It’s Not Education that Scares Me, It’s the Educators…: Is there Still Hope for Democracy in Education, and Education for Democracy?

We are not scared of educators but do understand the fear that many may and do feel, and why some people may believe that education has a disproportionately negative effect on them and those close to them. With so much wealth, technological prowess, innovation, and economic development, why do we still have marginalization, social inequalities, conflict, mass incarceration and generational poverty?

The connection to democracy, Education for Democracy (EfD) and social justice is, for Carr and Thesee, clear, and this volume interweaves a narrative within these themes based on a Freirian theoretical backdrop. Aiming to deconstruct, re-imagine and plan for a more meaningful, vibrant, social-just-based democracy that problematizes the normative, representative, hegemonic democracy in place that holds sway over formal relations, institutions, processes and education is a central preoccupation for the authors. This book presents a vision for transformative education and EfD, seeking to cultivate, stimulate and support political and media literacy, critical engagement and a re-conceptualization of what education is, and, importantly, how it can address entrenched, systemic and institutional problems that plague society. Based on over a decade of empirical research in a range of contexts and jurisdictions, the authors strive to link teaching and learning with agency, solidarity, action and transformative change within the conceptual framework of a critically-engaged EfD.