Stephen Brookfield (born 1949 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England) is a scholar in

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained educating activities in order to gain new knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralph G. ''The Pr ...

who has held positions at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

University of Saint Thomas and

Antioch University Antioch University is a private university with multiple campuses in the United States and online programs. It is the continuation of Antioch College, which was founded in 1852. Antioch College's first president was politician, abolitionist, and ...

. He is currently adjunct professor at

, and emeritus professor at the University of St. Thomas.

Education

Brookfield earned his Ph.D. from the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

in 1980 and wrote a thesis o
independent adult learning

Career

In his teaching career, Brookfield has worked in England, Canada, Australia, and the United States, teaching in a variety of college settings. He has written nineteen books on

adult learning Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained educating activities in order to gain new knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralph G. ''The Pr ...

, adult teaching,

critical thinking Critical thinking is the process of analyzing available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to make sound conclusions or informed choices. It involves recognizing underlying assumptions, providing justifications for ideas and actions, ...

discussion methods

critical theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...

as well as

critical pedagogy Critical pedagogy is a philosophy of education and social movement that developed and applied concepts from critical theory and related traditions to the field of education and the study of culture. It insists that issues of social justice and de ...

and
teaching race
'. His overall project is to help adults learn to think critically about the dominant ideologies they have internalized and how these can be challenged. Influenced by the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory and

American Pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that views language and thought as tools for prediction, problem solving, and action, rather than describing, representing, or mirroring reality. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics� ...

he has written extensively on how to use methods of critical reflection and discussion based teaching to uncover ideologies such as

white supremacy White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

and

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

. His twenty first book title
Teaching Well: Understanding Key Dynamics of Learning Centered Classrooms was published
in 2023 by

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, co-authored by Juergen Rudolph & Shannon Tan.
'Becoming a White Anti-Racist: A Practical Guide to Educators, Leaders and Activists
' (co-authored wit
Mary Hess
was published b
Stylus Publishers
in 2021. ''Many of his ideas are influential across the discipline of adult education and beyond. In particular, his Four Lenses of Critical Reflection suggest that educators should continuously reflect on their own practice through four lenses: their own experiences, the perspectives of their students, feedback from their colleagues, and the ideas contained in scholarship. Applying these lenses to our practice can help us become more rounded, critically reflective practitioners. In Recent years Brookfield has focused much of his scholarship on issues relating to white supremacy and how this intersects with adult education and critical reflection. This work particularly emphasizes the importance of addressing power and systemic racism in our institutions and classrooms many of which remain predominantly white.

Awards

Brookfield has three honorary doctor of letters degrees; from the

University System of New Hampshire The University System of New Hampshire (USNH) is a system of public colleges and universities in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It was established in 1963 and is responsible for overseeing the University of New Hampshire - Durham, the Universi ...

in 1991, from Concordia University, St. Paul (

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...

) in 2003, and from

Muhlenberg College Muhlenberg College is a private liberal arts college in Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg College is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is named for Henry Muhlenberg, the German pat ...

in 2010. He won the Cyril O. Houlebr>World Award for Literature in Adult Education
six times (in 1986, 1989, 1996, 2005, 2011 and 2012),

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Publishing, publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and pr ...

as well as the 198
Imogene Okes Award for Outstanding Research in Adult Education
all awarded by th
American Association for Adult and Continuing Education
At the University of St. Thomas he has won th
John Ireland Presidential Award for Outstanding Achievement as a Teacher/Scholar
award for as an exemplary scholar-teacher and the university's Diversity Leadership Teaching and Research Award. His work has been translated into several languages including Korean,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, Finnish, Japanese, Danish, Polish,

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and Chinese. In 2001 he received the Leadership Award from th
Association for Continuing Higher Education
(ACHE) for "extraordinary contributions to the general field of continuing education on a national and international level", and in 2008 he was awarded th
Morris T. Keeton Award for Contributions to Adult and Experiential learning
awarded by th
Council for Academic and Experiential Learning
In 2009 he was inducted into th
International Adult Education Hall of Fame
He won the 201
Philip E. Frandson Award for Literature
awarded by th
University Professional and Continuing Education Association
for his boo
Powerful Techniques for Teaching Adults

Selected bibliography

Books

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Brookfield, Stephen Teaching Race: Helping Students Unmask and Challenge Racism
'. 2018. * https://styluspub.presswarehouse.com/browse/book/978162036859
Becoming-a-White-Antiracist Becoming a White Antiracist: A Practical Guide for Educators, Leaders and Activists
Stephen Brookfield and Mary Hess. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2021. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003447467/teaching-well-stephen-brookfield-j%C3%BCrgen-rudolph-shannon-tan

Chapters in books

* Disrupting Whiteness: The Productive Disturbance of George Yancy's Work on White Identity & the White Gaze. In, K. Ducey (Ed.). George Yancy: A Critical Reader. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield (2020) Forthcoming.
Using a Pedagogy of Narrative Disclosure to Uncover White Supremacy
In, A. Mandell & Elana Michelson (Eds.)
Adult Education in the Age of Trump and Brexit
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (2020) * Uncovering White Supremacy" In
G. Yancy (Ed.). [https://www.routledge.com/Educating-for-Critical-Consciousness/Yancy/p/book/9781138363366 Educating for Critical Consciousness]
New York: Routledge (2019) * Critical Thinking and Its Limitations: Can We Think Our Way Out of White Supremacy?" In
E. Minnich and M. Patton (Eds.). [https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538131534/Thought-Work-Thinking-Action-and-the-Fate-of-the-World Thought Work: Learning to Think for Love of the World]
Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield (2020).
Transformative Learning and the Awareness of White Supremacy." Phronesis
Vol. 7, No. 3 2019. * Repressive Tolerance and the 'Management' of Diversity" In
V. Wang (Ed.). Critical Theory and Transformative Learning. Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing (2018)
* White Teachers in Diverse Classrooms: Using Narrative to Address Teaching About Racial Dynamics." In, C. Scott & J. Sims (Eds.
Developing Workforce Diversity Programs, Curriculum and Degrees in Higher Education
Hershey, PA: IGI Publishing (2016)

Journal articles

*
Why White Instructors Should Explore their Racial IdentityAdult Literacy Education: The International Journal of Literacy, Language and Numeracy
Vol. 1, No. 2, 2019. *
Killing White Innocence: A Review of George Yancy's Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly About Race in America
(Tikkun, 2018)
Brookfield, S.D. "Racializing the Discourse of Adult Education." International Journal of Adult Vocational Education and Training, Vol. 5, No. 4, 2014
*
Teaching Our Own Racism: Incorporating Personal Narratives of Whiteness into Anti-Racist Practice," Adult Learning, 25/3, 2014

References

External links

stephenbrookfield.com

American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE)
Stephen Brookfield, Ph.D. Distinguished University Professor, University of St. Thomas {{DEFAULTSORT:Brookfield, Stephen 1949 births Academics from Liverpool Adult education leaders Alumni of the University of Leicester Columbia University faculty Harvard University staff Living people University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) faculty