- The University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Education, Faculty MemberPortland State University, University Studies, Alumnus, and 2 moreadd
- Education, Democratic Education, Teacher Education, Academic curriculum, Religious Education, Curriculum Studies, and 14 moreEducational Inequalities (class; race; gender etc), Education History, Comparative & International Education, Distance Education, Kant's Practical Philosophy, Philosophy of Education, Kant, Multiculturalism, Islam, Cross-Cultural Studies, Policy Analysis/Policy Studies, Educational Policy Studies, Educational Development, and Education Policyedit
- Prior to joining EdUHK, Professor Liz Jackson was Associate Professor at The University of Hong Kong, where she worke... morePrior to joining EdUHK, Professor Liz Jackson was Associate Professor at The University of Hong Kong, where she worked for more than eight years and served as Director of the Comparative Education Research Centre. She has experience working in the United States, England, Scotland, Mexico, Turkey, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and New Zealand, and has conducted collaborative research on educational issues in Taiwan, China, Macau, the Philippines, Tanzania and Chile.
Professor Jackson works in the field of philosophy of education, focusing particularly on the diversity of human experience. She has published more than 150 articles, chapters, books, and special journal issues in the areas of multicultural and civic education, virtues and moral philosophy, inequality and social justice education, and global studies. Her first book, Muslims and Islam in US Education: Reconsidering Multiculturalism (Routledge, 2014) won the Research Output Prize at the University of Hong Kong and the Book Award of the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia. She also authored Questioning Allegiance: Resituating Civic Education (Routledge, 2019), Beyond Virtue: The Politics of Educating Emotions (Cambridge University Press, 2020), and Contesting Education and Identity in Hong Kong (Routledge, 2020), in addition to editing or co-editing several volumes on topics in educational philosophy and theory. She has won three General Research Fund grants, as well as other competitive research and development grants.
Professor Jackson serves as President of the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia, Editor of the book series New Directions in the Philosophy of Education (Routledge), and Deputy Editor for the leading journal in the field, Educational Philosophy and Theory. She has also played a leadership role in other international academic societies for philosophy of education and has consulted for non-governmental organisations in the Asia Pacific.edit
Muslims and Islam in U.S. Education explores the complex interface that exists between U.S. school curriculum, teaching practice about religion in public schools, societal and teacher attitudes toward Islam and Muslims, and... more
Muslims and Islam in U.S. Education explores the complex interface that exists between U.S. school curriculum, teaching practice about religion in public schools, societal and teacher attitudes toward Islam and Muslims, and multiculturalism as a framework for meeting the needs of minority group students. It presents multiculturalism as a concept that needs to be rethought and reformulated in the interest of creating a more democratic, inclusive, and informed society.
Islam is an under-considered religion in American education, due in part to the fact that Muslims represent a very small minority of the population today (less than 1%). However, this group faces a crucial challenge of representation in United States society as a whole, as well as in its schools. Muslims in the United States are impacted by ignorance that news and opinion polls have demonstrated is widespread among the public in the last few decades. U.S. citizens who do not have a balanced, fair and accurate view of Islam can make a variety of decisions in the voting booth, in job hiring, and within their small-scale but important personal networks and spheres of influence, that make a very negative impact on Muslims in the United States.
This book presents new information that has implications for curricula, religious education, and multicultural education today, examining the unique case of Islam in U.S. education over the last 20 years. Chapters include:
Perspectives on Multicultural Education
9/11, the Media, and the New Need to Know
Islam and Muslims in Public Schools
Blazing a Path for Intercultural Education
This book is an essential resource for professors, researchers, and teachers of social studies, particularly those involved with multicultural issues, critical and sociocultural analysis of education and schools; as well as interdisciplinary scholars and students in anthropology and education.
Islam is an under-considered religion in American education, due in part to the fact that Muslims represent a very small minority of the population today (less than 1%). However, this group faces a crucial challenge of representation in United States society as a whole, as well as in its schools. Muslims in the United States are impacted by ignorance that news and opinion polls have demonstrated is widespread among the public in the last few decades. U.S. citizens who do not have a balanced, fair and accurate view of Islam can make a variety of decisions in the voting booth, in job hiring, and within their small-scale but important personal networks and spheres of influence, that make a very negative impact on Muslims in the United States.
