Human competence is a vital element for any organization that expects to survive and then thrive. Developing individual performance ability is necessary but not sufficient because trained people alone will not make an organization successful. We must determine what people should deliver and why it should be delivered in order to add measurable…

This author's interest in philosophy derived from a passion for mathematics that developed in middle high school, which he attended in Sydney. In this article, he provides a self-portrait of his intellectual life and his involvement with the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA). He states that despite the research demands of his…

In this article, the author provides a self-portrait of his intellectual life. He states that his educational journey has always been something of an ongoing fight from his first day at primary school, to the secondary school curriculum and a social philosophy, and what he learned practically in the Navy. Changing the philosophy curriculum in…

There is a certain similarity between the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA) and the leaning tower of Pisa. Both have a certain presence on the landscape: the tower has a commanding appearance on the Italian countryside while PESA has left its mark on the academic fabric of Australasia. Both are much loved: Pisa by visiting…

In this article, the author acknowledges the usefulness of pursuing the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA) "narrative" by way of a more personal account of her own philosophical and professional development. In having the opportunity to read others' contributions prior to writing her own, the author has been able to…

Ludwig Wittgenstein taught only a couple of Australian philosophers, at Cambridge in the late 1940s, and one of them, Frank "Camo" Jackson (Chair, Philosophy, Monash University) taught the author epistemology and philosophical psychology in the 1970s. In this article, the author describes how this teaching was central to his subsequent…

Contributors to this special issue have been asked to provide self-portraits of their intellectual lives and to consider the development of the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA) as an organisation. The author approaches this task by keeping the autobiographical details to a minimum and focusing more on the prospects for…

In this article, the author describes his intellectual growing-up and how Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA) entered into his intellectual frame and became more prominent in his philosophical-educational world. He states that for someone who set out to be a classroom science teacher, he has been inordinately fortunate in, so to…

The Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA) and the field of philosophy of education seemed like a natural junction in this author's life. They provided a means by which he could begin to think about the relations between education and his own experiences as a student and teacher, and philosophy. Peters has been editor of…

This article uses a global model to analyse empirically how the personal and professional development of educators (personal mastery) facilitates the creation of a series of basic shared values (shared vision) and of team learning by the members of the educational centre, these inter-related strategic factors favouring, in turn, educational…

Purpose: This is a comment for all those writers who claim that organizations cannot learn. The author consistently rejects this notion. Rather the author contends that organizations can learn, in at least two different ways. Design/methodology/approach: The author reviews some of the common arguments against organizational learning, and tries to…

Ways in which organizations can enhance their use of "360-degree feedback" are presented. The book begins with a review of the process itself, emphasizing that 360-degree feedback should be a core element of self-development. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 describes how to maximize the value of the process for individual…

There is increasing evidence that information system development and personnel development within an institution must not only be parallel in sophistication and noncontradictory in design, but also that concurrently developing programs are mutually supportive and increase the effectiveness of each far beyond the capability of either. Management…