{"id":3171,"date":"2013-10-08T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-08T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/infed.org\/mobi\/?page_id=3171"},"modified":"2025-08-01T15:31:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T14:31:09","slug":"ideas","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key concepts and theories in education, pedagogy, learning, and community. <a href=\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/main-index\/\"><strong>Click<\/strong><\/a> to browse the index for concepts and theories.<\/h2>\n<h5>Featured:<\/h5>\n<h3><a title=\"Civil society\" href=\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/civil-society\/\">Civil society<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>Civil society is much talked about but rarely understood. Michael Edwards explores the practical and theoretical significance of civil society \u2013 and suggests some ways through the issues surrounding its use.<\/p>\n<h3><a title=\"Curriculum theory and practice\" href=\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/curriculum-theory-and-practice\/\">Curriculum<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>The organization of schooling and further education has long been associated with the idea of a curriculum.\u00a0 But what actually is curriculum, and how might it be conceptualized? We explore curriculum theory and practice and its relation to informal education.<\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\"><a title=\"Hope, utopianism and educational renewal\" href=\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/hope-utopianism-and-educational-renewal\/\">Hope<\/a><\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">David Halpin offers an analysis of the nature of hope and its significance for educational practice. He identifies three ways in which a renewed optimism of the will can be nurtured among educators, despite the current talk of professional decline. These \u2018three ways\u2019 involve taking seriously: \u2018hopelessness\u2019; \u2018the moral virtues of teaching\u2019; and \u2018optimistic illusions (utopias)\u2019.<\/p>\n<h3><a title=\"Cultivating learning? What education is and what it is not\" href=\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/what-is-education-a-definition-and-discussion\/\">What is education?<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>In this piece, Mark K Smith explores the meaning of education and suggests it is a process of inviting truth and possibility. It can be defined as the wise, hopeful and respectful cultivation of learning undertaken in the belief that all should have the chance to share in life.<\/p>\n<h3><a title=\"Social pedagogy: the development of theory and practice\" href=\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/social-pedagogy-the-development-of-theory-and-practice\/\">Social pedagogy<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>The German tradition of social pedagogy has become associated with social work. This tends to obscure its educational credentials as &#8216;education for sociality&#8217;, particularly to English-language readers. Here we explore its history and current status.<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/main-index\/\"><strong>Click<\/strong><\/a> to browse the index for key ideas and concepts<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Acknowledgement<\/strong>: Picture by: Patrick Fore [381200] Unsplash<\/p>\n<menu id=\"menuid\" type=\"context\"><\/menu>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key concepts and theories in education, pedagogy, learning, and community. Click to browse the index for concepts and theories. Featured: Civil society Civil society is much talked about but rarely understood. Michael Edwards explores the practical and theoretical significance of civil society \u2013 and suggests some ways through the issues surrounding its use. Curriculum The &#8230; <a title=\"ideas\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/ideas\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about ideas\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28864,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"class_list":["post-3171","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ideas - infed.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/welcome\/ideas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ideas - infed.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Key concepts and theories in education, pedagogy, learning, and community. 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