This book presents new information that has implications for curricula, religious education, and multicultural education today, examining the unique case of Islam in U.S. education over the last 20 years. Chapters include:
Perspectives on Multicultural Education
9/11, the Media, and the New Need to Know
Islam and Muslims in Public Schools
Blazing a Path for Intercultural Education
This book is an essential resource for professors, researchers, and teachers of social studies, particularly those involved with multicultural issues, critical and sociocultural analysis of education and schools; as well as interdisciplinary scholars and students in anthropology and education.
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No abstract available
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The purpose of this chapter is to discuss how the pedagogy of Paulo Freire has been successfully combined with transformational leadership training techniques in the development and delivery of a peer leadership programme for young people... more
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss how the pedagogy of Paulo Freire has been successfully combined with transformational leadership training techniques in the development and delivery of a peer leadership programme for young people in Pakistan. It will explore how a group of University of Central Lancashire Community Leadership students from the Pakistani diaspora in Burnley, East Lancashire, UK, collaborated with students from the California Association of Student councilsCouncils, Stanford University, and students from the University of Gujrat, Pakistan, to develop a peer peer-centred approach to developing leadership skills, with a strong focus on the concept of action/reflection praxis. Their objective was to develop, in the words of the late Michael Elliott, “a tool kit for change” (Elliott, 2011) that can be used by young people and communities. The outcome of the process was not only a ‘tool kit’ for developing leadership skills, it also opened up the significant possibilities and benefits from mobilising Pakistani undergraduates in Freire Freire-influenced social action. Pakistan is in a unique position in terms of a youth dividend. In 2004, the youth
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This paper uses a critical multicultural, constructivist approach to examine how the Chinese government represents minority cultures in its official discourse. Although at an abstract level the government acknowledges the contributions of... more
This paper uses a critical multicultural, constructivist approach to examine how the Chinese government represents minority cultures in its official discourse. Although at an abstract level the government acknowledges the contributions of minority cultures to society, our findings show a mismatched picture in terms of minority representation. Government documents and discourse recorded and obtained on the government website only highlight traditional and stereotypical cultural aspects related to minorities. These representations essentialise minority cultures, obscure their dynamism and their contributions, reinforce power hierarchies, and discourage critical reflexivity. In this context, we recommend addressing fundamental challenges undergirding this pattern in representation to develop more balanced and comprehensive understandings of minority cultures.
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This paper is a summary of philosophy, theory, and practice arising from collective writing experiments conducted between 2016 and 2022 in the community associated with the Editors’ Collective and more than 20 scholarly journals. The main... more
This paper is a summary of philosophy, theory, and practice arising from collective writing experiments conducted between 2016 and 2022 in the community associated with the Editors’ Collective and more than 20 scholarly journals. The main body of the paper summarises the community’s insights into the many faces of collective writing. Appendix 1 presents the workflow of the article’s development. Appendix 2 lists approximately 100 collectively written scholarly articles published between 2016 and 2022. Collective writing is a continuous struggle for meaning-making, and our research insights merely represent one milestone in this struggle. Collective writing can be designed in many different ways, and our workflow merely shows one possible design that we found useful. There are many more collectively written scholarly articles than we could gather, and our reading list merely offers sources that the co-authors could think of. While our research insights and our attempts at synthesis a...
The paper aims to understand, challenge and deconstruct what the local means for the development of indigenous education in Taiwan. More precisely, it will question the idea of the ‘local’ in this context, as indigenous people do not... more
The paper aims to understand, challenge and deconstruct what the local means for the development of indigenous education in Taiwan. More precisely, it will question the idea of the ‘local’ in this context, as indigenous people do not necessarily all hold similar views about local indigeneity and its place in educational development in Taiwan. As research shows, indigenous people’s views are influenced by intersecting factors, such as class, gender, rural or urban location, education, and profession. While some indigenous people may identify ‘local’ as the identity and interests of their indigenous community, or as their family, others may seek allegiance, construction of identity, and learning with and from the transnational indigenous movement. The paper starts with a philosophical overview of what is local and what is indigenous. It then analyzes the Taiwan case, from the historical context of indigenous people to contemporary views and perspectives on indigeneity, indigenous deve...
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As Naoko Saito’s essay, “Gifts from a Foreign Land: Lost in Translation and the Understanding of Other Cultures” notes, international education discourse often suggests that education should lead to mutual understanding of foreign... more
As Naoko Saito’s essay, “Gifts from a Foreign Land: Lost in Translation and the Understanding of Other Cultures” notes, international education discourse often suggests that education should lead to mutual understanding of foreign cultures and learning from cultural difference. This stance is more hopeful than another common attitude: that there are inscrutable, essential cultural differences worldwide that are difficult, if not impossible, to bridge. However, within the mutual-understanding approach, one’s experience of fear and alienation in visiting unknown and foreign worlds “tends to be obliterated,” the essay claims. One’s language as a means to comprehend the world and one’s criteria of judgment are challenged in such contexts, creating a sense of loss. Yet through becoming lost and losing one’s sense of centrality to the world, one can be deeply transformed and reborn — not just learn about difference, but learn about one’s self in the world.
