Ethics and Professional Practice – Part 3 of 3

This webinar took place on Tuesday 16th June 2020.

This Webinar:

This is Part 3 of a series of three related webinars exploring ‘Ethics and Professional Practice in Education’ led by Dr. David Aldridge, Brunel University London.

Part 3: Literary approaches to educational research

In this presentation, I seek to elaborate what the contribution of literary interpretation and reflection might be for educational practice.

The philosopher of education David Carr wrote in 1995 that ‘I have long been convinced that students may stand to gain far more from a sympathetic reading of Dickens, Orwell and Lawrence in relation to their understanding of education than they are likely to get from studying Skinner, Bruner or Bloom’s taxonomy.’

Carr was specifically addressing the learning of student teachers, but his observations highlight the essential connection between works of literature and our understandings of education. The situation Carr described over twenty years ago is at least as pertinent now: the continuing encroachment of accountability, technological rationalism and a data-driven ‘gold standard’ for research and teaching have come more generally to shape society and in particular the institutions of higher education in which enquiries into education and literary studies are conducted, so that Carr seems to be speaking directly to us when he continues that “In the current climate of both theoretical and anti-theoretical thinking about education … one is liable to attract the reputation of an educational flat-earther for even hinting at this possibility” (i.e. that practitioners, theorists and policy makers might have something to learn from literary sources).

Pre-reading (shared with participants following registration):

Selections from Rousseau’s Emile (TBC).

About Dr. David Aldridge:

David Aldridge is Director of Research in the Department of Education at Brunel University London. He is an editor of the British Educational Research Journal and assistant editor of the Journal of Philosophy of Education. His research interests are literature and education, moral and religious education, and the relationship between technology and education.

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