TY - JOUR
T1 - Searching for excellence in education
T2 - knowledge, virtue and presence?
AU - MacAllister, James
AU - Macleod, Gale
AU - Pirrie, Anne
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - This article addresses two main questions: (1) what is excellence and (2) should epistemic excellence be the main purpose of education? Though references to excellence have become increasingly frequent in the UK education policy, these questions are perhaps especially important in Scotland where the curriculum is explicitly for excellence. Following Hirst and Peters, it is hypothesised that if the term ‘education’ implies possession of a certain breadth of general knowledge and understanding, then the term ‘excellence’ may imply a deep grasp of a specific body of knowledge. However, after consideration of Dewey's suggestion that being present in the moment is an excellence of childhood, it is concluded that (1) the development of epistemic excellence (having a deep grasp of valuable knowledge) should be regarded as an educational purpose rather than the only educational purpose and (2) pupil engagement with public traditions of knowledge provides necessary but not sufficient conditions for education.
AB - This article addresses two main questions: (1) what is excellence and (2) should epistemic excellence be the main purpose of education? Though references to excellence have become increasingly frequent in the UK education policy, these questions are perhaps especially important in Scotland where the curriculum is explicitly for excellence. Following Hirst and Peters, it is hypothesised that if the term ‘education’ implies possession of a certain breadth of general knowledge and understanding, then the term ‘excellence’ may imply a deep grasp of a specific body of knowledge. However, after consideration of Dewey's suggestion that being present in the moment is an excellence of childhood, it is concluded that (1) the development of epistemic excellence (having a deep grasp of valuable knowledge) should be regarded as an educational purpose rather than the only educational purpose and (2) pupil engagement with public traditions of knowledge provides necessary but not sufficient conditions for education.
U2 - 10.1080/17449642.2013.843964
DO - 10.1080/17449642.2013.843964
M3 - Article
SN - 1744-9650
VL - 8
SP - 153
EP - 165
JO - Ethics and Education
JF - Ethics and Education
IS - 2
ER -