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Philosophy of Education

Applicants interested in ethical, epistemological or conceptual issues in education, including curriculum theory, are encouraged to take advanced degrees in Philosophy of Education. The questions explored in this area of the department centre around:

• Ethics — How ought issues of equality and fairness in educational practice and policy be conceptualized and addressed?
  
  
• Epistemology — What is knowledge? What is the self? What is mind? How are answers to these questions influenced by culture and social standpoint? And how do different answers to these questions influence educational practice and policy?
  
  
• Theories of education — What is education? What is learning and how is it best achieved? What should be the aims of public education? How should schooling be structured?
  
  
• Curriculum theory — What implications for curriculum follow from the sorts of philosophical considerations listed above? What are the implications for evaluation? And what assumptions underlie existing curriculum policies and practices?

Graduate students in Philosophy of Education may choose from a number of basic courses concerned with such areas as epistemological issues of curriculum and curriculum theory, ethical issues in education, conceptual foundations of teaching, philosophical considerations in developing and justifying educational policy, and philosophical critiques of educational research. Students may also take more specialized courses in environmental education, critical thinking, feminist philosophy of education, and the educational theories of philosophers such as John Dewey. Either masters degree can be pursued from a disciplinary perspective (e.g., philosophy of education) or from an interdisciplinary perspective with a focus on a theme (e.g., gender and education, multiculturalism and anti-racism in education, environmental education, and so on).

Current faculty research focuses on ethical and epistemological issues related to multiculturalism in education, First Nations education, gender and education, and affirmative action; values education and assessment; moral education reconsidered; critical thinking; curriculum integration; law-related education; environmental philosophy and environmental education; and the ‘postmodern’ significance of John Dewey’s philosophy. Recent master’s theses have considered the nature of appreciation in music, the role of empathy in moral judgment, and the ethics of belief. For more information, click [edst.educ.ubc.ca/pages/mastersphiled.html]