Beyond the Classroom Walls: Teaching in Challenging Social Contexts

(Hardback)

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Written for practicing teachers and administrators, teacher candidates, and scholars who work in the fields of pre-service and in-service teacher education,Beyond the Classroom Walls: Teaching in Challenging Social Contexts provides a richly descriptive, research-based inside-look at formal education in some challenging international socio-political and ethno-cultural settings. Based on data from three ethnographic studies conducted over a three-year period, this book illustrates the daily challenges and complexities that educators face in trying to meet the needs of their students in some the worlds more challenging contexts. In an era of increased forced migration and refugee resettlement, supporting teachers and school-based administrators global understandings of the teaching profession and what constitutes teaching is a vital first step in being able to relate with a diverse school population whose experiences of schooling are quite different from the majority of their teachers.

Reviews

This captivating book based on Cranstons ethnographic field work in India, Rwanda and Nepal interweaves narration with critical social commentary about teaching and learning in challenging contexts. In particular, the discussions surrounding the multifaceted dimensions of globalizations impact on schooling provides the necessary conditions to explore cultural discontinuities and to create intercultural awareness in contemporary pedagogy. -- Karen Ragoonaden, Professor of Teaching, Okanagan School of Education, University of British Columbia
Beyond the Classroom Wallsis an ambitious and illuminating investigation into the lives of teachers who work in abject poverty in the brickfields of India, in the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda, and in a refugee camp in Nepal. Framed by Cranstons work as a researcher in three different international settings, his engaging narratives are interspersed with historical, geo-political and social cultural considerations, illustrating the optimistic persistence of these teachers in overwhelmingly difficult conditions.Beyond the Classroom Wallsprovides insights into the ways in which these teachers seemingly small acts in our complex geo-political context, are immensely important in the lives of their students, centering the professions collective commitment to and enactment of the fundamental right to education. -- Melanie Janzen, Associate Professor of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba
Cranstons rich, ethnographic narrative approach inBeyond the Classroom Wallsoffers both a deeply personal and also well-researched perspective of some of the most relevant and challenging social issues impacting educational outcomes around the world today. It is an ideal companion for international and multicultural studies in all educational contexts. -- Cheryl Bowen, Interim Chair and Acting Director of Teacher Education- Department of Education, Santa Clara University

Author Bio

Jerome Cranston is dean and professor of education at University of Regina