This book investigates professional practice at the interface of sociology and epistemology for progressive educational change. It suggests that orthodox sociology and sociology of education have not sufficiently analysed contemporary educational situations due primarily to the strength of the economic and educational influence of neoliberalism. In drawing upon key aspects of the work of Dewey, Freire, Bernstein and Bourdieu, a new reflexive sociology of knowledge is proposed that could potentially revolutionise public schooling and emancipate learning. This critical reconceptualisation of curriculum and teaching, as well as the democratic inclusion of all children into structures of privileged and community knowledge, opens up a new epistemological stage in the sociology of education worldwide.

Part A: Concepts and Commentaries 1. Re-evaluating Knowledge 2. Progressive Pedagogies 3. Schooling for the Majority 4. Social Justice, Culture and Knowledge Part B: Knowledge Practices and Testing 5. Literacy, Numeracy and Test Distortions 6. Reconceptualising Mathematics, Science and Technologies 7. Creative Knowledge Formation in the Humanities and Arts 8. Indigenous Learning and Culture Part C: Critical Theorising and Research 9. Research as Bricolage 10. Reflexive Teaching and Learning 11. Constructing Professionalism 12. Towards a New Reflexive Sociology of Knowledge

Neil Hooley is a lecturer in the College of Education at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.