Complexity Theory and Education

Why is the education system so resistant to change? How does change in education occur? When change does happen, what does it take to make it sustainable? Social scientists, and social and education policy makers, are beginning to frame their understanding of these questions in terms of complexity theory.

A collection of scholarly essays, Complexity Theory and the Philosophy of Education provides an accessible theoretical introduction to the topic of complexity theory while considering its broader implications for educational change. Explains the contributions of complexity theory to philosophy of education, curriculum, and educational researchBrings together new research by an international team of contributorsDebates issues ranging from the culture of curriculum, to the implications of work of key philosophers such as Foucault and John Dewey for educational changeDemonstrates how social scientists and social and education policy makers are drawing on complexity theory to answer questions such as: why is it that education decision-makers are so resistant to change; how does change in education happen; and what does it take to make these changes sustainable?Considers changes in use of complexity theory; developed principally in the fields of physics, biology, chemistry, and economics, and now being applied more broadly to the social sciences and to the study of education