Bourdieu for Educators: Policy and Practice - Paperback

by Fenwick W. English (Author), Cheryl L. Bolton (Author)

Educational change and reform on a larger scale

Bourdieu for Educators: Policy and Practice, brings the revolutionary research and thinking of Pierre Bourdieu (1930[en]2002) of France to public educational leaders in North America, Canada, Australia, and the U.K. This text brings Bourdieu's corpus into the arena of elementary and secondary educational reform and change, and offers policy, research, and practice discussions. Authors Fenwick W. English and Cheryl L. Bolton use Bourdieu to challenge the standards movement in different countries, the current vision of effective management, and the open market notion connecting pay to performance. The text shows that connecting pay to performance won't improve education for the poorest group of school students in the U.S., Canada, or the U.K., regardless of how much money is spent trying to erase the achievement gap. The authors layout the bold educational agenda of Pierre Bourdieu by demonstrating that educational preparation must take into account larger socioeconomic-political realities in order for educational change and reform to make an impact.

Author Biography

Fenwick W. English (Ph.D.) is the R. Wendell Eaves Senior Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a position he has held since 2001. As a scholar/practitioner he has held positions as a school principal and superintendent of schools in California and New York and as a department chair, dean, and vice-chancellor of academic affairs at universities in Ohio and Indiana. He is the former President of the University Council of Educational Administration (UCEA) and of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA). His research has been reported in national and international academic forums. He edited the 2006 SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Leadership and Administration, the 2009 SAGE Library of Educational Thought and Practice: Educational Leadership and Administration; and the 2011 SAGE Handbook of Educational Leadership (2nd Ed.). In 2013, he received the Living Legend Award from NCPEA for his lifetime contribution to the field of educational leadership.

Cheryl L. Bolton (Ph.D.) is the Academic Group Leader for Lifelong and International Learning in the School of Education at Staffordshire University where she teaches and directs a range of programs including educational research at the masters and doctoral levels. She formerly worked in industry before entering further and then higher education. Her doctoral research involved examining Bourdieu's key trio of concepts-- habitus, capital and field to investigate their influence and impact on instructors in Further Education programs in England. Dr. Bolton's research has been presented at the British Education Research Association ( BERA); the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS) and the American Education Research Association (AERA).