This exciting new major work turns the spotlight on social theory and education research, taking a look at key thinkers and setting out the relevance of their ideas to education. Esteemed editor Mark Murphy provides a keen-eyed overview of the theories of Derrida, Bourdieu, Foucault and Habermas, in relation to four key education issues: @! inequality, inclusion and education @! identities: Notions of educational selves and subjectivities @! teaching and learning: curricular and pedagogical practice @! governance and management: Performativity, audit cultures and accountability While the influence of these thinkers has grown considerably over the last number of years, both their original work and its application to education can prove challenging to the educational practitioner. The main purpose of this collection, via an introductory contextualising chapter, is to provide a work that is both advanced and accessible, which will offer the education practitioner or researcher a suitable guide to assist their acquisition and application of social theory, and to develop the capacity of post-graduate student teachers to engage with these debates at an advanced level.