Engaging with difficult knowledge in teaching in post-truth era: from theory to practice within diverse disciplinary areas

Abstract

A large body of research has examined the implications of engagement with difficult knowledge across a range of areas in education including multi-cultural and anti-racist (teacher) education (Carson and Johnston 2000; Zembylas and Papamichael 2017), gender education (Cahill and Dadvand 2020; Robinson and Davies 2008), Indigenous education (Kerr 2014; Mcconaghy 2003) and history education (Lehrer, Milton, and Patterson 2011; Levy and Sheppard 2018). Despite the rich and growing body of work, debates about difficult knowledge in teaching and learning remain largely constrained within disciplinary boundaries and face the challenge associated with translating theory into practice effectively. This special issue addresses this gap focusing on the often-under-acknowledged dimensions of educators’ work when they are called upon to engage with and re-present difficult knowledge. The overarching aim is to advance scholarship in the application of theory to practice in discussions about difficult knowledge by: (1) making visible the complex ways in which personal, social, material, institutional, ideological, historical factors create affective entanglements and mediate pedagogical responses to difficult knowledge and (2) extrapolating pedagogical offerings from scholarship across different disciplinary areas in education to inform a more coherent response to the challenges that educators face when engaging with forms of difficult knowledge. This special issue is born out of our interest in advancing the use of theory to inform practice in the field of teaching and teacher education. The special issue is also driven by a shared desire to address different forms of injustice through praxisbased and productive encounters with difficult knowledge across disciplinary boundaries. At the backdrop of our discussions about difficult knowledge in teaching and learning lie two challenges associated with the current rise of ‘post-truth’ politics and the increasing social, political, economic and environmental uncertainties, which have made the need for effective educational responses ever more urgent. The enduring and evolving nature of these challenges have intensified calls to open up new ways of thinking about responsibility and solidarity with ‘the other’ beyond one’s personal, spatial and temporal contexts.