Democratic and Socially-Just Alternatives to Dominant Education Models

The third strand of my research agenda focuses on democratic and socially just alternatives to dominant education models. In other words, the studies in this strand attempt to respond to the policy trends that strands one and two document. While global education policies tend to be market-based and to focus on standardization, the studies in this strand (some of them listed below) seek to identify and to understand how alternative models of education function, especially models that are concerned with equity, social justice, democratic engagement in/through schools, community development, and alternative visions of what it means “make progress” in society. Social justice leadership is a feature of this research strand; together with community empowerment, is one way of trying to bring about alternative educational practices.

Social justice leadership
Edwards, Jr., D.B., DeMatthews, D., Spear, A., & Hartley, H. (2021). “Community participation and empowerment in marginalised contexts: Leveraging parental involvement, adult education, and community organising through social justice leadership,” Compare, 51 (8), 1190-1207.

DeMatthews, D., Edwards Jr., D. B., & Rincones, R. (2016). “Social justice leadership and community engagement: A successful case from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico,” Educational Administration Quarterly, 52 (5), 711-753.

Community empowerment
Edwards Jr., D.B. (2019). “Shifting the perspective on community-based management of education: From systems theory to social capital and community empowerment,” International Journal of Educational Development, 64, 17-26.
 
Edwards Jr., D. B., & Ávalos, E. (2015). Resistance to, and adaptation of, the program for Education with Community Participation in El Salvador: The experience of Santa Marta and its inversion of neoliberal reform logic. San Salvador, El Salvador: Universidad Centroamericana. [Book in Spanish]
 
Edwards Jr., D. B., & Klees, S. (2015). “Unpacking participation in development and education governance: A framework of perspectives and practices,” Prospects, 45 (4), 483-499.
 
Edwards Jr., D. B. (2010). “Trends in governance and decision-making: A democratic analysis with attention to application in education,” Policy Futures in Education, 8 (1), 111-125.
 
Edwards Jr., D. B. (2010). “A comparison of local empowerment in education: Porto Alegre, Brazil and Chicago, USA,” Research in Comparative and International Education, 5 (2), 176-184.

Critical pedagogy
Edwards Jr., D.B. & Madany-Saa, M. (forthcoming). “The legacy of liberation theology: Practical and theoretical insights from El Salvador for resisting, pushing, and avoiding the state.” In D.B. Edwards Jr., M. Moschetti & C. Díaz-Ríos (Eds.), The state and education policy in Latin America: Fault lines, foundations, and alternatives. Brill-Sense.

Edwards Jr. D. B. (2012). “Education and social movement-oriented citizenship in Colombia: The effects of curriculum, pedagogy, and extra-curricular activities on student orientation,” Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 7 (2), 117-128.
 
Edwards Jr., D. B. (2010). “Critical pedagogy and democratic education: Possibilities for cross-pollination,” The Urban Review, 42 (3), 221-242.