-
54Rethinking teacher preparation for teaching controversial topics in a community of inquiryIn Arie Kizel (ed.), Philosophy with children and teacher education: Global perspectives on critical, creative and caring thinking, Routledge. pp. 194-203. 2022.Contemporary socio-political issues often seen as socially controversial and highly politicised topics, such as anthropogenic climate change, public scepticism over preventive public health measures during pandemics such as COVID-19, and Indigenous sovereignty, lands rights, and ways of knowing, being and doing, highlight the need for education to address such issues more effectively. Controversial issues do not exist in isolation. They are connected to questions of order, interpretation, meanin…Read more
-
74Responding to climate change ‘controversy’ in schools: Philosophy for Children, place-responsive pedagogies & Critical Indigenous PedagogyEducational Philosophy and Theory 55 (10). 2023.Despite the scientific consensus, climate change continues to be socially and politically controversial. Consequently, teachers may worry about accusations of political indoctrination if they teach climate change in their classrooms. Research shows that many teachers are using the ‘teaching the controversy’ approach to teach climate change, essentially allowing students to make up their own mind about climate change. Drawing on some philosophical literature about indoctrination and controversial…Read more
-
5EducationIn Graham Oppy (ed.), A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy, Blackwell. 2019.This chapter examines key arguments for and against the teaching of religion, atheism, and philosophy‐based ethics in schools. These arguments are examined within the context of the controversy that erupted when an ethics curriculum was introduced into state primary schools in New South Wales, Australia, in 2010. This ethics curriculum is an alternative to special religious education (i.e., religious education that aims to inculcate students with the beliefs of one faith). During the debate that…Read more
-
22Editorial. Teaching about climate change in the midst of ecological crisis: Responsibilities, challenges, and possibilitiesEducational Philosophy and Theory 55 (10). 2023.One challenge posed by climate change education is that, despite the scientific consensus on human induced climate change, the issue is controversial and politicised. A recent poll conducted in the USA revealed that 45% of respondents did not believe that human activity is a key cause of climate change, while 8.3% denied that climate change was occurring at all. The poll also found that those with conservative political beliefs were far more likely to deny anthropogenic climate change. The contr…Read more
-
5This volume argues that educational problems have their basis in an ideology of binary opposites often referred to as dualism, and that it is partly because mainstream schooling incorporates dualism that it is unable to facilitate the thinking skills, dispositions and understandings necessary for autonomy, democratic citizenship and leading a meaningful life. Bleazby proposes an approach to schooling termed social reconstruction learning, in which students engage in philosophical inquiries with …Read more
-
Philosophy for children goes to universityIn Gilbert Burgh & Simone Thornton (eds.), Philosophical Inquiry with Children: The development of an inquiring society in Australia, Routledge. 2019.
-
16In community with Ann Margaret Sharp: Childhood, philosophy and education (review)Educational Philosophy and Theory 51 (14): 1541-1542. 2019.Volume 51, Issue 14, December 2019, Page 1541-1542.
-
65Autonomy, Democratic Community, and Citizenship in Philosophy for Children: Dewey and Philosophy for Children’s Rejection of the Individual/ Community DualismAnalytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis 26 (1): 30-52. 2006.
-
73Dewey's Notion of Imagination in Philosophy for ChildrenEducation and Culture 28 (2): 95-111. 2012.Kieran Egan states that imagination "is a concept that has come down to us with a history of suspicion and mistrust" (2007, p. 4). Like experience and the emotions, the imagination is frequently thought to be an obstacle to reason. While reason is conceived of as an abstract, objective and rule-governed method of delivering absolute truths, the imagination is considered "unconstrained, arbitrary, and fanciful," as well as "particular, subjective, and idiosyncratic" (Jo 2002, p. 39). This negativ…Read more
-
145Overcoming Relativism and Absolutism: Dewey's ideals of truth and meaning in philosophy for childrenEducational Philosophy and Theory 43 (5): 453-466. 2011.Different notions of truth imply and encourage different ideals of thinking, knowledge, meaning, and learning. Thus, these concepts have fundamental importance for educational theory and practice. In this paper, I intend to draw out and clarify the notions of truth, knowledge and meaning that are implied by P4C's pedagogical ideals. There is some disagreement amongst P4C theorists and practitioners about whether the community of inquiry implies either relativism or absolutism. I will argue that …Read more
-
32Philosophy for Children as a Response to Gender ProblemsThinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children 19 (2-3): 70-78. 2009.This paper will outline some of the ways in which traditional pedagogies facilitate ‘masculine’ ideals of thinking, while excluding and denigrating the ‘feminine’. It will be shown that unlike traditional pedagogies, P4C reconstructs the gendered dualisms (e.g. mind/body, reason/emotion, individual/community) that form the basis of traditional gender stereotypes. Consequently, P4C reconstructs traditional gender stereotypes and challenges the traditional gendering of school subjects, which contr…Read more
-
Monash UniversityRegular Faculty