FreshEd

How can we define comparative education? That question has long vexed scholars in the field. My guest today is Angela Little, who has spent her entire career in comparative education and has wrestled with this very question. Angela argues that it is best to define the field through shared action rather than agreed-upon definitions and talks about the challenges of being an academic-slash-practitioner. She also discusses the recent role that southern theory plays in the field of comparative...

With the leaked Supreme Court ruling that would effectively overturn Roe v. Wade, I thought it would be good to revisit an old episode that explored various constitutional issues vis-a-vis schools. Do constitutional rights stop at the schoolhouse gate? Are American students, in other words, granted the freedom and protections outlined in the US constitution? These questions doesn’t have easy answers. With me to explore some of these questions is Justin Driver. In his book, The Schoolhouse...

Today we look at education in Ukraine during times of war. With me is Anatoly Oleksiyenko, who was born and raised in Soviet Ukraine and is a leading scholar in post-Soviet higher education systems. Anatoly Oleksiyenko is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong. He is also the director of the Comparative Education Research Centre. His latest article is Ukrainian Academics in the Times of War, which was published in Academic Praxis....

Everyone knows covid-19 disrupted education in countless ways. But what we don’t have is cross-national data that clearly measures these disruptions. That is until now. The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and UENSCO conducted a joint study called the Responses to Educational Disruption Survey or REDS for short. REDS was developed and implemented quickly across 11 countries. It’s the first survey of its kind. Earlier this year, the first report on...

It's spring break for Will's university in London, so we are re-airing one of our favourite episodes from 2020. See you next week! Today we take a critical look at numbers. Think about it: numbers are everywhere in education, from grades to impact scores to rankings. My guests today, Nelli Piattoeva and Rebecca Boden, have recently co-edited a special issue for the journal International Studies in Sociology of Education that looks at the “ambiguities of the governance of education through...

Today Sarah Dryden-Peterson, a regular on FreshEd, joins me to talk about her new book Right Where We Belong: How Refugee Teachers and Students are Changing the Future of Education. Her book is the product of her 15 years of working with and researching refugee education around the world. Sarah Dryden-Peterson is Associate Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is the founder and director of REACH, which promotes research, education, and action for refugees....

Today we explore the ways in which economic thinking came to dominate in public policy. With me is Beth Popp Berman, who has recently written the new book Thinking like an Economist: How Efficiency Replaced Equality in US Public Policy. Beth Popp Berman is an Associate Professor of Organizational Studies at the University of Michigan. www.freshedpodcast.com/popp-berman -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Support FreshEd:...

Today we take stock of Covid-19 and education two years after the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. Although we are still living through the pandemic, this anniversary is a good opportunity for reflection. What worked? What didn’t? Will there be lasting changes in education because of Covid-19? With me to discuss the second anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic is David Edwards, General Secretary of Education International, a global federation of teacher trade unions representing...

Today we talk about transitional justice, the role of truth telling in historical memory, and how education can help or hinder the process. With me is Natasha Robinson who has written a new book chapter entitled “Developing Historical Consciousness for Social Cohesion: How South African Students Learn to Construct the Relationship Between Past and Present.” Natasha Robinson is a Postdoctoral researcher at Oxford University and ESRC Fellow. www.freshedpodcast.com/natasharobinson -- Get in...

Today we explore the collective memory in Ghana of the transatlantic slave trade. With me is PhD student Phyllis Kyei Mensah. Phyllis Kyei Mensah is a doctoral candidate in Educational Leadership, Culture, and Curriculum at Miami University in Ohio. She also works on FreshEd as the Resource list manager. Her new article is “Collective memory and the transatlantic slave trade: Remembering education towards new diasporic connections” which was published in Curriculum Inquiry....

Today we explore the role of financiers in US higher education. My guest is Charlie Eaton. Charlie Eaton is assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Merced. His new book is Bankers in the Ivory Tower: The troubling rise of financiers in US Higher Education. www.freshedpodcast.com/eaton -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Support FreshEd: www.freshedpodcast.com/support/

In 2020, Chilean citizens voted for their national constitution to be re-written. This was the culmination of mass protests the year before. Now a Constitutional Convention is actively re-writing a new constitution, which will be put to the public for an up or down vote later this year. With me to talk about the ways in which education is being reimagined in the new constitution is Carlos Navia Canales. Carlos is a lawyer with experience in Human Rights, Constitutional Law, and the Right to...

Today we explore how teachers navigate their practice in challenging circumstances. My guest is Chris Sowton. Chris works in the field of English Language Teaching and international Education and has conducted teacher training and educational research in many countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Nigeria, Nepal, India, Somaliland and Indonesia. He’s interested in the small-p politics of teaching. Chris Sowton’s new book is Teaching in Challenging Circumstances, which was published...

Today we look at China’s foreign policy, especially in relation to its international development and education efforts. With me is Elizabeth Economy, who has recently published the book The World According to China. Elizabeth Economy is Senior Advisor for China to the US Secretary of Commerce. She is on leave from her position as Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. www.freshedpodcast.com/economy -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email:...

Welcome to our first episode of 2022. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been a bit quiet. But we’ve been hard at work producing the next round of Flux episodes (they’re going to be awesome!), developing a new podcast (more details on that later!), and figuring out how to engage you, our listeners, in more ways. We are thrilled to be back and are looking forward to our sixth year! One of our goals this year is to highlight the work of PhD students more regularly. So, to kick things off, Michael...

FreshEd is taking a break during the month of January. While we are away, we'll re-play some of our favourite episodes. Special Note: We need your support to keep us ad-free in 2022. If you have the means to do so, please consider donating to FreshEd by visiting freshedpodcast.com/donate. Today we look at conditional cash transfers as a global phenomenon of educational development. My guest is Michelle Morais de Sa e Silva. Michelle has written a new book called Poverty Reduction, Education,...

FreshEd is taking a break during the month of January. While we are away, we'll re-play some of our favourite episodes. Special Note: We need your support to keep us ad-free in 2022. If you have the means to do so, please consider donating to FreshEd by visiting freshedpodcast.com/donate. Today we look at the lessons that can be learned from radical histories. My guests are Aziz Choudry and Salim Vally. They’ve edited a new volume entitled: Reflections on Knowledge, Learning and Social...

FreshEd is taking a break for the next few weeks. While we are away, we'll re-play some of our favourite episodes. Special Note: We need your support to keep us ad-free in 2022. If you have the means to do so, please consider donating to FreshEd by visiting freshedpodcast.com/donate. -- Today we take stock of public education in the United States after the 2020 election. With me are Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire. You may know Jack and Jennifer from their education podcast called Have...

FreshEd is taking a break for the next few weeks. While we are away, we'll re-play some of our favourite episodes. Special Note: We need your support to keep us ad-free in 2022. If you have the means to do so, please consider donating to FreshEd by visiting freshedpodcast.com/donate. Today I talk with Rebecca Tarlau about her new book, Occupying Schools, Occupying Land, which was published last year. The book details the way in which the Landless Workers Movement transformed Brazilian...

FreshEd is taking a break for the next few weeks. While we are away, we'll re-play some of our favourite episodes. Special Note: We need your support to keep us ad-free in 2022. If you have the means to do so, please consider donating to FreshEd by visiting freshedpodcast.com/donate. My guest today, David Labaree, argues it was the very decentralized and autonomous structure of the higher education system that allowed universities to develop an entrepreneurial ethos that drove American...