Overview

Critical Reflections on Teacher Education argues that educational philosophy can improve the quality of teacher education programs in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The book documents the ways in which the market model of education propagated by governments and outside agencies hastens the decline of philosophy of education and turns teachers into technicians in hierarchical school systems. A grounding in educational philosophy, however, enables future teachers to make informed and qualified judgements defining their professional lives. In a clear and accessible style, Howard Woodhouse uses a combination of reasoned argument and narrative to show that educational philosophy, together with Indigenous knowledge systems, forms the basis of a climate change education capable of educating future teachers and their students about the central issue of our time.

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Woodhouse here provides a clear, cogent and compelling case for the practical importance of philosophy in teacher education. Arguing that teachers need to be more than technicians, he presents an incisive attack on the current market/managerial model of education. He suggests that current practice leads to conformity and lack of autonomy in teachers, and, drawing on the work of Bertrand Russell among others, he argues that philosophy is the means to developing instead their 'freedom of mind'. Timely and convincing, this is a major contribution to discussion of teacher education. Robin Barrow, Emeritus Professor, Philosophy of Education, Simon Fraser University, Canada Today we don't just find ourselves in the midst of an information hurricane. In less than a generation, we have transitioned from the information age to the misinformation age, from a time in which education was important for finding jobs to a time in which education is important for our very survival. Written for the thoughtful professional, Critical Reflections on Teacher Education provides a forward-looking vision of what it means to be educated. It reminds us that we need to have a conversation about the distinction between education and indoctrination, about how to distinguish sense from nonsense, and about how to disagree without being disagreeable. Woodhouse is to be congratulated for beginning this conversation. Andrew Irvine, Professor, Department of Economics, Philosophy and Political Science, University of British Columbia In this book, Howard Woodhouse analyzes the impact of the present-day emphasis on efficiency in education, the tendency to aim education almost exclusively at future work, and the teaching of an official government line throughout the years of schooling. For Woodhouse, as for his predecessor in such criticism, Bertrand Russell, this is an unjustified and even appalling development. Woodhouse addresses this development by encouraging philosophical discussion in teacher education programs and recommending that teachers should themselves be encouraged to engage in philosophy for children at every level in schooling. This is an important book that should be read in all teacher education programs and by anyone who cares about the education of our citizenry in general. Ian Winchester, Professor and Past Dean, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary

Woodhouse here provides a clear, cogent and compelling case for the practical importance of philosophy in teacher education. Arguing that teachers need to be more than technicians, he presents an incisive attack on the current market/managerial model of education. He suggests that current practice leads to conformity and lack of autonomy in teachers, and, drawing on the work of Bertrand Russell among others, he argues that philosophy is the means to developing instead their 'freedom of mind'. Timely and convincing, this is a major contribution to discussion of teacher education. -- Robin Barrow, Emeritus Professor, Philosophy of Education, Simon Fraser University, Canada Today we don't just find ourselves in the midst of an information hurricane. In less than a generation, we have transitioned from the information age to the misinformation age, from a time in which education was important for finding jobs to a time in which education is important for our very survival. Written for the thoughtful professional, Critical Reflections on Teacher Education provides a forward-looking vision of what it means to be educated. It reminds us that we need to have a conversation about the distinction between education and indoctrination, about how to distinguish sense from nonsense, and about how to disagree without being disagreeable. Woodhouse is to be congratulated for beginning this conversation. -- Andrew Irvine, Professor, Department of Economics, Philosophy and Political Science, University of British Columbia In this book, Howard Woodhouse analyzes the impact of the present-day emphasis on efficiency in education, the tendency to aim education almost exclusively at future work, and the teaching of an official government line throughout the years of schooling. For Woodhouse, as for his predecessor in such criticism, Bertrand Russell, this is an unjustified and even appalling development. Woodhouse addresses this development by encouraging philosophical discussion in teacher education programs and recommending that teachers should themselves be encouraged to engage in philosophy for children at every level in schooling. This is an important book that should be read in all teacher education programs and by anyone who cares about the education of our citizenry in general. -- Ian Winchester, Professor and Past Dean, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary

Author Information

Howard Woodhouse is Professor Emeritus and Co-Director of the Saskatchewan Process Philosophy Research Unit in the Department of Educational Foundations at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He is the author of more than eighty book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals, and his Selling Out: Academic Freedom and the Corporate Market was shortlisted for a Saskatchewan Book Award.

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