The aim of this book is to support school science teachers in understanding what critical pedagogy is and to give insights into how it can be implemented, in diverse ways, in their science lessons. It presents a collection of international studies by Brazil and UK-based science educators, with a range of perspectives on the links between critical pedagogies and Science Education. We hope it will inspire and motivate teachers to reflect on and then transform the way they teach science.

The majority of the studies and proposals found in this book were first presented and discussed in a seminar organised by the STEM Education Hub – a project created through a partnership between the British Council and King’s College London/UK, which aims to bring together the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) education communities from Brazil and the UK. The authors of the chapters in this book are educators from those two countries who have been researching what can be broadly termed as ‘science education for social justice’.

Since teachers and students in Brazil and the UK have contrasting socio-economic and political challenges, including diverse socio-historical trajectories, the issues addressed in the studies presented here – and the way the authors engage with them – reflect a fascinating variety of forms in which critical pedagogies can be conceptualised and enacted within this landscape of ‘science education for social justice’.