Christine Doddington - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Christine Doddington

Includes bibliographical references. Title from coverSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document... more Includes bibliographical references. Title from coverSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:m03/34913 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

In this paper, I set an aspect of what it is to live a flourishing life against the backdrop of n... more In this paper, I set an aspect of what it is to live a flourishing life against the backdrop of neo liberal trends that continue to influence educational policy across the globe. The view I set out is in sharp contrast to any narrow assumption that education’s main task is the measurement of high performing individuals who will thus contribute to an economically viable society. Instead, I explore and argue for a conception of what constitutes a flourishing life that is embedded in a more pragmatist analysis of what education may be. The argument begins with developing the centrality of embodiment to aesthetic sensibility and goes on to suggest how collective understanding of this within a community could constitute a sense of performance and thus contribute to the educational aim of developing a full and flourishing life. The argument is that this way of seeing life could have implications for educational practice, the role of the teacher and could help to reconfigure how education ...

Education Sciences and Society, 2015

After a brief glance into history, this article introduces comments on the current state of Resea... more After a brief glance into history, this article introduces comments on the current state of Research into the Arts and Aesthetic Education. Besides the learning of specific art skills in creative work, the authors focus on how the integration of the different arts can reinforce aesthetic sensibility and creativity as a main goal in Art Education. Reflection on the experience of an Art Education Project for Teacher Training leads the authors to the definition of crucial creative attitudes for Art Education Programmes, either in schools or art institutions.

This chapter introduces the book through discussing the context in which it came about, namely a ... more This chapter introduces the book through discussing the context in which it came about, namely a conference to mark the centenary of the publication of Dewey’s Democracy and Education. The first section relates to the book’s subtitle by describing and analysing the context in which speakers at the conference engaged in a ‘fightback’ against educational policies found to be narrowly based on economic aims, and to have lost sight of the humanistic aims of education, aims which Dewey analysed and championed. The book is structured around three key areas, all related to Dewey’s philosophy of education – the first concerns technology, the second, embodiment and the third, democracy and development. A discussion on the significance of each of these areas for contemporary educational theory is followed by detail on the individual chapters within them. This chapter concludes with an introduction to the cautiously optimistic and forward-looking epilogue by Gert Biesta on the matters and issu...

The Oxford Handbook of Dewey

Following from John Dewey’s notion that aesthetic experience is experience in its fullest sense, ... more Following from John Dewey’s notion that aesthetic experience is experience in its fullest sense, this chapter focuses on examining Dewey’s concept of aesthetic experience as it is inextricably tied to his concepts of human nature and education. It begins by exploring the concept of aesthetic experience in the context of Dewey’s broader theory of education and growth. The chapter then discusses how aesthetic experiences are cultivated in the context of formal learning settings, including classrooms and outdoor environments, paying special attention to the critical and indispensable role of the teacher in creating situations for students’ aesthetic experiences. In this context, the chapter discusses how Dewey’s critique of traditional and progressive education is still relevant in today’s global education climate. It concludes by discussing the crisis in education as the authors see it today and suggests that Dewey’s views provide three key insights for addressing this crisis: the val...

Choice Reviews Online

PREFACE INTRODUCTION PART I - The Child-Centred Legacy CHAPTER 1 The Origins of Child-centred Edu... more PREFACE INTRODUCTION PART I - The Child-Centred Legacy CHAPTER 1 The Origins of Child-centred Education CHAPTER 2 Contrasting Visions, Contrasting Lives CHAPTER 3 Plowden and Beyond PART II - Fundamental Values CHAPTER 4 The 'Whole Child' as a Person CHAPTER 5 Making Sense: the importance of meaning and coherence CHAPTER 6 Interdependence: the need for others PART III - The Road to Change CHAPTER 7 Teachers and Children BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Cambridge Primary Review Research Surveys is the companion volume to Children, their World, t... more The Cambridge Primary Review Research Surveys is the companion volume to Children, their World, their Education: final report and recommendations of the Cambridge Primary Review. Both are the outcome of England's biggest enquiry into primary education for over 40 ...

