This book examines the relationship between the educational activities of civil society and those of the state via three case studies in vocational education, political education, and educational markets. Winch argues that the narrower educational activities of the state cannot be understood independently of those that take place in civil society which consists of institutions such as families, churches, businesses, trade unions, charities and political associations. Drawi...

EDUCATIONAL EXPLANATIONSEducational Explanations is a comprehensive study of the main philosophical questions that confront empirical educational researchers. The book outlines the sense in which empirical educational research pursues truth and sets out and defends an account of its task as the offering of explanations for the many educational problems that claim our attention. The book goes on to look at the criteria for high quality research, the relatio...

This collection of articles by one of the leading philosophers of education in the English-speaking world takes up themes in the philosophy of language, epistemology and the philosophy of learning to shed light on philosophical puzzles concerning learning, concept formation, knowing how, the following of norms and whether there is a single concept of rationality that can be applied universally. Winch writes from a Wittgensteinian perspective, seeking dissolution rather than solution to phi...

This book gives practical guidance on how educational research can inform professional practice. Written in a clear and accessible style, it details the way in which evidence based knowledge can be used to develop teaching and learning, bringing together a range of resources for all levels of reader but specifically designed to aid the progressive practitioner researcher.The authors draw on their experience of empirical work in education to provide thoroughly up-to-date reference m...

Special Educational Needs: A New Look by Mary Warnock was initially published by the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain in 2005. In this new edition, Warnock has updated her argument, Brahm Norwich has contributed a counter-argument and Lorella Terzi has provided an introduction and afterword, drawing the two debates together.The issues debated in this new edition of Special Educational Needs: A New Look include:The statement of special educat...

What purpose does educational assessment serve? Are the same instruments suitable for different purposes? How much trust can we place upon the outcomes of educational assessment?The subject of educational assessment is much discussed and much misunderstood. Policymakers assert its importance to quality in education and its essential role in ensuring accountability for public education, and the results of educational assessment are thought to be of such vital interest to society tha...

A detailed philosophical debate on the nature of expertise is long overdue and Dimensions of Expertise opens up that debate. Christopher Winch firstly explores an account of know-how, derived primarily from the pioneering work of Gilbert Ryle, and moves on to relate this epistemological debate to discussions concerning the nature of expertise in vocational and professional education, including attempts to provide a theory of expertise.

Dyslexia is often presented as a clearly delineated condition that can be diagnosed on the basis of appropriate cognitive tests with corresponding forms on intervention. However, this approachable text explores the issues behind this assertion in bringing together leading figures in the field to debate dyslexia.Julian Elliott shows that understandings and usage of the dyslexia label vary substantially with little consensus or agreement and in putting forward his critique draws upon...

This title, first published in 1990, engages in the current debates about the teaching of literacy and the reform of education. Based on his dissatisfaction with prevalent theories of educational achievement and his experience of teaching in elementary schools, Winch argues that the dichotomy of biological inheritance and environmental influence is inadequate to describe the diverse phenomena of educational achievement. This title will be of interest to students of the philosophy of educat...

Teachers’ Know-How: A Philosophical Investigation presents a comprehensive and up to date philosophical treatment of the kinds of knowledge and “know-how” that educators should possess.Offers an original and in-depth study of teachers’ know-how which situates teaching within the spectrum of professionsCritiques the currently fashionable craft conception of teaching and the view of teaching as protocol-driven which is currently influential in policymaking ci...

The relevance of expertise to professional education and practice is explored in this collection of original contributions from educationalists, philosophers and psychologists.Discusses the increasingly prominent debates about the nature of know-how in mainstream analytical epistemologyIlluminates what is involved in professional expertise and the implications of a sound understanding of professional expertise for professional education practice, curriculum design a...

This volume examines how the public and private domains in school education in India are informed and mediated by current market realities. It moves beyond the simplistic dichotomy of pro-state versus promarket factors that define most current debates in the formulations of educational reform agendas to underline how they need to be interpreted in the larger context. The chapters in the volume present a series of conceptual and empirical investigations to understand the growth of private s...