E Wayne Ross – Page 34 – Critical Theories in Education

Ry Cooder “No Banker Left Behind”

Robert Riech: The Truth about the Economy

CFP: An International Examination of Teacher Education: Exposing and Resisting the Neoliberal Agenda

The Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies
Special Issue: Spring 2012
An International Examination of Teacher Education: Exposing and Resisting the Neoliberal Agenda

Chief Editor: Professor Dave Hill, Chief/Managing Editor and Founding Editor, Professor Dave Hill, Professor Peter L. McLaren Editor, North America, Professor Pablo Gentili Editor, Latin America

Guest Editors: Dr. Brad Porfilio, Lewis University & Dr. Julie Gorlewski, SUNY at New Paltz

In recent decades, the transnational capitalist class has wielded power and influence to gain control over elements of social life that were once considered vital domains to fostering the social welfare of global citizens. Affected public domains include natural resources, health care, prisons, transportation, post-catastrophe restoration, and education. The chief linchpin in the elite’s corporatization over social affairs is its effective propaganda campaign to inculcate the global community to believe that neoliberal capitalism ameliorates rather than devastates humanity. According to political pundits, free-market academics, and corporate leaders, economic prosperity and improvements in the social world emanate from “unregulated or free markets, the withering away of the state as government’s role in regulating businesses and funding social services are either eliminated or privatized, and encouraging individuals to become self-interested entrepreneurs” (Hursh, 2011). Since neoliberalism is a term rarely uttered is most dominant (mainstream) media outlets, most citizens are not cognizant of how it is linked to many deleterious economic and social developments at today’s historical juncture, such as massive unemployment, the swelling of home foreclosures, homelessness, militarism, school closings, maldistribution of wealth, and environmental degradation (Hill, 2008; Hursh, 2011; McLaren, 2007; Ross & Gibson, 2007; Scipes, 2009). Equally important, many global citizens fail to recognize how the transitional elite have spawned a McCarthy-like witch hunt to eliminate academics, policies, and programs that have the potential to engage citizens in a critical examination of what is responsible for today’s increasingly stark social world – as well as what steps are necessary to radically transform it.

In this special issue of The Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies, we call on progressive scholars from across the globe to provide empirical research, conceptual analysis, and theoretical insights in relation to how corporate policies, practices, and imperatives are structuring life in schools of education. Since the impact of neoliberal capitalism on programs, policies, relationships, and pedagogies in schools of education is not uniform, as local histories and politics structure how macro-forces come to impact people in local contexts (Gruenwell (2003), the issue will be integral in understanding and confronting the social actors and constitute forces gutting the humanizing nature of education. Additionally, we call on critical scholars and pedagogues who have found emancipatory fissures amid corporatized schools of education to share policies, pedagogies, and cultural work that have the potency promote critical forms of education, democratic relationships, and peace, equity and social justice across the globe.

Manuscripts are due by December 1, 2011 and should be submitted as email attachments to porfilio16@aol.com and gorlewsj@newpaltz.edu.

Papers submitted for publication should be between 5,000 and 8000 words long. While we would hope that papers would be submitted in accordance with the Harvard Referencing Style, we do accept those written in any commonly accepted academic style, as long as the style is consistent throughout the paper.

Please direct all inquires about this special issue to the guest editors at Porfilio16@aol.com and gorlewsj@newpaltz.edu.

Rouge Forum Dispatch: Peeking Through the Blindfolds

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Greek universities in danger

To the international academic community

Greek Universities in Danger

In the last few years, a wave of ‘reforms’ within the European Union and throughout the world has subjected Higher Education to the logic of the market. Higher Education has increasingly been transformed from a public good and a civil right to a commodity for the wealthy. The self-government of Universities and the autonomy of academic processes are also being eroded. The processes of knowledge production and acquisition, as well as the working conditions of the academic community, are now governed by the principles of the private sector, from which Universities are obliged to seek funds.

Greece is possibly the only European Union country where attempts to implement these ‘reforms’ have so far failed. Important factors in this failure are the intense opposition of Greek society as well as the Greek Constitution, according to which Higher Education is provided exclusively by public, fully self-governed and state-funded institutions.

According to the existing institutional framework for the functioning of Universities, itself the result of academic and student struggles before and after the military dictatorship (1967-1974), universities govern themselves through bodies elected by the academic community. Although this institutional framework has contributed enormously to the development of Higher Education in Greece, insufficient funding and suffocating state control, as well as certain unlawful and unprofessional practices by the academic community, have rendered Higher Education reform necessary.

