Teaching Research

Different assumptions about reality and knowing underpin different research methods. Contrasting a phenomenological/ interpretivist approach with the assumptions of positivism, I describe teaching about philosophical issues in master's and doctoral courses. At the master's level, exercises in observation introduce students to social constructionist concepts; at the doctoral level the framework emphasizes five levels of re-presentation of experience: attending, telling, transcribing, analyzing, and reading. Greater attention to methodological diversity and contrasting philosophical underpinnings would strengthen research education in social work.     

New Opportunities for Change in American Teacher Education: Insights From Hong Kong

This article is an exploration of the emerging narratives on learning and teacher education in the United States and Hong Kong, as found in official policy statements and curriculum documents. Particular attention is given to Hong Kong's initiative in implementing an interdisciplinary liberal studies curriculum, and the continued professional development of teachers for this proposed change. This recent trend is used to illustrate the possibilities for a broader vision of creating and substantiating knowledge and learning in teacher education programs in the United States.     

On the Historical and Ideal Nature of Human Rights: reading Human Rights and Human Diversity by A.J.M.Milne

Taking as its exegetic point of departure Peirce's outline of a semiotic theory of cognition from the mid 1890s, this paper explores the relevance of this outline to a theory of learning and also to a broader, normative vision of education. Firstly, besides providing for fallibilism in philosophical inquiry Peirce's outline accords with critical strategies of his fellow pragmatists, such as William James's detection of the ‘psychologist's fallacy’ and John Dewey's rejection of the ‘philosophical fallacy’. It is pointed out that this merit of Peirce's outline is due to his abstract and often neglected notion of a prespecialised scientific intelligence. Secondly, the paper shows that Peirce's semiotic approach to prescientific learning processes conditioning all kinds of theoretical activity may indeed complement James's and Dewey's contributions: giving careful attention to the work of linguistic and paralinguistic signs in such learning processes Peirce's analysis captures indexical and iconic aspects, as well as symbolic aspects of linguistic interaction and experientially constrained dialogue. Following Peirce's analysis the paper considers how the iconicity of linguistic structure, ostensive acts and the practical situatedness of language use are pre‐conditions of experiential learning in every day life as well as in scientific learning. It is also shown how this semiotic analysis is connected with Peirce's important notion of abduction. Finally, it is pointed out that a broader vision of education may issue from Peirce's semiotic analysis and that such a vision would emphasise that the life experience of individuals entering educational institutions should be made to bear on the objectives as well as the teaching practices of educational institutions.     

Objectivism versus constructivism: Do we need a new philosophical paradigm?

Many scholars in the instructional systems field have addressed the paradigm shift in the field of learning psychology and its implications for instructional systems technology (IST). This article analyzes the philosophical assumptions underlying IST and its behavioral and cognitive foundations, each of which is primarily objectivistic, which means that knowing and learning are processes for representing and mirroring reality. The philosophical assumptions of objectivism are then contrasted with constructivism, which holds that knowing is a process of actively interpreting and constructing individual knowledge representations. The implications of constructivism for IST provide a context for asking the reader to consider to what extent our field should consider this philosophical paradigm shift.     

The Very Idea of an Educated Public: On Philosophical Education and MacIntyre's Project

In this paper, I aim to reconsider MacIntyre's notion of an educated public. In particular, I aim to do so in light of his recent elucidation of the role of philosophical education in rejecting, or at least challenging, predominant and shared cultural assumptions. I begin by outlining MacIntyre's original case for an educated public as found in The Idea of an Educated Public. I then briefly consider and respond to three prominent criticisms of MacIntyre's original explication of the notion. In responding to these criticisms, it will be made clear that subtle shifts in MacIntyre's subsequent treatments of the notion reduces the dependency of such a public's existence on the university. I conclude by arguing that the development in MacIntyre's articulation of the necessary conditions for an educated public when considered in conjunction with his recent defence of the conditions for an ‘adequate philosophical education’ provides his philosophy of education with the conceptual resources needed to break free of a final difficulty which MacIntyre himself has articulated. Specifically, I contend that the four stages of an adequate philosophical education MacIntyre outlines are such that they need not be restricted to implementation in formal educational institutions such as the university.     

What can we learn from chaos theory? An alternative approach to instructional systems design

In this article, the “goodness of fit” between ISD and chaos theory is explored by applying the key concepts of chaos theory to the process of developing an alternative ISD model. After a brief introduction to chaos theory and an exploration of the limitations of and/or the problems with conventional ISD models, the theoretical implications for developing an alternative ISD model are explored. The assumptions of a conventional ISD model are compared to those of chaos theory and dynamic nonlinear systems in order to derive theoretical implications and recommendations for future research and practice in instructional systems design and development.     

