•IMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

4§

Spring Semester 2002 ?

EDUC 437 - 4

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Ann Chinnery

Ethical Issues in Education

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Office: TBA

Phone:

291-3395/205-9066

1301.00

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E-mail: ahchinne@sfu.ca

Tuesday 12:30-16:20 in WMX 2503

PREREQUISITE

EDUC 230 or Educ 401/402

DESCRIPTION

In contrast to traditional views of education as the acquisition of abstract intellectual competencies

and so-called marketable skills, and moral education as a discrete subject, educational theorists are

paying increasing attention to the realization that education is itself a moral project. In other words,

classroom practices, curricula, and educational policy all reflect a certain moral standpoint, but one

which goes all too often unexamined. In this course we will re-open questions of morality in

education -- the nature of morality and moral agency; domains of moral concern; how we ought to

live in harmony with each other and the environment; and strategies of moral transformation. Since

these questions are essentially questions of moral selfhood, the course will focus as much on

self-transformation as on the exploration of content.

OBJECTIVES

The course will aim to foster:

• the capacity for (written and oral) reflexive inquiry into our theoretical frameworks and practices

• the ability to read philosophical texts accurately and critically, and to employ philosophical

vocabulary

• the ability to participate in productive large and small group dialogues in a community of inquiry

REQIJJIREMIIENTS

• reading responses - 45%

• workshop sessions toward the final paper - 15%

• final paper - 40%

** Please note: There is no final exam in this course.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Hooks, Bell. (1994). Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York:

Routledge. ISBN: 0-4159-0808-6.

Noddings, N. (1992). The Challenge to Care in Schools. New York: Teachers College Press.

ISBN: 0-8077-3177-3.

Orr, D. (1996). Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect. Washington,

D.C.: Island Press. ISBN: 1-55963-295-X.