How did "diversity" come to occupy such a key position in public discourse, particularly concerning education policy? Given the widespread recognition of diversity, is there an intellectual tradition or philosophical orientation that informs its application to education? And, based on the traditions examined, what is gained and lost by focusing on…

Traditionally, "education through research" is understood to be a main characteristic of education at the university. In this article we will explore how "education through research" is argued to be of major importance for the European knowledge society, how there is still a reference to the idea of "Bildung" or…

Exemplary teaching is directed to the essences of a lesson theme and provides possibilities for successfully implementing the essential conditions for educative and formative tasks. A particular example is not chosen to serve as a first learning step but because the essence of a greater whole is reflected in it. This gives teaching a depth where…

Recognizing the challenge of adequate evaluation in higher education, this essay introduces some of the critical, alternative-seeking conversation about educational measurement. The thesis is that knowledge, value, and meaning emerge in the relational dynamics of education, thus requiring complex approaches to evaluation, utilizing relational…

In 1992, I published a paper entitled "Hypermedia and discovery based learning: A historical perspective". It traced the swings in the history of educational thinking between, on the one hand, support for conventional curriculum based learning and, on the other, the non-linear approach expressed by many educational commentators over the centuries.…

Seeking to distance themselves from the educational patterns they dislike, some contemporary advocates of academic studies overlooked an important problem that they share with the progressives they criticize. For example, Diane Ravitch blamed the absence of academics in schools on what she called the progressive educators' efforts to provide…

The author of this article discusses her inspiration for becoming a teacher. She describes her view of the challenges facing new teachers and outlines her plan for addressing those challenges through her teaching philosophy and classroom strategy. She describes her educational philosophy and strategy as centering around treating her students as…

This article articulates the groundwork for a new understanding of the concept of technique through a critical engagement with Herbert Marcuse's critical theory of technology. To this end, it identifies and engages three expressions of technique in Marcuse's work: mimesis, reified labor, and the happy consciousness. It is argued that this mapping…

Approval of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) at the 54th World Health Assembly in 2001 gave rise to the new concept of Disability and the new Classification which today are considered central to the International Family of Classifications, along with the ICD-10. Theoretical criteria from a…

The task of achieving and maintaining good school community relations has never been easy, but new challenges bring with them a new urgency. Now, more than ever before, it is imperative for school districts to recognize and embrace community education. The community education philosophy strives to be all-inclusive. In a broad sense, it enables the…

The author profiles two nineteenth-century architects of children's minds and children's spaces. More than any other two Americans Henry Barnard and Catharine Beecher defined children's educational spaces--the home and the school--and successfully specified how those spaces were to be organized and furnished, who was to govern those spaces, what…

Arguably, the profoundest classical treatment of literary truth, and by extension, of truth in the arts, can be found in Aristotle's "Poetics." But as the writings of two twentieth-century theorists show, Aristotle's insights can be taken in very different ways. In this essay, the author contrasts John Hospers's anti-cognitivist reading of…

At present, there is disagreement among achievement goal theorists regarding the beneficial or inimical nature of performance-approach goals. This article evaluates performance-approach goals using three criteria: empirical, theoretical, and meta-theoretical (values/beliefs). On the basis of these criteria, we conclude that performance-approach…

This article represents the author's mindscape as she grew in her teaching of educational philosophy from using a transmissive approach to an approach that seeks to make educational philosophy--an abstract learning content--instructive to the everyday life of teaching in classrooms. The author took a detour in her thinking about the relevance of…

In order for teachers to reflect deeply upon themselves, they need powerful models and images to guide their introspection. In teacher reflectivity, as in the therapeutic processes, psychic energy must ultimately be "contained" by models and modalities that enable one to make sense out of one's inner and outer experiences. This enables those…