A shared vision of human excellence: Confucian spirituality and arts education

Abstract

Spirituality encourages the individual to make sense of oneself within a wider framework of meaning and see oneself as part of some larger whole. This article discusses Confucian spirituality by focusing on the spiritual ideals of dao (Way) and he (harmony). It is explained that the Way represents a shared vision of human excellence that is embodied in the guiding discourse inherited from one’s cultural predecessors. The Confucian Way covers all the manifestations of Zhou culture, including its knowledge base, values, beliefs and practices that have been passed down through the generations. The Way is achieved through harmony where human beings find inner peace as well as co-exist with one another and their surroundings. Harmony encompasses an appreciation of beauty, joy and ethical values that may be obtained from arts education. The essay further illustrates an application of Confucian spiritual ideals through music education in a school. A Confucian aim of learning, the article concludes, is one that fosters spiritual development and contests the performativity agenda and school culture.     

职业教育:从规训教育向生命教育的回归

伴随着近代大工业生产的兴起、科学技术的迅速发展,科学理性极度膨胀,职业教育人才培养过程中表现为非人性化的“规训教育”。以关注人的精神生活、生存意义等为目的的形而上学和信仰丧失了存在的根基,生命变成了理性的存在,人因此成为“单向度的异化的人”,成为没有思想和情感、没有喜怒哀乐的技术工具。教育的本真是对生命的关照,职业教育也不例外。在目前以人为本的和谐社会,职业教育应高扬生命教育的大旗,实现从规训教育向生命教育的回归。     

The discourse of German Geisteswissenschaftliche Pädagogik – A contextual reconstruction

The framework of German educational discourse of the twentieth century is so‐called geisteswissenschaftliche Pädagogik, or education as one of the humanities or arts rather than as a science. It triumphed around 1925 in the second half of the Weimar Republic. This article outlines in three steps the core elements of this educational discourse. First, it shows that the mode of thinking of the exponents of geisteswissenschaftliche Pädagogik was dualistic in a traditional Protestant manner. They juxtaposed empiry and Geist, plurality and unity, and outward and inward, and they favoured the inward unity and coherency of Geist. The contextual analysis shows, however, that the dualistic thought schema was virulent not only among German educationalists and philosophers, but also found strong expression in novelists and essayists like Thomas Mann, or the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Rudolf Eucken. Mainstream thinkers criticised the plural systems of Western democracy and capitalism – first and foremost, however, American democracy and capitalism – which were seen to epitomise both of these “un‐German” movements. The true German nature was thought to be an inner spiritual life, which was originally religious and through the course of history came to characterise the whole of German life and thought. It was believed that this spiritual inner life was revealed best by German art, particularly German music. This resistance to empiricism led, and this is the second step, to two analogous notions of the totality or wholeness of the individual and the nation. Man is not understood to be merely an individual, but more importantly a “personhood” (Persönlichkeit), which was described as an inward spiritual life that arose through effort and self‐cultivation, or Bildung. In addition to this inward personhood, however, the conception of “nationhood,” a national spiritual life as Volksstaat, or the ethnocultural nation as detached and distinguished from the political sphere, is seen as important. The individual person can perfect himself only in the framework of the typical characteristics of his Volk – the German Volk. Western democracy and plurality are seen as an atomistic “aggregate of individuals” and juxtaposed against the German concept of the ethnocultural Nation, the Volk community composing an organic unity that transcends the individual. Bildung is the spiritual formation of integrated, cultivated personalities who would orient themselves to the Volk community. In the curriculum of true education, along with the German language the study of Heimat becomes the fundamental element. In contrast to specialised subjects, the contents of Heimat would reflect the organic in the world, the totality of life: in the Volk and in the spiritual‐mental unity within the Persönlichkeit. The two constructions – deepest roots in the tradition of the Volk on one side, and highest inner spirituality in the personality on the other – resulted in education that had to oscillate between lowest and highest and, through this, had to lose sight of empirical, that is, social and political, dimensions. This is the third step that the present article wants to address. The true understanding of education, according to the exponents of geisteswissenschaftliche Pädagogik, puts social and political issues in their only proper place: inside the inner 760 Daniel Tröhler personality. Politicisation of the German person had to take place in the context of Volksstaat, not in democracy. To be free meant the embedding of the individual into the harmonious beauty of the whole. This notion created a social and political vacuum between the lowest denominator or totality of the Germanic people and the highest whole or totality of the Germanic personality, so that education had to be given the attribution – one that continues to be variously described and affirmed in education research in the German‐language realm up to the present day – that education is autonomous, independent of social or political context. This was based on the term Bildung – the inner ideology set against a pluralistic world. Autonomy means insisting on the inner freedom of man, on his inner coherency, and his will. In the midst of the confusing simultaneous demands of society on youth, educational autonomy is believed to be a means of assuring human unity and wholeness; it serves a protective dam to contain the danger of persons being ripped apart or pulled hither and yon. With its goal of awakening a unified spiritual life against the modern plural democratic world, the true educational community becomes crucial.     

