I am currently Professor of Public Education in the Centre for Public Education and Pedagogy at Maynooth University, Ireland, and Professor of Educational Theory and Pedagogy at the Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburg. I have recently held a Visiting Professorship at the University of Agder, Norway and at the Centre for Educational Reserch and Academic Development in the Arts, Uniarts, Helsinki, Finland. I am Associate Editor of the journal Educational Theory (Wiley; ISSN: 1741-5446), co-editor of the British Educational Reserch Journal (Wiley), the flagship educational research journal of the British Educational Research Association, and co-editor of the Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education (Taylor and Francis). From 2020 until 2022 I was a member of the scientific curriculum committee in the Netherlands. The committee has the task to oversee the redevelopment of the curriculum framework for primary and secondary schools. Since January 2023 I am a member of the Educational Council of the Netherlands (Onderwijsraad), the advisory body of the Dutch government and parliament on educational matters.

I have previously worked at universities in England (Brunel University London; University of Exeter), Luxembourg, Scotland (University of Stirling), and at universities in the Netherlands (Utrecht, Leiden, Groningen and the University of Humanistic Studies). I have held Visiting Professorships at Örebro University, Sweden, the University of Bergen, Norway, NLA University College, Bergen, Norway and ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, the Netherlands. From 2015-2018 I was associate member of the Education Council of the Netherlands (Onderwijsraad), the advisory body of the Dutch government and partliament on education. During 2012-2013 I was Chair of the Committee for the Evaluation of Teacher Education Reform in Flanders, Belgium, at the request of the Flemish Government. From 1999 until 2014 I was editor-in-chief of the journal Studies in Philosophy and Education (Springer; ISSN 0039-3746).

I have a degree (‘doctoraal examen’) in Education (Theory and History of Education) from Leiden University (cum laude, 1987) and a degree (‘doctoraal examen’) in Philosophy (Philosophy of the Social Sciences) from Erasmus University Rotterdam (cum laude, 1989), and obtained my PhD from Leiden University in 1992. I was a Spencer Post-Doctoral Fellow with the National Academy of Education, USA from 1995 to 1997.  I received honorary doctorates from Uppsala University (2004), Örebro University (2007) and Oulu University (2013) and was awarded the Francqui International Professorship by the Francqui Foundation, Belgium (2010) and the Grand Medal of the University of Ghent, Beligum (2011).

I conduct theoretical and empirical research and am particularly interested in relationships between education and democracy and the public role of education. My work focuses on education in formal and non-formal settings, with a strong interest in teachers, teaching and teacher education, curriculum, educational relationships, and the emancipatory potential of education. My research falls within the following domains: (1) the theory of education; (2) the theory and philosophy of educational and social research; (3) policy research. I have a particular focus on: citizenship and civic education in formal and informal settings;  curriculum theory; art education; religious education; adult education; teachers, teaching and teacher education; public education and public pedagogy.

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So far my work has been published in 19 languages (English, Dutch, German, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Icelandic, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Romanian, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Arabic). I have given numerous presentations in many countries.

In 2008 my book Beyond Learning (2006) won the 2008 American Educational Studies Association Critics' Choice Book Award. In 2011 my book with Charles Bingham, Jacques Ranciere: Education, truth, emancipation (2010), won the American Educational Research Association Division B Outstanding Book Award. In 2014 my book The beautiful Risk of Education won the AERA Outstanding Book Award (Division B). In 2020 my book Obstinate Education: Reconnecting School and Society won the annual book award from the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA). During 2011-2012 I was President of the Philosophy of Education Society USA – the first president from outside North America. 

My work is visible internationally and attracts a significant number of citations. Google scholar lists a total number of citations of about 52, 000 (May 2023) of which close to 30,000 since 2018, which indicates a strong and still growing interest in my work. An analysis published by research.com in 2022 ranked me 18th in the Social Sciences and Humanities in the UK and 124 worldwide.