In this episode, we welcome Dr Madeleine Le Bourdon, Associate Professor in Political Pedagogy at the University of Leeds, who reflects on positionality and reflexivity in research, and on discomfort as a productive space for unlearning and challenging power. She discusses the value of creating "courageous spaces" in the classroom and finding everyday "pockets of disruption" that open up conversations about social justice.

Listen to the Politics and Pedagogy Podcast

Access Madeleine’s research

Article discussed in this episode: Confronting the Discomfort: A Critical Analysis of Privilege and Positionality in Development - Madeleine Le Bourdon, 2022

For other research: Google Scholar Profile

Connect with Madeleine: Linkedin | Academic Web Profile

In this episode we are joined by Dr Sonia Exley, an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy at LSE and an expert in education policy. Sonia discusses various concepts of education policy, including amongst others open policymaking, private tutoring and shadow education, neoliberal notions and the influence of the OECD, as well as epistemic injustice across policymaking spaces. She reflects on the role that universities can play to drive social change across the education policy landscape and on current priorities for education policy.

Access Sonia’s research

Article: Private tutoring and government policy: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02680939.2025.2474935

Article: Open policy making in the UK: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-social-policy/article/abs/open-policy-making-in-the-uk-to-whom-might-policy-formulation-be-opening-up/709FFC8AD0E0C7D0BDC2DE18097BACBC

Article: Quantifying privatisation in education: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14749041241312274

Connect with Sonia

Academic profile: https://www.lse.ac.uk/people/sonia-exley

In this episode, we explore Global Citizenship Education (GCE) and the emerging concept of Safetyfication through the work of Marta Estellés. We discuss her influential research with Gustavo Fischman on GCE before examining how Safetyfication, a term Marta introduced to the international literature, is shaping contemporary educational narratives.

Access Marta’s work

Article: Estellés & Fischman on Global Citizenship Education (2021): https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022487120920254

Book: Safetyfication of Education (2025) — open access, download freely from the link: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/safetyfication-of-education-9781350533929/

Connect with Marta

Academic Profile: https://profiles.waikato.ac.nz/marta.estelles

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marta-estellés-701475347

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marta-Estelles