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Race and class are two of the most significant factors associated with educational inequality within and across societies. However, their definitions and significance vary over time, and from one place to another. As subjective factors... more
Race and class are two of the most significant factors associated with educational inequality within and across societies. However, their definitions and significance vary over time, and from one place to another. As subjective factors related to identity, they also impact on one another in their effects on educational access and equity. These issues create challenges for conducting comparative educational research that effectively explores one or both of these factors. This essay examines challenges employing race and class in comparative educational research. Race and class are analysed separately, illustrating that ethical and political issues, not just conceptual miscommunications, are at stake in defining and using these categories. The geographical and political complexity of using race and class are also reflected on more generally, and the argument is put forward that analytic and self-reflexive understanding of diversity is needed for the development of fruitful understandi...
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Michael A. PetersBeijing Normal University, PR ChinaImmature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something ...
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Many educational philosophers aim to contribute to better understanding how social differences are constructed and intersect with inequality and injustice. In a conference in social foundations or philosophy of education, a significant... more
Many educational philosophers aim to contribute to better understanding how social differences are constructed and intersect with inequality and injustice. In a conference in social foundations or philosophy of education, a significant proportion of work is typically focused on these themes. Yet among categories that frame and relate to education, difference, and injustice, less work is generally focused on class than on race, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality. In an analysis of the last 20 archived volumes of Philosophy of Education, I found few essays that primarily examined class or socioeconomic status and education. Many articles recognized class or socioeconomic status with a few sentences, or included such key terms within a “kitchen sink” approach to acknowledging difference through listing categories. The kitchen sink approach, however, does not primarily aim to substantively describe or discuss the social categories. For instance:
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Few studies have examined expatriate leadership in higher education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where expatriates make up the majority of higher education leaders. Such leaders need to be able to effectively interact with diverse... more
Few studies have examined expatriate leadership in higher education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where expatriates make up the majority of higher education leaders. Such leaders need to be able to effectively interact with diverse colleagues despite possibly limited prior international experience and understanding of cultural differences. Such challenges can be seen to increase employee turnover, which challenges the success of Emirati higher education. This essay examines the impact of emotional intelligence, hardiness, and openness on self-reported probability of finishing contract and contract renewal of expatriate leaders in higher education in the UAE. The research can contribute to an improvement in the educational services in the UAE, and other Middle Eastern countries which feature high rates of employment of expatriate workers in higher education.
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The potential roles of care, compassion, and related altruistic emotions in civic action have been continually defended in recent years against the Stoic and Kantian focus on deemphasizing or reducing emotion in moral reason.1 Many... more
The potential roles of care, compassion, and related altruistic emotions in civic action have been continually defended in recent years against the Stoic and Kantian focus on deemphasizing or reducing emotion in moral reason.1 Many further argue that the cultivation of emotions such as empathy, pity, and sympathy toward diverse others is a crucial component of an education toward living ethically with others both locally and globally. We find such views in calls for certain kinds of multicultural education, citizenship education for “compassionate globalization,” and education for understanding (and combating) white privilege.2 However, defenders of emotions concede that they can play fleeting, or even harmful, roles in shaping altruistic moral action, without restraint or appropriate judgment. Emotional learning can also lead students to take a step back and turn away, in confusion, anger, guilt, or fear. Even when emotional learning and development is aligned with educators’ aims,...
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Sinophobia (anti-Chinese sentiment) has become normalised and increasingly acceptable in Hong Kong in recent decades. Such Sinophobia intersects with aims of protecting what is local in the society...
