Educational Philosophy

Kant’s philosophy of education. Between relational and systemic approaches

by Ana Marta González

The Journal of Philosophy of Education, vol. 45, 3, pp. 433-454, August 2011. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9752.2011.00809.x

Reality if catching up with me. Empirical knowledge and philosophy of educaion

by torill strand

AUTHORS: Sundsdal, Einar & Strand, Torill

In this article we argue that a positively formulated theory of education ought to take into consideration empirically... more In this article we argue that a positively formulated theory of education ought to take into consideration empirically based knowledge. Theories of education are normative theories, because they are mainly focused on how the world ought to be: they present ideals, they prescribe preferred repertoires of actions, and they describe valued attitudes. However, using a recent example of an ideal of cosmopolitan education, we here reveal some ways in which prevalent theories of education quickly become remote and powerless if they rebuff empirically based knowledge about peoples’ actual experiences and ways of being in the world.

Keywords: philosophy of education, empirical knowledge, educational ideals and realities

Interculturalism in Practice: Québec's New Ethics and Religious Culture Curriculum and the Bouchard-Taylor Report on Reasonable Accommodation

by David Waddington

Pre-print version of book chapter. Co-authored with Bruce Maxwell, Kevin McDonough, Marina Schwimmer, and Andrée-Anne Cormier.

You Are Not Your Brain: Against "Teaching to the Brain"

by Gregory Nixon

Published in the *International Handbook of Academic Research and Teaching: Proceedings of Intellectbase International Consortium*, vol 22, Spring 2012, San Antonio, TX, USA, 298-306.

Since educators are always looking for ways to improve their practice, and since empirical science is now accepted in... more Since educators are always looking for ways to improve their practice, and since empirical science is now accepted in our worldview as the final arbiter of truth, it is no surprise they have been lured toward cognitive neuroscience in hopes that discovering how the brain learns will provide a nutshell explanation for student learning in general. I argue that identifying the person with the brain is scientism (not science), that the brain is not the person, and that it is the person who learns. In fact the brain only responds to the learning of embodied experience within the extra-neural network of intersubjective communications. Learning is a dynamic, cultural activity, not a neural program. Brain-based learning is unnecessary for educators and may be dangerous in that a culturally narrow ontology is taken for granted, thus restricting our creativity and imagination, and narrowing the human community.

Bildung und Kultur. Ästhetische Grundlagen der Vergleichenden Pädagogik, in: Manuel Fröhlich et. al: Bildung und Kultur - Relationen, Jena 2012, pp. 53-80

by Karsten Kenklies

The Pedagogical Subject and its World

by Ingerid S. Straume

Paper presented at the Nordic Educational Research Association (NERA) 40th congress, Copenhagen March 2012

Developing the Educational Belief Scale: The Validity and Reliability Study

by Halil Eksi

Kürşad YILMAZ Yahya ALTINKURT Ömay ÇOKLUK
Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice - 11(1) • Winter • 343-350

The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable scale that can be used in determining educational beliefsmore The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable scale that can be used in determining educational beliefs
of teachers and prospective teachers. After studies such as scale expert views and the evaluation of intelligibility,
the measure is administered to a sample consisting of 154 teachers and 305 prospective teachers with
a total number of 459 participants. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are applied in order to determine
the construct validity of the scale. According to the exploratory factor analysis results, the scale consists
of five factors including: Perennialism, Essentialism, Progressivism, Reconstructionalism, and Existentionalism
with a total of 40 five-Likert type items. Item factor loadings in the related scale range from 0.42 to 0.74, corrected
item-total correlations between 0.22 and 0.90, and reliability coefficients between 0.70 and 0.91. Also, the
five-factor construct of the scale is confirmed by exploratory factor analysis. The research findings have showed
that the Educational Belief Scale is a valid and reliable scale that can be used in determining educational beliefs
of teachers and prospective teachers.

Developing the Educational Belief Scale: The Validity and Reliability Study

by Halil Eksi

Kürşad YILMAZ Yahya ALTINKURT Ömay ÇOKLUK
Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice - 11(1) • Winter • 343-350

The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable scale that can be used in determining educational beliefsmore The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable scale that can be used in determining educational beliefs
of teachers and prospective teachers. After studies such as scale expert views and the evaluation of intelligibility,
the measure is administered to a sample consisting of 154 teachers and 305 prospective teachers with
a total number of 459 participants. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are applied in order to determine
the construct validity of the scale. According to the exploratory factor analysis results, the scale consists
of five factors including: Perennialism, Essentialism, Progressivism, Reconstructionalism, and Existentionalism
with a total of 40 five-Likert type items. Item factor loadings in the related scale range from 0.42 to 0.74, corrected
item-total correlations between 0.22 and 0.90, and reliability coefficients between 0.70 and 0.91. Also, the
five-factor construct of the scale is confirmed by exploratory factor analysis. The research findings have showed
that the Educational Belief Scale is a valid and reliable scale that can be used in determining educational beliefs
of teachers and prospective teachers.

