Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons^™

From Pathology To Ecology: Rethinking Student Well-Being Through Consciousness-Centered Education, Molly Beauregard

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This article revisits a five-year mixed-methods study conducted from 2012 to 2018, involving 207 student participants (n = 207), of an undergraduate sociology course—Consciousness, Creativity, and Identity—that integrated group meditation and mindfulness into a standard curriculum. Earlier analyses interpreted positive outcomes primarily as reductions in stress and improvements in attention among students. This paper reconsiders that interpretation, arguing that such a framing risks locating dysfunction within students rather than the social and cultural environments they inhabit.

Drawing on an ecological perspective, the study reexamines survey, reflection, and interview data documenting changes, not only in affect and attention, …

Faculty Engagement Practices With Building A Community Of Care, Cathryn Walker, Richard Penny, Lynne Orr, Kathleen Norris, Judith Blakely

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Faculty in a virtual online university benefited from employing elements of the community of care, community of inquiry, and social determinants of health frameworks to strengthen a sense of connection and to develop a community of care in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article presents an overview of practices at one university related to the design, implementation, and benefits accruing from employing strategies anchored in these frameworks. During 2022, two years after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, university leaders approached a team of faculty members to facilitate a dialogue series to enhance relationships among faculty, given the …

Integral Education, Institutional Solidarity: A Response To Arturo Sosa’S 2025 Iaju Address, Paul L. Lynch

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

During the 2025 meeting of the International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU) at the Pontifica Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia, Jesuit Superior General Arturo Sosa offered the keynote address, “The Jesuit University: Witness to Hope, Creative and Dialogical Presence.” He urged the global university apostolate to respond to our common challenges: the climate crisis, political reactionism, institutional mistrust, and economic inequality. The Jesuit university, he insisted, must reimagine itself in order to respond to these threats. But the precise manner in which Jesuit universities should respond must still be articulated. This essay begins that project. It opens with an analysis …

Spotting Power: Reframing Media Literacy In Civic Education, Kason Kendall

Democracy & Education

This article analyzes and critiques the tendency to frame media literacy as a neutral skill set concentrated on verifying sources, or "spotting the error." While this approach emphasizes cognitive habits of checking for bias and accuracy, it does not adequately prepare students to understand intentional misinformation as a political strategy. Building on Matthew's (2020) response to Curry and Cherner (2019), I propose that limiting media literacy to error correction hides the strategic production and intentional spread of disinformation by powerful organizations, corporations, and media outlets. Rooted in curriculum theory and the work of scholars such as Gramsci, Hall, Habermas, and …

How To Educate When Deliberation Falls Short? A Response To “Affective Alignment And Hidden Conflicts: Political Emotions In Blended Spaces Of Democratic Education Classrooms”, Anniina Leiviskä, Veli-Mikko Kauppi

Democracy & Education

Here, we explore potential educational strategies in response to the problems of democratic education highlighted in the feature article’s case study. Drawing on deliberative democracy and Deweyan pragmatism, we contend that in settings marked by affective polarization, such as the school examined in the case study, direct conversation over contentious political topics may not be the most effective path toward meaningful educational outcomes. Instead, we propose two alternative approaches: first, fostering dialogue about the social norms that shape the conditions for political deliberation in the classroom; and second, encouraging collaborative inquiry among students who hold opposing perspectives. Both approaches aim …

Open Classroom Climate And Democratic Education: Implications For Research And Practice. A Response To "Reassessing The Open Classroom Climate In Civic Education: Insights From 60 Studies", Luke J. Rapa

Democracy & Education

An open classroom climate has numerous benefits for school-aged youth, and it plays an important role in school-based democratic and civic education efforts. After highlighting the strengths of Knowles and Chamberlain's review, I add to their contribution by enumerating several implications for contemporary open classroom climate research and practice. I suggest researchers and practitioners: (a) embrace pluralism in open classroom climate pedagogy and instructional contexts; (b) explore mechanisms driving associations between open classroom climate and outcomes of interest; (c) incorporate developmental theory; and (d) better account for contextual-ecological and measurement considerations. I also reflect briefly on open classroom climate research …

Reassessing The Open Classroom Climate In Civic Education: Insights From 60 Studies, Ryan T. Knowles, Kalie Chamberlain

Democracy & Education

This paper explores scholarship relating to an open classroom climate as a fundamental strategy for promoting democratic values and social justice within educational settings. Sixty research studies were identified that found relationships between an open classroom climate and desirable outcomes, such as civic knowledge, political self-efficacy, and support for human rights. These findings come from researchers across fields, countries, and decades. Results are considered within criticisms of deliberative democracy theory with suggestions for teaching and research.

