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The history of social foundations seems to be one of eclecticism. No singular texts, no definitive methodology, no “best practice” formulations are to be found. The lack of a foundation within foundations in fact seems to be a foundational theme (Butin, 2004; Talburt, 2001; Warren, 1998). In one respect such a lack of calcification fosters an ongoing dialogue within and across educational disciplines, allowing for the questioning, rethinking and reworking of theory and practice...Yet such lack of certitude within foundations is troubling when linked to other dilemmas in the field: a surprisingly small percentage (less than two-thirds) of all faculty teaching foundations courses have doctoral degrees in the field (Shea & Henry, 1986; Shea, Sola & Jones, 1987); there is a heavy over-reliance on textbooks (Butin, 2004); the supposed “bread and butter” of foundations – the philosophy and history of education – is actually the least enjoyable for most instructors to teach (Towers, 1991). This volume offers a more deliberate and deliberative model of the social foundations of education. It addresses how we teach, what we teach, and why we teach the way we do. And it suggests that each of these is inextricably linked in multiple social, cultural, and political webs of meaning. For the social foundations of education is, if nothing else, an exploration into the layered contexts of our educational process. Whether it is approached through diverse disciplines, theoretical perspectives, or pedagogical practices, the social foundations classroom is supposed to help students understand the complex, intertwined, and deep roots of why we do what we do in contemporary schooling. Yet how exactly do we as professors begin to open the lens by which students come to understand these contexts of education? How do we encourage a thoughtful, reflective, incisive, and critical awareness in our students? How do we help students see other perspectives, other peoples, other modes of being? How do we, as Clifford Geertz (2000) suggests, come to see that “foreignness does not start at the water’s edge but at the skin’s” (p. 76)? […] Is it enough to lecture about social justice, or do we actually have to do it? To what extent can we offer students the freedom to discover the limits of authority in the classroom without reneging on our duties as professors of actually teaching the fundamentals of our discipline? How do we coax our students into understanding the boundaries of their own perspectives and the need to take into account a larger picture of our communities, our cultures, and our world without leaving them bereft of any grounding? And how are these theories operationalized in the day-to-day realities of the higher education classroom? I believe that these issues are critical to examine for both new and seasoned faculty within the social foundations field. For the topics addressed do not go away. Our students come to us wanting to become teachers, experts, scholars. This volume thus offers professors an opportunity to expand the hermeneutics of the possible within the social foundations classroom through deep investigations of such complexities and potentials. ~ from the Preface, by Dan W. Butin |
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From the review in Teachers College Record, 108(5), 2006 "This book looks closely at where social foundations enter the picture, explores in depth how these courses look as taught by instructors with different passions and commitments, from aesthetic based and feminist, to ecojustice and postmodern—and that’s just a start—and offers a wealth of resources that more and less experienced teachers of foundational courses can draw on as they develop their own approaches." |
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RESOURCES organizations table of contents
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CONTRIBUTORS
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