Creativity and Democracy in Education : Practices and politics of learning through the arts

In this book Jeff Adams and Allen Owen explore creativity conceptually, historically and metaphorically within a variety of UK and international contexts, and in each case consider its relationship to notions of democracy in education. The book seeks to explore how democratic educational models survive under the neoliberal hegemony, and specifically the new democratic pedagogical practices that have developed through the creative disciplines, in response and as a resistance to corporatisation and marketization.

The struggle to establish more democratic education pedagogies has a long history in the politics of mainstream education. This book argues for the significance of the creative arts in the establishment of social justice in education, using examples drawn from a selection of contemporary case studies including Japanese applied drama, Palestinian teacher education and Room 13 children’s contemporary art.

Jeff Adams and Allan Owens use their research in practice to explore creativity conceptually, historically and metaphorically within a variety of UK and international contexts, which are analysed using political and social theories of democratic and relational education. Each chapter discusses the relationship between models of democratic creativity and the cultural conditions in which they are practised, with a focus on new critical pedagogies that have developed in response to neoliberalism and marketization in education. The book is structured throughout by the theories, practices and the ideals that were once considered to be foundational for education: democratic citizenship and a just society.

Creativity and Democracy in Education will be of key interest to postgraduate students, researchers, and academics in the field of education, especially those interested in the arts and creativity, democratic learning, teacher education, cultural and organisational studies, and political theories of education.