Kathleen Kesson
Gund Affiliate
Professor Emerita, Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University
BIO
Kathleen Kesson is Professor Emerita of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership in the School of Education at the Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University. While there Kathleen served as Department Chair and helped to develop innovative programming in urban teacher education dedicated to equity and cultural pluralism. Kathleen was a founding member of a campus-wide sustainability task force. Before joining LIU in 2002, Kathleen was the Education Program Director at Goddard College in Vermont, and the founding Director of the John Dewey Project on Progressive Education at the University of Vermont, a research and policy organization. At UVM, Kathleen taught courses in critical pedagogy, curriculum theory, and educational foundations in the College of Education and Social Services.
Kathleen has written extensively in numerous academic journals about democracy and education, environmental education, teacher inquiry, unschooling, and spirituality and the arts in education. Her books include Curriculum Wisdom: Educational Decisions in Democratic Societies, Understanding Democratic Curriculum Leadership, Defending Public Schools: Teaching for a Democratic Society, and most recently, Unschooling in Paradise. Kathleen is currently working as a consultant for a foundation that funds progressive environmental, educational, and equity projects in Vermont. Kathleen's current academic interests include post-Humanist philosophies, and developing theory and educational practice relevant to what some scholars have termed the “Anthropocene.” The pragmatic side of her brain focuses on the development of community schools in Vermont that could support resilience, regenerative agriculture, restorative economics, and decolonization, and the policy changes that are necessary to lead schools and communities into a “Just Transition.” Kathleen serves on a number of Vermont boards, including the Institute for Social Ecology (ISE), Vermont Learning for the Future (VTLFF), and the Community Engagement Lab (CEL).
Area(s) of expertise
Democratic schools, environmental education, community schools.
Bio
Kathleen Kesson is Professor Emerita of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership in the School of Education at the Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University. While there Kathleen served as Department Chair and helped to develop innovative programming in urban teacher education dedicated to equity and cultural pluralism. Kathleen was a founding member of a campus-wide sustainability task force. Before joining LIU in 2002, Kathleen was the Education Program Director at Goddard College in Vermont, and the founding Director of the John Dewey Project on Progressive Education at the University of Vermont, a research and policy organization. At UVM, Kathleen taught courses in critical pedagogy, curriculum theory, and educational foundations in the College of Education and Social Services.
Kathleen has written extensively in numerous academic journals about democracy and education, environmental education, teacher inquiry, unschooling, and spirituality and the arts in education. Her books include Curriculum Wisdom: Educational Decisions in Democratic Societies, Understanding Democratic Curriculum Leadership, Defending Public Schools: Teaching for a Democratic Society, and most recently, Unschooling in Paradise. Kathleen is currently working as a consultant for a foundation that funds progressive environmental, educational, and equity projects in Vermont. Kathleen's current academic interests include post-Humanist philosophies, and developing theory and educational practice relevant to what some scholars have termed the “Anthropocene.” The pragmatic side of her brain focuses on the development of community schools in Vermont that could support resilience, regenerative agriculture, restorative economics, and decolonization, and the policy changes that are necessary to lead schools and communities into a “Just Transition.” Kathleen serves on a number of Vermont boards, including the Institute for Social Ecology (ISE), Vermont Learning for the Future (VTLFF), and the Community Engagement Lab (CEL).
Areas of Expertise
Democratic schools, environmental education, community schools.
PUBLICATIONS
- Kesson, K. (2019). Decolonizing education: Implications for systems transformation in Vermont.
- Kesson, K. (2020). Three scenarios for the future of education in the Anthropocene. Journal of Futures Studies.
- Kesson, K. (2020) We are all unschoolers now. Middle Grades Review: Vol. 6: Iss. 1, Article 2.
- Kesson, K. (July 2019). Neohumanism and higher education. Gurukula Network, issue 48.
- Kesson, K. (March/April 2004). Inhuman powers and ‘Terrible Things’: The theory and practice of alienated labor in urban schools. The Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 2, (1).