Book chapter
Activists in rethinking hope, courage and wisdom: Teaching and learning practices in today's schools and beyond
Hope, wisdom and courage: Teaching and learning practices in today's schools and beyond, pp.55-66
Peter Lang
2025
Abstract
When Susan invited me to contribute to this collection of essays, I was in the process of navigating my transition to ‘retirement’ after 30 years working as a teacher educator-researcher grappling with the changing nature of teachers’ work, student dis/re/engagement, educational inequality, and social justice. The opportunity to reflect on my own intellectual journey was both timely and challenging as I tried to make sense of what it means to be an activist educator in the context of the ideas animating this book – hope, courage, and wisdom. I want to begin by referring to Postman and Weingartner’s classic book Teaching as a subversive activity. My motivation is threefold, firstly, it was one of the few books that excited me as a student teacher back in the 1970s, secondly, it offered a critique of the problems and impediments facing education, and thirdly, it proposed an alternative vision for teaching. The book resonated with me for many reasons – the playfulness of language, the provocations, the metaphors, the social imaginary, the spirit of rebellion and the courage to question the way things are. In essence, Postman and Weingartner were railing against the “essential mindlessness” of the “burgeoning bureaucracy” captured in the motto “Carry on regardless” (p. 24). They argued that bureaucracies, like schools, “rarely ask themselves ‘Why?’ but only ‘How?’ questions” (p. 24)…
Details
- Title
- Activists in rethinking hope, courage and wisdom: Teaching and learning practices in today's schools and beyond
- Authors/Creators
- Barry Down (Contributor)
- Contributors
- Susan Groundwater-Smith (Editor)
- Publication Details
- Hope, wisdom and courage: Teaching and learning practices in today's schools and beyond, pp.55-66
- Publisher
- Peter Lang
- Identifiers
- 991005747145407891
- Copyright
- © 2025 Peter Lang Group AG
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Murdoch University
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
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