The book includes the traditional foci of philosophy, sociology, psychology, and teaching and learning, and emphasises how these foci influence the practice of teaching. Classic theories, that informed and continue to inform teacher education, have dominated the engagement within education but this book shifts focus to current research and innovative theories that have evolved to promote teaching and learning in a challenging and complex educational context. Hence, this book makes a deliberate attempt to map out influential classical theories that have informed the study of Education as a backdrop to explore how contemporary theories are currently influencing teaching and learning.

A Reader in Philosophy of Education attempts to deepen and widen the philosophical thinking of its readership in and about education. At the same time, it encourages an epistemologically rich understanding of education that is infused with different philosophies of education. Each of these gives readers an entry into the nature of education and maximises a many-sided understanding of educational problems encountered in society by means of rupture as well as consensus. The authors examine some of the primary genres of philosophy of education: critical realism; hermeneutics; phenomenology; critical theory; pragmatism; post-structuralism; rationality; Islamic education; Buddhism; Confucianism; African philosophy of education.

Does life have any meaning for you? Is it possible to create meaning? What do you think life is about? Do you think life is worth living?

These questions, taken from the text of Rethinking Our World, challenge the reader to look critically and creatively at many of society’s traditional beliefs. They encourage readers to look at their world differently by asking questions about change, identity and direction. The authors outline the major figures and basic principles of each philosophy, then analyse the type of thinking each approach encourages. They go on to challenge readers to examine ways in which the different approaches can be used to understand the world.

Rethinking Our World will be invaluable to undergraduate students in the human and social sciences, as well as to a more general readership seeking an understanding of the arguments in the major philosophies.