The Personal, Place, and Context in Pedagogy

This edited volume includes contributions on education within a world of challenges by authors with diverse experiences and perspectives. Together, the authors reflect on educational initiatives and life in democratic societies, arguing for an increased awareness of the educational processes at work within our contexts, places, and personal lives. Chapters argue that authority and knowledge belong to everyone and that these are found on every level of perceived educational hierarchies. This book calls for attention to be paid to the voices of teachers in school, students in the classroom, participants in a project, and researchers embedded in a community—highlighting that they all have something to teach about understanding the world all are working to create in an uncertain educational future.

“This book is a call to arms and a plea for activism. It argues that human experience intersects with place. It endeavours to offer theoretical and practical responses to increasing complexity in the world and suggests ways in which education systems might respond. In doing so, it touches on contemporary, controversial, and often neglected issues such as mental illness, immigration, privilege, andragogy, and community.”
—Robin Precey, Senior Lecturer of Education, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK

 “Fischer and Mazurkiewicz utilize their more than two decades of personal and professional collaboration to share not only the impact of their collaborative and collective work, but more importantly the inquiry-based opportunities it created for themselves and their participants and colleagues. The narratives in this collection evidence the complexities and nuances of the personal, place, and context.”
—Sharon Subreenduth, Associate Dean and Professor of Education, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, USA​

“Against a rising tide of ultra-nationalism, xenophobia, and authoritarianism, Fischer and Mazurkiewicz remind us that schools have a pivotal role to play in forming and sustaining multi-racial civil societies—societies anchored on the core values of human dignity and mutual respect. This timely book is an important contribution to wider discussions of democratic education through its diverse set of more than two dozen voices from around the world. Here the overarching call for more authentic dialogue and more participatory decision-making informs collaborative efforts for social justice in schools and beyond. Teachers, school leaders, and teacher educators will find a wealth of creative ideas and practices that take up the broader task of democracy.”
—Todd Kenreich, Professor, Secondary and Middle School Education, Towson State University, USA

“In such a rich and daily growing educational literature, still heartily dominated by quantitative approaches, the text of the two editors, Fischer and Mazurkiewicz, brings a fresh and somehow unexpected perspective. Using meta-reflection, critical inquiry, and engaged activism, authors are ringing the apparently forgotten bells about learning from lived experiences, giving voices to the quiet past or quiet groups, bringing values and emotions back to the stage to remind us that education is about transforming all of us in to better people, and working to develop better communities…. The book is a surprising and courageous endeavour, and I invite all to have the courage to read it!”
—Lucian Ciolan, Professor of Educational Policy and Research and Vice-Rector, University of Bucharest, Romania

John M. Fischer is Professor of Social Studies Education and former Vice Provost of Academic Affairs at Bowling Green State University, USA.

Grzegorz Mazurkiewicz is Director of the Institute of Public Affairs in the School of Management and Social Communication and Head of the Department of Leadership and Management in Education at Jagiellonian University, Poland.