皇家华人

Content:
Confucianism and Daoism have influenced East Asian societies for over 2500 years. This module invites students to critically explore and evaluate foundational Confucian and Daoist texts (such as the Analects, Mencius, Xunzi, Dao de Jing, and Zhuangzi) and their interpretation by leading scholars to see to what extent the ethical frameworks articulated in these books are still relevant for contemporary educational theory, practice, and policy. As such the module will address questions such as:?

• What do we mean by education???

• What is education for: here and now and moving forward???

• What are/ought to be the values that underpin education???

• What is or ought to be our understanding of learners, educators, schools etc.???

• What teaching and learning approaches are necessary to educate critical and ethical persons???

Through participation in the module activities students will: develop their understanding of these questions in light of key readings, arguments raised by leading experts in the field of education, and students’ own experiences. The module will enable students to question dominant Western educational discourses based on a view of the person as free, rational, and autonomous (that they will encounter at 皇家华人), which contrast with Daoist and Confucian visions of the person as relational and interdependent. As such, the module will equip participants with a greater appreciation and intercultural perspective-taking when considering concepts such as: education, personhood, citizenship, diversity, hegemony, inclusion, the state, subjectivity etc.

Teaching delivery: ?
This module is taught in 10 weekly seminars

Indicative Topics:
Indicative lecture topics for the module include as follows:?

• Session 1: Historical contextualisation of classical Confucianism (Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi) and Daoism (Laozi and Zhuangzi) and their respective conceptions of personhood?

• Session 2: The Confucian Aims of Education: to create a harmonious society by cultivating the junzi, the Confucian paradigmatic person??

• Session 3: Introduce Wǔ cháng (五常) (The Five Constant Virtues of Humanity): rén 仁 (benevolence); lǐ 禮 (propriety or rites); yì 義 (appropriateness); zhì 智 (wisdom); and xìn 信 (sincerity)??

• Session 4: Family reverence (xiào孝), discuss its importance as the root of cultivation of an ethical person and its critique from justice and gender perspectives.??

• Session 5: Confucian Pedagogy: The active encouragement of the questioning of authority and received wisdom and discussion of a possible curriculum.??

• Session 6: Critical Discussion of Daoist ethical concepts and their critiques: wuwei (non-coercive acting; wuzhi (non-dogmatic knowing); wuming (nameless); wuyu (objectless desires); and chang (constant/eternal).?

• Session 7: Social justice implications of Daoism through relational justice by way of its central theme of interdependence adhering to the main ethical concepts outlined in session 6.?

• Session 8: Pedagogical implications of Daoism in terms of the purpose of education; the teaching and learning approach that is best suited for Daoism; and a possible curriculum.??

• Session 9: A summary of the Confucian and Daoist philosophies of education and their implications and opportunity to work and discuss the assessed group presentation.?

• Session 10: Advice on the assessment of the module: the expectations and criteria, and opportunity to work on and discuss the assessed group presentation.

Module Aims:?

• To nurture intercultural dialogue between Western and East Asian pedagogies in order to understand and appreciate different perspectives and world views: a fundamental necessity of life in the 21st century.?

• To develop in students an ability to critically interrogate the taken-for-granted beliefs of Western and East Asian ethics and pedagogies so that they become more open to other viewpoints and thereby become good global citizens.?

• To develop students’ critical understanding of key debates and current research, theoretical perspectives and approaches on the purpose of education and their application to policy and practice.?

• To help students critically consider how educational institutions can equip learners with critical knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for social justice.??

• To develop students’ awareness and understanding of the interdependence of humans to one another and nature; thereby promoting a sustainable future for all.?

• To prepare students who are in the process of developing specialism in this field to develop practical skills, e.g., policy and practice critique and the drafting of policy.
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Recommended readings:
Books:??

• The Analects by D C Lau;??

• Mencius by D C Lau;??

• Dao de Jing: A Philosophical Translation by David Hall and Roger Ames;??

• The Cicada & The Bird: The Usefulness of a Useless Philosophy. Chuang Tzu’s ancient wisdom translated by Christopher Tricker;??

• Chinese Philosophy on Teaching and Learning: Xueji in the Twenty-First Century by Xu Di (Editor), Hunter McEwan (Editor).??

Articles:??

• Hongyu, W. (2013). Confucian self-cultivation and Daoist personhood: Implications for peace education. Frontiers of Education in China, 8(1), 62-79.?

• Confucianism and Education by Charlene Tan:? can be found at: https://oxfordre.com/education/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-226?

• Tan, C. (2021) Conceptualising social justice in education: A Daoist perspective. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 51(4), 596-611?

• Tu W-M (1968) The Creative Tension between Jen and Li. Philosophy East and West 18(1/2). University of Hawai’i Press: 29. DOI: 10.2307/1398034.?

• Tu W-M (1972) Li as process of humanization. Philosophy East and West 22(2): 187–201. DOI: 10.2307/1398124.?