ABSTRACT
In response to the contemporary problematic of populism and associated reactionary right-wing politics, this paper argues for a greater analytic focus on the role of schools and teacher expertise in understanding the social relations of populism. This conceptual paper builds a conjunctural conceptualisation of populism that understands it as an invariable political modality of modern democracies, mobilised to different political ends. Extending this analysis, I explore the ways in which schools and teacher expertise lie at the heart of the populist tension between the ‘expert’ and the ‘layperson’. The social relationships to knowledge and knowledge-making institutions are fundamental to populism as well as the hierarchies of being understood (or not) as a ‘knower’ capable of truth-claims in modern liberal democracies. I conclude by arguing the need to engage in the social relations of ‘popular’ and ‘expert’ knowledge claims and the politics that underlie them.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).