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Abstract Hong Kong, as a former colony of the United Kingdom, is characterised as a hybrid of East and West. Its colonial history is commonly seen as establishing many positive aspects of Hong Kong and shaping good qualities of its... more
Abstract Hong Kong, as a former colony of the United Kingdom, is characterised as a hybrid of East and West. Its colonial history is commonly seen as establishing many positive aspects of Hong Kong and shaping good qualities of its people, such as the value of rule of law, free speech, freedom of the press, and fluency in English. Yet the majority of people in both Hong Kong and China share Han Chinese ethnicity, which has been used by both the Chinese and Hong Kong governments to promote a blood-based idea of Chinese identity for decades. This paper explores “Chineseness", or Chinese identity, as promoted by the Hong Kong government. It first explores the concept of Chineseness, elaborating on a blood-based view that connects with ethnic-nationalism, in contrast with a pluralistic view of identity in the Hong Kong context. The paper then examines how Hong Kong government officials promote Chineseness through major outlets, on government websites and in speeches captured in media. As we show, the government tends to advocate a blood-based view of Chineseness akin to ethnic-nationalism. A more inclusive and pluralistic view which recognises the dynamic nature and multiple visions of Chinese identity better fits Hong Kong’s multicultural context.
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How people are to live together well in society, and learn to live together, have been continuously debated. These are challenging tasks, as the world changes over time, while educators aim to prepare young people for a dynamic,... more
How people are to live together well in society, and learn to live together, have been continuously debated. These are challenging tasks, as the world changes over time, while educators aim to prepare young people for a dynamic, undetermined future. Although models and practices of civic education vary around the world, they typically have one thing in common. They tend to employ what can be described as the concentric circles model of human relations. In the concentric circles model, people live in spheres of local, national, and global. In academic work, the concentric circles model is associated with Nussbaum, whose political theories have inspired ongoing debates about one challenge of thinking through living in concentric circles. The major question she and many others have focused on is how to prioritise rights and responsibilities, and develop a sense of self, amidst the competing contexts of the circles—as part of local, national, and global life. I argue instead that the fundamental challenge of living together well in concentric circles relates to understanding what is in each of the circles—the way to know about, and thus be part of, the local, the national, the global. Rarely explored in work on civic education is that the local, the national, and the global are contested. The nature of those groups, their defining cultures and practices, and their implications for living together are under debate, neither simple nor given. It is often assumed that the concentric circles are known and given. But they are not a priori known, and they ought to be subjected to studied scrutiny. The challenge of identifying the nature of these social entities, and thus the meaning of membership within one’s locale, one’s nation-state, and global society, should be a focus of civic education. I elaborate this argument by exploring educating for citizenship at the global, national, and local levels.
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In order to facilitate cooperation to solve problems within a nation-state, a new approach which conceptualizes citizenship in terms of shared fate has been promoted to potentially ameliorate the tensions identified between civic liberty... more
In order to facilitate cooperation to solve problems within a nation-state, a new approach which conceptualizes citizenship in terms of shared fate has been promoted to potentially ameliorate the tensions identified between civic liberty and solidarity. Proponents of an emphasis on shared fate frame it not in terms of a particular shared national identity, but in terms of participation in the shared project(s) of the nation-state. The approach of singular shared fate rightly emphasizes the urgency of finding a common ground for people to cultivate obligations to others and achieve sincere cooperation in a society. Unfortunately, in some cases it leaves room for some people to undermine the common ground and its good intention, however, as the promotion of a view of singular shared fate risks producing a hegemonic singular nation building project and predesigning an agreement before a truly inclusive and just dialogue among relevant stakeholders proceeds. To make the good intentions of the notion of shared fate realizable, a modification is explored, in recasting the concept of singular “shared fate” to plural “shared fates”. Given the situation that people in societies have the plural shared fates de facto, the view of plural shared fates recognizes that people will reject any singular substantial nation building project that has a predesigned direction. In current, divided societies, acknowledging multiple fates at the beginning, rather than predesigning a singular fate, can better provide a platform for all stakeholders (including citizens, would-be citizens, newcomers, and immigrants) to discuss their obligations to others toward sincere cooperation through equal co-construction of what is shared and what is not shared. To enhance civic education in a multicultural society, we suggest that complementing the concept of singular “shared fate” with a recognition of the value of plural “shared fates” can provide a context for all people to work together towards a more inclusive and just future.
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Some may say the rise of parochial, sectarian populism has indicated a failure of civic education. On the other hand, it might be said to demonstrate the increasing power of some alternative forms of education. This paper hopes to shed... more
Some may say the rise of parochial, sectarian populism has indicated a failure of civic education. On the other hand, it might be said to demonstrate the increasing power of some alternative forms of education. This paper hopes to shed light on how ordinary people learn in ways and through means that are at odds with the experiences of scholars and elites. To do so it explores the intersections of education, technology, and social mobility, to highlight how people learn social class, and learn in classed ways outside schools. In contrast to the dream of information liberty, this article considers how online media is marked by private control of information, often retracing and broadening gaps between social classes. The article provides a theoretical understanding of the relationship between technology and education and the linkages of class and media consumption. It then integrates these topics by exploring how online learning through segmented social media operates to reproduce class and facilitate and mobilize sectarianism. This paper concludes with a recommendation for more focus on the study of class by philosophers interested in education for democracy and social justice.