Student-Faculty Pedagogical Partnerships Humanize Teaching And Learning: A Phenomenological Study, Kiersten Ann Hillkirk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This hermeneutic phenomenological study, guided by Gadamer’s (2004) ideas, explored the lived experiences of student consultants and faculty members participating in a student-faculty pedagogical partnership program. Framed by humanizing pedagogy (Freire, 1970; Salazar, 2013) and students as partners (Healey et al., 2014) as the conceptual foundation, the study examined how collaborative teaching and learning relationships can promote more equitable, dialogic, and transformative educational practices. Participants included three student consultants and three faculty members at a private research university in the western United States.

Data were collected through nine in-depth phenomenological interviews (Seidman, 2019) and supplemented with written reflections and entry/exit …

The Motherhood Contract: Mental Load, Moral Risk, And Gendered Care In Contemporary Parenting And Digital Culture, Stephanie J. Stallman

Dissertations

This dissertation examines childcare as a site of gender inequality shaped by cultural norms, structural barriers, and digital discourse. Despite increased awareness of shared parenting ideals, mothers predominantly bear the “mental load.” This study introduces the idea of a motherhood contract: implicit expectations that mothers are responsible for managing children’s needs. Two research questions guide this study. (1) What are parents’ experiences of managing the mental load of caregiving? How do they make sense of these experiences within the gendered and moral expectations shaping family life? (2) How are cultural ideas about childcare and parenting constructed, circulated, and reproduced through …

Pedagogy Of Care: Exploring Climate Justice Frameworks In Cuny Undergraduate Courses, Ismerlyn Gonzalez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Climate justice centers the human rights of communities most impacted by the climate crisis rather than solely focusing on the scientific aspects of environmental challenges and disasters. Higher education institutions play a key role in advancing climate justice education, but research shows that frameworks are not consistently defined across institutions. The IRB-approved study that produced the findings in this capstone sought to explore how climate justice frameworks are implemented at the CUNY undergraduate level and learn more about the instructors delivering these courses. From February to April 2026, instructors from different CUNY undergraduate campuses were surveyed, interviewed, and asked to …

Transformative Teaching And Learning - Practicing Emancipation Through Co-Construction And Dialogue In Workplace Learning, Lisa Roe

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

TRANSFORMATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING: PRACTICING EMANCIPATIONTHROUGH CO-CONSTRUCTION, AND DIALOGUE IN WORKPLACE TEACHING ANDLEARNING

June 2026

Lisa A. Roe, B.A., University of Maine

M.Ed., Suffolk University

Ph.D. University of Massachusetts Boston

Directed by Professor Patricia Krueger-Henney

This dissertation investigates how emancipatory and creative practices can transform vocational high school classrooms into spaces of shared power, dialogue, and mastery-based learning. Using an autoethnographic methodology, I examined my practice as a vocational educator in information technology over the course of an academic year.

Grounded in Wheatley’s fractal organization theory, Kincheloe’s critical constructivism, Lave and Wenger’s situated learning, and dialogic pedagogy, …

Educate. Don’T Annihilate: A Narrative Inquiry Into Students With Dark Personality Traits Who Orchestrate Bullying Campaigns Against A Target Through Mob Formation, Zoey Roosevelt

The Scholarship Without Borders Journal

Less is understood about how peer relationships can escalate into coordinated exclusionary dynamics and sustained group-based targeting within student populations than about acceptance into a higher education program. Moreover, existing literature grounded in Social Identity Theory and Organizational Ostracism has primarily focused on workplace and organizational settings, leaving a gap in understanding these processes in higher education contexts. This study addresses that gap using Dark Personality Framework, Social Identity Theory, and Conflict Escalation Theory to explain how and why this phenomenon occurs. The study asks, “What happens when a higher education student with dark personality traits orchestrates a coordinated bullying …

