Introduction to Foundations CHAPTER ONE Introduction to Foundations

Conducting Inquiry in Public Schools Schools are complex... Diverse Political Necessary Successful Failures The “foundations” are a means of understanding complexity.

What is “foundations” of education? A diverse but unified field of study Philosophy of Education History of Education Sociology of Education Psychology of Education etc Aims to provide deeper context and meaning

Some Key “Foundational” Questions What is the purpose of education? Should all student be given the same education? Who should control the curriculum? When and how should students be educated?

Understanding foundations allows you... to understand students contexts to think critically about education to see where education was & where it is going

Example: Education and Diversity Multicultural classrooms present both challenges and opportunities for teachers. Why?

E.g., Why have children begun spending increasing time in schools? Six Tools of Inquiry (1) Social Theory “...an attempt to make sense of and explain social phenomena. A theory attempts to answer the questions how and why.” E.g., Why have children begun spending increasing time in schools?

Six Tools of Inquiry (1) Social Theory A good theory is: (a) internally consistent (no contradictions) (b) accounts for all data (c) Is corroborated by other accepted theories

Tozer claims that schooling is different than education. How so? Six Tools of Inquiry (2) Schooling “...refers to the totality of experiences that occur within the institution called school, not all of which are educational.” Tozer claims that schooling is different than education. How so?

Six Tools of Inquiry (2) Schooling FORMS OF CURRICULUM Extracurricular curriculum Programs of study (curriculum) “Hidden” curriculum (the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn in school) Null Curriculum

Six Tools of Inquiry (3) Training “...may be described as a set of experiences provided to some organism (human or not) in an attempt to render its responses predictable according to the goals of the trainer.” How is this different than schooling? Does this happen in schools?

Six Tools of Inquiry (4) Education “Between education and training there exists a vast distinction. Education is an intellectual and spiritual process. It has to do with opening the windows of the human mind and human soul.” Pretty lofty...so does this still happen in schools? Can “teacher education” hope to achieve this?

Six Tools of Inquiry (4) Education “Education builds on the successes and failures of ancestors, whereas training tends to reproduce the response(s) of the trainer. Education produces responses that the educator may not have considered”

Six Tools of Inquiry (5) Political Economy “To study the political economy of a particular society is to examine how that society is organized--how its structures, processes, and physical and mental resources give it its character and distinctiveness.”

What are some popular ideologies today? Six Tools of Inquiry (6) Ideology “If ‘political economy’ refers to the material components of a culture, ‘ideology’ refers to its ideas” What are some popular ideologies today? How does ideology impact schools?

Ideology acts as an interpretive lens. Six Tools of Inquiry (6) Ideology Ideology acts as an interpretive lens. We see the world through our ideologies. All societies possess ideologies. Christianity/Libertarianism/Consumerism /--isms

Tozer’s Analytic Framework Throughout this book, Tozer will use these “tools of inquiry” to create an “analytic framework. For example: Political Economy Ideology Schooling

Task Due by Next Class Next week we will discuss chapter 2. Please complete this reading prior to coming to class.