This article challenges the assumption underlying most education reforms that constructivism is politically neutral and intrinsically democratic. It makes this argument by examining the curriculum reform in Spain during the 1980s and 1990s in light of the neoliberal politics that the country was experiencing at that time. This study employs the poststructuralist analytical lens of governmentality developed by Foucauldian scholars. Accordingly, it claims that, the psychological version of constructivism adopted by the official curriculum reform failed to deliver promises for democracy (...) because it was crafted within the same neoliberal political rationality that redefined the terms of government in the late 1980s, a redefinition that decontextualized the learner from his/her social context and adopted the logic of the market. (shrink)

Critical interest in Aboriginal and other non-mainstream works challenges established notions of literariness and canonicity, spilling over into the classroom and curriculum development, where instructors of various disciplines must make decisions about what they will teach, and how and why they will teach it. The ramifications of such decisions are multifaceted and often compounded by fear, raising concerns regarding the scope and the ways in which teachers or post-secondary instructors are accountable for the ethical treatment of texts by so-called minority (...) writers and to the broadening demographic of students. Teachers/instructors must themselves construct an ethical framework for inclusion of texts for study, and often do so with only tenuous support. For example, what are the rights of educators to engage with texts that fall outside of their cultural experience? If instructors are not exempt from the ethical considerations facing researchers, how do they become accountable without excluding or appropriating contentious materials in the scope of their work? Liberatory pedagogical practices in the classroom provide the backdrop against which an ethics of inclusion can develop and consequently inform the development of curricula and the creation of syllabi, as well as the facilitation of classroom dynamics in an atmosphere of cultural richness and diversity. (shrink)

In teaching culturally sensitive and difficult issues, tensions and interruptions may arise, and educators and students may retreat to their respective comfort zones to avoid conflict and suffering, a pedagogical aporia occurs. This article introduces and examines Bodhisattva compassion from the Buddhist tradition, which offers insights and wisdom in transforming unexamined emotional responses into healthy and nonviolent expressions and embodiment of difference and dissonance. By tracing the Chinese etymological history of the term compassion and its use in Buddhist literature, I (...) argue that Bodhisattva compassion embodies 悲心, a somatic, but unattached and awakened responsive heartmind. Bodhisattva compassion recognizes and accepts the unavoidability of human suffering, but it also liberates us from the common assumption of fellow-feeling and pity subsumed in sorrow and suffering. Guided by the concepts of wisdom and transforming the mind in Buddhism, bodhisattva compassion focuses on lucid awareness of one’s responsive heartmind and skillful actions to engage suffering. Pedagogy enlightened by bodhisattva compassion has curricular and instructional implications. In the struggle of identity politics or for social justice, it is probably more critical to develop ethical and undifferentiated compassion pedagogy than wrestling with power dynamics in our teaching. (shrink)

Postmodernism has established a significant hold in educational thought and some of the most important ideas are to be found in the writings of Michael Peters. This paper examines his postmodern stance and use of Lyotard's account of knowledge, and from a naturalist point of view raises a number of objections centred on science as a metanarrative, the unity of the empirical and the evaluative, and reason, truth and the growth of knowledge. It is concluded that postmodern epistemology, unlike naturalism, (...) does not serve education well. (shrink)

Postmodernism has established a significant hold in educational thought and some of the most important ideas are to be found in the writings of Michael Peters. This paper examines his postmodern stance and use of Lyotard's account of knowledge, and from a naturalist point of view raises a number of objections centred on science as a metanarrative, the unity of the empirical and the evaluative, and reason, truth and the growth of knowledge. It is concluded that postmodern epistemology, unlike naturalism, (...) does not serve education well. (shrink)

The medical humanities are often implemented in the undergraduate medicine curriculum through injection of discrete option courses as compensation for an overdose of science. The medical humanities may be reformulated as process and perspective, rather than content, where the curriculum is viewed as an aesthetic text and learning as aesthetic and ethical identity formation. This article suggests that a “humanities” perspective may be inherent to the life sciences required for study of medicine. The medical humanities emerge as a revelation of (...) value inherent to an aesthetic medicine taught and learned imaginatively. (shrink)

Çalışmamın amacı postmodern öğretim programları kavramını Patrick Slattery’nin yazmış olduğu Curriculum Development in the Postmodern Era başlıklı kitap çerçevesinde irdelemektir. Çalışmada Slattery’nin adı geçen kitabından alıntılar yaparak postmodern öğretim programları kavramını onun sözcükleriyle hem düzyazı hem de şiir yoluyla özetleyeceğim. Bunu yaparken de postmodern öğretim programı kavramını, kitabın ruhuna uygun olarak, görseller yoluyla somutlaştırmaya çalışacağım.