Martin Buber,Hasidism, and Jewish spirituality: the implications for education and for pastoral care

Abstract

There is a legal requirement that schools engage with the spiritual aspects of education, which encompasses pastoral care. This reflects the ethical sensibility that is present in individuals and underlies interactions with Others; and which should be part of the ethos of all educational institutions and especially schools. This is because spirituality is important to leading a moral life and to understanding the Other. The article considers specifically the potential of Jewish spirituality, and uses Martin Buber’s thought, to gain a better understanding of its contribution to education and to pastoral care. In the first part, we comment on the ‘basic words’, I-Thou and I-It, which are connected with Hasidism, the Jewish spiritual movement which had a great influence on Martin Buber. Hasidism understands that it is our duty to find and connect with the ‘divine sparks’, as genuine relations merge with the Divine, and when humans relate genuinely to one another, they relate to God. This is crucial for understanding the superiority of I-Thou relations over I-It relations. In the second and third parts of the article, we consider the implications of this understanding of Jewish spirituality for education and for pastoral care. This is done through highlighting the importance of I-Thou relations if the spiritual aspects of education and of pastoral care are to be encouraged and fulfilled.     

生命教育在思想政治课中的探索和践行-以“思想道德修养与法律基础”课为例

生命教育是所有教育的起点,也是所有教育的落脚点。将生命教育融入思想政治课堂教学,通过分享体验、模拟情景体验、角色扮演体验和范例引导体验等教学手段,让学生懂得珍惜生命,理解生命的尊严,体验生命的喜悦。     

The joy of learning: Feminist materialist pedagogies and the freedom of education

Abstract

In this article, I trace lines of materialist pedagogies in the history of women workers’ education following feminist interpretations of Spinoza’s assemblage of joyful affects. More particularly, I focus on the notions of laetitia [joy], gaudium [gladness] and hilaritas [cheerfulness] as entanglements of joy and trace their expression in practices and discourses inscribed in archival documents that I have reassembled around the theme of women workers’ education. My reading of Ethics follows a range of feminist thinkers that have engaged with Spinoza’s ‘ethics of joy’ in education and beyond. The article draws on extensive archival work with personal auto/biographical documents and public essays of women workers/educators/writers in Paris and New York that span the period between 1830 and 1950. What I argue is that it is the experience of creative and radical education that has created a platform for workers to re-imagine themselves in the world with others.     

Sharing a place-based indigenous methodology and learnings

Abstract

Building on a methodology of Cooperative Inquiry, the outcomes of five interconnected place-based learning projects from Australia are synthesised and elaborated in this paper. The methodology can facilitate the everyday living and sharing of an Earth-based consciousness: one that enriches Transformative Sustainability Education (TSE) through recognising meanings and stories in landscape, and celebrates Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. Indigenous-led environmental education is shown to link with one of the longest continuous environmental education systems in the world and it is contended that because of its ongoing history, environmental education carries a cultural obligation. In Australia, every landscape is Indigenous and storied, and all Australians have an inherent right to learn that joy in place, along with the responsibility to care for it. Teaching and learning a relationship with place as family, is one way that environmental education can lead that campaign. This place-based methodology is a lifetime commitment involving everyday actions for change, a whole-of-education dedication.     

