Tag Archives: CFP

CFP: Educate, Agitate, Organize! Teacher Resistance Against Neoliberal Reforms

Educate, Agitate, Organize!
Teacher Resistance Against Neoliberal Reforms

Call for Manuscripts
Special Issue of Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor

Guest Editors:
Mark Stern, Colgate University
Amy Brown, University of Pennsylvania
Khuram Hussain, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

I can tell you with confidence, one year later [from the Measure of Progress test boycott in Seattle schools], I know where our actions will lead: to the formation of a truly mass civil rights movement composed of parents, teachers, educational support staff, students, administrators, and community members who want to end high-stakes standardized testing and reclaim public education from corporate reformers.—Jesse Hagopian, History Teacher and Black Student Union Adviser at Garfield High School, Seattle

As many of us have documented in our scholarly work, the past five years have witnessed a full-fledged attack on public school teachers and their unions. With backing from Wall Street and venture philanthropists, the public imaginary has been saturated with images and rhetoric decrying teachers as the impediments to ‘real’ change in K-12 education. Docu-dramas like Waiting For ‘Superman,’ news stories like Steve Brill’s, “The Teachers’ Unions’ Last Stand,” in The New York Times Magazine and high profile rhetoric like Michelle Rhee’s mantra that students, not adults, need to be “put first” in education reform, all point to this reality: teachers face an orchestrated, billion dollar assault on their professional status, their knowledge, and their abilities to facilitate dialogical spaces in classrooms. This assault has materialized and been compounded by an austerity environment that is characterized by waning federal support and a narrow corporate agenda. Tens of thousands of teachers have suffered job loss, while thousands more fear the same.

Far from being silent, teachers are putting up a fight. From the strike in Chicago, to grassroots mobilizing to wrest control of the United Federation of Teachers in New York, to public messaging campaigns in Philadelphia and boycotts in Seattle, teachers and their local allies are organizing, agitating and confronting school reform in the name of saving public education. In collaboration with parents, community activists, school staff, students, and administrators, teacher are naming various structures of oppression and working to reclaim the conversation and restore a sense of self-determination to their personal, professional, and civic lives.

This special issue of Workplace calls for proposals to document the resistance of teachers in the United States, Canada, and globally. Though much has been written about the plight of teachers under neoliberal draconianism, the reparative scholarship on teachers’ educating, organizing, and agitating is less abundant. This special issue is solely dedicated to mapping instances of resistance in hopes of serving as both resource and inspiration for the growing movement.

This issue will have three sections, with three different formats for scholarship/media. Examples might include:

I. Critical Research Papers (4000-6000 words)

Qualitative/ethnographic work documenting the process of teachers coming to critical consciousness.
Critical historiographies linking trajectories of political activism of teachers/unions across time and place.
Documenting and theorizing teacher praxis—protests, community education campaigns, critical agency in the classroom.
Critical examinations of how teachers, in specific locales, are drawing on and enacting critical theories of resistance (Feminist, Politics of Love/Caring/Cariño, Black Radical Traditions, Mother’s Movements, and so on).

II. Portraits of Resistance

Autobiographical sketches from the ground. (~2000 words)
Alternative/Artistic representations/Documentations of Refusal (poetry, visual art, photography, soundscapes)

III. Analysis and Synthesis of Various Media

Critical book, blog, art, periodical, music, movie reviews. (1500-2000 words)

400-word abstracts should be sent to Mark Stern (mstern@colgate.edu) by April 15, 2014. Please include name, affiliation, and a very brief (3-4 sentences) professional biography.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by May 15. Final drafts will be due October 1, 2014. Please note that having your proposal accepted does not guarantee publication. All final drafts will go through peer-review process. Authors will be notified of acceptance for publication by November 1.

Please direct all questions to Mark Stern (mstern@colgate.edu).

Reform and/or Revolution: Imagining a World with Transformative Justice (Left Forum 2014)

The theme for the 2014 Left Forum Conference is “Reform and/or Revolution: Imagining a World with Transformative Justice” (read or download it). The call for panels can be downloaded here.

This is the 10th year of the Left Forum, which will be held from May 30th – June 1, at the spacious new conference center at John Jay (CUNY) College in New York City. The conference grounds include beautiful open social spaces and many conference rooms (preview here).

‘Out of the Ruins’: The Emergence of New Radical Informal Learning Spaces

Below is a call for chapters that is sure be of interest to folks interested in both resisting the authoritarian, hierarchical, and standardizing approaches to education that dominant public education and creating new radical informal spaces for learning.

