Re‐envisioning the Future: Democratic Citizenship Education and Islamic Education

In this article we address the issue of why democratic citizenship education should be incorporated more meaningfully into Islamic education discourses in formal institutions in the Arab and Muslim world. In the Arab and Muslim world civic and national education seem to be the dominant discourses. We argue that the latter discourses are inadequate to address some of the dystopias in the Arab and Muslim world such as the perpetuation of patriarchy, uncritical obedience to the state (often dictatorships), and blind patriotism. Consequently we posit that unless a culture of acceptance and hospitality (i.e. cosmopolitanism) is cultivated at Islamic educational institutions the possibility of democratic citizenship education unfolding is quite remote. That is, the future of Islamic education can only be re‐envisioned if an amended version of democratic citizenship education can inform Islamic education discourses in institutions—one constituted by a culture of acceptance and hospitality.     

University Education and Deliberation: In Defence of Practical Reasoning

In this article I argue that the use of practical reasoning in university classrooms is necessary to establish conditions under which university teachers and students can move beyond the dominant “transmission mode” of education (teaching and learning). This mode of education had been, and in many cases remains to be prevalent in several (South African) university classrooms. I argue what it could mean for university teachers and students to reason together with one another in classroom practices. Central to reasoning together is the idea of deliberation which provides opportunities for teachers and students to experience “intelligent action” (Biesta 2004a) that could enhance educational problem solving in (and beyond) university classrooms.     

Philosophical Remarks on Nelson Mandela’s Education Legacy

In this article, I reflect on Nelson Mandela’s (Madiba, the clan name of Mandela) education legacy. I argue that Madiba’s education legacy is constituted by three interrelated aspects: firstly, an education for non-violence guided by deliberation, compassion and reconciliation; secondly, education as responsibility towards the Other; and thirdly, education that cultivates a ‘community of thinking’. Educational philosophy and theory would be richly informed by the compelling education legacy bequeathed us by Nelson Mandela.     

COSMOPOLITANISM IN RELATION TO THE SELF AND THE OTHER: FROM MICHEL FOUCAULT TO STANLEY CAVELL

Educators, not to mention philosophers of education, find themselves in a difficult position nowadays. They are confronted with problems such as which kind of values one would want citizens to embrace, or to what extent social practices of a particular group may differ from what is generally held. In this essay, Paul Smeyers and Yusef Waghid focus on postmodern critiques, in particular on the position of Michel Foucault as it is relevant for the debate on cosmopolitanism. The authors argue that Foucault's analysis of the self in relation to the other is somewhat contentious, as it seems to invoke an independent ethical self other than a social self. Smeyers and Waghid claim that a more nuanced position regarding this relation can be found in the work of Stanley Cavell. They conclude that encounters with the other should not be seen as a new kind of universalism or Foucauldian subjectivism, but rather as an opening that creates opportunities both for attachment and detachments, that is, for acknowledgment and avoidance.     

On the (Im)potentiality of an African Philosophy of Education to Disrupt Inhumanity

Abstract

Despite the advances made in the liberal Western philosophical and educational tradition to counteract unethical, immoral and inhumane acts committed by the human species, these acts of inhumanity persist. It would be inapt to apportion blame only to Western thinking, which has its roots in Greek antiquity, as Plato and Aristotle, for instance, perpetually and justifiably pursued and advocated the human enactment of civility and friendship in their writings. Instead of revisiting liberal views on education and arguing for a reconsidered view of humanity—a possible and plausible contention—this article draws on African philosophical thought on education to disturb some of the doubts in potentially disrupting atrocities committed against the human race, especially on the African continent. By drawing on the philosophical ideas of Agamben, in particular the notions of actuality, potentiality and becoming, it is argued that an instance of African philosophy of education—ubuntu (human interdependence and humanness)—can do much to trouble the escalating levels of inhumanity on the African continent.     

Exploring special need students’ perceptions of remote learning using the multimodal model of online education

Education and Information Technologies - The global pandemic of COVID-19 forced institutions of higher learning to implement emergency remote learning and to change pedagogical approaches to...     

Compassion,Citizenship and Education in South Africa: An Opportunity for Transformation?

This study explores how citizenship education in South Africa is guided by liberal and communitarian concepts of citizenship. Its contention is that citizenship education, as it has evolved through policy discourses on Values, Education and Democracy, is heavily influenced by liberal and communitarian concepts of citizenship. Nonetheless, the liberal-communitarian concept of citizenship education is not sufficient on its own to bring about educational transformation in institutions. Instead, citizenship education initiatives in South Africa need to promote a sense of compassion, motivating learners to take seriously the suffering of others. It is argued that such compassion represents a precondition of genuine educational transformation.