Education for Societal Transformation: Alternatives for a Just Future

At a critical time when our world teeters on the brink of disaster, this NORRAG Special Issue fosters hope. We face crises on multiple fronts—a polycrisis—and we urgently need economic, social, political, and, of particular relevance here, educational alternatives to current dominant thinking and practices. That is what this special issue is about! The special issue is an undertaking of The Alternatives Project (TAP), a diverse, transnational collective of progressive academics, union members, civil society activists, and social movement participants concerned with building a global collective critical voice focused on education and societal transformation. TAP envisions and works toward a foundational rethinking of education and society globally. However, what really constitutes education and societal “alternatives?” Andre Gorz (1967) coined the term “nonreformist reforms” to refer to reforms that go beyond palliative “reformist” measures that do not challenge oppressive structures. This stance immediately leads to asking, “What alternatives really challenge fundamental structures and ideologies?” This question has no easy answer. When operating within the dominant political and economic paradigms, reforms are easy, yet they almost always reproduce dominant Global North perspectives. The reforms are framed within the dominant ideologies and constrained by existing power relations. Our call for contributions to this special issue explained and signalled that stance. Therefore, we declined to include paper proposals that appeared reformist without challenging existing structures of power and injustice. However, what is reformist is a judgment call. his special issue is but a prelude to what we envisage as a series of engaged, generative, and empowering dialogues and actions leading to new epistemic and social systems that offer alternative ways of being and engaging with the world. It is a hopeful and pressing call for action.