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This introductory article for the special issue of “The International Journal of Diversity in Education” weaves the research interests and histories of members of the local organizing committee for the Fifteenth International Conference... more
This introductory article for the special issue of “The International Journal of Diversity in Education” weaves the research interests and histories of members of the local organizing committee for the Fifteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations held at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) in July 2015. These members share a common research context—diversity and education in Hong Kong and the article aims to reflect that, although from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and concerns with different sectors and approaches to education, our collective interest centers on education and social justice in Hong Kong. Issues explored in K-12 schooling range across: inclusive education, Chinese language support for special education needs children and non- Chinese speaking (NCS) learners, and multicultural education. Issues explored in higher education focus on the academic workforce in Hong Kong, both in terms of internationalization policy and academic mobility in professional education, and with regard to gender equity and the role of women in the academy.
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Abstract Conference environments enable diverse roles for academics. However, conferences are hardly entered into by participants as equals. Academics enter into and experience professional environments differently according to culture,... more
Abstract Conference environments enable diverse roles for academics. However, conferences are hardly entered into by participants as equals. Academics enter into and experience professional environments differently according to culture, gender, race, ethnicity, class, and more. This paper considers from a philosophical perspective entering and initiating culturally into academic conferences as a woman. It discusses theories of gender and emotional labor and emotional management, focusing on Arlie Hochschild’s foundational work, and affect in gendered social relations, considering Sara Ahmed’s theorization of the feminist killjoy and the affect alien. It applies these lenses to explore problematic experiences of women initiates at conferences. The paper proceeds with a theoretical discussion of gender, emotional labor, and affect. Then the paper discusses women academics’ experiences generally and at conferences, including educational research conferences, with reference to relevant higher education research as well as anecdotal evidence, relating these experiences to the theories. It thus aims to tie together theoretical insights, higher education scholarship, and ordinary real-life experiences of gendered social relations in conference activities.
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A new kind of gender equality ideology is rising in popularity in Western societies. While emphasising gender equality for the next generation, this new ideology sees feminism in a pragmatic and simplistic way, as nonthreatening to the... more
A new kind of gender equality ideology is rising in popularity in Western societies. While emphasising gender equality for the next generation, this new ideology sees feminism in a pragmatic and simplistic way, as nonthreatening to the status quo, in politics, popular culture, and economy. In the economic sphere, Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” has become well known for aiming to guide women to succeed alongside men in the workplace by changing their behaviours and attitudes. Its recommendations for women have impacted perspectives in the non- rofit and start-up worlds, arts, and more. However, there are some limitations to the kind of feminist thinking exemplified by Lean In. This article critically examines Lean In as a discourse or ideology in relation to higher education within and outside Western societies. I argue first that such ideology employs a deficiency model of gender equality that makes women accountable for sexism by focusing on internal rather than external change. Secon...
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This chapter examines youth perceptions regarding civic engagement during a tumultuous time in Hong Kong. We begin by examining the historical context of Hong Kong, tracing changes in its political status and educational system in... more
This chapter examines youth perceptions regarding civic engagement during a tumultuous time in Hong Kong. We begin by examining the historical context of Hong Kong, tracing changes in its political status and educational system in relation to the civic attitudes and behaviors of its population over time, particularly as Hong Kong shifted from a colony of the British Empire to a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China toward the end of the twentieth century.
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Purpose – Although researchers have identified correlations between specific attitudes and particular behaviors in the pro-environmental domain, the general relationship between young people’s development of environmental knowledge,... more
Purpose – Although researchers have identified correlations between specific attitudes and particular behaviors in the pro-environmental domain, the general relationship between young people’s development of environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors is not well understood. Past research indicates that geographic context can play a role, while social factors such as age and gender can have a more significant impact on predicting attitudes and behaviors than formal education. Few studies have systematically examined the relationships between education and environmental attitudes and behaviors among youth in Hong Kong. The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study comparing secondary school students’ environmental attitudes and behaviors with age and related factors in two international schools and two government schools in Hong Kong. Students’ attitudes and behaviors were compared based on school type (curriculum), while the authors additionally compared the s...