This chapter contains sections titled: References.

This article theorizes and exemplifies reconceptualized teaching practices, both in early childhood education 1 and in a couple of programs within the new Swedish Teacher Education . 2 These programs are tightly knit to the last 12 years of reconceptualized early childhood education practices in and around Stockholm, built on deconstructive, co‐constructive, and re‐constructive principles, inspired by poststructural and feminist poststructural theories. The aim is foremost to work towards a dissolution and/or transgression of the modernist theory‐practice (...) binary that dominates ECE and teacher education practices, where theory is meant to be applied to practice. Student teachers, as well as pre‐school teachers, use what I have conceptualized as deconstructive talks, as a possibility of making visible the dominant discourses of childhood, identity, learning, play, and gender in the performed and documented teaching practices. In teacher education, students’ narratives are also deconstructed. The aim is to transgress teaching‐as‐usual; i.e. dominant and normative ways of thinking and acting in teaching and learning situations. I will suggest an ethics of ‘resistance’, affirmation and becoming, inspired by Derridean deconstructionist thinking, as a professional attitude and reflexive mode for teachers, teacher students and teacher educators. (shrink)

This paper addresses the unconscious dimension as articulated in Carl Jung's depth psychology and in Gilles Deleuze's philosophy. Jung's theory of the archetypes and Deleuze's pedagogy of the concept are two complementary resources that posit individuation as the goal of human development and self-education in practice. The paper asserts that educational theory should explore the role of the unconscious in learning, especially with regard to adult education in the process of learning from life-experiences. The integration of (...) the unconscious into consciousness becomes a constitutive part of subject-formation and self-knowledge, which in turn serves as a basis for experiential self-education. (shrink)

In this paper I explore the shared interest of John Dewey and Carl Jung in the developmental continuity between biological, psychological, and cultural phenomena. Like other first generation psychological theorists, Dewey and Jung thought that psychology could be used to deepen our understanding of this continuity and thus gain a degree of control over human development. While their pursuit of this goal received little institutional support, there is a growing body of theory and practice derived from the new (...) field of ‘affect science’ as well as clinical and political psychologies, and other recent research into the function of human emotions, that are bringing greater institutional weight to the interest in anticipating and activating our psychocultural development. The epistemological and theoretical work of these seminal thinkers provides the foundation for this new praxis leading to: 1) a theory of ‘political development’ based in transformations of the psychocultural function of ‘reasoning’, ‘sensory’, and ‘affect’ freedom, as sources of culturally valid knowledge, which connects our biological heritage with increasingly advanced forms of individual and organizational identities; and 2) a range of psycho-educational practices that activate the political development of individuals and organizations by transforming the prejudicial dimensions of their current political identities. (shrink)

ABSTRACTIn this paper, I explore new perspectives that an ethics of care approach brings to our understanding of, and responses to, poverty and development. Building on the works of care-ethics scholars such as Virginia Held and Fiona Robinson, I argue that an ethics of care approach provides a unique theory-practice nexus that offers alternative concrete ways to tackle human poverty that lends itself to both local and cross-border applications. In addition to providing crucial insights into women’s struggles in varied (...) contexts, such an approach also uses the lens of care to re-envision human securities and vulnerabilities, thereby deserving of greater attention by scholars, practitioners, and institutions in search of effective ethical models of global development. I provide a case-study of Karma Kutir, a women’s development organization based in the city of Kolkata, India, to shed light on context-specific care-centered development practices aimed at alleviating poverty. I show how such practices are highly effective and provide concrete evidence of the value of an ethics of care approach to poverty and women’s development. (shrink)

In Teaching for Wholeness, Clifford Mayes continues to expand the horizons of Jungian pedagogy, a movement that draws upon the thought of Carl Jung and Jungian scholars to address crucial educational issues and define new ones. Mayes leads readers through an analysis of Freudian and post-Freudian psychology in educational theory and practice, an examination of the epistemological foundations of Jungian thought, and a demonstration of how Jungian psychology can uniquely help teachers reflect deeply upon their roles as educators.

Exploring Practical Knowledge investigates professional practices from a hermeneutic perspective. The book presents, discusses and applies notions such as practical knowledge, practical wisdom, tacit knowledge, and normativity to the professional lifeworld. These contributions focus on both specific practices and more general questions concerning theories and investigations of practice. This volume comes as the result of a cooperation of three research centres: The two Centres for Practical Knowledge in Bodø, Norway and in Södertörn, Sweden, as well as the Research Group Value-Oriented (...) Professionalisation at the University of Applied Sciences in Utrecht, the Netherlands. It offers empirical studies of professionals as well as discussing the underlying theories, approaches and methods of exploring practical knowledge - including the limits to any articulation of these aspects of professional action. In contrast to the objectivist paradigm that otherwise dominates professional studies, each chapter presents central perspectives and possibilities drawing from humanistic and interdiscipkinary research traditions. The book explores professions in a style accessible to scholars and practitioners alike. It is interesting for those studying practices within these professions and for vocational studies in education, social work, health care, police work, journalism, etc. (shrink)

This study formulates a conception of knowledge in interactive practice disciplines such as education and health care and clarifies different types of knowledge in these disciplines. Focus is on the relationship between practical and theoretical knowledge. Four theses are discussed: (1) the role of knowledge in an interactive practice is to guide practice; (2) different types of knowledge in an interactive practice consist of value-knowledge, factual knowledge and procedural knowledge, parts of which are unarticulated, parts articulated; (3) science is (...) a way of articulating and creating knowledge that can be used as internal action determinants in the practice concerned; and (4) theories in an interactive practice can have both a theoretical and a practical purpose but the theoretical purpose is also indirectly linked to the practical. (Author/JD). (shrink)