The current government has now hastily attempted a radical reform of Higher Education. On the pretext of the improvement of the ‘quality of education’ and its harmonization with ‘international academic standards’, the government is promoting the principles of ‘reciprocity’ in Higher Education. At the same time, it is drastically decreasing public funding for education (up to 50% decrease) which is already amongst the lowest in the European Union. New appointments of teaching staff will follow a ratio 1:10 to the retirement of existing staff members. This will have devastating results in the academic teaching process as well as in the progress of scientific knowledge.

The government proposals seek to bypass the constitutional obligations of the state towards public Universities and abolish their academic character.

The self-government of Universities will be circumvented, with the current elected governing bodies replaced by appointed ‘Councils’ who will not be accountable to the academic community.
The future of Universities located on the periphery, as well as of University departments dedicated to ‘non-commercial’ scientific fields, looks gloomy.

Academic staff will no longer be regarded as public functionaries. The existing national payscale is to be abolished and replaced by individualized, ‘productivity’ related payscales, while insecure employment is to become the norm for lower rank employees.

Higher Education will be transformed into ‘training’ and, along with research, gradually submitted to market forces.
The government proposals have been rejected by the Greek academic community. The Council of Vice-Chancellors and the Senates of almost all Universities have publicly called the government to withdraw the proposals and have suggested alternative proposals which can more effectively deal with the problems of Greek Universities. Despite this, the government proceeds with promoting its proposals, in confrontation with the entire academic community.

We appeal to our colleagues from the international academic community, who have experienced the consequences of similar reforms, to support us in our struggle to defend education as a public good. We fight, together with our British, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and other colleagues, for the respect of the academic tradition of the European universitas in current conditions.

We ask you to send electronically the appeal below, signed with your name and indicating your academic status and institutional affiliation, to the Initiative of Greek Academics (europeanuniversitas1@gmail.com). The support of the international academic community will prove invaluable for the upcoming developments not only in Greek Universities but in respect to European Higher Education as a whole.

Initiative of Greek academics

To: europeanuniversitas1@gmail.com

Subject: Defending Higher Education in Greece

Defending Higher Education in Greece

We, the undersigned, express our support for Greek academics who oppose the Higher Education reform proposed by the government, which hinders the research and teaching potential of Greek Universities.

Any process aiming to improve the institutional frame of Higher Education has to decisively take into account the positions of the academic community. We understand that the vast majority of the Senates of Greek Universities, the Council of Vice-Chancellors of Greek Universities, as well as the local organisations of University teachers have publicly expressed their opposition to government proposals.

We ask the Greek Prime Minister, Mr. Giorgos Papandreou, and the Minister of Education, Life-Long Learning and Religions, Ms. Anna Diamantopoulou

(a) not to proceed with voting the law, as the direction it has taken has proven devastating for Higher Education wherever it was implemented

(b) to start a real dialogue with the Senates of Universities aiming towards an institutional frame that will safeguard the constitutionally protected self-government of Universities and the public funding of Higher Education, and will respect the principles of European academic traditions regarding the public functioning of Universities.

http://supportgreekacademia.wordpress.com

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CRITICAL EDUCATION—Athens, Greece (12-16 JULY 2011)

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CRITICAL EDUCATION
ATHENS
12-16 JULY 2011

Organized by the journals:

JOURNAL OF CRITICAL POLICY EDUCATIONAL STUDIES (UK)
CULTURAL LOGIC (USA/CANADA)
KRITIKI (GREECE)
RADICAL NOTES (INDIA)

Conference and Local Organizing Committee Coordinators:
Dave Hill, (Middlesex University, UK)
Peter McLaren, (UCLA, USA)

Program details here [pdf].

International Conference on Critical Education: Keynote Speakers and Participants
Keynote Speakers
Peter McLaren (UCLA, USA), Amrohini Sahay (Hofstra University, New York, USA), Dave Hill (Middlesex University, UK), Aristides Baltas (National Technical University of Athens), Ravi Kumar (Jamia Milia Islamia University, Delhi, India), John Preston (University of East London, England), Chrysoula Papageorgiou (Secondary education).

Confirmed Participants (as on 6th Dec 2010)
Fayaz Ahmad (JMI Central University, Delhi, India), Dennis Beach and Anna-Carin Johnsson (University of Boras, Sweden), Sarah Carpenter and Shahrzad Mojab (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada), Namita Chakrabarty (University of East London, England), Domingos Leite Lima Filho (Federal Technological University of Paraná -UTFPR, Brazil), Morgan Gardner (Memorial University, Faculty of Education, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada), Sara Hauftman (Achva Academic College of Education, Israel), Steven Hales, (University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada), Petar Jandric (Polytechnic Graduate School in Zagreb, Croatia), Nathalia Jaramillo (Purdue University, USA), Anastasia Liasidou (European University of Cyprus), Vicki Macris (University of Alberta, Canada), Alpesh Maisuria (Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, England), Spyros Themelis (Middlesex University, London, England), Gabor Pallo (Academy of Sciences, Hungary), Periklis Pavlidis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece), Peter Perikles Trifonas (Ontario Institute of Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada), Nosheen Rachel-Naseem (Middlesex University, London, England), Debbie Toope (Memorial University, Faculty of Education, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada), Paul Welsh (ChristChurch Canterbury University, England), Sara Zamir (Ben-Gurion University, Eilat, Israel)

