The Pedagogy Of The Community Of Philosophical Enquiry As Citizenship Education

This edited volume combines reflections, methods, and experiences from a globally diverse group of scholars to investigate the meaning, value, and effectiveness of the pedagogy of the Community of Philosophical Enquiry (CoPE) – derived from or in conversation with Lipman and Sharp’s Philosophy for Children (P4C) – in the context of civic education. Maintaining that a rich diversity of voices is an important corrective to narrower academic discourses, the chapters in this book bring an array of scholarly thought from across the world working in various political and educational contexts to bear on a common question: How can CoPE help practitioners engage in civic education? The contributions draw on qualitative methods, philosophical literature, and practitioner case studies to explore the benefits, challenges, questions, and methods related to the use of CoPE for the sake of citizenship education in Thailand, Malaysia, Italy, Iceland, Israel, Greece, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Ultimately, the book provides critical reflections and insights into the civic dimension of CoPE (and some CoPE-related practices) across a wide range of pedagogic, cultural, and political contexts. Addressing the need for a touchstone publication on the interplay between CoPE and citizenship education, the book will be of interest to academics and postgraduate students interested in the philosophy of education, citizenship education, democratic education, and international and comparative education.

This book focuses on the real-world application of the Philosophy for/with Children (P4wC) pedagogy to cultivate reasonableness in individuals through communities of philosophical inquiry. It presents a collection not only of theories but, more importantly, of experiences, discoveries, and innovations on P4wC by scholars, trainers, advocates, and practitioners around the world. Each chapter provides readers with insights and lessons that have resulted from the continuous application, exploration, and enrichment of the concepts, principles, and practices that were developed by Matthew Lipman and Ann Margaret Sharp into what P4wC is today - a dialogic pedagogical approach that may just be what is needed at a time when reasonableness and dialogue are essential to maintaining global stability and progress. In this light, this book also looks into how the P4wC approach can be practiced with adults such as when it is employed in various settings or contexts such as in business consulting, textbook writing, peace education, and extremism prevention, among others. Furthermore, this book also features chapters that discuss how the P4wC pedagogy can be beneficial once integrated into processes such as classroom teaching, teacher education, bioethics, and employee education. This book provides valuable insights about how reasonableness that is cultivated through building communities of philosophical inquiry in education can be a powerful tool for nation-building and social transformation.

The essays in this edited collection argue that global citizenship education realistically must be set against the imperfections of our contemporary political realities. As a form of education it must actively engage in a critically informed way with a set of complex inherited historical issues that emerge out of a colonial past and the savage globalization which often perpetuates unequal power relations or cause new inequalities.

What is Philosophy for/with Children and its challenges around the world today? This book contributes to the discussion about the main issues regarding Philosophy for/with Children. Among them: Communication Discourse and Education Discourse; Philosophy for/with Children in an Inevitable Conflict; The "Shadow Adults Cast over Childhood" and the "Pedagogy of Fear"; Philosophy for/with children as a social activism encourager; Self-Determined Learning in Philosophy with Children; Philosophical Inquiry Concepts in Teacher Education/Training and Philosophical Inquiry in Virtual Communities

How can schools teach the skills required for a strong democracy to flourish? What Kind of Citizen? asks readers to imagine the kind of society they would like to live in—and then shows the ways in which schools can be used to make that vision a reality. Westheimer draws on groundbreaking research on school programs and policies to sharply critique the current direction of school reform. He points to the many varied and powerful ways to teach children and young adults to engage critically, to think about social issues, and to participate in authentic debate that acknowledges that intelligent adults can have different opinions. But today’s teachers are being forced to abandon these practices in favor of test-preparation in only a very narrow set of academic subjects. How did this happen? What can we do to set schools back on the right track? How can we realign school goals with what research shows parents, children, and teachers actually care about? How can we save our schools from today’s myopic interpretation of what constitutes an education? Westheimer answers these questions and makes a powerful call for schools to become more engaging, more democratic, and more educative. “Among the many casualties of a preoccupation with rigor and accountability is the prospect of education for meaningful democratic citizenship. In this refreshingly accessible book, Westheimer not only makes that point but explains the importance of helping students to think critically and question tradition. He issues a welcome invitation to connect our conception of the ideal school to its impact on our broader society.” —Alfie Kohn, bestselling author “What does it mean to be a democratic citizen? And what kind of education produces one? For the past 2 decades, Joel Westheimer has been one of North America's most knowledgeable and able guides to these critical issues. Along the way, he has forced us to reconsider the larger goals and purposes of our public schools. His book will provide an invaluable roadmap for anyone who asks the big questions, no matter what they think of his answers.” —Jonathan Zimmerman, New York University “In this highly readable, persuasive book, Joel Westheimer reminds us that, in our zeal for higher test scores, we seem to have forgotten the highest aim of education—to produce better people, more thoughtful citizens.” —Nel Noddings, Stanford University

This rich collection of essays offers a broad array of perspectives from prominent international ‘philosophy for/with children’ (P4wC) scholars and practitioners regarding the interface between P4wC and teacher education and training curricula. The book considers the deep and varied points of contact that exist between the pedagogical and philosophical principles of the philosophical community of inquiry and teacher education and training programs. It is designed to help improve education systems worldwide as they seek to shift their attention towards the student, student inter-relations, and student-other relations and foster independent high-order, critical, creative, and caring thinking within democratic, pluralistic societies. It proposes an innovative, creative way of approaching teacher education and training—a central subject in today’s educational world. Offering diverse perspectives on integrating progressive educational philosophy and contemporary pedagogy, Philosophy with Children and Teacher Education is a must-read for all those studying philosophy for/with children and researching in this area.

Teaching Thinking is a guide to ways of using discussion in the classroom to develop children's thinking, learning and literacy skills. It shows the reader how to engage children in a special kind of discussion called a 'community of enquiry'. This book illustrates how philosophical discussion helps promote critical thinking and the moral and social values essential for citizenship in a democratic society. It shows how a community of enquiry can be created in any classroom, enriching learning across the whole curriculum. Teaching Thinking is a sourcebook of ideas to help teachers, students and others interested in education to understand and engage in philosophical enquiry with children.

This book approaches the concept of identity from both logical-linguistic and socio-cultural perspectives, and explores its implications for our understanding of who or what we persons really are. In the process, it bridges disciplines that often remain disconnected - most notably analytic philosophy and the social sciences - and offers a novel critique of citizenship and moral education, "identity politics", and other contemporary domains of inquiry. Although the book has a multi-disciplinary focus, it is philosophical in its overall orientation (but accessible to readers from outside philosophy) and educational in its mission (but of interest to readers who are not formally educators). Chapters 2-5 discuss the philosophical and (where appropriate) scientific dimensions of identity, chapters 6-7 explore its socio-cultural dimensions and chapter 8 examines its educational dimensions and implications. The book will be of particular interest to those researching or teaching civics, citizenship education and moral education, as well as those involved in cultural, political and religious studies in a broader sense. It will also appeal to anyone who finds him- or herself wondering about the state of the world in the Twenty-First Century, and who suspects that rethinking what it means to be a person in that world might not be a bad idea.