A pedagogy of compassionate rationality and its consequences for teacher education
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: In the first part of this article I develop a rich account of education that is different to the prevailing dominant instrumentalist notions of education in South Africa. In the second part I explore the implications of this alternative view of education for teacher education. SECTION I: LOOkING DIFFERENTLY AT EDUCATION In this article I have followed an approach of ‘epistemological defamiliarisation’ (Fataar 2008, 1) by looking with new eyes at education. I want to follow an approach that ‘challenges the prevailing common sense’ (Fataar 2008, 1) in the hope that it will lead me to a new vantage point from where a fresh view of the educational landscape is possible. Into our contemporary South African educational reality, I have again voiced the old question: ‘What is education?’ and allowed myself to explore exiting and promising responses to the question. Although I have committed to epistemological defamiliarisation, I need to acknowledge that, in terms of theoretical framework, my alternative view of education is informed by critical theory. I was, however, careful to avoid the pitfalls associated with a truncated version of critical theory that itself has the potential to become a source of manipulation. Such a version of critical theory makes use of quasi-causal and functional explanations and pretends to know what the ‘real interests’ of people are. It can easily foster a ‘vanguardist’ view that can be antidemocratic in the sense that researchers can advance interests other than those of the researched. I wished to create imaginative spaces for a more autonomous notion of education, which is why I engaged with the work of authors such as Maxine Greene (imagination), Alisdair MacIntyre (caring), Martha Nussbaum (compassionate imagining) and Seyla Benhabib (cosmopolitan justice) to develop my alternative view of education.
Author: Jerome Slamat
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $20
OpenAlex ID: W2147665404