Authority and the Teacher - Softcover

Kitchen, William H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1472524284 ISBN 13: 9781472524287

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014

Synopsis

Authority and the Teacher seeks to overturn the notion that authority is a restrictive force within education, serving only to stifle creativity and drown out the voice of the student. William H. Kitchen argues that any education must have, as one of its cornerstones, a component which encourages the fullest development of knowledge, which serves as the great educational emancipator. In this version of knowledge-driven education, the teacher's authority should be absolute, so as to ensure that the teacher has the scope to liberate their pupils. The pupil, in the avoidance of ignorance, can thus embrace what is rightfully theirs; the inheritance of intellectual riches passed down through time.

By invoking the work of three major philosophers – Polanyi, Oakeshott and Wittgenstein – as well as contributions from other key thinkers on authority, this book underpins previous claims for the need for authority in education with the philosophical clout necessary to ensure these arguments permeate modern mainstream educational thinking.

About this title

Review:

'This is an important discussion of an issue that is studiously evaded by the education establishment. Kitchen's excellent study of what is the central issue facing schooling is a must read for all who take education of our children seriously.' --Frank Furedi, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Kent, UK, and author of Authority: A Sociological History (2013)

From Socrates until the child-centred theorists of the 20th century the ''teacher'' armed with the ''authority'' of his learning was the accepted medium for the transmission of the knowledge and judgement of the past, and the basis for expanding that of the future. Kitchen, with his analysis of the writings of Polanyi, Oakeshott, and Wittgenstein, tells us why. --Robert McCartney QC, Chairman of the National Grammar Schools Association, UK

About the Author:

William H. Kitchen is a freelance educational researcher. He currently teaches mathematics at post-primary level in Northern Ireland, and has previously authored Authority and the Teacher with Bloomsbury.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1472524284
• ISBN 13: 9781472524287
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224