Governance & Government and Individuals & Communities

Module Code: 7522 MEDI

Module Title: Competing Philosophies of Education

Programme: MA in Education

School: Education

Language of Instruction: English

Module Duration: Eight (8) Weeks

Mode of Delivery: Online

Critical response to issues in education, globalization and social justice, from a philosophical perspective

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Critical response to issues in education, globalization and social justice, from a philosophical perspective

Introduction

The study under consideration seeks to identify challenges or issues that hinder the delivery of quality education. The study will evaluate current developments due to changes in educational needs, globalization and strive for equality and social justice to develop solutions based on philosophical perspectives and relevant theories. 

The word education means the discipline or field of study taught in school (Furlong and Whitty, 2017). Education is an activity or a process and can be classified as either formal or informal. Education should cultivate various dispositions including abilities, skills, beliefs, attitudes and educational studies which are related to the society.  Schools are crucial in impacting students with necessary ethics, skills and rationality to exist in the community. Schools therefore do not exist in isolation from the society hence are exposed to challenges, developments, and other factors that exists in the society. 

Globalization is among the major changes that have occurred in the recent past which have resulted to extensive changes in the community. Globalization can be viewed as an accelerated growth in interdependency in world economies and cultures (Burlacu, Gutu and Matei, 2018). Globalization can be evidenced by increased international communication and trade, interdependence and collaboration between countries for global security and politics and technological developments. Globalization has impacted all political, religious and economic factors of the society including the education sector.  Globalization has therefore created a need to rethink political and social structures. For example, the national educational systems played a major role during the establishment of states in Europe. The states had absolute power and control over the education system. However, globalization resulted to the creation of liberal states to ensure that power is taken closer to the people. The creation of liberal states led to changes in education systems as each jurisdiction strived to adopt unique education policies and systems. Although technology has created new opportunities and careers, technology has also created new challenges. For example, technology has revolutionized interactions due to the emergence of social media platforms which are a new form of addiction to young people. 

Education also plays a vital role in ensuring equality and social justice in the community (Mills and Ballantyne,  2016). The state strives to ensure that all citizens are treated equally despite differences in economic status, races, religion or other attributes. One of the main strategies adopted by governments to ensure social justice is education for all since right to education is a guaranteed right in most nations. Despite the numerous strategies adopted by the governments over the years to ensure equality and social justice in the society, most countries still struggle with equality issues including wealthy families having access to better schools and racial discrimination. 

The current study will critically analyze the issues in in education, globalization and social justice. The research will evaluate various issues that continue to adversely affect the delivery of quality education across the world. The study will also analyze the adverse effects of globalization and education industry in particular. The research will then identify various theories and philosophical underpinnings associated with the issues hence develop evidence-based solutions to the issues. 

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Aims and Objectives of the Study

1. To determine various challenges facing education systems in the current times
2. To determine issues that have resulted due to globalization
3. To determine social justice and equality issues that continue to affect the modern world
4. To relate the issues with relevant philosophies and theories hence develop reliable and evidence-based solutions to the issues

Research procedures

A study can be classified into various categories based on the nature of the study, type of data that should be collected and the time available for the research. A study can be categorized as descriptive or analytical whereby descriptive studies involves reporting the results without critical analysis while analytical studies requires the researcher to analyze the results and make a coherent conclusion. The current study can be categorized as analytical since the researcher critically analyzed the results to develop evidence-based solutions to the identified issues. 

According to Bengtsson (2016), a research can also be categorized as either inductive or deductive. Inductive studies aim at developing a new theory while a deductive study aims at testing an already existing theory. The current study was deductive since the researcher relied on pre-existing theories to determine current issues related to globalization and social equality. The researcher relied on different philosophies, concepts and theories in education to develop reliable solutions and explain the foundations of the identified issues. 

A research strategy refers to how a researcher aims at making sense of the inquiry objects. A research can use either a qualitative strategy, quantitative strategy or a mixed strategy. The current study was mostly focused on theoretical concepts and philosophies hence there was no need to collect quantitative data. There are numerous tools that can be used to collect the required data including questionnaires, interviews, case studies and experiments among others. Data for the current was collected from online secondary sources. The sources included journal articles and books which were sourced from reliable websites. 

The inclusion and exclusion criteria demonstrate the decision rule used to determine whether a certain secondary material will be accepted or rejected into the sample. First, the data will be used to determine whether or not a study will be incorporated into the study. Secondary resources will only be accepted into the sample if they were published within five years (2016-2021). Sources published before 2016 will not be used since they might contain outdated information. Secondly, studies will be accepted If they contain information related to issues in education, globalization or social justice. Thirdly, the studies can contain information on issues facing any country. Fourthly, the secondary materials can only be included into the research if they are published in English. Fifth, all journal articles included into the study has to be peer reviewed to ensure that the information is valid. Lastly, the study included original studies, publications and editorials.

