Dr. Alpesh Maisuria
Alpesh Maisuria is Associate Professor of Education Policy in Critical Education, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. Through underlabouring Marxism with Critical Realist philosophy of science, which is largely terra incognita, his work examines the ideological and political drivers of policy decisions to critique the role and function of education in (re)producing forms of inequality. Having completed PhD fieldwork in Sweden, taught about the Cuban model of education, and spoken at events across the world for many years, he has a comparative/international education interest. In these areas of Critical Education, he has an extensive publications record, and has been decorated for his efficacious teaching. Alpesh is the Joint Deputy Editor of Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies (JCEPS) and is an organiser of the International Conferences on Critical Education (ICCE). He is the co-convenor Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues (MERD), which is a long-standing seminar series (see the Facebook group). In 2022 Brill published the Encyclopedia of Marxism and Education that Alpesh edited. The weighty book features 40 chapters written by authors from across the world, it is the first of its kind.
Alpesh also holds a Fellowship in the UK Parliament's House of Commons Library where he writes policy briefings.
Alpesh also holds a Fellowship in the UK Parliament's House of Commons Library where he writes policy briefings.
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Papers by Dr. Alpesh Maisuria
In Part One, I provide a preamble about the development of capitalism into its current neoliberal form. The starting point for this, is an essential explication of the Marxism, which is argued as the most efficacious theoretical framework for understanding the current conjunction. Doing this historical work is important because while scholars regularly refer to capitalism/neoliberalism, they rarely explicate its fundamental principles and concepts. Therefore, having this specification discussion will provide a referent for the analysis later in the article. As part of this discussion I identify expanding inequality as the main consequence of neoliberalism, to the point that even the global ruling elite who benefit from neoliberalism want to rein it back because they fear the impetus building for the possibility of revolutionary action.
In Part Two, I describe and analyse the encroachment and deepening of neoliberalism in England in the schools, further education, and university sectors. I draw on historical and current examples of the way in which markets, self-interest, and a laissez faire approach to regulation feature as part of the education landscape. I examine the impact of these, particularly in respect to the diminishing idea that education is a social good and entitlement. I argue that education is being reconfigured as a commodity in various forms of: commercialisation, corporatisation, financialization, and marketisation – these are concepts that I will have introduced in the first part of this article.
In Part Three of the article, I present a discussion about the importance of the feasibility of an alternative to neoliberalism to be present in education and activism. I draw upon examples of individualised, collective and organised resistance. I suggest that consciousnesses building must be a central element to the role and function of education and educators, this resistance act can be strategically formal and open, informal, covert – in pedagogy and practice.
launched at the International Conference on Critical Education 2016 (ICCE).
The argument that it propagates is that critical realism can offer tremendous
potential for serious Marxist scholars interested in revolutionary practice, and
this book is intended to establish that aim.