Whilst education has been widely recognised as a key tool for development, this has tended to be limited to the incremental changes that education can bring about within a given development paradigm, as opposed to its role in challenging dominant conceptions and practices of development and creating alternatives.

Through a collection of insightful and provocative chapters, this book will examine the role of learning in shaping new discourses and practices of development. By drawing on contributions from activists, researchers, education and development practitioners from around the world, this book situates learning within the wider political and cultural economies of development. It critically explores if and how learning can shape processes of societal transformation, and consequently a new language and practice of development. This includes offering critical accounts of popular, informal and non-formal learning processes, as well as the contribution of indigenous knowledges, in providing spaces for the co-production of knowledge, thinking and action on development, and in terms of shaping the ways in which citizens engage with and create new understandings of 'development' itself. This book makes an important and original contribution by reframing educational practices and processes in relation to broader global struggles for justice, voice and development in a rapidly changing development landscape.

About the Author

Amy Skinner is a freelance educator working in the field of global education. She was the Research Co-ordinator for DEEEP4, a development education project within CONCORD - the European Confederation of Relief and Development NGOs.

Matt Baillie Smith is Professor of International Development at Northumbria University, UK.

Eleanor Brown is Lecturer in the Department of Education at the University of York, UK, where she is based in the Centre for Research on Education and Social Justice.

Tobias Troll is European director of the EDGE Funders Alliance (Engaged Donors for Global Equity), a global network of social change foundations and philanthropists committed to a 'just transition'. He previously worked for DEEEP, CONCORD.

Reviews

'This book is a valuable and original contribution to the critical literature on education and development. Its particular strengths lie in its avoidance of the trap of equating education with schooling and in its bringing together a diverse set of commentators, including activists as well as researchers.' - Professor Simon McGrath, School of Education, University of Nottingham, UK

'I have been waiting for a book such as this to be published. There has been a growing concern in the development education field that the relationship between constructions of development and of education are not well articulated or understood, leading to practices that often unwittingly reinforce rather than challenge the status quo. The editors and authors of this book are well placed to provide such an analysis, coming as they do from both the fields of education and development, from a diverse range of spatial and cultural locations, and offering much needed alternatives for those wishing to transform their practice. It is going straight to the top of my reading list.' - Dr Fran Martin, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of Exeter, UK

'This book is worth reading if you are interested in development or education, it will be essential reading for anyone wanting to rethink the relationships between development and education, and it will be a Bible for the truly disruptive.' - Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, Secretary General, CIVICUS, South Africa

Book Information
ISBN 9781138952553
Author Amy Skinner
Format Paperback
Page Count 188
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 317g