Imagining differently is not an easy task.  

​

All contributors to this journal issue are related to the master’s degree of Education and Globalisation, in the University of Oulu. The journal produced within this degree was first imagined to disseminate better the discussions and ideas we have/debate/share as a diverse group. We feel that such productive multifaceted conversations and co-constructed knowledge should be spread beyond course essays, beyond university classrooms. For the second issue of our journal, we decided as a group to imagine and reflect upon education beyond hegemonic structures.  

​

The world in which we evolve is normative and urges us to accept, even to bolster hegemonies - resulting often in violence and oppression which we might not even realise. Within this hegemonic frame, it is easy to accept consumerism and neoliberalism as the only alternatives, and to accept that young people of the world ‘have to be subjected’ to standardised testing, to be compared and examined by multilateral institutions such as OECD or PISA. In our trained imaginaries, it is easy to accept one ‘best language’, one ‘best definition’, one ‘best’ way of thinking, of educating, of learning, of being. It is easy to take standards for granted and strive to make changes relying on a shared reality we accept. It is certainly easier to be a spectator and follow the mainstream while also perpetuating it, rather than be an actor for change. In this issue of our journal, we strive to question our imaginaries and the motives behind commonly legitimated institutions, processes and actions. We imagine how to school, study and be a student differently. We question the place of English as a lingua franca along with what ‘native English speaker’ means, and we highlight indigenous ways of knowing and learning, in an effort to decolonise our ways of knowing/doing/being and gain agency the local and global levels. 

​

Imagining differently is certainly not easy, but important. To consider a future that is more just, sustainable and equitable, we must make the effort to imagine how education could be, if socially constructed norms were altered or shattered. We therefore invite you to join our reflection and conversation to also imagine what could be, in your own context, beyond hegemonic structures.  

​

Audrey Paradis