Education 3-13

The year 2016 was remarkable for many reasons, but one significant anniversary for the realm of e... more The year 2016 was remarkable for many reasons, but one significant anniversary for the realm of education was that 2016 marked a hundred years since the influential publication of Democracy and Education by John Dewey (1916). Looking back, one could argue that 2016 also saw peoples across the globe enduring political repression and change, growth in the threat of international terror, a referendum decreeing that the UK should sever membership from the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as president of the US. Times and events all suggested that the very practice and meaning of democracy was widely under scrutiny. The idea of democracy and its relevance to how we educate young people seemed never more pertinent than in that year. Four years before 2016, I became chair of a Steering Group of academics and practitioners who, anticipating the centenary, wished to mark Dewey's seminal educational work with an international conference. In the spirit of Dewey, we determined that the conference should integrate practice and theory, with scholars, researchers and practitioners given equal space to express and explore the richness of Dewey's thinking. The conference: 'John Dewey's "Democracy and Education" 100 Years On: Past, Present, and Future Relevance', eventually took place in Homerton College and the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, in September 2016. The number of international educationalists, scholars and researchers who expressed interest and submitted papers surpassed our expectations. Over one hundred papers were accepted and ultimately presented to 125 delegates from 25 different countries. America, UK and Europe were well represented as were other countries as far-flung as China, Japan, Cameroon and Brazil. Schools in England and in Spain who are committed to the practice of Philosophy for Children and who acknowledged this as having strong roots in Dewey's ideas came forward and eventually attended the conference bringing groups of their students to demonstrate P4C. The head teacher of the University of Cambridge Primary School (UCPS), where echoes of some of Dewey's best progressive ideas are clearly present, agreed to speak and arranged for conference delegates to visit his school. In the event, keynotes were given by Professors Barbara Stengel and Rosa Bruno-Jofre, from the US and Canada, respectively, and Dame Alison Peacock, former head teacher, author and now Chief Executive of the Chartered College of Teaching. Professor Gert Biesta from Brunel University and visiting professor in Norway and the Netherlands where he is also a member of the advisory body to the Dutch government and parliament gave the conference's closing keynote. A panel representing the UK, the US and the media presented and led a lively discussion on the question 'Is John Dewey too toxic for policy?' The panel members were Professor Richard Pring, former Professor of Education at Oxford University, Professor Lynda Stone, past president of the John Dewey Society in the US and from the University of North Carolina, US and Melissa Benn, journalist and campaigner. For more details of the conference including keynote summaries, please visit the conference website www.Dewey2016.co.uk. The collection of articles in this Special Issue designed to mark the centenary of Democracy and Education have been carefully selected from the many presentations at the conference because of their relevance to issues relating directly to the education of children aged 3-13. They reflect the international dimension of the conference and also the rich variety of topics that in turn shows what a wide-ranging and valuable education resource of ideas are embedded in the writings of John Dewey. In the event, many of the papers presented drew widely on publications by John Dewey beyond Democracy and Education. Inevitably, as a prolific writer and philosopher committed to critical enquiry, there is no single book that encapsulates the full depth and richness of his ideas and the articles in this Special Edition reflect this.

Other Education, Jan 31, 2014

Over the last few decades, the formal school curriculum in many countries has become increasingly... more Over the last few decades, the formal school curriculum in many countries has become increasingly prescribed and attainment orientated with an insistent pressure to measure progress in the name of "raising standards." This form of constraint on educational practice has provoked counter trends in a desire to enrich the curriculum. Situating learning activities in the open air have become increasingly popular as a counter to formalised schooling. The UK, for example, has seen legislated outside spaces for early years and a growing interest in Forest Schools. The long tradition of activity centres, outside school visits and field tripsoffering a valuable way to augment formal learning-has survived in many school settings. The claims for the benefit of taking learning outside are extensive. They range across claiming value for both individual and societal well-being, improving mental and physical health, as well as a way of sustaining inclusion, social cohesion and democratic practice. This article explores how aesthetics and the body may be seen to feature in outside educational experience. By drawing on the work of Richard Shusterman and his extensive work on somaesthetics, the purpose of the article is to augment or ground claims for the worth of "outside" learning in embodied aesthetic experience and therefore help illuminate what is distinctively educational about moving learning beyond the walls of the school.

Research in Education, May 1, 1999

... The research that we looked at into motivation and engagement among younger pupils drew atten... more ... The research that we looked at into motivation and engagement among younger pupils drew attention to ... 1 The impact on motivation of a gap between pupils' expectations of hav-ing more responsibility ... move from one style of teaching to another or from the lower primary to the ...

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 00131857 2012 755753, Sep 30, 2014

Critical Thinking and Learning, 2008

Studies in Philosophy and Education, 2001

For young children, learning begins in conversation contexts such as schools. The author of this ... more For young children, learning begins in conversation contexts such as schools. The author of this paper contends that talk activities are fundamental to future knowledge and understanding. Implicit is critique of a current British model that values the practice of speaking through effective talk. This view is contrasted to one centered on expressive speech and authentic listening.