Promoting Spiritual Development in the Curriculum

This paper asserts that the spiritual is rooted in the essence of being human. Human beings search for meaning, purpose and direction in life and spiritual development is inextricably linked with this process. The spiritual manifests itself in the feelings and emotions of human beings, as well as the values, beliefs, aspirations and intellect. Spiritual development in this sense must be holistic. The spiritual dimension of education must engage the body, mind and heart. Spiritual development implies change, with a progression from immaturity towards maturity, from the simple to the complex, from the superficial to the profound. In relation to this the writer discusses what spiritual education should involve and the contribution different aspects of the curriculum can make.     

Caring about caring: newly qualified teachers’ experiences of their relationships within the school community

In this inductive and explorative study, we describe newly qualified teachers’ (NQTs) experiences of their relationships within the school community during their first years at work. In a context such as Finland, with a high academic teacher education but yet no formal system for supporting new teachers, relationships especially with colleagues and principals are of great importance in providing informal support. The study comprises data from an open-ended questionnaire survey and altogether 10 focus group meetings. The sample is purposive and includes NQTs (n?=?88) within primary schools. A qualitative content analysis identified three main relationships which illuminate tensions of paradoxes: (1) Caring about – nurturance or exclusion, (2) Reciprocity – expansive or restrictive and (3) Caring for – joy or exhaustion. In addition to the importance of introduction and support in the beginning stages of entering the work place, the results of this study demonstrate the even greater significance of a good social atmosphere with genuine concern and caring amongst the members of the school community.     

To experience joy: musings on endarkened feminisms,friendship, and scholarship1

Joy can be defined as a feeling of happiness, well-being, success, or delight (Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/joy, 2014). It can also be seen as the source or cause of such delight. However, according to Alice Walker, there is another articulation of joy from an endarkened feminist perspective that speaks to feminist struggles within and against our varied oppressions: ‘Resistance is the secret of joy’ (p. 279). It is from and through Walker’s definition of joy that this paper arises. Written in prose form (what I refer to as ‘musings’), this essay focuses on the possibilities of affirmation, contestation, and expansion in our scholarship when informed by friendship as endarkened feminist praxis. Resisting invisibilities, this piece argues for the power and usefulness of friendship as both principled practice and experience of mutuality, visibility, and shared partnership that bears witness to and embodies joy as a fruitful space of endarkened feminist cultural production and healing.     

The sea gull: A communicative analysis of Chekhovian drama

This article examines the functions and dimensions of Chekhovian language. The authors make observations within this analysis which apply to the playwright's major works, and The Sea Gull in particular. The analysis is performed in relationship to Chekhov's creation of dialogue, characterization, and imagery. Dialogue is seen to measure the nature of a relationship more than provide an interchange of direct literal significance. Characterization appears to develop as a function of the dynamic interaction between a character's self‐preservation and his/her situation context and to be achieved within the linguistic structure of the play through the use of dissonances between what a character says and what is known about him/her, or harmonies evident when characters demonstrate complementary tendencies, and through the creation of characteristic modes of communication. Finally, imagery is seen to evolve as a function of the spiritual life of a character, acting as a communicative device depending upon its ability to provide shared meaning with other characters. The argument is made that a communicative analysis, such as this one, allows the director insights about a literary work at a secondary level, providing a more dynamic interpretation from which to stage its production.     

Transformative Education? A Philosophic-Augustinian Response to the 2010 Albertan Reform Initiatives in “Inspiring Education”

The Alberta Government’s 2010 “Inspiring Education” reform proposals claim to be “transformational” in nature. This paper examines these proposals in light of ancient philosophy and various among the world’s wisdom traditions. Drawing particularly on the philosophic reflections of St. Augustine in his Confessions, it argues that the proposals are neither new nor “transformational,” but part of a long and problematic educational lineage that has its roots among the ancient sophists. As an alternative to the Alberta proposals and “sophist-icated” education, this paper advocates for the incorporation of philosophic or contemplative elements into the school day during which both teachers and students might learn the genuine meaning of school as schole through the practice of pursuing wisdom.     

