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...

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...

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...

What are the concepts and theories behind current debates about education?This comprehensive introduction to philosophy of education discusses issues that are of current public interest and debate. It locates education at the heart of questions concerned with culture, ethics, politics, economics and shows how key educational issues have to be approached in a contextual way.Written in a clear and accessible manner with current issues in mind the book covers:the c...

The Philosophy of Human Learning addresses current concerns with the nature of human learning from a distinctive philosophical perspective. Using insights derived from the work of Wittgenstein, it mounts a vigorous attack on influential contemporary accounts of learning, both in the 'romantic' Rousseauian tradition and in the 'scientific' cognotivist tradition. These two schools, Professor Winch argues, are more closely related than is commonly realised.

This book provides an integrated treatment of the relationship between political economy and vocational education at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Approaching the subject from a philosophical perspective the author engages with debates about* the work-related aims of education * the moral and spiritual significance of work * the concep