Teaching as the Practice of Wisdom (Critical Pedagogy Today) - Hardcover

Smith, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1623568439 ISBN 13: 9781623568436

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014

Synopsis

In the spirit of Paulo Freire, this inspiring book deconstructs many of the 'gods' that define contemporary life, then offers hope through sources of traditional wisdom. It addresses important contemporary discourses in the political and social sciences in ways that are relevant to the personal and professional lives of teachers at all levels of educational practice. David G. Smith discusses the impacts on teachers' lives of neoconservativism, neoliberalism, the New Marxism, the emerging paradigm of Deep Politics, global Wisdom traditions, and more - and he reveals how teachers can creatively stand with or against these streams of influence. By clearly relating larger theoretical discussions in the social sciences to the policies and practices of teaching, Smith builds upon Freire's legacy. He also reaches beyond debates in Western scholarship, and accesses new theory from the global "South", from Buddhist and NeoConfucian traditions as well as the new African Renaissance stream known as Unhu/Ubuntu. This is a powerful work of educational theory and philosophy that contains useful advice for educators wishing to push back against conformity.

About this title

About the Author:

David Geoffrey Smith is Professor of Education (Emeritus) at the University of Alberta, Canada, specialising in Globalization Theory, Curriculum Studies, and Wisdom Traditions. His essays have won awards from the Canadian Association of Curriculum Studies, and the Canadian Association for Foundations in Education. In 2005-2005 he was awarded the McCalla Research Professorship for Outstanding Contribution to Research and Scholarship at the University of Alberta, Canada. In 2011, he was named recipient of the prestigious Ted. T. Aoki Award for Distinguished Service in Canadian Curriculum Studies. His work has been translated into Chinese, and soon, Korean. Previous collections of essays are in Pedagon: Interdisciplinary essays in the human sciences, pedagogy and culture (Lang 1999) and Trying to Teach in a Season of Great Untruth: Globalization, Empire and the Crises of Pedagogy (Sense 2006)

Review:

This is a very interesting book which approaches the sociological critique of neo-liberalism from a distinctive and valuable angle. * Stephen Cowden, Coventry University, UK *

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1623568439
• ISBN 13: 9781623568436
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240