Rob Harworth and John Elmore, two of the folks behind the fantastic Critical Theories in the 21st Century Conference at West Chester University, are putting together a new edited book titled:’Out of the Ruins’: The Emergence of New Radical Informal Learning Spaces and they are looking for chapters on the following broad topics:

The Purpose of Education and The Politics of Learning
Developing Theories of Transformative Possibilities and Radical Informal Learning
The Emergence of Radical Informal Learning Spaces
Learning from Our Experiences: Sharing Narratives of Resistance

The complete call for chapters, with an extended framework for the book and detailed chapter topics, timeline and contacts please take a look at this PDF: Out of the Ruins CFP.

Good luck to Rob and John on what is an exciting project!

Call for Manuscripts: The Media and the Neoliberal Privatization of Education

Critical Education
Call for Manuscripts:
The Media and the Neoliberal Privatization of Education

Series Editors:
Derek R. Ford, Syracuse University
Brad Porfilio, Lewis University
Rebecca A. Goldstein, Montclair State University

As the neoliberal agenda for public education in North America intensifies, educational literature has increasingly turned its attention toward understanding the logics and processes of neoliberal privatization. Additionally, attention has been paid as to how educators resist these processes and practices, both in the classroom and beyond. This special issue seeks to deepen our understanding of the neoliberal privatization of education by extending critical examinations to an underrepresented field of cultural production: that of mainstream media reporting on education and the neoliberal privatization of education, which many believe represents a new round of primitive accumulation. By examining and analyzing the mainstream media’s relationship to the processes in which neoliberal education ideologies are constructed, reflected, and reified, articles in this issue will explicate the various ways in which the mainstream media has helped facilitate and legitimate neoliberalism as a universal logic in reforming education, both locally and globally. Articles will also speak to how critical educations have guided students in K-20 schools to understand the mainstream media’s relationship to supporting the neoliberal takeover of schools.

We welcome conceptual, empirical, theoretical, pedagogical and narrative articles that approach this topic from a variety of perspectives and frameworks. Articles included in the special issue may ask and examine questions such as, but not limited to: How has media coverage of teachers’ unions and teachers’ strikes reinforced and/or advanced privatization? What shift has taken place in terms of who is positioned in the media as educational “experts”? What are the differences between the way that various major news networks, newspapers, and news magazines talk about educational privatization? How are Teach For America and Teach For All being propelled by media coverage? What are the variations in media coverage of the neoliberal agenda for education? What are the alternatives and prospects for challenges to the mainstream media? How has ALEC impacted school reform policies and practices on the state level and to what extent has the media covered it? How have critical educators positioned their students to understand the mainstream media’s role in supporting the corporate agenda for schooling?

Manuscripts due: May 1, 2014

For details on manuscript submission see: CE Information for Authors

Popular Education Network Conference 2014

The 6th International Conference of the Popular Education Network (PEN)
Thursday 24 – Saturday 26 April 2014
University of Malta Valletta Campus

This conference seeks to build on the success of previous PEN conferences held in Edinburgh (2000), Barcelona (2002), Braga (2004), Maynooth (2007) and Seville (2011).

The conference is an opportunity for university-based teachers and researchers, student-activists and others involved in higher education, who share a common interest in popular education – many of whom work in considerable isolation in their own institutions – to meet, exchange ideas, learn from each other and enjoy some much needed solidarity and conviviality.

The language of the conference will be English.

For a better understanding of the rationale of the conference and for immediate steps to follow, you are kindly asked to click on the following: (1) programme; and (2) expression of interest form.

For queries regarding the academic programme contact:

Professor Carmel Borg
Faculty of Education
University of Malta
Msida MSD 2080
MALTA
Tel: +356 2340 2935
Email: https://www.um.edu.mt/profile/carmelborg

For queries regarding the conference arrangements contact:
Ms Lucienne M. Bugeja
Senior Executive, Logistics & Events Coordination
University of Malta Valletta Campus
Old University Bldg
St Paul Street
Valletta VLT 1216
MALTA
Tel: +356 2340 7511
Email: https://www.um.edu.mt/profile/luciennembugeja

CFP: Critical Theories in the 21st Century

Call For Proposals
Critical Theories in the 21st Century

Due to the success of last years’ inaugural event, we are very excited about the upcoming Critical Theories in the Twenty-First Century conference at West Chester University. Due to the deepening crisis of global capital and the anti-capitalist movement in embryo (since last November), this year we added a special theme: Critical Education Against Capitalism. As many reactions to the ravages of capital are reformist in nature, failing to identify and target the true causes (i.e. private property as a complex historical process) of exploitation, injustices, war, educational expansion as well as educational budget cuts, ideological indoctrination, and so on, especially in critical pedagogy, this discussion targeting the root capitalist cause of life at the present moment is particularly relevant and needed.