Layers Of Representation: A Multidimensional Book Analysis, Mariah Pfundheller, Nikki Logan, Amy E. Lein, Sydney Bueno

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

This study evaluates how educators interpret the Multidimensional Framework for Inclusive Literature (MDFIL), a tool for evaluating and selecting multicultural literature for their classrooms. Participants self-identified as current, former/retired, or student teachers, or as undergraduates pursuing a teaching license at the time of the survey. Incorporating multicultural literature into educational settings has a positive impact on children's development. Multicultural literature fosters feelings of acceptance, cultural awareness, and empathy among students. By exposing children to diverse cultural perspectives, multicultural literature not only enhances their understanding of their own identities but also cultivates a greater appreciation of others' experiences. The benefits of …

Our Own, My Own: Expereinces With Art, Kaleisha Towle

Masters Theses

Our Own, My Own: Experiences with Art is a two in one thesis project investigating dialogically based programming within art museums and how those programs can contribute to the making of art museums into civically engaged third spaces. Part one of this project included research into how dialogically based art museum programs are currently operating within the United States. The goal was to investigate pedagogical practices and forms of dialogue in use as well as their impact on participants' experiences. To accomplish this goal, I attended seven art museums within the region of New England at which I participated in …

Compassion At The Core: Reimagining Schools As Centers Of Human Flourishing Through Youth-Led Action Research, Tara S. Waudby

Dissertations

In an increasingly competitive and standardized world, student wellbeing is a growing priority in K-12 education, alongside an emerging focus on human flourishing. While not commonly paired with wellbeing science, compassion is gaining prominence as an important systemic mindset. Focusing on compassion in schools cultivates attitudes of caring, openness, generosity, concern for others, and concern for the environment, leading to positive impacts on organizational culture and learning. This points to a broader question about what it means for students and communities to flourish. However, it is unclear how compassion is experienced in the lives of students. A common solution has …

Reclamando Corazón Y Voz: Latinas Speak Their Truth Through Plática As Resistance In California Community College Learning Disabilities Assessments, Maricela Becerra

Dissertations

Although California Community Colleges (CCCs) offer learning disability (LD) assessments to determine eligibility for academic accommodations, for Latina students navigating converging forces of race, gender, language, citizenship, and ableism, these assessments often surface unspoken histories of harm. This study advanced Chicana feminista DisCrit (CFDC), extending disability critical race theory through Chicana spirituality and cultural intuition to examine possibilities when an educadora situates assessments in a plática grounded in consideración—respectful, relational, and unhurried care.

Rooted in Chicana feminist pláticas methodology and authored from the positionality of a disabled Latina scholar–practitioner, this qualitative decolonial dissertation explored how Latina students reflected on …

Learning Through Lowriding: Knowledge In The Garage, Bianca Elisa Arellano

Dissertations

Lowriding culture has long been situated at the margins where state-sanctioned criminalization processes delegitimize the intellectual agency of lowriders, rendering their knowledge systems institutionally illegible. This dissertation argues that such epistemic invisibility denies lowriders the agency to define their own intellectual contributions, and it reclaims lowriding as a site of profound resourceful innovation. Grounded in Chicana feminist epistemologies, the study theorizes how nepantla—the process of navigating and living at the margins—works alongside rasquachismo, the working-class sensibility through which constraint becomes a site of knowledge production, to frame lowriding in Chicanx San Diego communities as an embodied tension where subversive, resourceful …

Archives Of The Future, Ka Oskar Ly

Masters Theses

Archives Of The Future is a practice-based thesis that invokes the archive and the future as simultaneous.

This research insists on the recentering of HMong Indigeneity and its own rooted traditions of HMong Queerness and HMong Feminism as ancestral knowledge systems.

They are the medicine. To recover their cosmological capacity is to traverse centuries of systematic eradication by empires and patriarchy.

