Changing Schools ─ Alternative Ways to Make a World of Difference

Changing Schools places educational and social aims at the centre of a discussion of educational change. It draws on forteen case studies to explore school change which is oriented towards social justice and democracy.
In an age of global mobility, economic polarization and unprecedented environmental and cultural challenges, the education of all children and young people to higher levels has become a key issue of international policy. Educational reform in such a context requires a serious rethinking and reworking of school and classroom practices. Social justice is integral to the challenge of raising standards, since this requires removing the ongoing influence of poverty on school success.
This thoughtful book presents new thinking and practice for bringing about school change, drawn from diverse contexts around the world. It distils and compares the experiences and theories-in-action of engaged teachers, school principals and academics. It seeks to challenge the dominance that human capital theories of school improvement currently hold on policy making. The authors draw on contemporary innovations in practice and theory and also long-standing traditions of alternative thinking and practice. Linking together and articulating other ways of conceiving of and implementing school change, the collection bases its findings on values of equality and global citizenship. It shows how schools can work to make different languages, knowledge, narratives, and truths integral to the mainstream curriculum, everyday pedagogy, assessment and general culture of the school.
Changing Schools is directed at all who are concerned with progressive school change and the promotion of democratic citizenship and social justice. It will prove an invaluable source of inspiration for all involved in schools, including teachers, head teachers, policy makers, and those currently studying for school leadership positions.

Terry Wrigley is Visiting Professor of Education at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK.
Pat Thomson is Professor of Education in the School of Education at the University of Nottingham, UK.
Bob Lingard is Professor in the School of Education at the University of Queensland, Australia.

Introduction 1. Reimagining School Change: the Reasons For and necessity of Hope Pat Thomson, Bob Lingard and Terry Wrigley 2.Making a Difference through Philosophy (Australia) Lynne Hinton 3.Development processes in a laboratory school (Germany) Susanne Thurn 4.Curriculum Development and Thematic Learning ( Norway) Bjorn Bolstad 5. Educating in the Margins, Lessons for the Mainstream (Australia) Glenda McGregor, Martin Mills and Pat Thomson 6. Reflections of an Aboriginal School Principal: Leading Change in an Aboriginal School (Australia) Chris Sarra 7. Pedagogy of the Landless (Brazil) Roseli Salete Caldart and The Movement of Landless Workers, Brazil 8.The Promise of Place and Community-based Education (USA) Gregory A. Smith 9. Approaching School Change through ‘Learning Lives’ (Norway) Ola Erstad 10.Storythread Pedagogy for Environmental Education (Australia) Ron Tooth and Peter Renshaw 11. Creative Learning in an Inner-city Primary School (England) Pat Thomson and Lorna Rose 12. Talking Honestly in a Challenging Primary School (England) Lori Beckett and Jill Wood 13.Weaving the Web of Professional Practice (Australia) Nicole Mockler and Susan Groundwater -Smith 14. A fair go for low SES Students (Australia) Geoff Munns, Leonie Arthur, Margery Hertzberg, Wayne Sawyer and Katina Zammit 15.Using Critical Mathematics to Understand the Conditions of our Lives (USA) Eric (Rico) Gutstein Conclusion 16.Resources for Changing Schools: ideas in and for Practice Terry Wrigley, Pat Thomson and Bob Lingard