Making Our Minds: Uncovering the Politics of Education

If a more sustainable and just society is to be built, the power of education will need to be harnessed. Education should be a liberating force, but it can also exacerbate hierarchies, divisions, and inequality. Recognising that education is always political, this edition uncovers the ongoing battles over education today in Europe and goes further to explore the alternatives. It asks what an education system that truly equips people for the challenges of our age would look like.

Articles in this edition

14.06.2022
Lessons Unlearned

Any project of building a different society goes hand in hand with reimagining education. For Greens, this is a potential too precious to pass up.

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14.06.2022
Making Sense of the World: Why Education Is Key to Change

Maja Göpel on how education, imagination, and ideas can spark wider societal change.

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14.06.2022
Investing in the Future: Young People Are the Greatest Resource We Have

Former Minister of Education Lorenzo Fioramonti recounts his experience of trying to reform Italian education policy to put ecology at the heart of learning.

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14.06.2022
Can the Green Transition Solve Spain’s Educational Paradox?

Cristina Suárez Vega on whether vocational education in emerging green sectors can help Spain’s young people escape stubbornly high unemployment.

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14.06.2022
Romania’s (Un)Educated Youth

Ioana Banach on imagining a Romanian education system that could provide an alternative to emigration and poverty.

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14.06.2022
Studies in Subversion: The Battle Over Higher Education in Europe

Andrea Pető and Éric Fassin on the “culture wars” and the conservative attack on academic freedom.

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14.06.2022
Decolonising the Classroom: Reforming Education for an Anti-Racist Society

Brussels MP Kalvin Soiresse Njall on the campaign to reconcile Belgian public memory with the lasting legacy of European colonialism.

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14.06.2022
The Fault Lines of Education in Europe

Data uncovers the relationship between public investment in education and equality and social mobility in Europe.

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14.06.2022
Maria Montessori: A Radical Approach to Learning

Maria Montessori's pioneering work on children’s minds offers insights into creating nurturing classrooms and societies.

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14.06.2022
Simone Weil: The Price of Paying Attention

In the age of push notifications, Simone Weil's thinking on the power and value of our attention is more relevant than ever.

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14.06.2022
Pierre Bourdieu: Cultural Capital in the 21st Century

French thinker Pierre Bourdieu offers a lens for examining the role of education in closing social gaps.

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14.06.2022
Benedict Anderson: Reimagined, Re-engineered, and Restored Communities

Taking a page from Benedict Anderson’s book to build compelling narratives and teach “Earth patriotism”.

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14.06.2022
Vehicles for Integration or Places of Exclusion? Migration and Asylum in Europe’s Schools

Francesca Spinelli on why a welcoming and inclusive society starts at school.

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14.06.2022
“We Cannot Delete Our Way Out Of This”: Learning In The Maze

Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck speaks to Beatrice White about how education needs to adapt to the realities of the digital world.

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14.06.2022
On the Outskirts: The Geography of Educational Inequality

In this photo essay, Sofia Cherici and Federico Ambrosini explore how schools and teachers can transform their surrounding community.

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14.06.2022
Alternatives to Nationalist Education: Lessons From Poland

Anna Dzierzgowska on reforms to school curricula and why who and what is included from our past matters for our future.

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14.06.2022
Northern Ireland: The Tight Gag of Place

Twenty years after the Good Friday Agreement, what progress has been made in Northern Ireland towards overcoming segregation and coming to terms with the past?

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14.06.2022
Bosnia-Herzegovina: The Power of Discovering Our Shared Humanity

Bringing young people together is only half the battle; overcoming binary and prejudiced thinking also requires openness and positive feelings towards other groups.

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14.06.2022
Russia and Ukraine’s Tug of War over Memory

Raluca Besliu looks at how evolving narratives of national history helped pave the way to war.

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14.06.2022
Insights from the Education Nation: The Case of Estonia

The story of how Estonia built one of the most innovative and successful public education systems in the world.

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14.06.2022
Critical Understanding: The Changing Politics of Science

Etienne Klein speaks to Edouard Gaudot about truth, democratising science and the uncertainty inherent in scientific inquiry.

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14.06.2022
The Netherlands’ “Bad Luck Generation”

After many broken promises by their government, Dutch students are fighting the burden of debt.

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14.06.2022
Connecting Student Housing With the Struggle for Democracy in Hungary

After the Hungarian government abandoned a student housing project for a Fudan campus, young people refused to let it die quietly.

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14.06.2022
Decolonising Belgium’s Oldest University

Student-led action is putting the challenge of decolonisation to KU Leuven and giving marginalised students a voice.

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14.06.2022
UK Academics Campaigning for Social Justice

Faced with precarious contracts and poor working conditions, university staff have been organising for the promise of social justice in education.

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