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Outputs (35)

Forms of knowledge and forms of philosophy (2023)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2023). Forms of knowledge and forms of philosophy. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 57(1), 65-76. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopedu/qhad007

Paul Hirst’s work on the nature of knowledge and its significance for education is still important, in at least two respects. One is the defence he offers of a distinctively liberal education: this is widely acknowledged, but its importance in our ow... Read More about Forms of knowledge and forms of philosophy.

Character education and the instability of virtue (2022)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2022). Character education and the instability of virtue. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 56(6), 889-898. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9752.12692

Character education in schools in England is flourishing. I give many examples of the enthusiasm for it as well as drawing attention to the UK government's new ambivalence towards it. Character education seems largely impervious to the many criticism... Read More about Character education and the instability of virtue.

Wittgenstein, Pesquisa Educacional e a Captura da Ciência (Wittgenstein, educational research and the capture of science) (2020)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2020). Wittgenstein, Pesquisa Educacional e a Captura da Ciência (Wittgenstein, educational research and the capture of science). Educação & Realidade, 45(3), Article e106764. https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-6236106764

The author discusses the importance of Wittgenstein’s thinking for the relativization of the scientific attitude in the philosophy of education, particularly when the social sciences tend to follow the model of the hard sciences in their research act... Read More about Wittgenstein, Pesquisa Educacional e a Captura da Ciência (Wittgenstein, educational research and the capture of science).

Unsettling Knowledge: Irony and Education (2020)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2020). Unsettling Knowledge: Irony and Education. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 54(3), 757-771. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9752.12444

Philosophy is sometimes thought of as having two principal dimensions: one that aims to build systems and doctrines, and another that is concerned to unsettle fixed ways of thinking. Richard Peters seems to position himself in both camps. I suggest t... Read More about Unsettling Knowledge: Irony and Education.

Writing Up and Down: The Language of Educational Research (2020)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2020). Writing Up and Down: The Language of Educational Research. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 54(3), 666-678. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9752.12440

There is a marked tendency in educational research to marginalise the written word, and to be wary of what I here call its ‘writerliness’: its capacity to go beyond the prosaic and the utilitarian, where meaning is understood largely in terms of the... Read More about Writing Up and Down: The Language of Educational Research.

The ancient quarrel and the dream of writing (2018)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2018). The ancient quarrel and the dream of writing. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 52(4), 592-608. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9752.12324

The main purpose of this article is to question and finally reject the tendency to see philosophy and literature (especially poetry) as essentially distinct forms of language, a tendency which sometimes extends to regarding them as mutually exclusive... Read More about The ancient quarrel and the dream of writing.

The ethics of Research Excellence (2017)
Journal Article
Conroy, J., & Smith, R. (2017). The ethics of Research Excellence. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 51(4), 693-708. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9752.12249

We here analyse the ethical dimensions of the UK's ‘Research Excellence Framework’ (REF), the latest (2014) version of an exercise which assesses the quality of university research in the UK every seven or so years. We find many of the common objecti... Read More about The ethics of Research Excellence.

Metamorphosis and the management of change (2016)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2016). Metamorphosis and the management of change. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 50(1), 8-19. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9752.12169

Talk of educational reform and of the importance of ‘the management of change’ in education and elsewhere is still in vogue. However it often seems concerned to persuade us that if we engage fully with change rather than resisting it we will find our... Read More about Metamorphosis and the management of change.

Educational research: the importance of the humanities (2015)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2015). Educational research: the importance of the humanities. Educational Theory, 65(6), 739-754. https://doi.org/10.1111/edth.12145

It is one sign of the lack of understanding of the value of the humanities, to educational research and inquiry as well as to our world more widely, that such justifications of them as are offered frequently take a crudely instrumental form. The huma... Read More about Educational research: the importance of the humanities.

Erziehung und Wissenschaft, Erklären und Verstehen (2015)
Journal Article
Smith, R., & Keiner, E. (2015). Erziehung und Wissenschaft, Erklären und Verstehen. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 5, 665-682

Zusammenfassung: Erziehungswissenschaft scheint gegenwärtig weltweit, besonders in englischsprachigen Ländern, zunehmend von der Übernahme, gar der Imitation, naturwissenschaftlicher Methoden bestimmt zu sein. Ein Beispiel hierfür ist die gegenwärtig... Read More about Erziehung und Wissenschaft, Erklären und Verstehen.

Judgement calls: the ethics of educational deliberation (2014)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2014). Judgement calls: the ethics of educational deliberation. Pedagogical Culture, 1, 101-114

In all kinds of ways the idea of judgement has fallen under suspicion in recent times, and opportunities to exercise it have become fewer. It has suffered from being confused with judgmentalism, and from the assumption that it amounts to little more... Read More about Judgement calls: the ethics of educational deliberation.

A strange condition of things: alterity and knowingness in Dickens' 'David Copperfield' (2013)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2013). A strange condition of things: alterity and knowingness in Dickens' 'David Copperfield'. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 45(4), 371-382. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2012.718144

It is sometimes said that we are strangers to ourselves, bearers of internal alterity, as well as to each other. The profounder this strangeness then the greater the difficulty of giving any systematic account of it without paradox: of supposing that... Read More about A strange condition of things: alterity and knowingness in Dickens' 'David Copperfield'.

The play of Socratic dialogue. (2011)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2011). The play of Socratic dialogue. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 45(2), 221-233

Total parenting. (2010)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2010). Total parenting. Educational Theory, 60(3), 357-369

As if by Machinery: The Levelling of Educational Research (2006)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2006). As if by Machinery: The Levelling of Educational Research. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 40(2), 157-168. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.2006.00509.x

Much current educational research shows the influence of two powerful but potentially pernicious lines of thought. The first, which can be traced at least as far back as Francis Bacon, is the ambition to formulate precise techniques of research, or `... Read More about As if by Machinery: The Levelling of Educational Research.

Abstraction and finitude: education, chance and democracy (2006)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2006). Abstraction and finitude: education, chance and democracy. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 25(1-2), 19-35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-006-6436-9

Education in the west has become a very knowing business in which students are encouraged to cultivate self-awareness and meta-cognitive skills in pursuit of a kind of perfection. The result is the evasion of contingency and of the consciousness of h... Read More about Abstraction and finitude: education, chance and democracy.

On diffidence: the moral psychology of self-belief (2006)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2006). On diffidence: the moral psychology of self-belief. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 40(1), 51-62. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.2006.00498.x

The language of self-belief, including terms like shyness and diffidence, is complex and puzzling. The idea of self-esteem in particular, which has been given fresh currency by recent interest in 'personalised learning', continues to create problems.... Read More about On diffidence: the moral psychology of self-belief.

Two dogmas of measurement (2003)
Journal Article
Smith, R., & Smeyers, P. (2003). Two dogmas of measurement. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspective, 1(4), 279-285

Self-esteem: The kindly apocalypse (2002)
Journal Article
Smith, R. (2002). Self-esteem: The kindly apocalypse. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 36(1), 87-100. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9752.00261

Self-esteem has become an educational shibboleth. But over-valuing it brings dangers, particularly of dishonesty, manipulation and devaluation of human relationships. Yet there is clearly something here we want to save: a gentler culture with wider p... Read More about Self-esteem: The kindly apocalypse.