Music Education Research, 2004

Journal of Philosophy of Education, 2010

Ethics and Education, 2007

This paper critically examines some assumptions involved in determining the nature of the relatio... more This paper critically examines some assumptions involved in determining the nature of the relationships and work that constitute a school as a community dedicated to learning and knowledge. Rather than arguing from first principles, the paper assumes that respect for other people as ends is preferable to seeing individuals in terms of their function or status; and it argues, in

Includes bibliographical references. Title from coverSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document... more Includes bibliographical references. Title from coverSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:m03/34913 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

In this paper, I set an aspect of what it is to live a flourishing life against the backdrop of n... more In this paper, I set an aspect of what it is to live a flourishing life against the backdrop of neo liberal trends that continue to influence educational policy across the globe. The view I set out is in sharp contrast to any narrow assumption that education’s main task is the measurement of high performing individuals who will thus contribute to an economically viable society. Instead, I explore and argue for a conception of what constitutes a flourishing life that is embedded in a more pragmatist analysis of what education may be. The argument begins with developing the centrality of embodiment to aesthetic sensibility and goes on to suggest how collective understanding of this within a community could constitute a sense of performance and thus contribute to the educational aim of developing a full and flourishing life. The argument is that this way of seeing life could have implications for educational practice, the role of the teacher and could help to reconfigure how education ...

Education Sciences and Society, 2015

After a brief glance into history, this article introduces comments on the current state of Resea... more After a brief glance into history, this article introduces comments on the current state of Research into the Arts and Aesthetic Education. Besides the learning of specific art skills in creative work, the authors focus on how the integration of the different arts can reinforce aesthetic sensibility and creativity as a main goal in Art Education. Reflection on the experience of an Art Education Project for Teacher Training leads the authors to the definition of crucial creative attitudes for Art Education Programmes, either in schools or art institutions.

This chapter introduces the book through discussing the context in which it came about, namely a ... more This chapter introduces the book through discussing the context in which it came about, namely a conference to mark the centenary of the publication of Dewey’s Democracy and Education. The first section relates to the book’s subtitle by describing and analysing the context in which speakers at the conference engaged in a ‘fightback’ against educational policies found to be narrowly based on economic aims, and to have lost sight of the humanistic aims of education, aims which Dewey analysed and championed. The book is structured around three key areas, all related to Dewey’s philosophy of education – the first concerns technology, the second, embodiment and the third, democracy and development. A discussion on the significance of each of these areas for contemporary educational theory is followed by detail on the individual chapters within them. This chapter concludes with an introduction to the cautiously optimistic and forward-looking epilogue by Gert Biesta on the matters and issu...

The Oxford Handbook of Dewey

Following from John Dewey’s notion that aesthetic experience is experience in its fullest sense, ... more Following from John Dewey’s notion that aesthetic experience is experience in its fullest sense, this chapter focuses on examining Dewey’s concept of aesthetic experience as it is inextricably tied to his concepts of human nature and education. It begins by exploring the concept of aesthetic experience in the context of Dewey’s broader theory of education and growth. The chapter then discusses how aesthetic experiences are cultivated in the context of formal learning settings, including classrooms and outdoor environments, paying special attention to the critical and indispensable role of the teacher in creating situations for students’ aesthetic experiences. In this context, the chapter discusses how Dewey’s critique of traditional and progressive education is still relevant in today’s global education climate. It concludes by discussing the crisis in education as the authors see it today and suggests that Dewey’s views provide three key insights for addressing this crisis: the val...

Choice Reviews Online

PREFACE INTRODUCTION PART I - The Child-Centred Legacy CHAPTER 1 The Origins of Child-centred Edu... more PREFACE INTRODUCTION PART I - The Child-Centred Legacy CHAPTER 1 The Origins of Child-centred Education CHAPTER 2 Contrasting Visions, Contrasting Lives CHAPTER 3 Plowden and Beyond PART II - Fundamental Values CHAPTER 4 The 'Whole Child' as a Person CHAPTER 5 Making Sense: the importance of meaning and coherence CHAPTER 6 Interdependence: the need for others PART III - The Road to Change CHAPTER 7 Teachers and Children BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Cambridge Primary Review Research Surveys is the companion volume to Children, their World, t... more The Cambridge Primary Review Research Surveys is the companion volume to Children, their World, their Education: final report and recommendations of the Cambridge Primary Review. Both are the outcome of England's biggest enquiry into primary education for over 40 ...

