EDUCATION 230-3

?

INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

Fall Semester, 88-3

?

Instructor: ?

Dr. Cornel Hamm

Monday & Wednesday ?

Office: ?

MPX 8654

11:30-12:20 ?

Phone: ?

291-3662

Location:

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is an introduction to philosophy of education. As such it is intended to provide

prospective teachers as well as others interested in education an opportunity to examine a variety of

educational problems from a philosophical perspective. The central concern of the course is to

elucidate the nature of education as a phenomenon distinguishable from such activities as training,

schooling, and socialization. It should enable one to think more clearly and critically about a host of

problems, issues, and concepts in education. There are no pre-requisites for the course. A brief

course outline follows:

A. The Nature of Philosophical Issues in Education

1.

What are philosophical problems in education?

2.

What role does philosophy have in solving educational problems?

B. The Language of Education

1.

Meaning and definitions in education.

2.

Slogans and metaphors in education.

3.

Problems of vagueness, ambiguity, and emotive uses of language.

C. The Nature of Education

1.

The concept 'education'.

2.

The concepts 'teaching' and 'learning'.

3.

Cognitive education and education of the emotions.

4.

The aims of education.

5.

Education, curriculum, and the nature of knowledge.

6.

The means-ends.

D. Moral Dimensions of Education

1.

Freedom and authority in education.

2.

Discipline and punishment in education.

3.

Conditioning and indoctrination.

4.

The justification of content in education.

5.

Values and moral education.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1.

Tutorial participation.

2.

Examination on required readings.

3.

One or more short papers.

TEXTS

P. H. Hirst & R.S. Peters, The Logic of Education, RKP, 1970.

C. M. Hamm, Philosophical Issues in Education: An Introduction (copies available from instructor).

---

S ?

S

Centre for Distance Education ?

Faculty of Education

Simon Fraser University

MPX 8548

?

INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

This course is intended to provide prospective teachers, as well as students with a

general interest in education, an opportunity to examine critically a variety of

philosophical issues in contemporary education. It also aims to provide students with

an understanding of the philosophical method of inquiry into educational questions.

The central concern of the course is to elucidate the nature of education as a

phenomenon distinct from such activities as training, schooling, and socialization.

This course is divided into ten units, as follows:

1.

The nature of philosophical inquiry into educational discourse

2.

Metaphors in educational discourse

3.

An analysis of the concept "education"

4.

"Aims" in education

5.

Educational curricula and the nature of knowledge

6.

Child-centered curricula

7.

Teaching—learning—education: their interrelationships

8.

Interpersonal and social issues in education

9.

Moral education

10.

The justification of education

PREREQUISITE:

None.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Hirst, P.H. and R.S. Peters.

The Logic of Education.

Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1970.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Assignment 1

20%

Assignment 2

20%

Assignment 3

20%

Assignment 4

20%

Assignment 5

20%