Beckett, K. S.; (1980) On the concept of education. Doctoral thesis , Institute of Education, University of London.

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Abstract

There are three parts to the thesis, the first two dealing wi th others' views of education, the third '-Ii th the author's own view. r~yola, Locke, Elyot, Quintilian and Dew'ey all assume that education is to be explained by reference to its relations with other things. Their point of' view is that of the "outsider" or "spectator". Spectator views com-.) to grief because rather than sho'\-I they simply assume that it is education that stands Ln the required relation. And, typically, they "miss the point". Downie et aI, Telfer, Oakeshott and Peters all assume that their views of education can be intrinsically justjfied, that is, by appeal to the nature of education itself. Their point of view is that of the "participant". Participant view5come to grief' because rather than show they simply assume that that to which they appeal is indeed the nature of education. And, typically, what they assume to be " '.~' education is only one aspect of it. Education, I think, is, in a phrase, preparation for independence. This thesis is a direct develoPQent of Peters's view, at least that view expressed in "The Justification of Education". It is, I argue, an improvement on that view because it takes better account of the relationships between education and upbringing (the most closely related extrinsic conc€'pt) and educatIon and training (the most closely related intrinsic concept), and because it involves a more plausible order of explanation as between rationality (which Peters takes to be fundamental) and autonomy or independence.

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