I treat artistic making, community encounter, memory, and materials as equally valid ways of knowing and as collaborators. Field research from 2020 to 2026 moves through kinship and artisan teachings. It spans Southeast Asia, France, the United States, and …

Who Gets To Be Taken Seriously? Three Atypical Scholars Navigate Doctoral Education At The Intersections Of Race, Neurodivergence, And Veteran Identity, Sr. Richard De La Garza

Dissertations

As a first-generation, neurodivergent, Mexican American/Chicano veteran, I entered the University of San Diego's doctoral program having had experiences that most institutional intake processes would label as risk factors. The Findings chapter of this dissertation begins by describing those experiences—not as a confession, but as the foundation for a systematic inquiry into how doctoral legitimacy is produced, withheld, and defended. The description of my life experiences is followed by a discussion of the doctoral journeys of two other study participants who also were atypical doctoral candidates.

The central argument being advanced is this: What higher education calls "fit," "rigor," and …

Making The Case For Career Academies In Shaping Pre-Collegiate Students For Stem Career Pathways, Felix Quayson

Journal of Research in Technical Careers

Career academies are increasingly important in preparing pre-collegiate high school students for STEM pathways by connecting academic learning, technical skill development, career identity, and postsecondary readiness. STEM-focused career academies function as structured bridges between secondary education, higher education, and the labor market. Through small learning communities, interdisciplinary curricula, employer partnerships, work-based learning, and early exposure to college and career expectations, career academies help students understand STEM not only as school subjects but as possible futures. Research suggests that career academies can improve student engagement, support school persistence, and strengthen labor market outcomes when implemented with fidelity. The article concludes that …

We Need To Do Better: Exploring Educators’ Perspectives Of Transformative Trauma-Informed Social-Emotional Learning, Heather Stay

Education Doctorate Dissertations

This qualitative, descriptive case study examined educators’ understandings, enactment, and professional learning related to transformative, trauma-informed social-emotional learning (SEL) practices in a center-based emotional support school setting. Data were collected through semi-structured educator interviews and classroom observations to capture a holistic view of pedagogical practices. Guided by the theoretical frameworks of Dis/Crit, Transformative Learning Theory, and Foucault’s Theory of Power, the findings illuminate how educators leverage trauma-informed SEL strategies to support students affected by trauma as they navigate structural and systemic constraints within a normative educational system. Results highlight both effective cultural-sustaining and trauma-responsive practices already in place, as well …

Influence Of The Discipline Of Authentic Movement Practice On Interpersonal Relationships, Joy Ruben Welts

Educational Studies Dissertations

This mixed methods study explored how practicing the Discipline of Authentic Movement impacts relationships. This research was conducted to fill in the gaps around attunement and use of the Discipline of Authentic Movement as an intervention to support healthy relationships. Five self-selected adults met on Saturday afternoons for eight weeks to practice the Discipline of Authentic Movement. They completed a pre and post Revised Adult Attachment Scale and reflected weekly on their experience through journaling. Participants reported that it was the structure of the Discipline of Authentic Movement that allowed them to feel more comfortable being themselves with others. The …

The Politics Of Literature In Dider Eribon’S Returning To Reims: An Emancipatory Review, Noa De Kievit

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

This paper examines Didier Eribon’s Returning to Reims (2009) as a model for understanding how literary and autobiographical writing can enact ''the politics of literature.'' While Eribon is widely recognized as a sociologist, his “autosociobiography”—tracing his trajectory from a working-class upbringing to an academic career alongside his coming out—blends personal narrative and sociological insight to illuminate structural inequalities and social marginalization. Reading the text through Jacques Rancière’s concept of the politics of literature, I argue that Eribon simultaneously expands the scope of what is visible, sayable, and thinkable, while reflecting critically on the interpretive authority he exercises. Building on Caroline …

They Don’T Care About Us Here! The Intersectionality Of Implicit Bias, Stereotype Threat, And The Need For Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, Louis D. Blair

Education Doctorate Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined how teachers engage in critical self-reflection of implicit bias and how that process influences their pedagogical awareness and classroom practices. Grounded in the Implicit Bias Theory, Adult Learning Theory, Transformative Learning Theory, and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, the study utilized the Harvard Implicit Association Test (IAT), reflective journaling, and engagement with the book Despite the Best Intentions: How Racial Inequality Thrives in Good Schools, to explore shifts in three participants’ beliefs and instructional approaches. Data sources included pre- and post-survey responses, IAT reflections, and ongoing journal entries, and semi-structured post-study interviews which were analyzed thematically. Findings …