CFP: Critical Theories In the Twenty First Century: A Conference of Transformative Pedagogies

Call for Papers

Critical Theories In the Twenty First Century: A Conference of Transformative Pedagogies

West Chester University of Pennsylvania

Conference Founders:

Curry Malott, John Elmore, and Brad Porfilio

November 18th and 19th 2011

Proposals for papers, panels, performances, workshops, and other multimedia presentations should include title(s) and names and contact information for presenter(s). The deadline for sending prooposals is August 31, 2011. The Steering Committee will email acceptance or rejection notices by September 8, 2011. The proposal formats available to the presenters are as follows:

The general purpose of the West Chester Critical Theory Conference is to promote and support critical scholarship within students, and to advance critical theory and pedagogy more generally. By “advance” we mean to expose more people to critical practices and understandings as part of the process of the development of theory. Through this focus we hope to work toward unifying and strengthening the sub-genres of critical pedagogy from Marxism, critical race theory, to critical neo-colonial studies. This goal is approached through the conferences internal pedagogy and therefore through a horizontal rather than a vertical organizing structure; by including students and classroom teachers in the critical pedagogical work dominated by professors; and by attempting to create a space where criticalists who do not usually work together can create meaningful unity, respect, and common goals. Since the dominant form of power in the twenty first century—neoliberal capitalist power—is both multicultural and global, critical pedagogy must too become more multicultural and global if it is to pose a significant challenge to it for a more democratic life after capitalism.

Because critical theory is concerned with not only understanding the world, but with transforming it, the conference is focused on not only understanding the consequences of an unjust social and economic system (i.e. corporate take-over of schools, high stakes testing and behaviorist pedagogy, micro classroom aggressions and bullying, poverty, racism, sexism, white supremacy, homophobia, perpetual war, ableism, etc.), but with transforming or dissolving their root causes (i.e. neoliberal capitalism and settler-state, Euro-centric oppression and their patriarchal, homophobic, racist, etc. hegemonies). As part of this goal the conference will hopefully provide introductory discussions and presentations on critical pedagogy and critical theory.

SUBMISSIONS
Proposal Formats
Individual Proposal: (45 minutes)
The conference committee welcomes individual paper proposals, with the understanding that those accepted will be grouped together around common or overlapping themes, Presenters will have approximately 45 minutes to present or summarize their individual papers. Individual paper submissions will be considered for panels with the same topic/theme. If you would prefer to present your paper/research individually you should consider the alternative format proposal. A 300-500 word abstract of the paper will be peer reviewed for acceptance to the conference.

Symposium Proposal: (90 minutes)
Presenters are also welcomed to submit proposals for a symposium. A symposium is typically composed of a chair and discussant and three to five participants who present or summarize their papers. Each symposium is organized around a common theme. Each participant will have between 15 and 45 minutes to present their papers, depending upon the number of participants involved in the symposium. A 300-500 word abstract of the symposium will be peer reviewed for acceptance to the conference.

Panel Proposal: (90 minutes)
A panel discussion is another venue available presenters. A panel discussion is typically composed of three to six participants who discuss their scholarly work within the context of a dialogue or conversation on a topic or theme related to the conference theme. Typically, each panelist is given 10-15 minutes to discuss the topic, present theoretical ideas, and/or point to relevant research. A chair should be identified who introduces the panel and frames the issues and questions being addressed. In addition to the chair, we encourage (but do not require) organizers of panels to include a discussant who responds to the comments of the panelists. Individual proposal submissions will be combined into panels with the same theme/topic. A 300-500 word abstract of the panel discussion will be peer reviewed for acceptance to the conference.

Alternative Format and Special Interest Groups (90 minutes)
Alternative proposals that do not fit into the above categories, such as workshops, performances, video and multimedia presentations, and round-table dialogues, are encouraged. We also welcome proposals for the organization of special interest groups. A 150-250 word abstract of the panel discussion will be peer reviewed for acceptance to the conference.

Email proposals to conference coordinators Brad Porfilio (porfilio16@aol.com) and Curry Malott (currymalott@hotmail.com) by August 31, 2011.

Rouge Forum Dispatch: Criminalized–Those with Jobs and Health Benefits

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