Berkeley School of Education

Our faculty engage in interdisciplinary analysis to understand the functions, limits, and possibilities of schooling. In particular, race, class, and gender relations are social forces that inform and shape the organization of schools and various educational spaces including formal and informal learning communities. Our faculty also examine the transformative functions of language and literacy keeping in constant view their potential to effect social change and create more just societies. We explore the role of schooling in building and sustaining a democratic society in the face of social inequality, economic restructuring, and changing social relations in the nation-state. Examples include the political activities of students and teachers in and out of school, the pedagogy of radical social movements, the root causes and effects of white supremacy and settler colonialism in education, the knowledge valued as the official curriculum, policies concerning discipline or funding, and disparities between educational contexts and in learning outcomes. Our vision for the cluster has led us to develop the areas of interest listed below.