This chapter looks at John Dewey's consideration of childhood as a platform which to view the significance of childhood in moral life. It argues that the concept of childhood is integral to our thinking in the teaching and learning relationship. When we consider childhood from Dewey's platform, we see that childhood is relevant to…

The author argues that Dewey's conception of the lost individual and his proposed solutions for reconstruction can help both schooling and society address problems of depoliticization and individualization. He first examines Dewey's notion of formation of the self, forged through transactions with one's physical and social…

During Paul Hager's years as a researcher, he has benefited enormously from his association with The Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia, its members, its annual conference and its journal. He was very honoured to have an issue of "Educational Philosophy and Theory" devoted to a consideration of his work. In this response…

Although the author thinks of herself as firmly against attempts to fragment and privatize public education, she was going to work for a charter school. She had a couple of ways of justifying that decision. The charter school, which was just starting up, had a wonderful educational philosophy and would be using first-rate…

Culture has been theorized as pedagogy. In several languages and many contexts "culture" and "education" can be used interchangeably. This issue of the journal "Educational Philosophy and Theory" seeks to explore the dual proposition (1) that pedagogy is central to politicized cultural theory, but (2) that it has been…

This article is an investigation of two apparently contradictory impulses in Oakeshott's writings about liberal education. On the one hand, he implied that it was primarily "aesthetic", something undertaken for its own sake with no practical consequences. On the other hand, he often implied that a student might undergo a moral transformation in…

This article argues that Robert Brandom's work can be used to develop ideas in the area of social epistemology. It suggests that this work, precisely because it was influenced by Hegel, can make a significant contribution with philosophical anthropology at its centre. The argument is developed using illustrations from education: the first, from…

"School history" has long since been characterized by teacher-centered lectures and student passivity, which deviates substantially from the inquiry-based and rigorous methodology historians use to actively reconstruct the past. While recent efforts have been made to move toward a more investigative approach in classrooms, little if any…

This article presents an overview of the status of gifted education in Cyprus and argues for the need for a culturally relevant approach. First, the history of education in Cyprus is briefly reviewed. Then, past unsuccessful efforts to provide education for academically advanced students in the public elementary schools are critically examined.…

This article takes "measurement" as a will to determine or fix space and time, which allows for a comparison of ontological models of space and time from Western and Maori traditions. The spirit of "measurement" is concomitantly one of fixing meaning, which is suggested as the essence of the growth of the scientific genre of…

Aspirations for higher education by people from low socioeconomic status backgrounds are now a focus of government policy in many OECD nations. This is part of a global trend emphasizing the perceived benefits of "raising" aspirations among under-represented groups as a social inclusion strategy to widen university participation, but…

In looking to the future, some writers on religious education (RE) have attempted to evaluate current approaches to the subject. Some have characterised any significant change in approach as a "paradigm shift", a term derived from Thomas Kuhn's work in the philosophy of science. This article examines the uses of the terms…

Background: Academics, teachers and policy-makers across the world have discussed how to develop a relevant physical education (PE) curriculum that addresses the "body education" needs and interests of twenty-first-century students. In Brazil, after the launch of the national curricular parameters (PCNs) in the late 1990s, many new PE…

How can preschool teachers approach multiplicity and complexity in the preschool? The aim of this article is to discuss two approaches to education, one based on design and the other on open reflection, and to propose "situational sensitivity" as a concept connected within the latter approach. Special attention is paid to the ethical…

The newly created Conservative Education Reform Network (CERN) at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) invited a group of conservative education thinkers to sketch policy proposals that they would like to see in a new education agenda. The only requirement was that they offer suggestions that would complement the traditional conservative…