Is Knowledge What It Claims to Be? Bernard Williams and the Absolute Conception

by John Tillson

TILLSON, J. (2012), Is Knowledge What It Claims to Be? Bernard Williams and the Absolute Conception. Educational Philosophy and Theory. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-5812.2011.00828.x

As a response to what I see as the challenge posed by constructivist and narrative pedagogies, this paper seeks to... more As a response to what I see as the challenge posed by constructivist and narrative pedagogies, this paper seeks to sympathetically reconstruct Bernard Williams' Absolute Conception from the scattered texts in which he briefly sketched it. While ultimately defending the Absolute Conception or something close enough to it, the paper criticizes and distances itself from some aspects of Williams' version, notably his conception of philosophy as insurmountably perspectival. Williams' understanding of perspectival knowledge as contrasted to absolute knowledge is illustrated with the concrete, if fictional case of the Dr Manhattan character from Zack Snyder's Watchmen (2009). Adrian Moore's reading, and Hilary Putnam's criticisms of Williams' Absolute Conception are amongst the positions engaged with.

Vol. 2, No. 2, 2011 (English): Governmentality – Neoliberalism – Education: the Risk Perspective

by Journal of Pedagogy

Themed Issue: Governmentality – Neoliberalism – Education: the Risk Perspective
Ondrej Kaščák & Branislav Pupala (eds.)

Castoriadis, Education and Democracy (revised)

by Ingerid S. Straume

Revised (tightened and abridged) version of a longer paper on the same page

In the philosophy of education, the concepts of ‘democracy’ and ‘education’ are closely related. Traditionally,... more In the philosophy of education, the concepts of ‘democracy’ and ‘education’ are closely related. Traditionally, democracy – the self-rule of the people – has been justified through education of some sort, from the Greek paideia to contemporary citizenship training programmes. Education makes the difference between mob rule and legitimate majority rule. However, contemporary conceptions of ‘democracy education’ tend to emphasise the integrative and social aspects of democracy (Dewey’s ‘democracy as a mode of associated living’) at the cost of its political aspects (democracy as a form of rule). A different approach is found in the philosophy of Cornelius Castoriadis, who sees in democracy the ability to question the existing institutions and create new ones. Since democracy thus understood is without guarantees, the cultivation of citizens’ responsibility and self-limitation is of the utmost importance. By putting education at the centre of his political thought, Castoriadis situates himself in the great tradition from Plato to the Enlightenment. The paper gives an introduction to Castoriadis’ philosophy, focussing on education in a democracy and its ontological premises. Opposed to what he called “traditional thought”, Castoriadis sought to elucidate the role of the imagination, autonomy and creation in order to conceptualise the creation of something entirely new.

Can Dewey, Skinner and Piaget Co-Exist?

by David Velky

This is a philosophy of education written within the context of a doctoral course on Leadership. It draws meaning from the conceptual framework of Constructivism as applied to K-12 education. Comments and recommendations from other scholars in the field are welcomed. Contact David Velky at david.velky@swtexas.net .

The twentieth century is often viewed as a virtual battleground between behavioral  and cognitive psychology. In... more The twentieth century is often viewed as a virtual battleground between behavioral  and cognitive psychology. In terms of educational practices, the battle appears to have been won by constructivism, a theoretical framework that perceives knowledge as being the result of interaction between the knower and his or her environment. This philosophy of education acknowledges the contributions that behaviorism has made to the field of education; however, it embraces a constructivist theory of learning combined with a pragmatic social orientation that seeks positive social change. An examination of the contrast between behaviorism and constructivism in the literature leads to the conclusion that the dispositions promulgated by the Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership are best attained within a constructivist theoretical framework.

(Re)penser l'enfance. La Machine Pédalogique

by Thomas Storme

A Paraître

American Civil Religion and the Schools (Conclusion of Public Education, America's Civil Religion)

by Carl L Bankston

Marginalia and Meaning: Off-site/sight/cite Points of Reference for Extended Trajectories in Learning

by James Haywood Rolling, Jr.

Rolling, J. H. (2006). Marginalia and meaning: Off-site/sight/cite points of reference for extended trajectories in learning. Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, 26, 219-240.

This study argues that drawing upon off-site/sight/cite points of reference affords a space for extended trajectories... more This study argues that drawing upon off-site/sight/cite points of reference affords a space for extended trajectories of learning and the cultivation of rich and atypical personal meaning unavailable within the terrain and climes of typical schooling frameworks. This paper continues the author’s effort to establish the efficacy of a poststructural and poetic aesthetic in qualitative research writing.

The University as Microcosm

by Byron Kaldis

Educational Philosophy and Theory Vol. 41, No. 5, 553-574

“Philosophy and the Knowledge Society: Educational Ideals, Civic Intelligence and Distributed Cognition”

by Byron Kaldis

Proceedings of the 1st Conference on the Limits to Knowledge Society, Academia Rumana, Iasi.

Review of Trevor Norris, Consuming Schools: Commercialism and the End of Politics

by David Waddington

Taking on the Traditions in Philosophy of Education: A Symposium

by David Waddington

Why education in public schools should include religious ideals

by Michael Merry