Critical Pedagogy for Social Justice

John Smyth is Research Professor of Education at the University of Ballarat, Australia. He previously held the Foundation Chair of Teacher Education and was Associate Dean of Research, School of Education, Flinders University, and was Director of the Flinders Institute for the Study of Teaching for 13 years. His books include Teachers in the Middle and Critical Discourses in Teacher Development.

• Contents; Acknowledgements; Figures; Chapter 1; Critical Hope that aims to counter 'the crippling fatalism of neoliberalism'; Opening explanatory comment; Educated hope - a prolegomenon; Getting 'Control of Destiny'; Critical hope - the real deal!; Chapter 2; Teachers-as-intellectuals in neoliberal time; Preamble; The basis of the argument; Teaching as intellectual work; Arguing for a critical pedagogy of teaching; Challenging 'management pedagogies'; A critical re-imagining of teaching; Teachers as intellectuals/political actors; Problematizing approaches to teaching; Teaching for social responsibility and against the grain; Teaching for democracy and social justice; Critical teaching and critical pedagogy in the classroom; Conclusion; Chapter 3; Students-as-activists in their own learning; Continuing the arguments for student voice; Implications for school culture, organization and leadership; Climbing over the rocks in the road: the case of Mango High School; The wider context of Mango High School and it's context; The research problem and methodology; Navigation a pathway towards relationships; When students have 'relational power': the school as a site for identity formation; Leadership matters!; Chapter 4; Critically Engaged 'Community Capacity Building' that 'Speaks Back' to Social Exclusion; Introduction; Working from the margins - or, the 'spaces of radical openness'; Re-working what is meant by 'community capacity building'; 1.Identifying strengths and constraints; 2.Relationships-centered and dialogical problem solving approach; 3.Analytical of contexts and circumstances; Community capacity building: contested, conflictual, congenital?; How is the 'community organizing' approach to school reform different; The relevance of a community organizing approach to school reform in contexts of disadvantage; A place in which to start rather than finish - when it comes to community engagement; Listen/Talk; Collect/Research; Reflect/Refine; Interrupt/Suggest; Act/Celebrate; Chapter 5; Continuing the Struggle... pursuing the Light on the Hill through a conversation with Joe Kincheloe; References.