Systems Theory for Pragmatic Schooling: Toward Principles of Democratic Education

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Craig A. Cunningham

   Pages 1-4

3. The Schooling We Have

   • Craig A. Cunningham

   Pages 5-14

4. The Nature of Nature

   • Craig A. Cunningham

   Pages 15-43

5. Systems

   • Craig A. Cunningham

   Pages 44-60

6. The Complexities of Schooling

   • Craig A. Cunningham

   Pages 61-82

7. Learners and Learning

   • Craig A. Cunningham

   Pages 83-96

8. Teachers and Teaching

   • Craig A. Cunningham

   Pages 97-107

9. The Schooling We Need

   • Craig A. Cunningham

   Pages 108-120

10. Epilogue: Emergent Principles of Democratic Schooling

    • Craig A. Cunningham

    Pages 121-123

11. Back Matter

    Pages 124-142

    PDF

Writing for educators and education leaders, Cunningham shows that combining a philosophy of pragmatism with thinking about education as systems can illuminate challenges in contemporary schooling and provide practical solutions for creating a democratic education.

• Philosophy
• education
• John Dewey
• metaphysics
• democracy
• diversity
• systems
• complexity
• modeling
• administration
• schooling
• policy
• unique potential
• twenty-first century skills
• emergence
• learning
• systems theory

“Craig Cunningham provides a detailed and accessible text dealing with Dewey, systems theory, and a notion of schooling that contrasts with much of what goes on in the name of education in the contemporary United States. … his book is the most accessible introduction to systems theory, not only in education, but in the wider social science literature as well. It is an excellent book for use in the classroom.” (Richard Quantz and Deron Boyles, Educational Theory, Vol. 67 (1), 2017)

"With remarkable insight, Cunningham realizes that John Dewey's pluralistic, situational, holistic, emergent, transactional perspectivalism influenced as it is by Darwinian naturalism and biological functionalism that rejects the organism versus environment dualism is an excellent place to start for those wishing to integrate complex systems theory into the field of education. We will not have real school reform until the reformers reform their thinking. Cunningham's book is a great place to start." - Jim Garrison, Professor of Philosophy of Education, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA

"Cunningham's core concept, 'Systems Theory,' may sound technical and forbiddingly abstract but it is anything but that. The book is consistently well-written and accessible. It raises timely and challenging questions about education, and casts them in a clear-eyed idiom that invites the reader to think. I commend the book to all who care about the present and future prospects ofour nation's schools." - David T. Hansen, Weinberg Professor in the Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Education, Columbia University, USA

"Cunningham brings Dewey's naturalism in conversation with insights from systems theory in order to raise some probing questions about contemporary schooling. Clear, accessible, eloquent and passionate." - Gert Biesta, Professor of Educational Theory and Policy, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, and author of The Beautiful Risk of Education (2014)

"A breath of fresh air in an era of stale schooling! Cunningham gives us valuable suggestions to build on diversity, professional choice, interdisciplinary collaboration, and yes joy in education." - Nel Noddings, Lee Jacks Professor of Education Emerita, Stanford University, USA, and author of Education and Democracy in the 21st Century (2013)

• National College of Education, National Louis University, Chicago, USA

  Craig A. Cunningham

Craig A. Cunningham is Associate Professor of Advanced Studies in Teaching, Educational Foundations, and Technology in Education at National Louis University, Chicago, USA.

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