A ‘social cartology’: Education as a mechanism for social change

Book review.

Douglas Bourn renews the focus on the relationship between education, democracy, and social change in this book, which includes chapters addressing the practice and role of educators. He brings together educational theories and practices in presenting the ways in which the classroom can be an authentically democratic space and discusses how education has the potential to drive society towards the common goal of a just and sustainable world. The book presents all the major theorists, from Dewey to Apple, who have contributed to this discussion for over a hundred years. As a researcher exploring children’s and young people’s civic learning, this focus on theory was welcome, while the section on the role of educators, youth workers and young people as agents of social change provided interesting comparisons with my own research. The book covers youth charities and activism as well as education, which makes it an engaging read for youth practitioners, youth campaigners, and the wider civil society and philanthropic networks that support them.