Neoliberalism, Pedagogy and Human Development ─ Exploring Time, Mediation and Collectivity in Contemporary Schools

"In most Western developed countries, adult life is increasingly organized on the basis of short-term work contracts and reduced social security funds. In this context it seems that producing efficient job-seekers and employees becomes the main aim of educational programs for the next generation. Through case studies of Turkish and Arabic students in Berlin (Germany), Asian, Hispanic and Black students in Long Beach (USA), and children of landless rural workers in Espirito Santo (Brazil), this book investigates emerging educational practices and takes a critical stance towards what can be seen as "mainstream" or "dominant" educational politics. Kontopodis poses the question of whether encouraging students to engage in guided reflection about themselves, their past performance and their future career supports marginalized youth in dealing with complex everyday situations and actively participating in societal improvement. His interdisciplinary theoretical account draws on process philosophy and time theory, developmental and educational psychological theorising (mainly Vygotskian/post-Vygotskian), sociology of education, as well as on continuing discussions in the fields of science and technology studies and anthropology. The book suggests an innovative relational understanding of time and development at school which can prove of particular importance for the education of marginalized students"-- Provided by publisher.

Dr. Michalis Kontopodis studied psychology in Greece, France, Poland and Germany and completed his PhD at the Faculty of Education and Psychology of Free University Berlin, Germany. He worked at Humboldt University Berlin from 2007 to 2010, and was a visiting scholar at City University New York and at New York University in 2009. He was also invited as a visiting professor at Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Sao Paolo, and at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2010. He currently works as a research associate at the Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam. He has also been external coordinator of the Summer University in Cultural-Historical Psychology at Moscow State University of Psychology and Education since 2010.

His research interests concern marginalization, immigration, urban and countryside education, neoliberalism and biopedagogies, as well as institutional memory and organizational processes at school. His publications include special issues of the journals Outlines: Critical Practice Studies; Memory Studies; Science, Technology & Human Values and ETHOS, as well as three co-edited books, most recently Children, Development and Education: Cultural, Historical, Anthropological Perspectives, with Springer (2011, co-edited with C. Wulf & B. Fichtner). Further information is provided at http://mkontopodis.wordpress.com/.