Hannah Arendt and Norwegian Muslim children’s schooling: in pursuit of democratic practices

The aim of this paper is to consider whether Hannah Arendt’s (1996) [Arendt, H. (1958/1998 Arendt, H. (1958/1998). Vita Activa. The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago. [Google Scholar]). Vita Activa. The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago] concept of ‘public space’ is a potentially useful and creative way of thinking about aspects of Muslim children’s experiences within the context of education. Following a terror attack in 2011, when 77 people were killed, the then Norwegian prime minister stated that ‘our answer to this violence is more openness and more democracy but not naivety’. Accordingly, this paper draws on data so as to put concepts drawn from Arendt to work. In so doing, we indicate possibilities for ‘more openness and more democracy’ where Norwegian children can have Islam as an important element within their lives in ways that avoid the charge of naivety.     

Hannah Arendt and the ‘freedom’ to think

ABSTRACT

Dissatisfied with the Western tradition of political philosophy, Arendt maintained a tension between the political, which she associates primarily with the freedom to act, and the philosophical, which she associates principally with the activity of thinking, throughout her works. Whilst Arendt's work is underpinned by a focus on political action, her work on the thinking/non-thinking dichotomy is of significant educational value. Taking a broadly phenomenological approach, and reading Arendt through an educational lens, this paper seeks to demonstrate how the thinking/non-thinking dichotomy and the perils of ‘non-thinking’ reveal the wider dangers of instrumentalism and the performative models of education that accompanies it. It is suggested here that Arendt's work exposes ‘non-thinking’ as a form of instrumental thinking, which is not only a threat to the development of the capacity for critical thought but also to the development autonomy and the capacity for moral judgement.     

The ‘Civic-minded’ Professional? An exploration through Hannah Arendt’s ‘vita activa’

Recent reform initiatives calling for ‘civic’ (‘public-good’ or ‘democratic’) professionalism can be seen as a response to the widely reported decline in public trust in the professions and an attempt to partially remedy this problem through a more publically engaged professionalism. The author draws on the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt, identifying the strong, albeit in the professionalism literature rarely acknowledged, affinities between civic professionalism and her concept of action as (collective) freedom through public deliberation. Using the three modalities of the active life that Arendt discusses in The Human Condition (labour, work and action) as analytical tools, the author suggests that changing conditions in the public sector have led to professional life increasingly taking on the forms of labour and work, at the expense of action. The implications of these developments are highlighted before the author proceeds to show that a professional life oriented strongly towards action is consistent with ‘civic’ professionalism based on community engagement. Some of the main approaches traditionally taken to promote a civic orientation among university students are noted; the article concludes with a discussion of how the specific concepts underlying Arendtian action can be put to work in university pedagogies to intentionally promote the public ‘civic-minded professional’.     

The educational developer’s portfolio

The roles and responsibilities described in internationally advertised job opportunities for educational developers reflect the diversity and emerging professionalism of the field. Models adapted from the traditional teaching portfolio are a promising means of articulating these roles and responsibilities, and of defining the nature of the educational development profession.     

Reconciliation of natural and social: Rethinking Rousseau’s educational theory

This article intends to re-examine Rousseau’s educational theory in the context of the nature/culture opposition. In contemporary discussions on the nature/culture dualism, it has been often stated that his educational theory is based on the assumption that a child is a natural being. However, the author demonstrates that Rousseau was instead committed to a duality of human nature; this influences his educational theory. In his model, human nature consists of a natural and a social side; these two parts are in conflict which seems unsolvable due to the present state of society. A child is regarded as a figure which is open to the future reconciliation of nature and culture. Thus, Rousseau’s model of education is presented not from the standpoint of the present state of society, but from the standpoint of an ideal state which might be built in the future. In addition, the examination of human duality allows one to show that Rousseau’s ideas on civil and private education are closely interrelated.     

Young people’s voices: disciplining young people’s participation in decision-making in special educational needs

In recent years, education and family policy in the UK has sought to incorporate the views of children and young people through an active participation agenda, in the fulfilment of children’s rights under the obligations of the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child. Drawing on empirical evidence, this paper suggests that this aspiration is flawed. The inclusion of young people’s voices in decision-making is context dependent, and influenced by individual relationships, both positive and negative. It is framed by policies that subjugate children within disciplinary technologies that determine a regime of ‘truth’ about effective and appropriate participation. Drawing on data gathered as part of a wider study on the relationships between services users and services providers in special educational needs, this paper demonstrates that active inclusion of the voice of the child can be illustrated to be at least variable, and at worst prejudiced. It is suggested that the notion of participation produces tacit forms of ‘government’ that further classify and divide young people, magnifying their marginalization.     

Japan’s educational practices for mathematically gifted students

This study documents the inclusive, deliberate, and unintended educational practices in Japan for mathematically gifted students. It also aims to identify various schools’ strengths and challenges in improving the mathematics education of these students. Case studies with multisite designs were undertaken in five middle schools selected using purposive sampling. Mathematics education practices – assessed in terms of assessment, mathematics instruction, support and interventions, and teachers’ collaboration – guided the data collection and analysis. The primary goal of this study was to describe current school practices and identify common strengths and challenges (including outlier practices across schools) which were valuable in generating conclusion regarding how certain practices might lead to different student and/or teacher outcomes.     

Interpretation of children’s views by educational psychologists: dilemmas and solutions

This paper considers how listening to children’s views and taking account of them is understood in different ways by educational psychologists. Rationales for listening to children include (1) supporting their rights to express views, (2) therapeutic benefits of participation, and either (3) valuing their views as insightful contributions to problem-solving or (4) considering them as contributory factors to the problem. This creates dilemmas about interpretation on different occasions, and a range of theoretical stances are discussed in terms of how far they can support robust decision-making about this interpretation, and a practical way forward is suggested using principles based on critical realism.     

Researching children’s rights in education: sociology of childhood encountering educational theory

This paper aims to explore and develop a theoretical approach for children’s rights research in education formed through an encounter between the sociology of childhood and John Dewey’s educational theory. The interest is mainly methodological, in the sense that the primary ambition of the investigation is to suggest a fruitful and useful theoretical base for formulating research problems and undertaking research in children’s rights in education. The paper argues that, particularly in educational settings, research into children’s rights can and must be attributed to children both as full-status humans in a socio-politically contextual present, and as continually growing and changing, immature and dependent humans. From the theoretical encounter suggested in the paper, the much-used distinction of the child as either ‘being’ or ‘becoming’ can be reconsidered, and another point of departure for the study of children’s rights issues in education can be discerned.     

Horizontal inequalities in children’s educational outcomes in Ethiopia

We go beyond previous studies of vertical inequality in Ethiopia, by investigating ethnic group-based, or horizontal, educational inequality. Currently, there are no known studies of differential schooling patterns across cultural groups in Ethiopia. The research draws on the Young Lives prospective longitudinal study of 929 children in later childhood. We investigate the extent to which ethnic group differences in schooling participation and progression can be explained by individual differences in socio-economic status. The findings show that poor educational participation and progression remain challenges for certain minority ethnic groups. Household wealth helps to explain the effect of ethnicity on educational outcomes. However, it cannot fully account for the ethnic gap. We conclude that conventional research, which emphasizes addressing individual differences in educational outcomes, or vertical inequalities, may downplay the role of cultural group-based inequalities in children's opportunities to learn.