‘gestalt-switch’ (Kuhn 1962) that takes a person from one world and into another, with subsequent ontological implications for lifestyles and communication between ‘world-views’. The argument suggests that schooling needs to move towards being widely self-identified as only one paradigm amongst many in a educational arena of radically different educational worlds and that a conflation of education with schooling needs to cease. This is because transformations in people’s lives experienced when education is understood as not just schooling have implications for education which are intriguing.

Educational modality as belief: an exploratory primer for implications and questions connected to educational theorising

Presented at LET conference, University of Stirling, June 2010

This paper considers an emerging thesis that adherence to a particular educational modality such as democratic education, autonomous home education or mainstream authoritarian education has similarities to the nature of belief systems, such as a belief in God. The theoretical thread developed is taken from empirical data collected in a study on the nature of the discovery of the possibility of elective home education. The idea that an understanding, option for and use of a particular pedagogy is linked to a belief in the nature and efficacy of a pedagogy – rather than merely an opinion about these things – sets education within a context of interaction with the self. Belief in a particular form, or modality, of education is seen to be the result of location of the self within a defining paradigm of belief about education which also affects ontology. Thus, the educational paradigm is a determinant of the nature of the self and of the self’s ‘becoming...’ by virtue of the differences of modality (and outcome) to be found in various educational systems such as timetabled, school-based, peer-tiered education or home education of the autonomous kind. This paper explores awareness of how education as modality interacts with the Self as belief and in so doing has the power to take on a significance hitherto unexplored or acknowledged in education.

Silence in schools

submitted to a journal (presented at BERA 2009)

An analysis of silence in schools is a matter of considerable complexity. This is due to the nature of silence itself but also stems from effects of silence when connected with power; a matter of importance in school settings. This complexity is also compounded by the ideas around silence as a feature of the Human and of human life. When placed within a school setting, these ideas multiply in a variety of expanding directions of philosophical importance. This paper focuses on silence as a circumstance, pre-disposition, atmosphere and awareness in schools. Much previous work has considered negative silence on the one hand and uses of silent meditation on the side of positive effects. However, little work has yet considered positive silence as an educational tool, and an aspect of a school environment for notice. This paper seeks to introduce and highlight the potential of ‘strong’ or positive silence in school settings for better educational outcomes. The arguments consider contexts of work on school violences, meditative practices, various scientific studies on the uses of silence and burgeoning interest in ways of considering calming practices for school improvement. The paper suggests that educational practioners currently have little awareness of silence as a tool, that current use of silence in schools is hegemonically negative and there is presently ignorance about silence in schools which needs addressing. Arguments are presented for the use of ‘strong’ silence as a school improvement measure and a focus on such silence as a tangible and necessary policy focus.

The democratic school meeting and Foucault's care of the self: technologies of self in practice for purpose

Published in School of Education, Birmingham University, UK, Student Conference proceedings 2008

This paper explores the similarities in philosophy and practice between democratic school meetings as a technology of the self and the discussion of the technologies of ‘care of the self’ as an ethical practice outlined by Michel Foucault (Foucault 1986).

It is suggested that an appreciation of the similarities between these two important projects might offer an educational focus on a practical positivity for life lived, that Foucault himself considered missing ‘at least from the humanistic period of the Renaissance til now...’ and which might serve humanity in a useful way.

A perspective on established debates within educational research. Is an alternative ontological foundation available?

Published in School of Education, Birmingham University, UK, Student Conference proceedings 2007

This paper is written from the perspective of a brand new entrant to the arena of educational research and examines some first impressions of the domain, from a personal viewpoint. It argues that whilst educational research is a vibrant arena of dissent and that this is a sign of health, there is much about educational research as presently conceptualized that is ontologically misguided. This belief is shown to be the product of an emphasis on a poststructuralist/postmodern openness that sees education as a progressive practice of democratic self-determination. The particular characterization of progressive education discussed is one that privileges 'inner' understandings of Self as significant for child-centered educational practice, refuting the present hegemony of positivist/quantitative educational models and the concomitant educational research that this creates and requires, which it is suggested serves adults and not children.