Fifty years of life in classrooms: an inquiry into the scholarly contributions of Philip Jackson

ABSTRACT

The intent of this article is to explore the scholarly influence of Philip W. Jackson through examining the spread of his scholarship and the ideas he generated.  The  research design of this paper is borrowed from a previous study (Ben-Peretz & Craig, 2018) about another distinguished curriculum scholar, Joseph J. Schwab.  The work begins with a biography of Philip Jackson and continues with literature reviews on the history of ideas and the use of knowledge in education.  This background is  followed by a description of the study’s research method, ‘inquiry into inquiry’, and its data sources (Scopus-listed articles, published books/Google citations, invited addresses, transcribed interviews, conference proceedings, invited addresses, etc.) The papers’ findings focus on (1) the influence of Jackson’s ideas and approaches, (2) Jackson’s direct impact through involvement in projects/organizations, and (3) Jackson’s impact on the scholarly literature.  Discussions of generative scholarship, intergenerational legacy and scholarly influence conclude the article, along with the recommendation that the ‘inquiry into inquiry’ approach be re-enacted with other noteworthy curriculum figures to more fully understand the influence of ideas and research dissemination in curriculum and instruction/teaching and teacher education.

KEYWORDS:

• Scholarly contributions
• history of ideas
• Philip Jackson
• teaching
• curriculum
• classroom context
• contexts of teaching
• John Dewey

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. As an aside, Michael Apple, another distinguished figure in the curriculum field, graduated from the same teachers’ college as Philip Jackson.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cheryl J. Craig

Cheryl J. Craig is a Professor and Houston Endowment Endowed Chair of Urban Education at Texas A&M University.  She is an American Educational Research Association (AERA) Fellow, a recipient of AERA's Division B (Curriculum) Award for her lifetime career achievements and a winner of AERA's Michael Huberman Award for her Outstanding Contributions to Understanding the Lives of Teachers.  She has also received ISATT's STA²R award for her exemplary contributions through research, teaching and service to the international field of teaching and teacher education.

Maria Assunção Flores

Maria Assunção Flores is an Associate Professor with qualifications at the University of Minho, Portugal. She is  Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Teacher Education and  Executive Editor of Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice in addition to being the past-Chair of the International Association on Teachers and Teaching (ISATT) (2013-2019).  She recently was the first in Portuguese history to receive the Research Award from the International Council on Education for Teachers (ICET), one of the most distinguished global honors in the field of education.