Module Specifications..
Current Academic Year 2023 - 2024
Please note that this information is subject to change.
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Description This module draws together theory and practice in the areas of Philosophy of Education, History of Education and Ethics and Education. It builds on the content of first, second and third year modules in these areas (including Foundation Studies) and critically engages students with concepts related to childhood, wellbeing, identity and agency (children & teachers). Paradigmatic theorists from the disciplines are critically explored with students at an advanced level and with close readings of primary texts in the Philosophy component. Additionally, there is a strong emphasis on the application of these theories to educational practice and contexts, including the Irish contemporary context. History of Education focuses on social history and the plight of vulnerable children, highlighting the growing awareness of the need for child protection policies in schools and other institutions of the state. Ethics and Education provides a pedagogical focus in this module, where students continue to build their pedagogical knowledge and skills in the teaching of ethics and values, intercultural, global and local citizenship and social justice education. Creating learning environments which are inclusive and meet the needs of all students, particularly groups whose identities are often marginalised and invisibilised (e.g. students from minority racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic backgrounds and students who identify as LGBT+) is given particular attention. All three courses in this module emphasise reflective practice and the enactment of pedagogies of care and relationality. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Learning Outcomes 1. Critically evaluate the most significant theoretical and empirical dimensions of childhood, diverse identities (particularly those that are othered) and wellbeing and with a particular focus on implications for practice and children’s experiences of schooling. 2. Enhance students’ understanding of the Irish education system, locate it in context and enable students to think critically about it 3. Contextualise the concepts of childhood, wellbeing, diverse identities and agency in relation to contemporary developments in Irish society and education. 4. Critically appreciate and articulate opportunities for education (theory and practice) offered by a range of lenses, including vulnerability, precarity, social justice and ethics. 5. Interrogate and reflect critically on the emergence of identities (professional, personal, student, teacher) and their capacity to exercise agency from a range of disciplinary and/or interdisciplinary perspectives. 6. Plan and resource appropriate schemes of works that display an understanding of key underpinning concepts, key ideas, relevant content and skills in ethics education. 7. Critically make connections and apply the pedagogical theories to the practice of ethical/values, intercultural education and social justice education in a variety of classroom contexts. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml |
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Indicative Content and Learning Activities
Philosophy of EducationPhilosophy of Education (Foundation Studies): This component of the module builds on the content of 1st and 3rd year Philosophy of Education modules and Foundation Studies to critically analyse and evaluate contemporary educational discourse. In recognition of The Teaching Council (2020) directive for foundations studies in ITE to ‘enhance students’ understanding of the Irish education system, locate it in context and enable students to think critically about it’ and to ‘explore key dimensions of the professional context in which the thinking and actions of teachers are carried out’, there is a special emphasis on critically evaluating and responding to the recent turn to well-being, identity and agency in Irish education. This provides students with a basis to analyse evolving Irish professional educational landscapes with reference to the Teaching Council ‘Code of Professional Conduct, to interrogate their own experiences of and intentions for ethical practice, and to identify the intersection of educational directives and discourses on practice and/or policy. Drawing on works from philosophy and pedagogy, students are invited to; i) examine the assumptions and limitations of contemporary well-being discourse. Critical approaches including vulnerability, belonging and critical and post-colonial human rights education, provide students with an opportunity to reflect on inclusive and citizenship education, ii) interrogate the emergence of teacher identity (novice, professional, personal) approaches to discuss discourses of accountability, performativity and professionalism in contemporary Irish teaching, and iii) critically analyse Irish and international research to explore the history, meaning and challenges associated with agency for children and teachers To conclude, the transformative possibilities of pedagogies of hope are introduced to evaluate experiences and opportunities in contemporary educational practice for students and/or precarious teachers as they narrate, negotiate and navigate identities. Students are tasked with creatively articulating experiences, reflections, critiques, and/or intentions that may shape and support the ongoing negotiation of identities, professional responsibilities and relationships of teachers.Ethics and EducationThis course builds on the second and third year ethics and education courses and seeks to deepen students’ understanding of and critical engagement with concepts pertaining to ethics and values, intercultural, citizenship (global & local) and social justice education. Ethical dilemmas which reflect the tensions and contradictions inherent in Irish primary schools will be employed in order to engage students in critical analysis of their own value systems and goals. A range of ethical theories (including those associated with ethics of care and relationality, intercultural, global citizenship, anti-racism and social justice education) will be explored in this context and in the context of the students’ classroom practice. Students will be provided with opportunities to further develop their pedagogical knowledge and skills through exploration and critical engagement with concepts relating to personal and professional identities and values systems, moral development, diversity and difference, religious diversity and pluralism, intercultural, citizenship (local & global) and social justice education issues, and ethical dilemmas more broadly.History of EducationThe History of Education (Foundation Studies) Lectures do two things: (1) address a range of epistemological, ontological and ethical-political issues related to the study of history; and (2) enhance students’ understanding of the Irish education system, locating it in context. The aim is to enable students to think critically about both the activity they are engaged in, i.e., studying history, and the subject matter of that study: the Irish education system. Students will have some knowledge and understanding of the value-free ‘scientific’ approach to the study of history. Using that as the baseline, the lectures will make comparisons with other approaches, including those of Michel Foucault and Paul Ricoeur. In his studies on history, Foucault sets out to show that things could have been otherwise and could be otherwise. As for Ricoeur, he encourages us to think of history as an activity involving the exercise of various capacities, including orienting oneself toward a world, or indeed a system like the Irish education system, and contributing to its reproduction or, under certain circumstances, to its profound transformation. Armed with these new models for studying history and building on what they learned through engaging with the second year History of Education lectures, students will critically examine developments in and understandings of the Irish education system in the 20th century. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Indicative Reading List
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Other Resources None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Programme or List of Programmes
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