Winter outdoor trekking: spiritual aspects of environmental education

This text deals with the potential spiritual aspects of being outdoors within the framework of non-formal and informal education. The course being examined was organized by the Vacation School of Lipnice – Outward Bound Czech Republic, and the participants in this course made up the research sample. While the research was not directly focused on the spiritual dimension of the human way of being, our analysis of the interviews (n = 12) and the results of the Prague Spirituality Questionnaire (n = 10) indicate a connection between the fortnight spent trekking through the winter landscape and spirituality in terms of the educational potential it has for personal development. The data obtained in the interviews may be structured into the following main semantic fields connected with nature: naturalness, the element of fire, senses, aesthetic perceptions, bad weather, and spiritual dimension. In the questionnaire respondents were inclined to include factors such as ethical enthusiasm, sense of belonging, and deep ecology. The results may be interpreted as suggesting that due to the immediacy of direct experience the two-week-long trekking journey in the winter landscape (snowshoeing and camping in tents) reinforces a dimension of environmental education that surpasses any rational verification and enters the spiritual realms.     

关于精神教育内涵的再思考

所谓精神教育,从广义上理解,是一个与身体教育相对应的概念。具体来讲,是指旨在促进人的精神世界发展,提升人的精神生活质量的教育活动的总称。重视精神教育是当代西方教育发展的主要趋势之一,探讨并实施精神教育对我国的现代化具有很强的理论意义和实践意义。精神教育的内涵可以从“不是”和“是”两方面来把握。“不是”即它与别的教育活动的区别：精神教育不是功利教育、社会教育、宗教教育、实用教育。精神教育的“是”包括三个层次：第一层次是心理教育、情感教育;第二层次,是道德教育、生活教育;第三层次,是审美教育、理想教育。我认为,倡导精神教育,符合人类自身发展的需要,也是社会发展到当代所应该关注的选择。     

Rhythmic nootechnics: Stiegler,Whitehead, and noetic life

Abstract

In Taking Care of Youth and the Generations, Bernard Stiegler develops an account of the pedagogical responsibilities which follow from rhythmic intergenerational flows, involving the creation of milieus which care for and pay attention to the future, toward the creation of nootechnical milieus. Such milieus are defined by their objects of attention: intellectual life, spiritual life, and political life; taken together: noetic life. Such is the claim Alfred North Whitehead makes when arguing that the sole object of education is life and the creation of an art of life which is itself a rhythmic adventure.

The purpose of this paper is three-fold. First, to clarify the importance of Stiegler’s reading of Aristotle’s notion of the noetic soul in our thinking about the role, purpose, and function of educational institutions in relation to intellective, spiritual, and political life. In this paper, I will fuse this discussion with a Whiteheadian approach to rhythm, developing what I call a ‘rhythmic nootechnics’ in the service of ‘nootechnical evolution’ as, I argue, Whitehead’s approach to rhythm allows to clarify and enrich Stiegler’s reading of Aristotle. Second, and as indicated, to explore the relationship between Whitehead and Stiegler, insofar as the former has become an increasing reference point for the latter, but this relationship remains unexplored in the literature. Third, to apply this concept of ‘rhythmic nootechnics’ to think about what transformations at the level of pedagogy and politics are necessary to reinvent the university from this Stieglerian and Whiteheadian perspective.     

Dialogue and team teaching

Although dialogue is a common word in educational theory, its full significance is diluted if it is seen as a matter of exchange or negotiation of prior intellectual positions. In fact, the dia‐ of dialogue indicates through: dialogue moves through participants and they through it. Dialogue allows participants to have thoughts they could not have had on their own, yet to recognise these thoughts as developments of their own thinking. On this understanding of dialogue, education is a transformative rather than simply accumulative process. Similarly, team teaching is often thought to involve no more than the summative logic of sharing loads and adding perspectives. In dialogic pedagogy, however, team teaching refers to the way that the supportive relationship between teachers opens opportunities for students to join the team as teachers. Although teachers and students have different responsibilities, all learn through a collective dialogue. The article draws on our practice of dialogic team teaching large first‐year classes.     

