Political Education in/as the Practice of Freedom: A Paradoxical Defence from the Perspective of Michael Oakeshott

Creating education systems that promote democratic sustainability has been the concern of political thinkers as diverse as J. S. Mill, Dewey, Benjamin Barber and Derek Bok. The classic dichotomisation of democratic theory between deliberative democrats and Schumpeterian democrats suggests that education in the service of democracy can be constructive—that is, provide a student with the skills necessary to elect her leaders without changing her nature—or reconstructive—that is, fundamentally and radically reshape the student to produce a citizen whose goals are transformed to be congruent with society. Michael Oakeshott, who has written extensively both on political regimes and on the purpose of liberal education, offers a third way to assess the connection between government and education. Despite his own dismissal of civic or political education as fundamentally vocational and thus beyond the boundaries of the liberal arts, this paper provides a potentially surprising Oakeshottian defence of political education within the liberal arts with reference to the importance he places on experience as a pedagogic tool. Thus, Oakeshott's educational philosophy has a certain resonance with the recent calls to locate the relevance of liberal arts within the burgeoning development of experiential civic engagement programmes in American universities.     

Philosophy of Education and Economics: A Case for Closer Engagement

Relatively little contemporary philosophy of education employs economic concepts directly. Even where issues such as marketisation of education are discussed there may be little clarification of underlying concepts. The paper argues that while much contemporary economic thinking on education may be philosophically naive, it is also the case that philosophy of education can productively engage with particular economic insights and perspectives. The paper examines particular conceptualisations of ‘economics’ and ‘the market’, drawing upon these to consider aspects of an issue that is significant for the philosophy of education: human becoming. An example, the notion of ‘wellbeing’ is briefly discussed.     

Survey research: Interpersonal Skill-Training Research: A 12-Year Review and Analysis

This article is a comprehensive survey of research published over a 12-year period on skill-training programs used to enhance the interpersonal effectiveness of counselors. It descibes, analyzes, and synthesizes significant patterns in the content and format of training programs and highlights the strengths and limitations in research methodology employed. The investigations reviewed were analyzed in relation to purpose, training models, training duration, training methods, interpersonal skill focus, and research design issues. Implications for counselor training are explored, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Information Support for Using Open Learning Materials within Engineering Education

This paper reviews some current trends in engineering education in the UK, particularly those towards open and distance learning. Taking as a case-study a recent move to provide relevant and up-to-date course materials in the area of Advanced Manufacturing Technology for undergraduates, the authors provide an account of the process of collaboration between academic and library staff which resulted in the integration of new materials and methods into an existing course. From this experience the authors attempt some generalisations about the roles and systems required for similar approaches to achieve success.