Education 3-13

The year 2016 was remarkable for many reasons, but one significant anniversary for the realm of e... more The year 2016 was remarkable for many reasons, but one significant anniversary for the realm of education was that 2016 marked a hundred years since the influential publication of Democracy and Education by John Dewey (1916). Looking back, one could argue that 2016 also saw peoples across the globe enduring political repression and change, growth in the threat of international terror, a referendum decreeing that the UK should sever membership from the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as president of the US. Times and events all suggested that the very practice and meaning of democracy was widely under scrutiny. The idea of democracy and its relevance to how we educate young people seemed never more pertinent than in that year. Four years before 2016, I became chair of a Steering Group of academics and practitioners who, anticipating the centenary, wished to mark Dewey's seminal educational work with an international conference. In the spirit of Dewey, we determined that the conference should integrate practice and theory, with scholars, researchers and practitioners given equal space to express and explore the richness of Dewey's thinking. The conference: 'John Dewey's "Democracy and Education" 100 Years On: Past, Present, and Future Relevance', eventually took place in Homerton College and the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, in September 2016. The number of international educationalists, scholars and researchers who expressed interest and submitted papers surpassed our expectations. Over one hundred papers were accepted and ultimately presented to 125 delegates from 25 different countries. America, UK and Europe were well represented as were other countries as far-flung as China, Japan, Cameroon and Brazil. Schools in England and in Spain who are committed to the practice of Philosophy for Children and who acknowledged this as having strong roots in Dewey's ideas came forward and eventually attended the conference bringing groups of their students to demonstrate P4C. The head teacher of the University of Cambridge Primary School (UCPS), where echoes of some of Dewey's best progressive ideas are clearly present, agreed to speak and arranged for conference delegates to visit his school. In the event, keynotes were given by Professors Barbara Stengel and Rosa Bruno-Jofre, from the US and Canada, respectively, and Dame Alison Peacock, former head teacher, author and now Chief Executive of the Chartered College of Teaching. Professor Gert Biesta from Brunel University and visiting professor in Norway and the Netherlands where he is also a member of the advisory body to the Dutch government and parliament gave the conference's closing keynote. A panel representing the UK, the US and the media presented and led a lively discussion on the question 'Is John Dewey too toxic for policy?' The panel members were Professor Richard Pring, former Professor of Education at Oxford University, Professor Lynda Stone, past president of the John Dewey Society in the US and from the University of North Carolina, US and Melissa Benn, journalist and campaigner. For more details of the conference including keynote summaries, please visit the conference website www.Dewey2016.co.uk. The collection of articles in this Special Issue designed to mark the centenary of Democracy and Education have been carefully selected from the many presentations at the conference because of their relevance to issues relating directly to the education of children aged 3-13. They reflect the international dimension of the conference and also the rich variety of topics that in turn shows what a wide-ranging and valuable education resource of ideas are embedded in the writings of John Dewey. In the event, many of the papers presented drew widely on publications by John Dewey beyond Democracy and Education. Inevitably, as a prolific writer and philosopher committed to critical enquiry, there is no single book that encapsulates the full depth and richness of his ideas and the articles in this Special Edition reflect this.

Other Education, Jan 31, 2014

Over the last few decades, the formal school curriculum in many countries has become increasingly... more Over the last few decades, the formal school curriculum in many countries has become increasingly prescribed and attainment orientated with an insistent pressure to measure progress in the name of "raising standards." This form of constraint on educational practice has provoked counter trends in a desire to enrich the curriculum. Situating learning activities in the open air have become increasingly popular as a counter to formalised schooling. The UK, for example, has seen legislated outside spaces for early years and a growing interest in Forest Schools. The long tradition of activity centres, outside school visits and field tripsoffering a valuable way to augment formal learning-has survived in many school settings. The claims for the benefit of taking learning outside are extensive. They range across claiming value for both individual and societal well-being, improving mental and physical health, as well as a way of sustaining inclusion, social cohesion and democratic practice. This article explores how aesthetics and the body may be seen to feature in outside educational experience. By drawing on the work of Richard Shusterman and his extensive work on somaesthetics, the purpose of the article is to augment or ground claims for the worth of "outside" learning in embodied aesthetic experience and therefore help illuminate what is distinctively educational about moving learning beyond the walls of the school.

Research in Education, May 1, 1999

... The research that we looked at into motivation and engagement among younger pupils drew atten... more ... The research that we looked at into motivation and engagement among younger pupils drew attention to ... 1 The impact on motivation of a gap between pupils' expectations of hav-ing more responsibility ... move from one style of teaching to another or from the lower primary to the ...

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 00131857 2012 755753, Sep 30, 2014

Critical Thinking and Learning, 2008

Studies in Philosophy and Education, 2001

For young children, learning begins in conversation contexts such as schools. The author of this ... more For young children, learning begins in conversation contexts such as schools. The author of this paper contends that talk activities are fundamental to future knowledge and understanding. Implicit is critique of a current British model that values the practice of speaking through effective talk. This view is contrasted to one centered on expressive speech and authentic listening.

Music Education Research, 2004

Journal of Philosophy of Education, 2010

Ethics and Education, 2007

This paper critically examines some assumptions involved in determining the nature of the relatio... more This paper critically examines some assumptions involved in determining the nature of the relationships and work that constitute a school as a community dedicated to learning and knowledge. Rather than arguing from first principles, the paper assumes that respect for other people as ends is preferable to seeing individuals in terms of their function or status; and it argues, in