Consequently, whereas last year “the call for proposals” was “general enough to be inclusive of many critical approaches to transformative or revolutionary pedagogies and theory,” this year we ask the critical pedagogy community to present their works in a way that demonstrates how it contributes to achieving a post-capitalist society. As such, we can suggest a few relevant themes for proposals: Marxist educational theory, Anarchist pedagogies, austerity/educational budget cuts, ignoring poverty, racialization and hegemony, (anti)settler-colonialism/imperialism, indigenous critical theory/autonomous governance, anti-capitalist eco-pedagogy, atheism and education, queer theory against capital, etc.

While this conference will include important presentations and debates between key figures in critical pedagogy, it will not be limited to this focus. In other words, as critical theory becomes more inclusive, global, and all encompassing, this conference welcomes more than just academics as important contributors. That is, we recognize students and youth groups as possessing authentic voices based on their unique relationship to capitalism and will therefore be open to them as presenters and discussion leaders (as was done in 2011). While this inclusivity is obviously designed to challenge traditional distributions of social power in capitalist societies, it will not be done romantically where participants’ internalized hegemonies are not challenged. Put another way, while students will be included as having something valuable to contribute, they will both be subjected to the same scrutiny as established academics, as well as invited to share their own critiques. All participants will therefore be included in the discussions of why and how to achieve a post-capitalist society.

when:

November 16th and 17th 2012

duration:

Friday evening and all day Saturday

where:

West Chester University, West Chester, PA

purpose:

To contribute to the wide and deep network of critical educators throughout the world working with students and workers building a vast coalition of critical thinkers who know that a meaningful life after capitalism is possible.

More info here.

CFP: “Teach for America and the Future of Education in the US”

Call for Submissions
Critical Education Special Series

“Teach for America and the Future of Education in the US”
Guest Editor: Philip E. Kovacs, University of Alabama, Huntsville

Founded in 1990 by Princeton graduate Wendy Kopp, Teach for America (TFA) has grown from a tiny organization with limited impact to what some supporters call the most significant force in educational reform today. Indeed the organization has recently been embraced by both the president of the National Educational Association and U.S. Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan as a force for tremendous good.

Critics argue otherwise, pointing to data that is mixed at best while questioning the almost $500 million annual operating budget of the non-profit, a significant portion of which comes from U.S. taxpayers. In light of questionable results and practices (such as using non-certified TFA recruits to work with special education students in direct violation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) organizations are working to end TFA’s “highly qualified teacher” provision in 2013, an effort TFA is aggressively trying to thwart.

In an effort to provide assistance to those organizations working to maintain the integrity of the teaching profession, the Critical Education seeks research on TFA’s practices, procedures, outcomes, and impacts. We are looking for empirical and theoretical pieces written in a style that congressional staffers can easily access and understand. We are not interested in pieces that sacrifice intellectual rigor for ease of reading, but we are also wary of overly theorized pieces that alienate readers outside of the academy.

In addition to full-length manuscripts (5,000-8,000 words), we are also soliciting short accounts of TFA’s impact in specific cities to be presented as “field reports.”

Proposals of no more than 200 words due by September 15, 2012.

Notice of acceptance of proposal by October 1, 2012

Final Submission due by February 1, 2013.

For more information on submission contact Philip Kovacs at: pk0001@uah.edu

Critical Education is an international peer-reviewed journal, which seeks manuscripts that critically examine contemporary education contexts and practices. Critical Education is interested in theoretical and empirical research as well as articles that advance educational practices that challenge the existing state of affairs in society, schools, and informal education.

Critical Education CFP: Liberalism in Educational Policy, Practice, and Discourse

Call for Papers

Special Theme Issue of Critical Education
Theme: Liberalism in Educational Policy, Practice, and Discourse

Guest Editors:
Angelina E. Castagno & Sabina Vaught

Despite current scholarly attention to the ways neoliberalism characterizes much of our contemporary socio-political context, liberalism still profoundly informs power dynamics within schools, community organizations, and other educational contexts. While neoliberalism focuses on markets, choice, and efficiency, classical liberalism centers notions of the individual, equality, democracy, and meritocracy. These are enduring notions with significant ideological attachments, as well as institutional and policy-based manifestations within school settings. Although the concept of liberalism has somewhat shifting boundaries in response to larger social, political, and economic changes, there remain these powerful central elements (see, for example, Cochran, 1999; Dawson, 2003; Locke, 1690; Mill, 1869; Olson, 2004; Starr, 2008). This special issue seeks to examine how these liberal tenets shape power dynamics around race, gender, class, and sexuality in school policy, practice, and law.

