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Controversies in Educational Theory, Policy and Practice
Outline
Aims
This course aims to explore the ethical, epistemological,
political, social and
psychological dimensions, implications and presuppositions
of a broad range
of contemporary professional and practical issues concerning
the nature and
purposes of education, the content of the school curriculum
and the role of
the teacher. The approach to be adopted and followed for the
purpose of
analysing these issues is conceptual or philosophical, and
it is also a
significant goal of this course to show how the ideas of a
range of past and
present philosophers (such as Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Mill,
Marx, Dewey and
Wittgenstein) have shaped modern thinking about education
and continue to
have a real bearing on any coherent understanding of contemporary
educational issues.
Teaching
Each sessionwill involve some formal presentation of the issues
followed by
seminar discussion. While the course tutor will be responsible
for some of
the formal input, course members will also be invited (on
a voluntary basis)
to undertake presentations of particular issues on the basis
of prior
recommended reading or personal research.
Content
The content of the course is by its nature relatively fluid,
depending not just
upon the topicality of the issues, but also upon the personal
interests, the
previous academic experience and/or the professional background
of course
members. The following brief descriptions should therefore
be taken as
indicative of the sorts of questions to be raised rather than
of strict content
to be covered.
1. The nature, purposes and aims of education and schooling:
What is the
meaning of education (and/or has it one or several meanings)
? Is it the
purpose of education to fit individuals to society or personally
develop them,
and - if both - are there tensions between these aims ? Is
there a
distinctoion between education and schooling ?
2. Education and values: To what extent do different views
of education
reflect different perspectives on its value ? Is the purpose
of education to
initiate individuals into received tradition or to encourage
the questioning of
tradtitions ? Is there any theoretically useful distinction
between
educational tradtionalism and progressivism ?
3. Teaching and professionalism: What makes teaching and teachers
good or
effective ? Should teaching be regarded as a profession, a
vocation or as
something else ? If good teachers are reflective practitioners,
upon what
should they reflect, and what is the precise relationship
of educational
theory to professional practice ?
4. Learning, intelligence and ability: Can there be a scientific
theory of
learning and/or teaching ? What forms of learning are educationally
significant ? What are intelligence and ability and do people
vary in
intelligence and ability in educationally significant ways
? Are there
different forms or dimensions of human intelligence and ability
?
5. Reason, understanding and critical thinking: If education
is held to be
significantly concerned with the promotion of knowledge and
understanding,
what senses of knowledge are educationally significant ? Is
it possible to
define any such concept of knowledge. What is meant by critical
thinking and
what is the educational significance of this notion ?
6. Knowledge and the curriculum: What is worth knowing ? How
should we
attempt to justify this or that subject for inclusion in the
school curriculum,
and should subjects always be included for the same reason
? Why are there
different models of curriculum organization (in, say, primary
and secondary
schools) and how are these different models justified ?
7. Moral, values and religious education: How are we to understand
the moral,
normative or evaluative dimensions of education and schooling
? Is moral
education the responsibility of all teachers or only some.
Should moral
education be understood as matter of the development of personal
values or
of encouraging social conformity ? Has religion any place
in education ?
8. Autonomy, liberty and community: Despite the fact that
autonomy is
widely regarded as the principle aim of liberal education,
what is meant by
autonomy and is the liberal notion of self-direction ultimately
coherent ?
Can there be alternative non-liberal conceptions of autonomy
which better
relate personal freedom to cultural identity and social responsibility
?
9. Justice, equality and difference: How are we to understand
social and
educational justice and equality in light of evident human
differences of
intelligence, ability, interests, culture and gender ? What
implications, if
any, have such differences for educational policy, public
or common
educational provision and the constitution and organization
of the school
curriculum. ?
10. Politics and education: Are all decisions about educational
provision
inevitably dependent upon political factors ? What are the
main political
issues and debates with respect to education and schooling.
If education is in
some significant sense politically and publically accountable
what is the
basis of such accountability ? What is tthe relationship,
if any, education to
market economy ?
Suggested Pre-Course Reading
Callan, E. (1997) Creating Citizens: Political Education and
Liberal
Democracy, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Carr, D. (2000) Professionalism and Ethical Issues in Teaching,
London:
Routledge
Carr, D. (2003) Making Sense of Education: An Introduction
to the Philosophy
and Theory of Education and Teaching, London: Routledge
Carr, W. and Hartnett, A. (1996) Education and Democracy,
London: Routledge
Darling, J. (1994) Child-Centred Education and its Critics,
London: Chapman
Feinberg, W. (1998) Common Schools, Uncommon Identities, Yale
University
Press
Hirst, P.H. (1974) Knowledge and the Curriculum, London: Routledge
Passmore, J. (1980) The Philosophy of Teaching, London: Duckworth
Peters, R.S. (1966) Ethics and Education, London, Allen and
Unwin
Pring, R. (1995) Closing the Gap: Liberal Education and Vocational
Education,
London: Hodder and Stoughton
Schon, D.A. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals
Think in Action,
New York: Basic Books
Winch, C. (1998) The Philosophy of Human Learning, London:
Routledge
论文要求
二 论文水平：1外国名牌大学硕士论文
2论文要经答辩及发表
三 论文选题范围：从古代到现代，西方各先哲的教育理念和理论对现代教学的影响
其他要求：1用英文撰写
2观点要求有创新性
3字数4500-6000
4 引用他人观点时，要标明出处，精确到文献名称，作者名，第几页。
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