Cognitive load theory (CLT), a construct of instructional psychologist John Sweller, has long been a mainstay of educational psychology and university educational technology courses, regionally and internationally. Although aspects of this cognitivist theory have been severely criticised, including its insistence on direct instruction in opposition to inquiry-based pedagogies, a comprehensive philosophical, neurobiological, and education critique has been missing. This paper fills the gap, by subjecting the main theoretical and pedagogical claims of CLT to close and searching scrutiny, in part, (...) utilising a newly emerging synthesis of philosophy and cognitive brain science, appropriately known as Cognitive Philosophy. The paper pushes past CLT, with its emphasis on the transient nature of working memory and core notion of cognitive ‘load’, to propose an account of the learning brain that is predictive (not reactive), embodied, neuronally plastic, non-linear, dynamically self-organising, and inherently emotional. This alternative account immediately problematises Sweller’s understanding of working memory and his account of language learning, based on Geary’s questionable epistemological claims, while keeping the practical needs of teachers and teacher educators firmly in view. Armed with this alternative, teachers can move beyond the theoretical and pedagogical constraints of CLT, including trying to mitigate a putative ‘load’ in working memory. (shrink)

"Educating in Ethics for the Professions: A Compendium of Research, Theory, Practice, and an Agenda for the Future" offers a state-of-the-art discussion on the part of applied ("professional") ethics educators who describe the teaching of ethics for their professions and who collectively represent a wide-ranging array of professions. The volume begins with an overview of the topics, contested ideas, and challenges confronting applied ethics educators in any generation, providing a foundation from which the concept of ethics education as an (...) integral formation frames each contributor's historical overview identifying how research, theory, and practice have evolved in each profession to this day. These discussions then turn to the topics, contested ideas, and challenges emerging in contemporary discourse. Each discussion then culminates with suggestions regarding what ethics educators must consider for the future. The volume closes with a synthesis of the commonalities among and differences between the discussions representing diverse professional perspectives, yet framing this history as well as identifying an agenda for teaching applied ethics in the future. (shrink)

This article pursues the question whether and inasmuch theories of corporate responsibility are dependent on conceptions of managerial freedom. I argue that neglect of the idea of freedom in economic theory has led to an inadequate conceptualization of the ethical responsibilities of corporations within management theory. In a critical review of the history of economic ideas, I investigate why and how the idea of freedom was gradually removed from the canon of economics. This reconstruction aims at a deconstruction of certain (...) axioms of neoclassical economics that hamper contemporary efforts in integrating ethics firmly into management education. I intend to show by these deconstructive endeavors that a constructive use of the idea of responsible freedom could correct and complement the current quantitative focus in business theory through qualitative orientations. I argue that with the help of qualitative success criteria, the strategic integration of the tenets of both business ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility into business practice can be advanced by further research. (shrink)

This narrative scoping review examines ethical practice in educational and school psychology from a bioecological systems’ perspective. A search of four databases yielded 34 articles in the final narrative synthesis. Informed by Bronfenbrenner and Morris’ bioecological systems theory, the ethical experiences of educational and school psychologists were analyzed using the concepts of Process, Person, Context and Time. The complexity, intensity and frequency of ethical dilemmas are reviewed in Process. The demand, resource, and force characteristics impacting on psychologists as Person are (...) reviewed. Within Context, studies identified dilemmas that arose for psychologists across systems. In Time, issues including implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on psychologists’ ethical practice with the emergence of Artificial Intelligence are examined. This paper demonstrates the synergies and the interrelated influences on psychologists’ ethical practices arising from a systematic review of their experiences and their professional training needs. (shrink)

In the UK, Art and Design Higher Education currently faces multiple challenges regarding its validity, efficacy and cultural value. These challenges are tractable against a complex historical background of successive governmental agendas aimed at both widening social participation and increasing professionalization/standardization. A specific problematic in this context is the teaching of 'critical', 'theoretical', or 'cultural' studies components on undergraduate degrees especially where written outputs are viewed as separate to visual work. The complexity of equitable and effective instruction is increased (...) by the high proportion of neurodiverse, as opposed to neurotypical, learners engaging with this sector of education. In this paper, the pedagogic potential of re-interpreting the problematics of traditional academic writing for Arts students through a neurodiversity framework will be assessed through case studies of the two primary dynamics evidenced in literature, both of which are at play in the teaching of non-visual concepts to art and design students. Adopting a neurodiverse framework, so I will argue, undermines the most pernicious aspects of neoliberal management routed through competitive differences, and empowers students to access truly emancipatory forms of learning. (shrink)

How can we deal with the diversity of theories in mathematics education? This was the main question that led the authors of this book to found the Networking Theories Group. Starting from the shared assumption that the existence of different theories is a resource for mathematics education research, the authors have explored the possibilities of interactions between theories, such as contrasting, coordinating, and locally integrating them. The book explains and illustrates what it means to network theories; it presents (...) networking as a challenging but fruitful research practice and shows how the Group dealt with this challenge considering five theoretical approaches, namely the approach of Action, Production, and Communication (APC), the Theory of Didactical Situations (TDS), the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic (ATD), the approach of Abstraction in Context (AiC), and the Theory of Interest-Dense Situations (IDS). A synthetic presentation of each theory and their connections shows how the activity of networking generates questions at the theoretical, methodological and practical levels and how the work on these questions leads to both theoretical and practical progress. The core of the book consists of four new networking case studies which illustrate what exactly can be gained by this approach and what kind of difficulties might arise. (shrink)

_Jung and Educational Theory_ offers a new take on Jung’s work, providing original, rich and informative material on his impact on educational research. Explores Jung’s writing from the standpoint of educational philosophy, assessing what it has to offer to theories of education Highlights Jung’s emphasis on education’s role in bringing up integrated and ethical human beings Offers the perspectives of a diversity of academics and practitioners, on topics ranging from the role of the unconscious in (...) learning to the polytheistic classroom Both a valuable addition to the academic library and a significant new resource in the professional development of teachers. (shrink)

The emergence of the genetic counseling profession has allowed laypeople to understand and benefit from biological advances, and to make critical decisions about their application. The discipline of genetic counseling has been criticized from its very beginning, in particular because of its early association with the eugenics movement. This paper presents a critical and reflective overview of how genetic counseling is implicitly embedded in the history of eugenics but also counteracts past eugenic practices and ideas. After World War II, attempts (...) were made to distance genetic counseling from eugenics. The first definition of genetic counseling did not position this field as a medical encounter but "as a kind of genetic social work aimed primarily to provide people with an understanding of their family's genetics problems." This approach was a reaction to the genetic and social evolutionary ideas that informed eugenic theories during the first half of the 20th century. Professionals engaged in genetic counseling during the 1940s and1950s rejected eugenic practices, but there was still support for eugenics’ goals of improving heredity and eliminating disease. From the 1960s, genetic counseling underwent professionalization alongside feminization and a definition of core values. Among these values were nondirectiveness counseling and the autonomy of the counselee. The dark shadow of Nazi ideology and other eugenic practices, attempts to employ the historical responsibility of geneticists, and the dynamic medical, social, political, and educational changes of the 1960s and 1970s helped to frame approaches and delineate the goals and limits of the new profession of “genetic counseling.”. (shrink)

This edited collection focuses on the contextual presence of theory, the practices of doing theory, and refractions on and agendas for theory respectively. The contributors to the first volume from around the world reflect a range of perspectives and positions in the debate about the purpose and value of educational theory.

In light of the structural dangers of revolutionary change highlighted in the political theory of Giorgio Agamben, this book joins a lively debate in philosophy of education on weak utopianism as an approach that foregrounds and respects the educational potentiality of teachers and students. Utopian moves in education call for revolutionary changes in pedagogical practice in pursuit of a particular vision of the good. Whether grounded in emancipatory politics, technological enthusiasm, or another social movement, utopian moves are seductive (...) in their promise of a better alternative. Weak Utopianism in Education draws together philosophy of education, political theory, scholarship of teaching and learning research, and utopian thought to advocate for a modest and humble approach to change. The theoretical foundation of weak utopianism opens space for educator's personal convictions and teaching philosophies to tinker with their own pedagogical practices. The book creates a common conceptual meeting ground for philosophers and practitioners in education. (shrink)

Spiritual pedagogy (SP) as a new educational theory aims to apply cultural and spiritual values in classroom practices. It has been the focus of research in different fields such as counselling, management, and science in the past decades. However, its application in second/foreign language research and practice has been widely overlooked by L2 researchers, to date. To fill this gap, the present study made an effort to provide a theoretical analysis of the conceptualizations, scientific background, benefits, and practical techniques (...) to implement SP in the context of L2 education. In so doing, this paper suggests a number of practices through which SP can be integrated into L2 education among which positive psychology (PP) was more highlighted. Additionally, some practical implications were provided for EFL teachers, teacher trainers, students, curriculum designers, and researchers to enhance their knowledge of spirituality and education. In the end, different suggestions for future research were presented to move this research domain forward. (shrink)

BackgroundAlthough the Covid-19 epidemic challenged existing medical care norms and practices, it was no excuse for unlawful conduct. On the contrary, legal compliance proved essential in fighting the pandemic. Within the European legal framework for the pandemic, patients were still entitled to be treated equally, by a specialized physician, with the possibility of seeking a second medical opinion, in a confidential setting, following prior and informed consent. This study examines physicians’ practices regarding patients’ rights during the Covid-19 pandemic and the (...) effects of age, experience, and specialty on physicians’ behavior and preferences. Additionally, it explores the nexus of malpractice complaints, malpractice fear, and legal compliance.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on a convenience sample of attending physicians and general practitioners to assess compliance with patients’ rights regulations. Respondents were physicians practicing in private and public settings in Southwestern Romania from July 2021 to May 2022.Results396 attending physicians and 109 general practitioners participated in the research. Attending physicians acknowledged patients’ rights in 55.7% of statements, while general practitioners showed a slightly higher level of compliance at 59.9%. Emergency and Anesthesia and Intensive Care physicians showed the lowest compliance. There were no significant behavioral differences based on physicians’ age, years in practice, work sector, or location. However, when faced with the question of prioritizing treatment for patients with similar medical conditions, 46.2% of attending physicians reported favoring the younger patients. This preference was common among physicians under 39. Additionally, over half of the attending physicians reported working outside their area of expertise due to staff shortages. Malpractice fear was high among physicians, although unrelated to patients’ claims, legal compliance, or working outside the scope of practice. It resulted in pressure and behavioral changes.ConclusionAdherence to patients’ rights was low during the Covid-19 pandemic. Physicians could benefit from educational and administrative support to ensure better legal compliance. Further research is needed to determine if this behavior persists beyond the pandemic context. (shrink)

Along with technological progress, vocational education and training (VET) is consistently changing. Workforce disruption has serious consequences for workers and international economies, often requiring adults to transition into different occupations or to upskill to maintain employment. We review recent literature covering VET trends, theoretical considerations for the 21st century, and present an approach to workforce training to help workers not only learn necessary skills but also become adaptable to constant change. We suggest a functional contextualist approach to mastery learning (...) achieves this aim. Specifically, we offer suggestions for pedagogy that not only develop skills but also encourage higher order thinking. Within a novice to expert continuum, we suggest deliberate practice, mental simulation, and reflective meaning making as methods to achieve efficiency and transfer—learning outcomes relevant to a changing workforce. This approach recognizes that learning is context bound and should promote broader human capabilities that support both employability and the continuing development of life literacies. (shrink)

There are many possible ways to approach the topic of educational theory and critique. One could inquire into the meaning of critical phenomena and subject-matter in practical education and instruction, investigate the various forms of critique with the goal of determining the extent to which they assist in clarifying pedagogical action, or one could ask: ‘What is meant by critical educational research?’ and ‘How do the various approaches to this topic relate to one another?’. This article inquires into the (...) relationship between critique and negativity. Such a distinction is relevant for the practical, theoretical and research-oriented use of the various forms and subject matters of critique. This analysis of their relationship aims to clarify how the structure of human learning connects to that of pedagogical action; and, additionally, how the theoretical guidelines and orientation for pedagogical action relate to scientific analyses and research in education in a way that is productive. Distinctions made in thought, judgement and action are not simply delimiting positive characteristics. Such distinctions are at once mediated by the relations of knowledge and ignorance, ability and inability. Although ignorance and inability can be transformed into positive knowledge and ability, they are not superseded in the process. Ignorance and inability are, on the contrary, constitutive elements of learning. The possibility for transitions from ignorance and inability to knowledge and ability—a possibility that itself presupposes knowledge and ability—point to a form of negativity within the process of education (Bildung). This form of negativity relates to the human ability to learn (Bildsamkeit) and provides the definitive basis of human learning. A form of negativity constitutive of learning processes leads to one that grounds pedagogical processes. Pedagogical efficacy is mediated by a double negativity, comprised of both a universal and a particular form of negativity. The relation of negativity to learning and pedagogical efficacy, with specific reference to educational research studies on teaching and learning processes, is considered. A form of educational research that operates beyond fundamentalist criticisms—that is to say, criticisms based on unshakeable beliefs—and utilises issues arising from a pluralisation of critique to confront the pluralism of critical positions, is considered. The article closes with reflections on the relation between the Critical and the Uncritical. (shrink)

In 2012, the international PISA survey reinforced the observation that the French educational system is one of the most unequal among OECD countries. The observation of serious inequalities in access to educational success for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds could lead to a pessimistic vision suggesting that any possibility of transformation of the system is doomed to failure. Thus, the fight against inequalities in access to educational success is a form of runaway object which constitutes a challenge for research which treats (...) the social context as evolving and susceptible to significant and novel transformations. Developmental work research aims to support the work of professionals in the re-elaboration of their practices by seeking to go beyond the status quo of an unequal school. Drawing on this framework within an institutional network of schools, we seek to show how the intervention has highlighted power issues inscribed in the structures and how the actors, through their commitment in the research collaborative process, seek to go beyond the power issues inscribed in their work routines and enacted during the research process by different kinds of antagonism. We will argue that the fight against educational inequality involves overcoming systemic power relations crystallized in institution. This systemic power is expressed by a form of episodic power. Our results show restrictive and constructive effect on the expansive learning process and on the construction of a collective in the formative interventions. The restrictive side of epistemic power should be linked to systemic power which is historically inherited. We discuss the results in the light of the emergence of a fourth generation of activity theory. Our research makes it possible to make conceptual and methodological progress in the construction of a fourth generation of activity theory by showing the need for analysis and expansively learn about problematic power relations in heterogeneous collectives. (shrink)

In this article, Hans Schildermans suggests practices of study as a way for universities to respond to socio-ecological questions, issues, and problems related to the Anthropocene. He elaborates the concept of study practices by drawing on traditional pragmatic notions, such as problematic situation and problematization, as these are articulated in John Dewey's theory of inquiry. Prompted by concerns about the closed problem–solution nexus, as well as questions concerning the (egological) worldview underlying this theory, Schildermans aims to reread these ideas (...) through the lens of contemporary authors such as Isabelle Stengers. In doing so, he articulates the educational dynamics of practices of study that address problematic situations, with specific attention to matters of educational futurity. In other words, centrally important to this analysis is the question of how these practices of study participate in a world in-the-making by activating possible futures — or, to formulate it somewhat differently, how practices of study give shape to a pragmatics of a world to-be-made. (shrink)

Training in psychoanalysis is a long and demanding process. However, the quality of education available is hugely variable across the world. The structure of psychoanalytic education, centered on the hierarchical "training analysis" system, reflected a concerted effort to maintain a stable and high quality educational process. However, throughout time this system has become a major source of institutional contradictions that affect_ _the training of candidates, the scientific developments within psychoanalysis, and the nexus of psychoanalytic theory and practice (...) with the surrounding scientific, social and cultural world. _Psychoanalytic Education at the Crossroads_ examines the ways in which group processes, the hierarchal culture in institutes, the influence of individual personalities, the lack of research and the faults in supervision can all stifle creativity and hinder candidates’ progress. In this compelling work, _Otto Kernberg_ sets out clear suggestions for how these issues can be addressed, and how he sees the future of psychoanalytic education across all psychoanalytic settings and schools of thought. The first part of this volume is focused primarily on the analysis of the nature of these problems and their effects on the personal analysis and supervision of candidates; on theoretical and clinical seminars; on selection, progression, and graduation; on educational principles and requirements, developments of theory and technique and, in particular, limitation versus expansion of the realm of interests and applications of psychoanalysis. The second part of this volume deals with proposals of solutions to the problems encountered, and major suggestions for innovation in psychoanalytic education. The author’s work in this area has been hugely influential. Kernberg has made a substantive difference in the development of psychoanalytic institutes and education, and continues to do so. _Psychoanalytic Education at the Crossroads_ will be essential reading to anyone involved in psychoanalytic education, whether as a psychoanalyst, psychoanalytic psychotherapist, trainee, trainer, or supervisor. (shrink)

Doing Educational Administration is the final part in a three volume series by Evers and Lakomski presenting their perspective on educational administration. The first volume, Knowing Educational Administration , established the importance of epistemological issues in the international field of educational administration and suggested a new, post-positivist approach to research. The theoretical approach presented in the first volume was further examined in Exploring Educational Administration, where the authors' theories were considered in an applied context. In this, the third and final (...) volume, the authors conclude their presentation of their post-positivist theory by demonstrating how their account of knowledge and cognition shapes the content and structure of administrative practice. Built around a set of basic issues in the practice of educational administration where the role of condition is of primary importance, Evers and Lakomski produce a comprehensive and persuasive applied theory of administrative practice. (shrink)

After coining the term “philopsychy” to describe a “soul-loving” approach to philosophical practice, especially when it welcomes a creative synthesis of philosophy and psychology, this article identifies a system of geometrical figures (or “maps”) that can be used to stimulate reflection on various types of perspectival differences. The maps are part of the author’s previously established mapping methodology, known as the Geometry of Logic. As an illustration of how philosophy can influence the development of psychology, Immanuel Kant’s table of twelve (...) categories and Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types are shown to share a common logical structure. Just as Kant proposes four basic categories, each expressed in terms of three subordinate categories, Jung proposes four basic personality functions, each having three possible manifestations. The concluding section presents four scenarios illustrating how such maps can be used in philosophical counseling sessions to stimulate philopsychic insight. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Isocrates and Civic EducationRobert G. SullivanIsocrates and Civic Education. Edited by Takis Poulakis and David Depew. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2004. Pp. x + 277. $50.00, hardcover.Henry Burrowes Lathrop, in his magisterial Translations from the Classics into English from Caxton to Chapman, adopted a distinctly apologetic tone for having included in that book a lengthy gloss of Isocrates' writings. He felt constrained to do so, noting, (...) "This fairly long exposition has been necessary, since Isocrates is little read nowadays." Well, of course, "nowadays" Isocrates is read a great deal, and he is generally considered to be one of the more important figures in the classical rhetorical tradition. There are a variety of reasons for the revival of Isocrates' fortunes; he has always been accepted as an exemplar of style, and has exerted strong influences in a number of historical eras, but he is seen increasingly as an original and significant rhetorical theorist. However, the strongest attraction to scholars of our era is the connection by Isocrates of two concepts, rhetorical discourse and civic education, in what he called hê tôn logôn padieia. At the nexus of these ideas is not merely a historically interesting aspect of classical rhetorical theory but an important link between rhetorical theory and political practice, of heightened importance to a democratic culture.The volume under consideration gathers some of the best informed contemporary scholars to address this confluence. The ten essays include work by classicists, philosophers, and rhetoricians, all of whom are working in an explicitly interdisciplinary posture. The volume is divided into five thematic sections, with two essays contributed on each of the themes, each pair addressing different aspects of Isocrates' notion of civic education.The first section addresses the shape and purpose of the Isocratean program of civic education. The central question addressed by these essays is fundamental. If we grant the generality that Isocrates has a program of civic education, what are the particular goals of his pedagogy? Simply put, what civic virtues can one expect to acquire from an education in the Isocratean system? For Josiah Ober the route to the answering of this question is a careful and extraordinarily interesting reading of Isocrates great apologia, Antidosis. Ober sees Isocrates attempting to develop in his students a "complex and integral identity" (39) that will allow them to remain both true to themselves and useful to the city, a careful blending of soul-craft and state-craft. Takis Poulakos focuses on the epistemological foundation of Isocratean practice by making a careful account of Isocrates' use of the term doxa. Poulakos does an excellent [End Page 174] job of cutting through the thicket of Isocratean nuance and correctly identifies the theoretically charged notion of doxa as being both the process and product of informed conjecture.The next six essays are, in essence, comparative, laying Isocratean concepts of civic virtue and pedagogy against those of the sophists, Aristotle, and Plato. John Poulakos deftly separates Isocrates' purposes and pedagaogy from the sophists Protagoras and Gorgias. Particularly striking is the distinction Poulakos draws between how Isocrates and the sophists conceived of the power of language. The sophists, having a "dynastic" conception of language, imagine that mastering rhetoric gives one direct access to tyranical power over the individual psyche. Isocrates, less sure of (or perhaps ethically nervous about) language's capacity for political witchcraft, adapts a "hegemonic" notion of logos as acivilizing force, a means of leadership toward good ends. Ekaterina Haskins contrasts the "playful iconoclasm" of Gorgias with the "political responsibility" of Isocrates (85) in the varying ways they make use of the mythopoetic tradition. Davis Konstans contributes an extremely interesting examination of important matters upon which Isocrates and Plato find themselves in agreement, notably the deficiencies of Athenian democracy and the preferred role of the intellectual in society. Konstans' position is very stimulating, if at first glance counterintuitive, as the greater part of modern scholarship has aimed to force these two figures into opposing camps. Kathryn Morgan also begins her essay by focusing on those things Plato and Isocrates agreed upon, noting that both were deeply dissatisfied with conventional civic education in Athens. From this, Morgan turns to... (shrink)

Closing the research‐practice gap cannot be achieved by one of the most promising methods, which is to distill and synthesize decades of research to see how the robust findings can work in practice. An alternative approach is proposed, which is to translate a theory of active learning for practitioners.

ABSTRACTIt was only in the early twentieth century that China discovered that it had a population, at least if a population is understood not as a simple number of people but instead in terms of such features as variable levels of health, birth and death rates, age, sex, dependency ratios, and so on—as an object with a distinct rationality and intrinsic dynamics that can be made the target of a specific kind of direct intervention. In 1900, such a developmentalist conception (...) of the population simply did not exist in China; by the 1930s, it pervaded the entire social and political field from top to bottom. Through a reading of a series of foundational texts in population and family reformism in China, this paper argues that this birth of the Chinese population occurred as a result of a general transformation of practices of governing, one that necessarily also involved a reconceptualization of the family and a new logic of overall social rationalization; in short, the isolation of a population–family–economy nexus as a central field of modern governing. This process is captured by elaborating and extending Foucault's studies of the historical emergence of apparatuses into a notion of fields of governability. Finally, this paper argues that the one‐child policy, launched in the late 1970s, should be understood not in isolation from the imposition of the “family‐responsibility system” in agriculture and market reforms in exactly that period, but as part—mutatis mutandis—of a return to a form of governing that was developed in the first half of the twentieth century. (shrink)

In recent years there has been a notable increase in the use of phenomenology as a research method, particularly in educational research. With the rise of phenomenology as a research method, confusion has also arisen concerning what counts as phenomenology, and how best to practice phenomenological research in non-philosophical contexts. Consequently, this article will be concerned with three issues: firstly, to contextualise the debate, I provide a brief overview of three popular and influential approaches to phenomenology as a research method: (...) (1) Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological method; (2) van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenology; and, (3) Smith’s interpretative phenomenological analysis; secondly, for the sake of conceptual clarity, I then turn my attention to a critical discussion of these approaches and argue that these approaches tend to converge phenomenology into either a descriptive or interpretative focus that essentially transforms phenomenology into a kind of solipsist subjectivism; and, lastly, to progress the debate forward, I argue that it makes sense to look beyond the qualitative or educational research literature to successful applications of phenomenology in non-philosophical contexts because there are plenty of relevant resources that can offer significant theoretical and methodological support to researchers. (shrink)

Since the inception of the Pastoral Care Movement, the approach to pastoral care has evolved from the traditional shepherd model to a more clinical, client-centred method. This evolution requires a thorough analysis of recent trends and dynamics in pastoral care, especially in relation to key theological theories and the Church’s role in providing support. Today, the landscape of pastoral care covers a range of topics, including ecotheology, global existential crises and the Church’s involvement in addressing these issues. Additionally, this examination (...) reveals conclusions about theological shortcomings and inconsistencies in emphasis within pastoral care.Contribution: This article provides a critical overview of pastoral care in its current form and context, examining its relevance to the existential needs of the postmodern social milieu and its role in the church today. It offers a critical evaluation of pastoral care within contemporary culture. (shrink)

This title introduces the major schools of social theory, their basic concepts, and their general applicability to educational issues.

This article provides a material enactment of educational theory to explore how we might do educational theory differently by defamiliarising the familiar. Theory is often assumed to be abstract, located solely in the realm of ideas and separate from practice. However, this view of theory emerges from a set of ontological and epistemological assumptions of separating meaning from matter that are taken to be foundational, when this need not be the case. Drawing upon what variously might be termed materialist, performative (...) or post‐human positions, the article suggests that it is possible to re‐enact theory as a matter‐ing practice—of matter and meaning. The assumption of a separation that divides theory from practice is challenged in this article, which suggests that theory matters by being entangled with the material and that a separation of matter from meaning is an effect. This approach enacts things as matters of concern by contrast with the representation of objects as matters of fact. In this way, educational theory becomes a form of responsible experimentation rather than simply a representation of others. Some implications for education are outlined. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Diacritics 31.3 (2001) 30-56 [Access article in PDF] The Priceless IntervalTheory in the Global Interstice Reingard Nethersole In a poignant scene in Goethe's Faust [1.2038-39] an eager student seeking what we would call curriculum advice today asks what subjects he should study. Counseled by Mephisto in the guise of the master, Faust, the student is admonished to read for anything but theory because: "Grey, my friend, is all theory, (...) / Green alone is life's golden tree." Uttered from within the epitome of an ivory tower image, a vaulted "gothic study," the advice gains rhetorical strength from alliterative, juxtaposed color metaphors which celebrate an organicist, holistic vision of life. Given current attitudes toward literary theory, many enthusiastic freshmen will receive similar guidance. Theoretical deliberation and mediation in the academy were not always popular, to be sure, but the resistance to theory was never as acute as it is now, when the very institutional space inhabited by thought is being curtailed largely because of financial considerations. Thus drawn into cost-benefit calculations that figure the student (in South Africa) as "client," the professor as "cost factor," and education as branded product, the University sees itself compelled, under the hegemony of the economic, to side with praxis in place of theory. "Doing" rather than thinking, action rather than reflection might have seemingly won the day, yet the controversy surrounding the relation between theory and literature on the one hand and theory and praxis on the other persists both inside and outside the academy.At the heart of a modern organization of knowledge, the dichotomy of theory and praxis is inscribed in Kant's Conflict of the Faculties. It will be remembered that Kant divided the domains of philosophy, theology, law, and medicine that constituted the University of his day into the "lower faculty," philosophy (lower from the point of view of government), and the "higher" faculties of theology, law, and medicine (higher because they are closer to government power). However, by granting philosophy (reason) implicit guardianship over the "higher faculties," lest these would revert to magical practices, Kant's Enlightenment philosophy placed a wedge between theory and praxis, a wedge that not only recast an ancient (Western) fissure between contemplation and action, a conscious I think and an active I do, but also opened a space for a troubled relationship between philosophy and the other faculties and between the faculties and state power—or as is the case today—economic power.Kant's university, of course, did not know the "humanities" of which history and literature were to become an integral part along with philosophy in the early nineteenth century, but by ranking reason below the utilitarian subjects or "faculties" while, at the same time, recognizing philosophy's preeminence as their imperative, Kant's positioning of thought/theory in relation to praxis 1 set up a tension between thinking and doing [End Page 30] that reverberates, for instance, in literary studies' perennial conflictual pairing between a "green" intuitive, untrammeled appreciation of literary texts and a "grey" theory. Moreover, supported by a particular modern, Western socioreligious structure (Protestantism) that values (bourgeois) industriousness or labor more than (aristocratic) leisure, the legacy of the "conflict of the faculties" implicates the connection between the university as institution of knowledge production in relation to the various domains of knowledge application and/or consumption.Concerned about the multiple changes that involve our being and acting in the world before an ever-expanding planetary horizon, which in turn profoundly alters the educational objective of institutions of higher learning in general and menaces such sites of thought as literary theory in particular, I shall, in the following, sketch the interval, a topos borrowed from musicological discourse, as a place for theory under global conditions. In addition I shall attempt to conjoin the disparate sides/sites of criticism and theory by cross-stitching Bill Readings's thoughts on the transformation of the university, descriptions of university "reform" currently under way in South Africa, and Goethe's text in order to illustrate the kind of subject/self produced by education or Bildung in contrast... (shrink)

This volume presents the history of Western education through the biographies of some 70 individuals, past and present, who exemplify the education of their times or have made important contributions to the development of educational theory or practice. In so doing, it links major issues and ideas in education to key historical personalities. Each chapter includes substantive background information, a summary, and chapter notes.

This exciting volume brings together leading figures across existential psychology in a clear-sighted guide to its current practice and therapeutic possibilities. Its accessible yet scholarly presentation dispels common myths about existential psychotherapy while demonstrating core methods and innovative techniques as compatible with the range of clinicians' theoretical orientations and practical approaches. Chapters review the evidence for its therapeutic value, and provide updates on education, training, and research efforts in the field, both in the US and abroad. Throughout, existential psychotherapy (...) emerges as a vital, flexible, and empirically sound modality in keeping with the current-and future-promotion of psychological well-being. Highlights of the coverage include: Emotion, relationship, and meaning as core existential practice: evidence-based foundations. · Meaning-centered psychotherapy: a Socratic clinical practice. Experience processing as an aspect of existential psychotherapy: life enhancement methodology. Structural Existential Analysis (SEA): a phenomenological method for therapeutic work. Experiencing change: an existential perspective. Creating the World Congress for existential therapy. Clarifying and Furthering Existential Psychotherapy will spark discussion and debate among students, therapists, researchers, and practitioners in existential psychology, existential psychotherapy, and allied fields as well as the interested public. It makes a suitable text for graduate courses in existential therapy, psychological theories, and related subjects. (shrink)

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophies and Theories of Early Childhood Education and Carebrings together leading writers in the field to provide a much-needed, authoritative guide to the major philosophies and theories which have shaped approaches to Early Childhood Education and Care. Providing a detailed overview of key concepts, debates and practical challenges, the handbook combines theoretical acumen with specific examples to show how philosophies and theories have evolved over the centuries and their impact on policy and society. It (...) examines the ways in which societies define and make sense of childhood and the factors that influence the development of philosophies about young children and their learning. The collection offers an insight into the key theorists and considers how the economics and politics of their time and personal ideology influenced their ideas about childhood. It looks at curricula and provision which have proved inspirational and how these have impacted on policy and practice in different parts of the world. The handbook also explores alternative and perhaps less familiar philosophies and ideas about babies and young children, their place in society and the ways in which it might be appropriate to educate them Bringing together specially commissioned pieces by a range of international authors, this handbook will enable academics, research students, practitioners and policy-makers to reflect on their own understandings and approaches, as well as the assumptions made in their own and other societies. (shrink)

This paper focuses on a topical issue - the idea of ‘justice in education’ – developed by Krassimir Stojanov, among other recent educational justice theorists. Justice in education has to ask ‘educational questions about education’, which means that educational justice theory should be capable of dealing with educational practices, and constellations that are asymmetrical interaction orders. This requires, from the perspective of a child, criteria to distinguish between justified and unjustified educative demands towards responsibility and autonomy. This (...) paper analyses forms of recognition as a legitimate summons that enables the individual’s autonomy. It also analyses the illegitimate demands that emerge from Stojanov’s innovative idea to combine the forms of misrecognition with the concepts of epistemic injustice. The second chapter of this paper introduces the challenges related to the recognitive justice as justice in education. The examination of Dietrich Benner’s recent critique of recognition theory illuminates these challenges in two ways: first, it is shown that there can be something negatively experienced, but the result of productive disruptions that the educator need to produce, which are out of the scope of recognition theory. Second, the recognitive justice paradigm ignores elementary pedagogical conditions and requirements, ‘the pedagogical knowledge’ and its methods, and is therefore unable to fully grasp the legitimate educational authority. This paper concludes with a synthesis that finds the crucial elements from the recognition theory to justice in education and critically assessing Benner’s claims. Overall, the paper offers potential for further development in justice in education. (shrink)