We suggest that liberalism’s power in schooling operates from its axis of individualism. At the heart of liberalism is the notion of the individual and individual rights. In liberal thought, individuals provide the foundation for laws and societal norms, and institutions exist primarily to further the goals, desires, and needs of individuals. An individual’s rights are of utmost importance under a liberal framework, so rights such as freedom of speech, thought, conscience, and lifestyle are viewed as fundamental and worth protecting at almost any cost. Equality of opportunity is another liberal mainstay. Value is placed on ensuring that individuals have equal access to various opportunities in society. However, liberalism is not concerned with ensuring equality of outcome since it is assumed that individuals can reasonably decide if and how to capitalize on opportunities presented to them. Moreover, liberalism generally opposes too much government regulation, but this can be a point of contention since government involvement is sometimes required to ensure the stability of other core liberal values. These tenets allow liberalism to both mask and reproduce power imbalances. As such, liberalism informs power mechanisms by which educational policies, practices, and discourses are shaped.

With liberalism as an analytic construct through which to view schooling, we seek papers for this special issue that might address the following broad questions:

How is liberalism taken up, engaged, and employed in various educational contexts to reproduce power along axes of race, gender, sexuality, and class?
To what extent does the liberal identity and agenda drive educational efforts and movements, and to what effect?
What are the implications of liberalism on schools? On youth? On policy? On curriculum? On pedagogy? On activism? On reform efforts?

Through these analyses, we hope to map the multiple ways liberalism impacts schooling in order to disrupt power inequities that remain pervasive and elusive when viewed strictly through a neoliberal framework. Drawing on critical theory, Critical Race Theory, Tribal Critical Theory, Red Pedagogies, gender and feminist studies, and other related theoretical traditions, this special issue will bring together articles that advance a critical conversation about liberalism, individualism, and power within U.S. schools.

To submit a manuscript for consideration in this special issue of Critical Education, and for author submission guidelines, please visit (www.criticaleducation.org). For any inquiries related to this special issue, please e-mail the guest editors at liberalismineducation@gmail.com. For full consideration, complete manuscripts of no more than 5,000 words, including references, should be submitted by January 15, 2013. We strongly encourage submissions from advanced doctoral students and junior scholars.

CFP: Marxian Analysis of Society, School and Education – AERA SIG #157

Marxian Analysis of Society, School and Education SIG #157
CALL FOR PAPERS

American Educational Research Association 2013

The global financial crisis detonated in the West in 2007 has highlighted long-standing structural faults within capitalism, especially in its financialization of the economy – something that Marx and his predecessors already predicted. The current economic genocidal policies in nations such as Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Cyprus, along with the bailouts to specific US corporations, and the slow down of China’s ‘new economy’, present a credibility check in the recognition of the predatory policies and practices of capitalism’s third hegemonic momentum. In fact such financialization of the economy, with its the recurrent and increasingly devastating financial debacles assailing the world’s capitalist economies, has been incapable of producing sustainable growth in any sector while creating economic genocide, and has resulted in driving societies towards social foreclosures strong-armed through painful strangulation of austerity policies that are asphyxiating public institutions and transforming the very notion of public good and democracy itself!

The 2013 Marxian Analysis of Society, School and Education SIG program asks scholars, educators and graduate students around the globe who are profoundly committed to the struggle for social and cognitive justice to help us examine the transformative role of education and schools in addressing the contemporary crises, as well as, addressing the role of educators in helping to resolve the contradictions of the present and to contribute to a better future for schools, education and society.

Therefore, we ask scholars, educators and graduate students to contribute papers, posters or symposium that utilize a Marxist/Class analysis that will critically address the impact of the late capitalism’s financialization of the economy on questions of schools, education and society and how to move from pre-history to history proper to create a more and just democratic society and education.

Note: All submissions will be reviewed without author identification. Please submit them without author names on the abstracts or summaries. Proposals that bear the names of the authors and/or participants will not be considered for review and, consequently, will not be considered for the SIG #157 program for the 2013 AERA Annual Meeting.

Thank You, Dr. Sheila Macrine,
2013 Program Chair

Sheila L. Macrine, Ph.D.
Chair of the Teaching & Learning Department
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
285 Old Westport Road
North Dartmouth, Ma 02747
Phone: 508-999-8262
Fax: 508-910-6916

CFP for book on e-learning

Via Dr Petar Jandric, Senior Lecturer at the Polytechnic of Zagreb, Croatia:

We would like to invite you to submit proposal for book chapter for the forthcoming book “E-learning“. The book will be published jointly by The University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and The Polytechnic of Zagreb.

Please find our Call for Chapters attached. You can also find it on our websites:

http://www.ffzg.unizg.hr/infoz/hr/index.php/knjiga-e-learning
http://www.tvz.hr/en/tvz-pocetna/poziv-za-poglavlja-u-knjizi/

We look forward to your contributions!

Kind Regards
Dr Petar Jandric, Senior Lecturer at the Polytechnic of Zagreb, Croatia
Prof Damir Boras, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia