Pedagogies of Taking Care

In Pedagogies of Taking Care Dennis Atkinson offers a tour de force of contexts, theories, artworks, and analyses that move anyone who is familiar with his work to state that this could possibly be the most comprehensive and powerful of all his most recent books. * John Baldacchino, Professor of Arts Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA *
Philosophically this is an important work; it digs deep into the concepts of learning and pedagogy, locating them into the broader steams of contemporary theoretical thinking. Atkinson’s comprehensive grasp and application of current philosophical trends provide new and profound insights into the fundamental nature of teaching and learning. * Jeff Adams, Emeritus Professor of Art Education, University of Chester, UK *
In this fascinating new book, Atkinson introduces a 'pedagogy of taking care' as a process of learning to receive the gift of otherness with grace. Yet with this grace also comes a ferocity that viscerally refuses neo-liberal imperatives that have taken hold of global education systems over the past two decades. For Atkinson this graceful disobedience is not embodied by the familiar shape of the rebel individual, but is found instead in the processual interstices of collective pedagogical life. Atkinson thus invites us to take a crucial leap forward in response to a burning contemporary question: how do we forge an education that truly values, and cares for, difference? In answer Atkinson draws on numerous philosophers and social theorists to construct a new ground for common sense, in the Whiteheadian mode of differentially shared experiential knowledge. If difference is ultimately all we have in common, and therefore our only currency for educational change, then Atkinson offers valuable new tools for charting this adventure into pluralism. * David Rousell, Senior Lecturer in Creative Education, RMIT University, Australia *