Nature As The Foundation: A Shift In Pedagogy, Mary Moroney-Fernandez

The Cicadian

Somewhere in the United States right now, a child is sitting beneath fluorescent lights while the world outside continues without her. This paper argues that her confinement is not accidental, but rather theoretical. Examining the divergent frameworks of Friedrich Fröbel and Jean Piaget, it traces how American public schooling absorbed a vision of learning organized around cognitive individualism while displacing Fröbel's relational vision of child and nature. Drawing on reflection, historical analysis, and research, this paper contends that lasting reform requires confronting the foundational assumptions that built the classroom in the first place.

A Critical Analysis Of The Influence Of Ideology On Education Governance In An Urban, Midwestern School District, Carl Bryan

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This study examines how ideology operates within local education governance through a critical theoretical lens. As state and national education policies, accountability mandates, and partisan political discourse increasingly shape local school governance, this research investigates how power relations, ideological influences, and equity concerns are embedded in school board decision-making processes and public discourse. Addressing a gap in existing scholarship on ideology in education governance, the study employs a qualitative case study of an urban public school district in the Midwestern United States. Data sources include individual interviews with school board members, critical discourse analysis of school board meetings, and analysis …

Contemplative Classrooms For Ecological Wisdom: Reimagining K-12 Education In Pakistan, China, And Beyond, Maha Shoaib, Jing Lin, Yueyue Wang

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper explores the transformative potential of contemplative environmental education in addressing the growing disconnection between humans and the natural world, particularly within K-12 education systems shaped by anthropocentric and capitalist paradigms. Modern schooling often frames nature as an object of study, rather than a sacred, living presence, contributing to ecological alienation amid intensifying environmental crises. We propose a radical shift toward contemplative, holistic education that draws on spiritual, Indigenous, and ecological knowledge systems. Grounded in Daoist philosophy, Islamic teachings on stewardship, Hindu ethics, and Indigenous worldviews, we reimagine education as a relational and sacred engagement with the Earth. We …

Reimagining Masculinities Through Australian Indigenous Pedagogies, Ben Campbell, Anna Rumjahn

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

In the face of intersecting ecological crises and persistent gender inequality, this paper explores how dominant norms of masculinity—marked by control, detachment, conquest, and other ideals rooted in Western, hegemonic paradigms—contribute to environmental degradation. Drawing on ecofeminist theory, Australian Indigenous pedagogies, and contemplative education, we examine how relational, place-based approaches may offer transformative alternatives for boys in schooling contexts. Central to this inquiry is the Learning from Country framework, which positions land as teacher and emphasizes practices of deep listening, reciprocity, and ethical engagement with the more-than-human world.

We argue that this pedagogical approach challenges dominant masculinities by fostering care …

Challenging Stem Learning Spaces: The Paradigm Of Contemplative Traditions As The Bedrock Of Creativity And Healing, Raaghav Pandya, Christopher Emdin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

As the post-pandemic classroom and pedagogy evolve to remedy oppressive norms, young people’s mental health and alienation has taken front stage (Rahmani & Zitouni, 2022). Traditional STEM learning spaces often teach inquiry as a linear, non-deviated approach to problems about self and nature (Hrisa & Psillos, 2022). Furthermore, because our classrooms often strip students and educators of their inherent creative abilities through constant assessments, improvement scales, and market-driven expectations, classrooms cease to become places of healing (Pandya, 2021). Eastern wisdom traditions and their associated philosophies provide a unique pedagogical lens that emphasizes a deep inquiry into self, empathy, and creativity …

Journeys Of Two Children From West To East: Notes Of A Teacher-Parent, Katherine E. Khan Dr

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This essay, explores the transformative educational journeys of two children across five countries, viewed through the dual lens of a teacher and parent. Grounded in the principles of Contemplative Education (CE), it draws on over two decades of the author’s experience in global education, weaving personal and professional insights into a narrative that examines how context, culture, and pedagogy intersect in shaping young learners.

The journey begins in the inquiry-rich, nature-based kindergartens of Germany and the nurturing early primary years of the United Kingdom, moves through the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary and Middle Years Programmes, and Big Picture education in …