Amy B. Shuffelton is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago, USA.
This beautifully written little book reminds us, at a time of threats to publicly funded education and democratic institutions, that schools are spaces where children learn to live and work together in the public sphere. Shuffelton explores the meaning and practice of collaboration, drawing on philosophy, history and literature to both confront collaboration’s dark side and affirm its central value for our social life. -- Judith Suissa, Professor of Philosophy of Education, IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, University College London, UK In education circles, collaboration tends to be presented as an unassailable good. Yet as Shuffelton shows in this engaging volume, it also has a dark side. Drawing from literary, cinematic, philosophical, and school-based examples, Shuffelton explores the ethical challenges of collaboration while describing key features of collaboration at its best: shared aims, agency, and mutual responsibility. This book is a great resource for educators who want to avoid uninspired group work and instead develop meaningful collaborative projects in schools. -- Kathy Hytten, Professor of Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations, University of North Carolina Greensboro, USA