Neoliberalism has been widely criticised because of its role in prioritising ‘free markets’ as the optimum way of solving problems and organising society. In the field of education, this leads to an emphasis on the knowledge economy that can reduce both persons and education to economic actors and be detrimental to wider social and ethical goals.

Drawing on a range of international contexts across informal, adult, school and university settings, this book provides innovative examples that show how neoliberalism in education can be challenged and changed at the local, national and transnational levels in order to foster a more democratic culture.

Foreword: the imperative to resist ~ Kathleen Lynch

Introduction: resisting neoliberalism in education ~ Lyn Tett and Mary Hamilton

Part I : Adult education

• Accountability literacies and conflictual cooperation in community- based organisations for young people in Québec ~ Virginie Thériault
• Research, adult literacy and criticality: catalysing hope and dialogic caring ~ Vicky Duckworth and Rob Smith
• The employability skills discourse and literacy practitioners ~ Gwyneth Allatt and Lyn Tett

Part II : School education

• Making spaces in professional learning for democratic literacy education in the early years ~ Lori McKee, Rachel Heydon and Elisabeth Davies
• Countering dull pedagogies: the power of teachers and artists working together ~ Pat Thomson and Christine Hall
• Resisting the neoliberal: parent activism in New York State against the corporate reform agenda in schooling ~ David Hursh, Sarah McGinnis, Zhe Chen and Bob Lingard
• Nourishing resistance and healing in dark times: teaching through a Body- Soul Rooted Pedagogy ~ Shiv Desai, Shawn Secatero, Mia Sosa- Provencio and Annmarie Sheahan

Part III : Higher education

• Everyday activism: challenging neoliberalism for radical library workers in English higher education ~ Katherine Quinn and Jo Bates
• Strategies of resistance in the neoliberal university ~ Mary Hamilton
• Moving against and beyond neoliberal higher education in Ireland ~ Fergal Finnegan

Part IV : National perspectives

• The appropriation of cultural, economic and normative frames of reference for adult education: an
• Italian perspective ~ Marcella Milana and Francesca Rapanà
• The marginalisation of popular education: 50 years of Danish adult education policy ~ Anne Larson and Pia Cort
• Adult basic education in Australia: in need of a new song sheet? ~ Keiko Yasukawa and Pamela Osmond

Part V : Transnational perspectives

• Education policy and the European Semester: challenging soft power in hard times ~ Howard Stevenson, Alison Milner, Emily Winchip and Lesley Hagger- Vaughan
• Rethinking adult education for active participatory citizenship and resistance in Europe - George K. Zarifi s
• Leaving no one behind: bringing equity and inclusion back into education ~ Carlos Vargas-Tamez

Afterword: resources of hope ~ Mary Hamilton and Lyn Tett