The Creative Art of Troublemaking in Education

"Frank Coffield’s The Creative Art of Troublemaking is suffused with a lifetime’s passion for education and for those whom education serves least well; with scepticism - and occasional well-deserved contempt - towards the grandiloquent fumblings of policy makers; with proper and urgent questioning of the role and power of the state in public education; and, in generous measure, with experience, wisdom and wit. And though it ranges far and wide across our education system, this book is welcome for its particular focus on the neglected field of further, vocational and adult education."

- Robin Alexander, Professor, University of Cambridge, UK.

"This collection of articles provides a compelling voyage through half a century of teaching, learning and research. It should be read by former and future students and tutors alike, as it reminds us that there is no democracy without democratic schools and colleges and vice versa. Democratic education has been ignored for too long, while being used as a political plaything by decision makers who have lost touch with how learning takes place in the real world."

- Reiner Siebert, Fachdozent, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.

"In some senses Frank Coffield’s The Creative Art of Troublemaking in Education is a valedictory, a reflection on more than 50 years of work as an engaged educationalist and activist. But it is so much more than this. In nineteen Chapters the book brings together a collection of writing that interrogates the policy context in which post-compulsory education and training is placed. For the most part Chapters are based on extracts from books, journal articles and conference papers. In the introduction Coffield suggests the book has two unifying themes. Firstly, a concern with social justice and the intensification of regional and class inequalities as well as the difficulties encountered by working class youth in securing a decent job – the overlooked and ignored 50%. Secondly, the Chapters were written with a healthy scepticism that seeks not only to challenge the status quo but also importantly to propose alternatives...

The book will be of value to those who have an interest in the historical development of the LSS, but more importantly, the way in which it sheds light on current debates surrounding vocational education not only in the UK but internationally. The book serves not only as a commentary on the failings of centralisation and the concentration of power away from the democratic enactment of policies in the locality/regions. It also stands as a warning of the anti-democratic tendencies surrounding centralisation. The book will be of interest to those researching VET and the LSS – scholars, FE trainee lecturers, undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as academics.

Maybe we should all become troublemakers!"

- James Avis, Professor of Post-Compulsory Education and Training at the University of Huddersfield, UK.
To read the full review, please visit: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13636820.2025.2565929.