Global Trends in Lifelong Learning and the Response of the Universities

The argument of this article is that higher education is forced to respond to the dominant social pressures of the day, especially the demands of advanced capitalism. Globalisation has produced an international division of labour with more knowledge-based workers in the West. Higher education in those countries has, consequently, endeavoured to respond to the demands of these workers in innovative ways and these changes point the direction that higher education elsewhere might have to go. However, some countries will not have sufficient knowledge-based workers to force changes in the higher education system and market-orientated Western universities will fill that gap through new means of delivery. Where universities are not responding to the needs of the international division of labour, transnational companies are taking the initiative in creating their own universities.     

Assessing Professional Know‐How

This article considers how professional knowledge should be assessed. It is maintained that the assessment of professional know‐how raises distinctive issues from the assessment of know‐how more generally. Intellectualist arguments which suggest that someone's giving an account of how to F should suffice for attributing to them knowledge of how to F are set out. The arguments fail to show that there is no necessary distinction between two kinds of know‐how, namely the ability to F and knowing that w is a way to F, such that the latter is more fundamental. The consequences of this failure for our understanding of professional assessment are then considered. The issue of the assessment of tacit knowledge is then addressed. It is concluded that there is no context‐dependent codifiable or articulable propositional knowledge of how to F which could be substituted for being able to F and that therefore tacit knowledge can only be assessed in performance. The parallel with Gettier cases is reviewed and it is concluded that the provenance of accounts of and justifications for the attribution of know‐how are not matters of indifference to its assessment. Finally, the question of evaluability or what Ryle would have called the applicability of intelligence epithets is discussed in relation to its relevance to our procedures for assessing practical knowledge. Once again, it is concluded that excellent performance is necessary to attribute excellence in know‐how. However, the ability to give an account of how and why an agent would do something in hypothetical circumstances is also very important for the assessment of professional knowledge.     

Knowing ‘Wh’ and Knowing How: Constructing Professional Curricula and Integrating Epistemic Fields

Much of the debate on the nature of knowing how has been concerned with whether it is to be conceived of as an ability (know‐how or KH) or as the possession of propositional knowledge (KT), perhaps in a practical form. Comparatively little has been written about knowing wh (KWh) constructions and the ways in which they do or do not fit into this debate. Do such debates have any bearing on the practical concerns of the educators of professionals? This paper considers the case of Knowing Wh constructions and their epistemic status with reference to their use in professional contexts. The argument to be developed is that KT and KH are distinct but closely related epistemic abilities and that in assessing professional capacity we often find them together as part of an overall professional competence. The use of KWh constructions in professional settings supports this contention, as they can occur as cases of both KT and KH, depending on context. The claim is illustrated by examining and interpreting KWh constructions in professional qualifications and interpreting them in the context of what is required to make sense of them as elements of qualifications.     

Thinking Critically About Critical Thinking: an unskilled inquiry into Quinn and McPeck

Victor Quinn advocates teaching critical thinking as a curriculum subject. He has accused Professor John E. McPeck, a vehement critic of such proposals, not only of being wrong but also of being in need of such a critical thinking course himself. In this paper we examine the five supposed critical thinking weaknesses of which McPeck is accused and consider what Quinn's arguments tell us about critical thinking, its skills, its priorities and its claims to subject status.     

From West to East and Back Again: Faith,Doubt and Education in Hermann Hesse's Later Work

This paper examines Hermann Hesse's penultimate novel, The Journey to the East, from an educational point of view. Hesse was a man of the West who turned to the idea of ‘the East’ in seeking to understand himself and his society. While highly critical of elements of Western modernism, Hesse nonetheless viewed ‘the East’ through Western lenses and drew inspiration from other Western thinkers. At the end of The Journey to the East, the main character, H.H., believes he has found the solution to his despair. This paper argues that he has not, at least not in the fullest sense Hesse came to see was possible. H.H. relies too heavily on faith and abandons reason too quickly in seeking to become ‘absorbed’ into the Other that he regards as his higher self. An answer to H.H.'s existential angst can be found in Hesse's final novel, The Glass Bead Game, where educational growth through the development of a critical, questioning, inquiring attitude is a central theme.     

Extrabudgetary Funding and Institutional Relationships between Higher Education,Industry, and Social Partners

Close co-operation between higher education institutions and industry is the best instrument for the application of research and the use of R&D outcomes in economic processes. It is the basis for the development of new products, techniques, and services. Such co-operation helps to develop the economy and society, and, therefore, to enhance structural change in regions in which higher education institutions are located. At the same time, any income earned through this process (third-party funds) for a higher education institution means that the institutional budget provided by the state can be used to meet additional challenges. A second result deriving from this form of co-operation is higher quality teaching and learning at the given higher education institution, as well as the development of innovative course programmes for undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuing education.