The antagonism between "class" and "race" have plagued educational theory for decades. As a communist organizer seeking to move Marxist educational theory out of the stagnant waters of theoretical debates, I turn to recent CRT scholarship, which I find much more in line with the communist project. Yet, this literature omits…

To the casual observer, the name of the century-old American Educational Research Association (AERA)--a professional organization largely comprising education school professors--might sound like any academic society, such as the American Historical Association or the Association for Psychological Science. In this article, the author argues that…

The popular image of activism in the university involves students and academics campaigning for social justice and resisting the neo-liberalisation of the university. Yet activism has been subtly corporatised through the migration of corporate social responsibility from the private sector into the university, a trend that may be illustrated by…

This article is written for educators who serve as teachers, administrators, policy-makers in childcare settings, schools, classrooms, teacher preparation programs, programs that prepare educational researchers, and universities. Its purpose is to provide background, rationale, and support for individuals within those institutions to address the…

This autoethnagraphic article argues that in the study of political education, especially learning through social movement activities, the knowledge produced by the research will be of greater social use if researchers position themselves as 'cognitive activists'. This is because, the article argues, the researcher needs to work in solidarity with…

The Trump administration represents less a break from the Bush and Obama administration education reforms than an expansion of those reforms. I argue that academics have been complicit in these reforms through the depolitization and privatization of their scholarship and their adherence to a technological framework of knowledge production,…

In this article, I explore the tension between the current political context in which science needs defending against anti-intellectualism and outright assaults on evidence as a means of decision-making on the one hand and the overzealous scientism that can result from backlash against a perceived lack of rigor in various forms of inquiry. To do…

While many researchers have studied teacher leaders, a corresponding field of research on teacher leadership has been slow to develop. This narrative account charts our strategic efforts to build a community of scholars capable of strengthening teacher leadership as a field of study. It documents the parallel development of two entities, the…

In this article, I use the lens of voices and silences to frame my review of research in the field of disability and postsecondary education. I argue that we need to view research in this field as a necessarily political act that seeks to turn voices of silence into voices of change. Researchers therefore need to rethink their role in order to…

The language of "scholar-activist" has made its way into academic discourse over the last few decades. Historically a divide has existed between academics situated in the university and activists working within and across communities. This discussion paper addresses challenges scholars face when doing activist work within their…

This article focuses on feminist activist academics who were instrumental in creating the UK Gender & Education Association at the turn of the twenty-first century. Drawing on my own intellectual biography (David, M. E. 2003. "Personal and Political: Feminisms, Sociology and Family Lives" Stoke-on-Trent. Trentham Books.) linked to…

This article discusses the everyday politics surrounding research on a controversial government policy. The research in question is the Research, Analysis and Insight into National Standards (RAINS) project on National Standards in New Zealand primary schools being undertaken by the author. This three-year study was funded by the New Zealand…

In order to ascertain to what degree educational researchers are concerned with and involved in social issues, a questionnaire on social attitudes, activism, political attitudes, attitudes toward AERA, and research activities was mailed to 672 members of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). When demographic characteristics of the…

This article is a reflective account of a researcher's journey whilst embarking on a study which was political in its intentions and participatory in its orientation. Learning from feminist writings, where researchers have shared stories and explored notions of insider/outside, academic/activist, the central argument of the article is the…

The secondary school history curriculum, with its emphasis on political history, tends to relegate women to the margins or to interpret their accomplishments according to a patriarchal framework. The author argues that by adapting theoretical developments in the field of women's history, women can be seen as political agents in history, thereby…