Language,thought and reality: a comparison of Ferdinand de Saussure's Course in General Linguistics with C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards' The Meaning of Meaning

This paper returns to two key texts in the history of linguistic theory: Saussure's Course in General Linguistics (1916) and Ogden and Richards' The Meaning of Meaning (1923). While Saussure's linguistic model is dialectical and synthetic, with the two elements of the linguistic sign (signal and signification) being compared to the two sides of a sheet of paper, Ogden and Richards' is tripartite and analytic, with the three elements involved in the language situation (word, thought and thing) being represented as the three points of a triangle. Moreover, while Saussure sees language as turning in upon itself, with the sign referring not to things in an extra‐linguistic reality but to other signs within the same linguistic structure, Ogden and Richards see language as referring beyond itself, to a reality outside language. These differences are related to differences in how the human mind is conceived: while Saussure sees thought as embedded in language, and while he invests the mind with the power to order and regulate the chaos inherent in language, Ogden and Richards, writing very much in the wake of the new psychology of stimulus–response behaviourism, separate thought from language, and divest the mind of any power to resist ‘the power of words’. Interestingly, though, Ogden and Richards show signs of an early cognitivism, which raises the question of whether contemporary cognitive science is perhaps more indebted to the stimulus–response paradigm than it would care to admit.     

Virtue Epistemology and the Philosophy of Education

This article initially provides a brief overview of virtue epistemology; it thereafter considers some possible ramifications of this branch of the theory of knowledge for the philosophy of education. The main features of three different manifestations of virtue epistemology are first explained. Importantly, it is then maintained that developments in virtue epistemology may offer the resources to critique aspects of the debate between Hirst and Carr about how the philosophy of education ought to be carried out and by whom. Wilfred Carr's position—that educational practitioners have privileged access to philosophical knowledge about teaching practice—will in particular be questioned. It will be argued that Carr's view rests on a form of epistemology, internalism, which places unreasonably narrow restrictions upon the range of actors and ways, in which philosophical knowledge of and/or for education might be achieved. In declaring that practical wisdom regarding teaching is ‘entirely dependent’ on practitioner reflection, Carr not only radically deviates from Aristotle's notion of practical wisdom, he also, in effect, renders redundant all philosophical research about education that is not initiated by teachers in this manner. It is concluded that Aristotle's general approach to acquiring information and knowledge about the world might yet still offer a foundation for a more comprehensive philosophy of education; one that makes clear that the professional testimony and reflection of teachers, observation of teaching practice, and already existing educational philosophy, theory and policy can all be perceived as potentially valuable sources of philosophical knowledge of and for education.     

President's Introduction: Religious Education for Peace and Justice

This article gives an overview of “practical theology” as an emerging paradigm, and discusses problems and possibilities in using the paradigm for religious education of “Generation X” in a postmodern context. The article posits that a postmodern sensibility does not imply the cognitive capacity for a truly postmodern style of meaning‐making. Drawing on Robert Kegan and the author's teaching experience with young adults, the article raises the caution that Generation X may not be prepared developmentally for postmodern educational approaches. Possibilities for using practical theological elements such as story, playfulness, and making connections are raised in relation to this age‐group.     

Philosophical sense: An ampliative twist in gifted education

Philosophy has not been widely recognized as a means of approaching theory development in gifted education. This article provides an historical overview of the foundations of philosophy related to the field, as well as a structural means of developing philosophical sense for exploring the Natures of knowing, being, and values and valuing through sensitivities of social, political and economic factors of life. The goal is to explore issues beyond the psychologized (developed from theory but not sufficient for reality) manner prevalent within the field. A dichotomy (talent development vs. giftedness) is used as an example of how philosophical sense can structurally organize exploration of controversial issues, enabling scholarly work and adding varied viewpoints to understanding rather than fractionalizing focus into theoretical camps incessantly promoting prized viewpoints at the expense of divergent opinions (and evidence).     

The Newtonian mechanistic paradigm, special education, and contours of alternatives: an overview

The concept of paradigm as a set of ontological and epistemological benchmarks is the basis for a discussion of the influence the Newtonian mechanistic paradigm has exerted over special education theory, research, and practice. Discussions of "malcontents" with the mechanistic paradigm across the social sciences and within special education are noted. Recent literature in the field of special education is critiqued for renaming theories as paradigms, thereby leaving mechanistic assumptions in place. The contours are then drawn of theoretical reorientations and of the emerging alternative holistic paradigm and its importance for special education. It is concluded that we do not have paradigms or paradigm shifts within the field, but that the field is part of a paradigm that is undergoing change across the sciences and social sciences.     

Newman's Theory of a Liberal Education: A Reassessment and its Implications

John Henry Newman provided the basic vocabulary and guiding rationale sustaining the ideal of a liberal education up to our day. He highlighted its central focus on the cultivation of the intellect, its reliance upon broadly based theoretical knowledge, its independence of moral and religious stipulations, and its being its own end. As new interpretations enter the debate on liberal education further educational possibilities emanate from Newman's thought beyond those contained in his theory of a liberal education. These are found in Newman's broader idea of a university education, incorporating social, moral, and spiritual formation and in his philosophical thought where he develops a theory of knowledge at odds with the Idea of a University. There are, in addition, intriguing possibilities that arise from Newman's theory of reasoning in concrete affairs both because of their implicit challenge to inherited theories of a liberal education and because of the educational possibilities they hold out in their own right and in actual educational developments to which they may lend support.     

