This open access book offers a unique and refreshing view on working with social theory in higher education. Using engaging first-person accounts coupled with critical intellectual analysis, the authors demonstrate how theory is grappled with as part of an ongoing practice rather than a momentary disembodied encounter. In a structure that creates a space for relational dialogue, each chapter is followed by a response from another author, demonstrating the varied interpretive possibilities of social theory. Collectively the authors invite the reader to engage with them in questioning the usefulness of social theory in higher education teaching and research, in considering its possibilities and limits, and in experiencing the opportunity it offers to understand ourselves and our work differently. Written in a way that is scholarly yet accessible, the contributors explore how social theories can be used to think through issues that are emerging as key social and political concerns in higher education and beyond. The book will be of interest to advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and early-career academics, as well as established scholars.

This book explores what mindfulness could mean for teachers and educational researchers. Moving beyond popular platitudes about mindfulness, the author provides a conceptual map for understanding the different ways in which mindfulness can be recommended to teachers. Covering the key features of Buddhist, psychological and socially engaged forms of mindfulness, this book critically examines the different ways mindfulness is defined, what problems it is meant to address, and the ways that claims about mindfulness are made. It argues that each approach to mindfulness implies an ideal of what a 'good teacher' should be. It will be of interest and value to teacher educators, educational researchers and scholars of mindfulness within education.

This open access book offers a unique and refreshing view on working with social theory in higher education. Using engaging first-person accounts coupled with critical intellectual analysis, the authors demonstrate how theory is grappled with as part of an ongoing practice rather than a momentary disembodied encounter. In a structure that creates a space for relational dialogue, each chapter is followed by a response from another author, demonstrating the varied interpretive possibilities of social theory. Collectively the authors invite the reader to engage with them in questioning the usefulness of social theory in higher education teaching and research, in considering its possibilities and limits, and in experiencing the opportunity it offers to understand ourselves and our work differently. Written in a way that is scholarly yet accessible, the contributors explore how social theories can be used to think through issues that are emerging as key social and political concerns in higher education and beyond. The book will be of interest to advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and early-career academics, as well as established scholars.

This book explores what mindfulness could mean for teachers and educational researchers. Moving beyond popular platitudes about mindfulness, the author provides a conceptual map for understanding the different ways in which mindfulness can be recommended to teachers. Covering the key features of Buddhist, psychological and socially engaged forms of mindfulness, this book critically examines the different ways mindfulness is defined, what problems it is meant to address, and the ways that claims about mindfulness are made. It argues that each approach to mindfulness implies an ideal of what a 'good teacher' should be. It will be of interest and value to teacher educators, educational researchers and scholars of mindfulness within education.