Introduction to “The Politics of Educational Reforms”

Abstract

It has become increasingly clear that education is a site of conflict. This essay examines the ideological positions that now dominate educational reforms and suggests a number of roles that critically democratic educators should play in -confronting these reforms. It then details the contributions that the authors -included in this special issue make toward understanding both the limits of current reforms and the possibilities of interrupting them.

Key words:

• educational reform
• neoliberalism
• political aspects/governmental influence

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael W. Apple

Michael W. Apple is the John Bascom Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He also holds Distinguished Professor appointments at the University of Manchester, England, and Northeast Normal University in Changchun, China. A former elementary and secondary school teacher and past president of a teachers' union, he has worked with educational systems, governments, universities, unions, and activist and dissident groups throughout the world to democratize educational research, policy, and practice.

Professor Apple has written extensively on the politics of educational reform, on the relationship between culture and power, and on education for social justice. Among his many books are Education and Power; Educating the “Right” Way: Markets, Standards, God, and Inequality; The Routledge International Handbook of Critical Education; Global Crises, Social Justice, and Education; and Can Education Change Society? His books and articles have won numerous awards and have been translated into many languages.

Professor Apple has been selected as one of the 50 most important educational scholars in the 20th century. His books Ideology and Curriculum and Official Knowledge were also selected as two of the most significant books on education in the 20th century.

He is the editor of Critical Social Thought, an international series of books published by Routledge. He has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Educational Research Association, the UCLA Medal for “Outstanding Academic Achievement,” and a number of honorary doctorates by universities throughout the world.

Professor Apple has worked on educational reform, lectured, and taught in a considerable number of countries throughout the world, where his material has been extremely influential in the development of more socially critical and democratic educational policies and practices.