The End of Education: Schooling, Late Capitalism and New Directions in Critical Pedagogy
Peter McLaren
Professor, Division of Urban Schooling, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, UCLA; and Distinguished Fellow in Critical Studies at Chapman University, California.
Professor McLaren is one of the leading architects of
Critical Pedagogy worldwide. He has developed a reputation for his
uncompromising political analysis and activism and his unique literary style of
expression. He is author and editor of approximately forty books and several
hundred of articles and book chapters.
This talk
will examine the effects of neoliberalism on various aspects of US cultural,
political and institutional life, including schooling. Specific attention will
be given to neoliberalism's contributions to the development of the national
security state in the US, and its role in the promotion of consumer
citizenship. Resistance to neoliberalism capitalism as an instantiation of
critical pedagogy will highlight the importance of critical citizenship, as the
development of a philosophy of praxis and pedagogy of social justice that works
towards creating a democratic socialist alternative to capitalist value
production.
Methodologies for Researching with Linguistically and Culturally Diverse School Populations
Geri Smyth
Professor, Director of Research at the University of Strathclyde School
of Education. Co-editor of the European Journal of Teacher Education.
Professor Smyth has research expertise in
ethnographic studies of bilingualism, social justice and teacher and
pupil diversity. She is co-leader of the WERA international research
network on Intersectionality, Methodologies, and Knowledge Mobilization in
Research for Social Justice in Education, and is UK leader of the NordForsk
funded Diverse Teachers for Diverse
Learners international research network. 
Teacher
education in many parts of the world is conducted in a university context and
can involve undertaking empirical research in both undergraduate degree and
continuing professional development. Practicing teachers often seek answers to their classroom dilemmas via
action research. Students and
practicing teachers are increasingly working in culturally and linguistically
diverse classroom contexts and wish to understand how education is received by
and impacts on pupils from cultures and
languages different from the dominant majority. In many parts of the world the majority of
teachers are themselves part of the linguistic and cultural majority of the
country. This talk will address the
ethical conduct of education research in culturally and linguistically diverse
contexts. There is a growing interest,
worldwide, in research that examines the issue of cultural diversity in
education from a broad number of perspectives, including those of the students
themselves, teachers, parents, policy makers and broader socio-political
contexts. It is important that researchers and users of research are helped to
understand the complexity of research in culturally diverse education
contexts.The relationship between researched
and researcher is of prime importance, and is also potentially particularly
problematic when in most cases, researchers are outside
the minority ethnic groups and the experiences they aspire to understand.
This talk highlights the challenges of
researching in culturally and ethnically diverse contexts and brings together
research conducted in a range of educational contexts with a range of research
participants, both adults and children.
I shall present the dilemmas raised in research with linguistically and
culturally diverse communities and offer suggestions for overcoming the issues.