OUTLIERS,CHEESE, AND RHIZOMES: VARIATIONS ON A THEME OF LIMITATION

All research has limitations, for example, from paradigm, concept, theory, tradition, and discipline. In this article Lynda Stone describes three exemplars that are variations on limitation and are “extraordinary” in that they change what constitutes future research in each domain. Malcolm Gladwell's present day study of outliers makes a statistical term into a sociological concept. Carlo Ginzburg's study of a sixteenth‐century miller who challenges Church doctrine initiates the field of microhistory. Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's philosophy of the rhizome offers a poststructuralist study of the doing of philosophy and the form of philosophical text. Although Gladwell's study is the only one specifically on the topic of outliers, the other two investigations are outliers as well. Overall the three studies demonstrate what can be revealed and learned when limitation is transgressed. This is an important lesson for educational research—wherein heretofore unimagined societal possibility and reform of education might result.     

Parents' views on nursery education: Perceptions in context

The analysis describes the broad consensus which is currently emerging about the nature of the educational changes which are necessary for the creation of a 'learning society' and contrasts this vision with the contemporary reality of an education system which is every day more constrained by formal assessment. The implications of these tightening bonds for the development of universities in the third millennium are explored in terms of research evidence which documents the impact of conventional forms of assessment on student learning. The argument is made that this emphasis on 'categoric' assessment if fundamentally incompatible with aspirations towards the creation of a 'learning society'. This is partly because institutions must necessarily give their attention to obtaining high scores and cannot risk the substantial changes in the reorganisation of teaching and learning that an 'empowering' educational environment would arguably require and partly because of the power of the prevailing assessment discourse to define priorities. The article uses Lyotard's concept of 'performativity' to examine these contemporary tensions in higher education, their origins and potential significance for the creation of a 'learning society'.     

Democracy and Education: Reconstruction of and through Education

While focusing on Democracy and Education, James Campbell attempts in this essay to offer a synthesis of the full range of John Dewey's educational thought. Campbell explores in particular Dewey's understanding of the relationship between democracy and education by considering both his ideas on the reconstruction of education and on the role of education in broader social reconstruction. Throughout his philosophical work, Campbell concludes, Dewey offers us a vision of a society self‐consciously striving to enable its members to live fully educative lives.     

The Guernica Children's Peace Mural Project

This is an exploration of the international Guernica Children's Peace Mural Project, particularly in terms of its theoretical underpinnings and possible impact as a paradigm for ‘real life’ art education.     

The Paramount Importance of Experience and Situations in Dewey's Democracy and Education

In this essay, David Hildebrand connects Democracy and Education to Dewey's wider corpus. Hildebrand argues that Democracy and Education's central objective is to offer a practical and philosophical answer to the question, What is needed to live a meaningful life, and how can education contribute? He argues, further, that this work is still plausible as “summing up” Dewey's overall philosophy due to its focus upon “experience” and “situation,” crucial concepts connecting Dewey's philosophical ideas to one another, to education, and to democracy. He opens the essay with a brief synoptic analysis of Democracy and Education's major philosophical ideas, moves on to sections devoted to experience and situation, and then offers a brief conclusion. Some mention is made throughout about the surprisingly significant role art and aesthetics can play in education.     

Jewish Education and American Jewish Education,Part II

In this series of articles, I explore the history of Jewish Education magazine with particular emphasis on its intersection with the history of American Jewish education and American Jewish life more generally. I isolate major themes and issues that preoccupied the magazine's editors and writers, and analyze how their discourse sheds light on their individual aims, values, and philosophical outlooks, as well their collective efforts at educational reform. I am particularly interested in elucidating how Benderly's disciples sought to reinterpret their mentor's vision in a changing American Jewish environment and why this vision was at best only partially realized.     

THE CONCEPT OF PHILOSOPHICAL EDUCATION

Strangely, the concept of philosophical education is not much in use, at least not as a philosophical concept. In this essay, Steinar Bøyum attempts to outline such a philosophical concept of philosophical education. Bøyum uses Plato's Allegory of the Cave, René Descartes's life of doubt, and Immanuel Kant's criticism of metaphysics as paradigms or defining examples of this concept. Bøyum's aim in this essay is not exegetical; rather, he hopes to describe these examples in a way that will let their character as conceptions of philosophical education show forth. His underlying aims are to show which forms such conceptions may take and why philosophical education is or should be an important topic for both philosophy and education.     

Marketing and the 'Re-enchantment' of School Management

In Britain, an emerging slogan in the Labour government's educational policy is 'standards, not structures'. With it may come a discursive shift in the management of the school. Just as educational structures have been marketized, so now there are some signs that school management is itself becoming marketized, thereby revealing an emergent 'common marketing' within the field of education. Although the signs are few within education, within the broader realm of management theory, the indications are stronger. In exploring this, the argument draws upon two concepts from the academic literature on marketing: relationship marketing; and internal marketing. What is common to both modes of marketing is the instrumentalization of the expressive, or the rationalization of the emotions for performative purposes. In relation to these concepts, brief reference is made to recent policy initiatives in the training of headteachers in Britain. In theorizing this, the relevance of Mestrovic's theory of 'postemotional society' is considered.