Prof. Carmel Borg and Prof. Peter Mayo from the University’s Department of Arts, Open Communities, and Adult Education within the Faculty of Education, and the latter being the current UNESCO Chair in Global Adult Education, have jointly released their latest edited book.
Titled "Stretching the Boundaries of Critical Education. Past, Present and Future Possibilities", this thought-provoking book takes a deep dive into global education systems, investigating their past, present, and potential futures, all through a critical lens. A collection of internationally renowned scholars offers compelling analyses of public, popular, and adult education, presenting insights that span continents and ideological divides.
The book opens with a foreword setting the stage for an exploration of education's role as both a product and a potential challenger of global political and social systems. The five sections that follow present diverse perspectives on critical education, from historical analysis to contemporary policy debates.
The first section delves into the international state of public education. Highlighting African Indigenous philosophies, Njoki Nathani Wane explores Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s model of self-reliance and Ubuntu.
Revolutionary experiences, historical movements, and the significance of adult education feature prominently in Section 2. Didacus Jules, Secretary General of the Organisation of East Caribbean States and former coordinator of the Grenadian Popular Education programme under the Maurice Bishop government, reflects on the lessons learned from Grenada’s revolutionary era, while Gianna Katsiampoura brings to life the role of women educators during the Greek National Resistance against Nazi-fascist occupation. Contributions from Elsy Wakil, on Adult Education in the Arab world, and Maria Chalari and Eleftheria Atta, from Cyprus, foreground adult educators' critical role in fostering possibility and transformation.
Section 3 takes a closer look at policy and law, offering critiques of STEM education's epistemology and examining the broader implications of educational law. Dave Hill’s analysis of critical policy and Hasan H. Aksoy’s reflections on the shifting promises of education, from human capital to emancipation, push the reader to reconsider the purpose of education in society.
Section 4 addresses the intersection of education with populism and social differences. Scholars such as Eva D. Bahovec and Prof. Peter Mayo examine how critical education intersects critically with social class, feminist theory, populism, neoliberalism and race. Contributions from Jesus Jaime-Diaz use counter-narratives to disrupt hegemonic whiteness, while Sung Sang Yoo and colleagues explore literacy education as a tool for consciousness-raising among Korean elders.
The final section brings the focus to the economy, looking at workplace learning and economic frameworks through a critical lens. Dr Damian Spiteri investigates the motivations behind workplace learning for university lecturers, while Dr Emanuel Mizzi applies a critical realist perspective to economic issues. Joseph Gravina's piece in the earlier section on Populism and the Economy, critically anticipates themes from this section.
This book contains the papers from the International Conference on Critical Education-Critical Adult Learning and Education held on 9 May-11 May, 2013 at the Valletta Campus, University of Malta under the aegis of the UNESCO Chair in Global Adult Education and the University's Department of Arts, Open Communities and Adult Education.