My background
I’m an American researcher based in Belgium, where I’ve lived since 2008. I moved here after having met my wife, Marina, in the States during my senior year of high school. We live together with our son James Ernest in Grez-Doiceau.
My research interest in education and school governance emerged from three sources.
During my undergraduate studies, I did a deep dive into contemporary philosophical theories of recognition and identity. These theories gave me a powerful lens for understanding today’s major political impasses, but they also left me frustrated by their lack of practical applicability. Indeed, the politics of identity and recognition are largely a dead-end, due to the irreducible subjective dimension of the relation-to-self that undergirds autonomy. The only way forward, it seemed, was to give young people the tools they need to develop a sustainably positive relationship with themselves through education. Thus, the concept of “identity skills” was born, kickstarting my doctoral research.
As I continued my research, however, I was confronted with a double limit of this concept. On the theoretical end, it became clear to me that the “skills approach” was insufficient for conceptualizing the educational prerequisites of lifelong identity work. Something else, related to the dynamics of collective attention, was also needed. These dynamics, however, seemed to depend more on the institutional conditions of teachers’ attention than on any pedagogical ideal. This intuition was confirmed to me by my wife’s experience as a primary school teacher in various English-language immersion programs in Wallonia. By listening closely to the factors that shaped her attention on a daily basis, I was able to better appreciate the central importance of school governance in determining how pedagogical relationships formed and evolved.
Finally, my interest in education is motivated by by my own experiences, vivifying and alienating, both as a teacher and as a student. Growing up, I loved learning but hated school with a passion. As an adult, I’ve had countless amazing experiences of connecting with students and witnessing their growth, and just as many frustrating experiences of having my pedagogy handicapped by school administrators incapable of understanding the effect of their decisions on the pedagogical relationships that are so crucial to students’ success. These experiences motivate me deeply to change the way educational decision-makers perceive the relational core of learning.
Alongside my passion for teaching and research, I also love cooking, gardening, playing guitar and singing. I’ve also recently developed a passion for sports – better late than never!