AISC 2024

This provocative session challenges the foundations of traditional pedagogy by asking: "What if the role of a teacher is not to explain, but to emancipate?" Drawing on Jacques Rancière's radical concept of intellectual emancipation, we explore the creation of "Educational Agoras" - spaces that dismantle hierarchies and foster true intellectual partnerships. The session will explore the types of “thinking partners” that leaders and teachers draw on, from reading and engaging with educational theory and research to literature and art to colleagues and students. This will lead to a thought-provoking discussion of how explicit, sustained, purposeful engagement with “thinking partners” can lead to the emergence of educational agoras where the role of the teacher is to emancipate thinking rather than to assist in the production and reproduction of knowledge. This approach has significant implications for education systems in a time of considerable ecological, geopolitical, economic, and technological change.

In the first part of the session, we will engage with Jacques Rancière's provocative classic text "The Ignorant Schoolmaster" as a way of unpacking the notions of intellectual emancipation and equality of intelligence. This will lead to an exploration of how to reimagine (that is, not to rethink, but to imagine once again) educational relationships as a dialogue of emancipation. We will then apply Guattari's notion of three ecologies (explored at AISC 2023) to consider how an emancipatory approach also nurtures the creation of holistic learning environments. This applies as much to the classroom as to contexts of professional learning, and we will consider how an emancipatory, ecological approach may revolutionize professional learning and development by shifting practice from knowledge transmission and technical expertise to emancipatory practice. The session will conclude with an engaging discussion and interactive design activity focused on nurturing emancipatory educational agoras in participants’ own settings.

Expected Outcomes:
• A provocation to think differently about understanding teacher-student dynamics and the role of the teacher
• Strategies for implementing intellectual emancipation in diverse educational contexts
• Innovative approaches to professional learning that prioritize authenticity and emancipation
• Practical designs for creating spaces that foster intellectual wellbeing and critical thinking
• A call to action for educators to become catalysts for intellectual emancipation

Our collective wisdom asserts that the world is currently changing at breakneck speed, and schools are tasked with preparing the next generation for an “unknowable future”. Meanwhile, external stakeholders expect us to continue generating data they can use to judge our effectiveness today. The system guides students to place maximum value on collecting qualifications and grades that might or might not have enduring value.  

By the age of eighteen, most students will have spent about eighteen thousand hours at school. Are we maximising that investment of time, resources and childhood? There is a significant opportunity cost associated with schooling; we ought to feel obliged to regularly question whether our offer truly honours the trust students place in us.

The teaching profession is a dynamic community of dedicated experts; educational thinking continuously evolves. But are our approaches to learning evolving fast enough? And are we sure they are moving in the right direction?

This workshop will be a chance for educators to come together to explore some fundamental questions about the state of schooling today, other possible futures, roadblocks to progress, and creative solutions to drive immediate improvement. The workshop leader will present, and invite a critical evaluation of his innovative “manifesto for education”.

Expected Outcomes: Participants will engage in new discussions around foundational questions about the role of schools and our core hopes and intentions for education, alongside more practical considerations about why we do what we currently do and the barriers to implementing a paradigm shift in our profession.

By the end of the session, delegates will be enthused to continue this dialogue, exploring further how schools must radically change, to better support students to become fully actualised humans leading successful, useful and happy lives, no matter where the future takes them.

In this provocation we will apply a speculative and imaginative approach to thinking and taking action called ‘utopia as method’ to a theme/challenge/idea that is pertinent to international schooling. We will work with a theme/challenge/idea of your choice, reflect on school values and principles and (re-)imagine how your school might implement alternatives, starting today. At the start of the session, we will also briefly look at the conceptual and theoretical background of utopia as method.

Expected outcomes:

• Developing a foundational understanding of utopia as method, which allows you to apply a basic version of the method in your own educational context;
• Re-imagining a theme/challenge/idea that is pertinent to international schooling in such a way that immediate action can be taken in your own school context.

In today's global educational landscape, fostering effective collaboration among educators from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds is essential. This workshop addresses a critical challenge: how can educators from varied backgrounds work together to share and learn from their collective professional knowledge effectively? Drawing from my experience at the Education Development Institute (EDI) in Qatar, this session explores an intentionally disruptive learning design aimed at addressing epistemic injustice within professional learning teams.

Participants will delve into the framework of Collaborative Professionalism (Hargreaves & O'Conner, 2018) and engage in hands-on activities that highlight the principles of joint work and mutual dialogue. The session will showcase a bilingual professional learning program that encouraged inclusive practices and facilitated deeper understanding and genuine dialogue among team members. Attendees will share practical strategies for creating inclusive and equitable learning environments that honor and leverage linguistic and cultural diversity.

Join me for an interactive and thought-provoking session that not only challenges conventional leadership practices but also provides actionable insights to foster new transcultural discursive practices within your own educational contexts. This workshop is ideal for leaders and educators committed to enhancing critical pedagogy and fostering inclusive professional learning communities.

Expected Outcomes:
1.    Enhanced Understanding of Inclusive Collaborative Professionalism: Participants will gain an understanding of the tenets of Collaborative Professionalism (Hargreaves & O'Conner, 2018) and how these principles can be applied to foster joint work and mutual dialogue in diverse educational teams.
2.    Practical Strategies for Inclusive Practices: Attendees will share inclusive strategies such as bilingual agendas, intentional language shifts, and the use of visible thinking tools to facilitate equitable participation in professional learning.
3.    Building Transcultural Discursive Practices: Through discussions, participants will reflect on their current practices and develop plans to implement new strategies within their own educational contexts, promoting critical pedagogy and inclusive professional learning communities.