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Dr Andrew Davis' Outputs (23)

Knowing and learning: from Hirst to Ofsted (2023)
Journal Article
Davis, A. J. (2023). Knowing and learning: from Hirst to Ofsted. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 57(1), 214-226. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopedu/qhad002

Hirst always highlighted knowledge when reflecting on the school curriculum. He replaced his early focus on liberal education, the development of mind and theoretical knowledge by emphasizing the practical and practices as a curriculum starting point... Read More about Knowing and learning: from Hirst to Ofsted.

It worked there. Will it work here? Researching teaching methods (2017)
Journal Article
Davis, A. (2017). It worked there. Will it work here? Researching teaching methods. Ethics and Education, 12(3), 289-303. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449642.2017.1361267

‘It worked there. Will it work here?’ We have to be able to identify the ‘it’ in that aphoristic question. Classifications of teaching methods belong in the social realm, where human intentions play a fundamental role in how phenomena are categorized... Read More about It worked there. Will it work here? Researching teaching methods.

How far can we aspire to consistency when assessing learning? (2013)
Journal Article
Davis, A. (2013). How far can we aspire to consistency when assessing learning?. Ethics and Education, 8(3), 217-228. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449642.2013.876788

How far can consistent assessment capture all the worthwhile features of educational achievement? Are some important components of learning necessarily open to a range of potentially inconsistent judgments by different assessors? I argue for a cautio... Read More about How far can we aspire to consistency when assessing learning?.

Neuroscience and Education: At Best a Civil Partnership: A Response to Schrag (2013)
Journal Article
Davis, A. (2013). Neuroscience and Education: At Best a Civil Partnership: A Response to Schrag. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 47(1), 31-36. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9752.12012

In this response, I agree with much of what Schrag says about the principled limits of neuroscience to inform educators' decisions about approaches to learning. However, I also raise questions about the extent to which discoveries about ‘deficits’ in... Read More about Neuroscience and Education: At Best a Civil Partnership: A Response to Schrag.

A Monstrous Regimen of Synthetic Phonics: Fantasies of Research-Based Teaching 'Methods' versus Real Teaching (2012)
Journal Article
Davis, A. (2012). A Monstrous Regimen of Synthetic Phonics: Fantasies of Research-Based Teaching 'Methods' versus Real Teaching. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 46(4), 560-573. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.2012.00879.x

In England, Higher Education institutions, together with the schools whose staff they train, are being required to incorporate synthetic phonics as one of the key approaches to the teaching of reading. Yet even if synthetic phonics can be identified... Read More about A Monstrous Regimen of Synthetic Phonics: Fantasies of Research-Based Teaching 'Methods' versus Real Teaching.

Examples as Method? My Attempts to Understand Assessment and Fairness (in the Spirit of the Later Wittgenstein. (2009)
Journal Article
Davis, A. (2009). Examples as Method? My Attempts to Understand Assessment and Fairness (in the Spirit of the Later Wittgenstein. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 43(3), 371-389. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.2009.00699.x

What is 'fairness' in the context of educational assessment? I apply this question to a number of contemporary educational assessment practices and policies. My approach to philosophy of education owes much to Wittgenstein. A commentary set apart fro... Read More about Examples as Method? My Attempts to Understand Assessment and Fairness (in the Spirit of the Later Wittgenstein..

High Stakes Testing and the Structure of the Mind: A reply to Randall Curren. (2006)
Journal Article
Davis, A. (2006). High Stakes Testing and the Structure of the Mind: A reply to Randall Curren. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 40(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.2006.00492.x

'High stakes testing' is to be understood as testing with serious consequences for students, their teachers and their educational institutions. It plays a central role in holding teachers and educational institutions to account. In a recent article R... Read More about High Stakes Testing and the Structure of the Mind: A reply to Randall Curren..

Learning and the Social Nature of Mental Powers (2005)
Journal Article
Davis, A. (2005). Learning and the Social Nature of Mental Powers. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 37(5), 635-647. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2005.00148.x

Over the last two decades the traditional conception of intelligence and other mental powers as stable individual assets has been challenged by approaches in psychology emphasising context and 'situated cognition'. This paper argues that the debate s... Read More about Learning and the Social Nature of Mental Powers.

Social Externalism and the Ontology of Competence (2005)
Journal Article
Davis, A. (2005). Social Externalism and the Ontology of Competence. Philosophical Explorations, 8(3), 297-308. https://doi.org/10.1080/13869790500219554

Social externalism implies that many competences are not personal assets separable from social and cultural environments but complex states of affairs involving individuals and persisting features of social reality. The paper explores the consequence... Read More about Social Externalism and the Ontology of Competence.

The Credentials of Brain-based Learning (2004)
Journal Article
Davis, A. (2004). The Credentials of Brain-based Learning. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 33(1), 21-35. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0309-8249.2004.00361.x

This paper discusses the current fashion for brain-based learning, in which value-laden claims about learning are grounded in neurophysiology. It argues that brain science cannot have the 'authority' about learning that some seek to give it. It goes... Read More about The Credentials of Brain-based Learning.

Teaching for Understanding in Primary Mathematics (2001)
Journal Article
Davis, A. (2001). Teaching for Understanding in Primary Mathematics. Evaluation and research in education, 15(3), 136-42

Discusses the nature of mathematical understanding for primary school (elementary school) students in the context of the National Numeracy Strategy of the United Kingdom. Suggests some ways in which the national curriculum does not seem well designed... Read More about Teaching for Understanding in Primary Mathematics.