The question of capacity building in education has predominantly been approached with regard to the methods and methodologies of educational research. Far less attention has been given to capacity building in relation to theory. In many ways the latter is as pressing an issue as the former, given that good research depends on a combination of high quality techniques and high quality theorising. The ability to capitalise on capacity building in relation to methods and methodologies may therefore well be (...) restricted by a lack of attention to theory. In this paper we make a case for capacity building with regard to theory, explore the different roles of theory in educational research, and provide an outline of an agenda for capacity building with regard to theory. (shrink)

Theories of Early Childhood Education provides a comprehensive introduction to the various theoretical perspectives influential in early childhood education, from developmental psychology to critical studies, Piaget to Freire. Expert chapter authors examine assumptions underpinning the use of theory in the early years and concisely explore the implications of these questions for policy and practice. Every chapter includes applications to practice that will assist students and professionals in seeing the relevance of the theoretical perspective for their teaching.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Hugh Bredin I. A. RICHARDS AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRACTICAL CRITICISM IN much of the English-speaking world, an essential component of literary studies is the exercise known as "practical criticism." The name, and to some extent the practice, originated in a book by I. A. Richards, Practical Criticism, 1 in which he described an experiment conducted by him at Cambridge and elsewhere. In the experiment, undergraduate students of English (...) were given a number of unfamiliar poems, whose authorship was not revealed, and were asked to read and to submit written comments upon them. The result, in the words of one account, "was horrifying. Magazine poetasters were extravagandy praised, Donne, Hopkins, and Christina Rossetti firmly damned; every felicity was ridiculed, and every absurdity praised, by large minorities and even majorities."2 Richards himself did not respond to his discoveries in quite such a marked fashion as this, but he did betray the concern of someone in whom a longheld fear had been confirmed. He suggested that members of the Royal Society of Literature would have fared no better, and argued in general that an ability to read successfully — that is, with correct understanding and appropriate sensuous and emotive response — was rare and intermittent in even the most highly educated products of our schools and universities. He discerned a worsening of language performance compared with a few generations earlier, and advocated, as a corrective measure, widespread study of the theory of interpretation, and widespread training in the techniques thereof. This project he initiated himself in a subsequent work, Interpretation in Teaching.3 Richards's recommendations have not been adopted in general education practice, but they have been extremely influential in the pedagogy of literature; and it is generally said about other writers, such as Leavis, 26 Hugh Bredin27 Empson, and Brooks, that they have reinforced this influence. Practical criticism, as a teaching device, means the close and attentive reading of literary texts, usually poetry, usually by a small group, under the guidance of a tutor. As an examination method, it means the kind of test originally undergone by Richards's undergraduates. The end result ofthe practice — a result which, presumably, may or may not occur in the examination hall — is alleged to be "an opening up of the poem for what it can really be for us: a unique and fascinating experience, carefully wrought by its maker, and fully available only to those with the patience, as well as the sensibility, to recreate."* Practical Criticism is a most interesting work. The variety and divergence of views on the poems used for the experiment reveal unexpected and musty corners of the human spirit. Richards's diagnosis of the factors which may lead to errors in judgment and understanding is acute. His proposals for remedial action win our approval. What is puzzling, however, is that the result of the experiment should be a cause of surprise or dismay to anyone. What other result could there have been? Richards himselfremarked that "the precise conditions ofthis test are not duplicated in our everyday commerce with literature," and upon "the difficulty of judging verse without a hint as to its provenance."5 Yet he makes no concession to the fact that these conditions, with their attendant difficulty, must bear primary responsibility for the failings displayed by his students. His conviction was that the conditions helped to reveal defects in reading, and not, as seems more likely, that they helped to produce them. Any written text requires a context if it is to be fully understood. This is of course true of spoken language as well; and the extra complexity of poetry makes it especially susceptible to misinterpretation and misjudgment if taken in isolation. The first thing that any competent teacher will do with a poem is to provide a context — a period, a chronology, a social, political, religious, and intellectual background, a body of similar and contrasting works, works by the same and by related authors, linguistic and stylistic conventions, the relevant conceptions ofart and literature and their role in the world — all of this, and more. He will take it for granted that, as the student grows more deeply familiar with context, a context which... (shrink)

How might a theory of communicative rationality be applied to policymaking to secure the morally justifiable administration of public education? In answer, Darron Kelly uses conceptual resources found in Habermasian practical discourse to outline development of a survey instrument. The survey is designed to measure constituent satisfaction with actual conditions of educational policymaking. To do this, the survey operationalizes and quantifies the epistemic conditions of inclusion, participation, truthfulness, and noncoercion. Once captured, analysis of these conditions in actual cases of (...) policymaking further provides for assessment of the degree of communicative agency and rational trust experienced by educational constituents. The instrument, as such, offers a standard gauge of the higher-level intersubjectivity of institutional communication in education — a necessary measure for constructing morally justifiable policies. (shrink)

In this paper, key concepts from the philosophy of critical realism and meta-Reality are used to develop an art education research project that can enhance the freedom of art students in their art work and, potentially, contribute to the promotion of emancipation beyond the world of art work. In the process of developing this project, the author engages in a two-way interrogation of both concepts and empirical research. The stratified model of reality, the ontological status of absence and the (...) concepts of transcendental identification, transcendental agency and the ground-state have informed decisions about data collection and contributed to the analysis of data in this study. The research results offer some empirical support for the philosophy of critical realism and meta-Reality, whilst also identifying potential inconsistencies. A further original feature of the paper is that it draws on the flow theory of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to complement Roy Bhaskar's account of the ground-state and of the nature of free-flowing activity; also using neuroscience to provide some neurological evidence for the differences between mindful and spontaneous activity. It is anticipated that the cross-analysis between cases resulting from the two-way interchange between theory and empirical evidence could help to generate a model for ‘unblocking the creative block’, experienced not only by students practising art-making, but also by the wider community. (shrink)