Stephen Vassallo – författare

Psychological constructs - such as emotion regulation, creativity, grit, growth mindset, lifelong learning, and whole child - are appealing as pedagogical aspirations and outcomes. Researchers, policy-makers, and educators are likely to endorse and accept these constructs as ways to make sense of students and inform pedagogical decision-making. Few critically interrogate these constructs, as they are associated with students' academic achievement, psychological well-being, civic virtue, and career readiness. However, this book shows how these constructs become entangled in a neoliberal vision of selfhood, which is tied to market prescriptions and is thus associated with problematic ethical, psychological, moral, and economic consequences. The chapters draw attention to the ideological underpinnings in order to facilitate conversations about selfhood in schooling policy and practices.

Psychological constructs - such as emotion regulation, creativity, grit, growth mindset, lifelong learning, and whole child - are appealing as pedagogical aspirations and outcomes. Researchers, policy-makers, and educators are likely to endorse and accept these constructs as ways to make sense of students and inform pedagogical decision-making. Few critically interrogate these constructs, as they are associated with students' academic achievement, psychological well-being, civic virtue, and career readiness. However, this book shows how these constructs become entangled in a neoliberal vision of selfhood, which is tied to market prescriptions and is thus associated with problematic ethical, psychological, moral, and economic consequences. The chapters draw attention to the ideological underpinnings in order to facilitate conversations about selfhood in schooling policy and practices.

The field of critical studies recognizes that all knowledge is deeply embedded in ideological, cultural, political, and historical contexts. Although this approach is commonly applied in other subfields of psychology, educational psychology-which is the study of human learning, thinking, and behavior in formal and informal educational contexts-has resisted a comprehensive critical appraisal. In Critical Educational Psychology, Stephen Vassallo seeks to correct this deficit by demonstrating how the psychology of learning is neither neutral nor value-free but rather bound by a host of contextual issues and assumptions. Vassallo invites teachers and teacher educators, educational researchers, and educational psychologists to think broadly about the implications that their use of psychology has on the teaching and learning process. He applies a wide variety of interdisciplinary approaches to examine the psychology of learning, cognitive development, motivation, creativity, discipline, and attention.Drawing on multiple perspectives within psychology and critical theory, he reveals that contemporary educational psychology is entangled in and underpinned by specific political, ideological, historical, and cultural contexts. A valuable resource for anyone who relies on psychology to interact with, assess, and deliberate over others, especially school-aged children, Critical Educational Psychology resists neatly packaged theories, models, and perspectives that are intended to bring some basis and certainty to pedagogical decision-making. This book will enhance teachers' ethical decision-making and start important new conversations about power and opportunity.

This book has received the AESA (American Educational Studies Association) Critics Choice Award 2013.Self-regulated learning (SRL) is defined as the strategic pursuit of academic goals that involves the control over thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. This notion is taken for granted as a form of empowerment and as a form of engagement that good teachers will foster. This book is about exploring different sides to this story. It first proposes a framework for critically examining dominant and taken-for-granted ideas in educational psychology, then applies that framework to the examination of SRL to show how it endorses middle-class conventions, aligns with neoliberal logic, and renders individuals subordinate to oppressive educational structures. The book is a critique that is not necessarily intended to lead to the rejection of SRL, but rather to invite teachers, researchers, and policymakers to reflect on the possible consequences and ethics of taking up the aim to institutionalize SRL.