Marshall, John Bernard;
(2020)
Educating for Humanity in Today's World: Towards a new model of education to meet the challenge.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
It is generally accepted that schools should be concerned not just with imparting particular intellectual or technical skills, but also with the wider character development of children, including their moral and social growth. However, after decades of well-meant but rather scattered initiatives (often launched in response to the unsettling effect of widespread social change) this study reviews the whole rationale for and feasibility of work in this area, and tries to set it onto firmer foundations. After looking at how the curriculum in most state systems is organised, and why there is frequently a gap between the reality and the rhetoric here, it is argued that if education is to play a more meaningful part, a rather different perspective on the main forms of human knowledge and experience that schools usually address is needed: a more radical breakdown which does justice both to traditional curriculum subjects and the more amorphous, but vitally important, ‘base’ of life. Three ways in which the human engagement with the world does appear to separate into its more primary modes are identified: direct experience in the everyday lifeworld (including social interaction); particular bodies of knowledge and skill; and the evaluative or wider meaning-making aspects of our functioning. The significance of each is explored, and in so far as they appear to be central to our human way of being, it is suggested that these might in themselves provide some solid ground on which to base the whole business of educating the young. It is argued that, if schools are to engage more constructively with this wider area of human development, they will have to contribute far more effectively to the first, in particular, of these dimensions of our functioning. Realistic possibilities for such work are explored along with the considerable challenges that can arise.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Educating for Humanity in Today's World: Towards a new model of education to meet the challenge |
| Event: | UCL (University College London) |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2020. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10112917 |
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