Special Issue POSTDIGITAL TRANSFORMATIVE PRAXIS AND THE AI TURN: CRITICAL INTERVENTIONS ACROSS EDUCATION

2025-12-15

Possible Themes (including but not limited to):

Postdigital Theorising and Praxis

  • Conceptualising postdigital entanglements in AI-mediated education
  • Transformative praxis as resistance, reimagination or reconstruction in the AI era
  • Posthuman, decolonial, feminist, or sociomaterial critiques of AI in education

Critical Interventions across Educational Sectors

  • The AI turn in Grades R–12: childhood, pedagogy, identity and algorithmic shaping
  • AI in TVET colleges: labour futures, automation, skills discourses and vocational identity
  • Higher education transformations: academic labour, assessment redesign, institutional governance and ethics

 Power, Justice and Algorithmic Politics

  • Algorithmic surveillance, datafication and educational governance
  • Epistemic justice, voice and representation under conditions of automation
  • The political economy of AI: platforms, corporate interests and digital coloniality

Pedagogy, Agency and New Literacies

  • Building critical AI literacies and postdigital citizenship
  • Teacher agency, professional identity and ethical responsibility amid AI intensification
  • Learner autonomy, creativity and meaning making within algorithmically mediated learning spaces

 Methodological and Praxis-Based Contributions

  • Postdigital methodologies and innovative qualitative approaches
  • Case studies of transformative praxis with/against AI
  • Collaborative, participatory or community-based interventions

Submission Categories

We welcome:

  • Research articles (6,000–8,000 words)
  • Theoretical or conceptual essays
  • Praxis-based case studies
  • Critical methodological reflections

Key Dates

  • Abstract submission deadline: 31 March 2026
  • Reviewer feedback on abstracts: 30 April 2026
  • Full manuscript submission: 30 June 2026
  • Reviewer feedback: 31 August 2026
  • Revised papers due: 30 September 2026
  • Publication of special issue: November 2026

Editor in Chief: Prof. M. van Wyk, University of South Africa

 Guest Editors

Prof. E.D. De Klerk, North-West University

Prof. Edwin Darrell de Klerk is an Associate Professor (Education Management & Leadership) in the School of Professional Studies in Education at the North-West University, South Africa. His research interests predominately focus on Transformative Praxis in Education Leadership Formation, focusing on transformative leadership, transformative learning, transformative epistemic justice, philosophy and policy studies as well as transformative social justice issues. Foucauldian studies are also an area of interest. Email: [email protected] ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0218-5371

Prof. J.M. Palmer, North-West University

Prof June Monica Palmer is a Professor (Education Management and Leadership) at the North-West University. Her research has a strong focus on Critical transformative leadership practices and pedagogical interventions, with a focus on transformative learning and middle leadership, epistemic justice, transformative social justice leadership, transformative human rights leadership and inclusive learning pedagogies. Social-emotional learning and emotional intelligence in education are also research interests. Email: [email protected] ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7706-879X

Submission & Enquiries

Please submit abstracts DIRECTLY to Guest Editors:

Prof. E. D. de Klerk: [email protected] 

Prof. J.M. Palmer:  [email protected]