The Democracy We Need: Situation, Post-Foundationalism and Enlightenment

Postmodernism precludes philosophical justifications for democracy. This undermines the role of philosophy of education and leaves us with weaker reasons for educational democracy than we need. If the 'postmodern challenge' is as Wilfred Carr conceives it, Jürgen Habermas meets that challenge. His work rests on neither Enlightenment essentialism nor foundationalism. Habermas can accept and explain that consciousness is historically and socially situated in discourse, yet still argue to the possibility of emancipation. I defend his conception of rationality from charges of essentialism. Rational thinking can critique its own specific forms, so superior forms of rationality remain universalisable by rational means. A historicising account of such critique avoids situationist relativism. These considerations justify educational democracy and preserve a role for philosophy of education.     

Some Problems of Identity and Education: A comparative examination of multicultural education

This article considers the education of minorities and offers the concept of markers of identity; currently the most notable are nationality and citizenship but these may change, particularly during periods of crisis. Cultures can use minimal markers. Individuals may switch cultures and adopt conspicuous characteristics as a symbol, but culture switching may be incomplete and many are intermediates or have multiple identity. A plural society can be an opportunity rather than a problem for the majority as well as minority groups. If majority populations are to be members of an international community they have to learn how to relate to other cultures. An education system will reflect the norms of the host society and minorities need to learn the language and mores; the harder question is the degree of adaptation required and the compatibility of their own culture. Policies range from assimilation, through limited assimilation and pseudo-pluralism to pluralism. There has been some shift to pluralism but much work remains to be done.     

Regulating Academic Pressure: From Fast to Slow

This paper investigates the impact of publication pressure on the ethics and the scientific integrity in the domain of mathematics and of the arts. Both research fields are specific in their methodology, being that they do not start from a classical hypothesis and researchers in these areas are not knowing what the outcome will be. The research design is open, and creativity is a main part of the research investigation. Both research fields do not rely on empirical cases nor on data collection or data handling. This could be a reason why mathematics and arts seem to be less subject to scientific misconduct. After presenting the (inter)national regulations on ethics and integrity, we will investigate a philosophical analysis in which we consider possible influences from publication pressure that became widespread over all disciplines. We will clarify if and how mathematics and the arts are sensitive to scientific research misconduct or questionable research practices.     

Design Expertise Amongst Student Designers

This report of a series of protocol studies of designers at varying levels of competence examines the pedagogical system of integrating developing skills with increasing project complexity as a definition of design expeitise. It comments on different kinds of problem-solving strategies which are used to ensure the appropriateness of the aims of design education, and assesses the relative importance that novelty and creativity, uncertainty and information, imagination and constructive thought, and drawing and modelling play in the maturation of designers. The results show a lack of predictability, but that the abilities needed for design expertise can be articulated and developed as educational programmes.     

Personal Factors,Education and the Effectiveness of Professional Engineers

This investigation examines the career development of a sample of engineers from pre-degree to, in many cases, post-chartered status. Their personal and academic characteristics are evaluated and linked to their effectiveness as professional engineers, as measured by salary rewards. Although these personal and academic factors are commonly believed to be an important component of industrial effectiveness and a valid predictor of future performance, they appear to have only a marginal influence and questionable value as predictive mechanisms. None the less, the study gives insight into the personal motivations and aspirations of engineering graduates and makes a number of recommendations for educationalists. Whenever possible, the findings of this study are compared with those of other authors.

SOMMAIRE La présente recherche examine le profil de carriere d'une echantillon d'inginiéurs et techniciens, depuis la périod precedant l'octroi de la licence jusqu'au moment ou, dans un grand nombre de cas, ils ont obtenu le status d'experts brevetes. Les caractéristiques personnelles et academiques de chacun y sont évaluées et associées a lews capacityés professionnelles, mesurees selon lew niveau de rémunération. Bien que cesfacteurs académiques et professionals soient communement consideréres comme un élement important de leur efficacité industrielle et un indicateur valable de leurs performances futures, ils semblent n'avoir qu'une influence marginals et une valeur douteuse en tant que mécanism de prédiction. La présent etude permet cependant d'eclairer les motivations personnelles et les aspirations des ingénieurs et techniciens diplômés et offre un certain nombre de recommandations aux enseignants. Lorsque les circonstances le permettent, des paralleles sont etablis entres les resultats de cette recherche et ceaux obtenue par d'autres auteurs.