Teachers’ motives for learning in networks: costs,rewards and community interest

Background: This paper discusses teachers’ perspectives on learning networks and their motives for participating in these networks. Although it is widely held that teachers’ learning may be developed through learning networks, not all teachers participate in such networks.

Purpose: The theme of reciprocity, central to studies in the area of learning in networks, is often approached from a rational exchange perspective. This study attempts to extend this approach with reference to the concept of symbolic interactionism. The study was guided by the following research question: What is the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of learning networks and their motives for participation or non-participation in these networks?

Design and methods: In order to address this research question, semi-structured interviews among 25 teachers in secondary education in the Netherlands were carried out. The semi-structured interviews consisted of three parts: background information, perspectives on learning networks and personal experiences with those networks. Data were analysed qualitatively and analyses consisted of within-case analysis, and cross-case analysis of interview fragments. Three themes were considered: (1) perspectives on learning networks, (2) motives for participation perceived as rational exchange, (3) motives for participation perceived as related to social order.

Findings: The findings are presented around these three themes. Each theme is discussed in relation to relevant aspects from the literature. Findings indicated that teachers perceived learning networks to be organised both within-school and outside school, and mostly focused around specific content knowledge. Reasons for participation or non-participation were related to rational costs and rewards (such as time, technology, self-efficacy); in symbolic motives (such as joy, sharing and mutual understanding), and also in a sense of meaning that resulted from networking activities.

Conclusions: We conclude that, in addition to social exchange motives, the data suggest that symbolic aspects of communication and interaction play an important role in considerations for participation in learning networks. This may be described in terms of four ‘types’ of networking teachers: the Community focused networking teacher, the Locally focused networking teacher, the Not-yet-networking teacher, and the Non-networking teacher. It is hoped that these exploratory findings could be helpful in supporting the development of learning networks for all teachers.     

Spiritual Education in Islamic Tradition: Revisiting Ghazali’s “Deliverance”

Any religion has three aspects: moral–ritual orders, metaphysical–cosmological beliefs, and the feelings that are the foundations of “religious experience”; focusing on any of these particular aspects results in a different approach toward the concept of “religion” and “religious education.” This study will examine Ghazali’s version of Sufism as a significant way of spirituality in Islam. He thought that mystical vision was the sublime ideal of Islam and education. But he redefined the other two aspects in line with achieving religious experience. Thus, he achieved a special interpretation of spiritual education that could be called negative education.     

悲观主义哲学视域下陶渊明的幸福之路

叔本华的悲观主义哲学认为:人生是痛苦的,人是永远处在痛苦中的个体,但人也可以借助解脱之法祛除痛苦,通往幸福之路。陶渊明的一生磨难重重,有诸多深刻的痛苦体验,可喜的是,他为自己修筑了一方精神家园,使其远离世俗之悲苦,实现了内心的宁静和愉悦。借助叔本华的悲观主义哲学分析陶渊明的痛苦和幸福,对于解读陶渊明的归耕田园与价值追求,深入探究他的作品,理解他成为后世文人精神楷模等有着十分重要的意义。     

生命论的高等教育哲学观探析

如何认识人的生命、如何认识高深知识与人生命发展的关系是高等教育生命论关注的核心问题。其确立既有理论层面的哲学追溯,也有来自实践的现实诉求。类特性、多重性和意义性是高等教育生命论确立的理论依据,这三个方面的分析关系到对人的个性与社会性,生命的丰富内涵,生命之于自我、他人和社会的意义等问题的理解与认识。社会发展的客观需要、高等教育的本真诉求、生命成长的内在呼唤则是其确立的现实依据,人才培养质量的提高、生命发展潜能的实现,都需要生命论的高等教育哲学观的树立。当知识与生命相遇在高等教育中,它便以自己独特的作用发展着人的个体生命和社会生命,丰富着人的精神生命、文化生命和学术生命,最终通过价值生命来体现人的自我实现。