Another Way: Global Perspectives on Community-Based and Alternative Schooling Initiatives

Session Type: WERA Symposium

Abstract

A major contradiction of global educational policy-making lies in the tension between a decentralization of authority and standardization of content. While increased community participation is often upheld as essential for building democratic schools, an increased homogenization of content is simultaneously touted as vital for assuring successful outcomes. But, what happens when institutional standards come into conflict with the identities and interests of local students, parents and teachers? This panel interrogates the dynamics of disparate types of community-based schooling initiatives existing in contentious parallel to ‘mainstream’ educational systems. Drawing on a sample of cases from the United States, China, El Salvador, and Argentina, the papers explore how local educational initiatives intersect with broader trends in global educational politics.

Sub Unit

• World Education Research Association

Chair

• Rebecca A. Clothey, Drexel University

Papers

• Building a Community-Based Charter School - Deanna Hill, Drexel University

• An Alternative Education Model in Ürümqi - Rebecca A. Clothey, Drexel University

• Community Management as Global Education Policy: Crisis, International Organizations, and the Trajectory of the "Education With Community Participation Program" in El Salvador and Beyond - D. Brent Edwards Jr., Drexel University

• En Nuestras Manos: Crisis, Contention, and the Rise of the Cooperative Schooling Movement in Argentina - Kai Heidemann, Maastricht University

Discussant

• Kai Heidemann, Maastricht University