MPRE213
Philosophical Conversations in Education

ECTS Value: 3 ECTS

Contact Hours: 15

Self Study Hours: 36

Assessment Hours: 24

 

Overall Objectives and Outcomes

This module introduces course participants to educational questions about the nature and purpose of education. Course participants will become acquainted with central thinkers and texts in the history of philosophy and shown the impact these ideas have had in the shaping of the Western understanding of education. Moreover, course participants will be expected to engage with contrasting views on central themes in education such as freedom and truth which will bring to the fore the political nature of the curriculum and the way these determine pedagogical practice in the classroom and future individual and social identities. 

Course participants will also be expected to use these insights to problematise their own understanding of education and the role of the educator. Through this latter aim, course participants will be rendered cognisant of the centrality of a critical engagement with educational discourse in the development of a professional teacher identity.

By the end of this module, the learner will be able to:

Competences

  • a)Formulate nuanced responses to contemporary educational issues , integrating philosophical, ethical, and socio-political perspectives;
  • b)Interrogate and deconstruct the legitimacy and ideological foundation of educational curricula, identifying their implications for equity and democratic learnings;
  • c)Synthesize and operationalise philosophical theories to transform classroom practice, promoting agency and ownership in pedagogical decision-making;
  • d)Critically analyse educational policy and discursive practices that shape teaching realities, exercising reflective autonomy in reinterpreting and reforming classroom praxis.

Knowledge

  • a)Critically evaluate major theories and philosophy traditions underpinning education;
  • b)Contextualise the evolving nature of teaching identity within ongoing philosophical, ethical, and social negotiations of the educator’s role;
  • c)Analyse central issues in education through a critical and theoretically informed lens.

Skills

  • a)Interpret the political and ideological dimensions underpinnings educational policy and reform;
  • b)Compare and evaluate philosophical responses to foundational educational questions, identifying their implications for contemporary practicee;
  • c)Examine and synthesise key themes and arguments of major theorists in philosophy of education;
  • d)Analyse and reflect critically on the impact schooling and education shape and maintain the development of individual and collective identities;
  • e)Investigate and evaluate how discursive practices in education construct and influence the teacher’s professional identities and agency;
  • f)Contrast and appraise the philosophical foundations of diverse pedagogical practices, articulating their relevance to evolving educational contexts.

Assessment Methods

This module will be assessed through: Assignment

Suggested Readings

Core Reading List

  1. Dewey, J. (2001). Democracy and education. Penn State University Press.
  2. (1991). Republic (2nd ed.) A. Bloom, Trans.). Basic Books.
  3. Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. Pantheon Books.
  4. Freire, P. (2018). Pedagogy of the oppressed (50th anniversary ed.). Bloomsbury Academic.
  5. Noddings, N. (2018). Philosophy of education (4th ed.). Routledge.
  1. Rousseau, J.J. (1979). Émile: Or on education (A. Bloom, Trans.). Basic Book.

Supplementary Reading List

  1. Allen, A. (2008). The politics of our selves: Power, autonomy and gender in contemporary critical theory. Columbia University Press.
  2. Allen, A. (2014). Benign violence: Education in and beyond the age of reason. Continuum.
  3. Biesta, G., & Stams, G. J. (2001). Critical thinking and the question of critique: Some lessons from deconstruction. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 20, 57–74.
  4. Biesta, G. (2006). Beyond learning: Democratic education for a human future. Paradigm Publishers.
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