Series | Book
Postformal education
a philosophy for complex futures
Abstract
This book explains why the current education model, which was developed in the 19th century to meet the needs of industrial expansion, is obsolete. It points to the need for a new approach to education designed to prepare young people for global uncertainty, accelerating change and unprecedented complexity.The book offers a new educational philosophy to awaken the creative, big-picture and long-term thinking that will help equip students to face tomorrow’s challenges. Inside, readers will find a dialogue between adult developmental psychology research on higher stages of reasoning and today’s most evolved education research and practice. This dialogue reveals surprising links between play and wisdom, imagination and ecology, holism and love. The overwhelming issues of global climate crisis, growing economic disparity and the youth mental health epidemic reveal how dramatically the current education model has failed students and educators. This book raises a planet-wide call to deeply question how we actually think and how we must educate. It articulates a postformal education philosophy as a foundation for educational futures.The book will appeal to educators, educational philosophers, pre-service teacher educators, educational and developmental psychologists and educational researchers, including postgraduates with an interest in transformational educational theories designed for the complexity of the 21st century. This is the most compelling book on education I have read for many years. It has major implications for all who are in a position to influence developments in teacher education and educational policy. Gidley is one of the very rare scholars who can write intelligently and accessibly about the past, present and future in education. I was challenged and ultimately convinced by her contention that ‘what masquerades as education today must be seen for what it is – an anachronistic relic of the industrial past’. Gidley’s challenge is to ‘co-evolve’ a radically new education. All who seek to play a part must read this book. Brian J. Caldwell, PhD, Educational Transformations, former Dean of Education at the University of Melbourne and Deputy Chair, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)
Details | Table of Contents
past, present and futures
pp.17-44
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29069-0_2child and adolescent
pp.45-69
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29069-0_3pre-formal and formal
pp.71-98
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29069-0_4beyond Piaget's formal operations
pp.101-131
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29069-0_5beyond the formal factory model
pp.133-156
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29069-0_6pp.157-186
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29069-0_7an evolutionary force
pp.189-206
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29069-0_8a sustaining force
pp.207-227
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29069-0_9a creative force
pp.229-247
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29069-0_10an empowering force
pp.249-267
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29069-0_11Publication details
Publisher: Springer
Place: Dordrecht
Year: 2016
Pages: 291
Series: Critical Studies of Education
Series volume: 3
ISBN (hardback): 978-3-319-29068-3
ISBN (digital): 978-3-319-29069-0
Full citation:
Gidley Jennifer M. (2016) Postformal education: a philosophy for complex futures. Dordrecht, Springer.