Envisioning Democratic Education in Neoliberal Times: A Book Review of \u3cem\u3eRadical Schooling for Democracy: Engaging Philosophy of Education for the Public Good\u3c/em\u3e

In Radical Schooling for Democracy: Engaging Philosophy of Education for the Public Good, Neil Hooley (2017) sets out to reexamine formal education by highlighting six competing ideologies that contemporary schooling must contend with and respond to (religious, conservative, neoliberal, social-democratic, scientific, and Marxist). Under the political and economic dictates of neoliberalism, Hooley argues, the scope of learning has become narrow and constrained to the frustration and alienation of many students and teachers. Reflecting on these concerns within the many issues of education today, Hooley’s project positions philosophy of education as a meaningful tool in our globalized context. This review essay touches on Hooley’s conception of “democracy”, his engagement with “action theory”, and his critique of neoliberal ideology