Epistemic decentering in education for responsibility: revisiting the theory and practice of educational integrity

Abstract

There is no consensus on definitions of educational or academic integrity, and their philosophical relationship with the notion of responsibility is complex. Here, we aim to i) disentangle these three notions. We lean on a philosophical framework of ethics and our method involves different kinds of reasoning and the modeling of complex thinking. We combine this frame with a three-level epistemic dimension to allow us ii) to model the psycho-epistemic (level 1), epistemological (level 2), and phenomenological (ground 0) ways in which subjects interact with their own norms and knowledge and with those of the surrounding institutions. Finally, iii) we also aim to propose concrete educational means by which to implement educational integrity. Our theoretical findings lead us i) to consider responsibility as a process that consists of establishing a dialogical relationship between one’s inner and outer worlds, which relies on an epistemic decentering. Based on this, we argue that education for responsibility founds a new, expanded definition of educational integrity. Moreover, ii) empirical evidence suggests that this model can be operationalized by psychological indicators such as critical and complex thinking, cognitive flexibility, contextual relativism, and decentering, all of which are skills that can be fostered in spite of simplifying thinking, dogmatism, naive epistemology (and dualism) and cognitive fusion, respectively. It points to iii) the benefits of an educational approach in which subjects are encouraged to practice different types of meditation and to feel free to break institutional rules. Therefore, promoting educational integrity may require methods that lie beyond the obvious choices. After discussing the scope and limitations of our results, we propose a new research agenda for educational integrity, which could ground a field of research broader than just academic integrity, but complementary to it.