Collaborative philosophical inquiry as peace pedagogy

Abstract

While there is an expansion of global communication, it has not led to greater mutual understanding of social and political issues, as illustrated by the ongoing eruption of violence at global, national and local levels, such as “Indigenous struggles for recognition, gender inequality, increasingly vocal opposition over asylum seekers, discrimination against ethnic minorities, and marriage inequality” (Thornton & Burgh, 2017, p. 58), as well as the growing rise of domestic and family violence in Australia and elsewhere.Since there is an emphasis on the importance of education as a principle means of building a culture of peace (e.g. United Nations, 1999), it is necessary to evaluate peace education programs. Therefore, the thesis aimed to examine the potential and limitations of Collaborative Philosophical Inquiry (CPI) as a candidate pedagogy for peace. The researcher argued that existing peace education models lack a rich and integrated foundation for peace pedagogy. The researcher also criticized peace education models for generally appealing to a negative notion of peace (i.e., the absence of conflict) rather than a positive one (i.e., the capacity to respond to conflict as a way of promoting growth). To address these criticisms, the researcher first took a critical look at pragmatist epistemology to provide a framework that underpins her proposal for peace pedagogy. Next, she investigated CPI in Lipman’s educational theory and explored its contribution to peace education. Then, the researcher built on Lipman’s educational theory to develop a theory of educational practice for peace education, drawing on the existing literature and studies of CPI in the classroom. She drew attention to the fact that many peace education models fail since they cultivate only a superficial understanding of the concepts related to peace and violence instead of helping children to understand and practice what is involved in violence reduction and peace education (Lipman, 2003, pp. 105–106). CPI, on the other hand, has the potential to provide a cooperative, non-confrontational, and collaborative environment in which students can practice social inquiry and learn to make better judgments in their lives.However, the researcher exposed some limitations of CPI and showed that although CPI is considered a safe and peaceful environment that allows students to freely explore and inquire into conflicts, there is a problematic gap between an ideal CPI and what happens in the classroom. The researcher pointed out some major problems of actual CPI, including the potential for inequality and epistemic violence in the classroom. She outlined some different solutions for these drawbacks offered by scholars and proposed her model of ‘Peaceful CPI’ that provided pedagogical strategies to address potential inequality and epistemic violence. The researcher’s main argument was that CPI needs to more carefully consider the role of emotions in the process of learning.To argue the efficiency of CPI and to answer the main research question that whether or not CPI provides an effective model for Peace Pedagogy, the researcher carried out a case study research in an Australian capital city state school in which the practice of CPI has been adopted as a whole school approach to pedagogy over the past six years[1]. The study was grounded on interpretivist assumptions and was framed within a qualitative paradigm of inquiry that utilized case study research design. The study can throw light on whether, when CPI is established effectively, teachers and students perceive it to reduce violent conflicts (how?) and promote peaceful interactions (how?). The researcher collected data from different perspectives (teachers, students and the researcher) and deploying different methods (individual interviews, focus group interview and observations). In this research, thematic analysis was used for the description and interpretation of the data set. Bernstein’s (1971) theory of classification and framing was also used to analyze how power and control were distributed in CPI classrooms.The findings corroborate the capacity of CPI as peace pedagogy and its contributions to violence reduction and peace promotion in the school environment. Findings showed the teachers and students perceived CPI to reduce violent conflict and develop peaceful attributes, such as the ability to explore and resolve conflicts, to make reasonable judgments, and to peacefully disagree with others. On the other hand, findings suggested CPI might have some limitations regarding the distribution of power among community members and disengaged students from philosophical discussion.It is hoped that the findings of the research will assist peace education and CPI scholars and practitioners by embracing and enacting a more emotionally deliberative and effective education for children. The researcher also anticipates that the outcomes and recommendations of the study will open new horizons in the study of education for peace, democracy and citizenship. [1] The research was conducted in the school in 2015