The validity of the secondary sources was ensured through limiting the publication date to within five years. Studies that were published within five years were highly likely to contain relevant and reliable information as opposed to older sources. Additionally, validity was ensured through sourcing the secondary materials from reliable online libraries. Reliability of the studies was ensured by comparing the ideas and concepts proposed by different studies. Contradicting information or concepts were eliminated from the research.

The table below shows various libraries where secondary materials were sourced from.

The collected sources were then categorized based on the issues identified. The sources were critically analyzed to identify the sources of issue and possible solutions which have a philosophical background. 

Findings of the Literature review

Ethical and Moral Concerns among Children

According to a research conducted by Zanette et al. (2020) there has been an increase in number of children engaging in bad behavior over time. The research showed a drastic increase in lying among children over time. There has been an increase in other anti-social behavior including bullying, engagement in promiscuous behavior, drug abuse among children, bullying and general bad behavior as compared to children who grew up in previous decades. The increase in anti-social behavior demonstrates issues related with ethics and morals in the school set-ups. Moral education should be aimed at helping children and young people to acquire the right values and beliefs which ensure they become responsible members of the society. However, majority of schools have focused on impacting career-focused skills to the children while neglecting moral education which has led to the increased break-down of morals among the children.

Solution

There has been a continuous disagreement between rationalism and moral sentimentalism (moral sense theory). According to the moral sense theory, the differences between morality and immorality are covered by the emotional response to experience (Herron, 2016). Sentimentalists believe that moral truths are discovered through experiences. Sentimentalists also coined the term ethical intuitionism to demonstrate general positions of moral knowledge that are not based on any propositions. The moral sense theory was first proposed by Anthony Ashley-Cooper who viewed moral sense theory as an inquiry concerning virtue or merit. Francis Hutcheson and David Hume also contributed in developing the theory (Herron, 2016). In the case under consideration, children should therefore know what is wrong or right based on their experiences or intuitions. Teachers should therefore structure moral education to allow children to learn ethics from their experiences. First, teachers should act as good examples where they should avoid engaging in anti-social behavior. Secondly, teachers should allow children to visit jails hence learn about the repercussions of bad behavior. Although it is extremely challenging to control the intuition of the children, teachers should create a suitable environment to ensure that children are not pre-disposed to an environment that might trigger decisions based on anger and desperation. 

The rationalists base their argument on the Innate Concept. According to rationalists, knowledge of right or wrong is not based on experience but triggered by rationality. People therefore make ethical decisions based on their internal character or rational ideas. Rationalists believe that certain rational principles including logic and ethics exists in such a manner that intellects can grasp directly. Proponents of rationalist approach to moral education include Rene Descartes and Noam Chomsky. Based on the rationalist approach, teachers should teach children how to make future decisions based on reason and rationality. For example, children can be taught to make the decisions that benefit majority of the people and avoid harming others. Such a notion might be crucial in reducing anti-social behavior like bullying and theft.

Globalization

Globalization has led to the dilution of culture and identify as people have borrowed other people’s beliefs and customs. The dilution of culture has exposed children and young people to foreign issues. For example, the mode of dressing has crossed borders as children strive to imitate foreign celebrities hence creating new dressing issues. Globalization has opened-up communication channels hence resulting to an increase in cyber-related issues like cyber-bullying and hacking. Children are more vulnerable to such issues as compared to older people who are more experienced and knowledgeable. Globalization has also created lifts between different societies. Countries have continued to form coalitions and unions hence take advantage of economies of scale and have higher bargaining power. The enhanced growth of some nations has resulted to creating disadvantaged nations and societies. The lift is also evident in the education sector where some education systems have been extremely enhanced while others are left behind. For example, some education systems embrace the use of computers while other rely heavily on physical classrooms. 

Solutions

There are various globalization theories that can be used to solve the challenges. 

The hyperglobalist approach

According to proponents of the hyperglobalist approach, the world has entered a truly global age hence accept the creation of a global capitalist society (Pauwels, 2019). Institutions should therefore accept globalization as an important factor. For example, school administrations should acknowledge that global markets and free trades have eliminated the state as the primary unit hence the need to introduce new values and policies that embrace the new world. Institutions should create structures that embrace cultural hybridization and allow students to engage in global interactions. For example, children should be allowed to learn foreign languages and technologies. 

The Skeptical Approach

The skeptical approach view the issue of globalization from a historical perspective and fail to observe an global changes. According to the skeptical theorists, most exchanges takes place at a regional level as opposed to global level. Teachers should adopt the skeptical approach in ensuring that children maintain the required ethical and moral standards. Teachers should teach children their cultures hence ensure that they maintain their citizen responsibilities and have a cultural identity. 

The Transformational Approach

Theorists who propose the transformational approach globalization has resulted to various changes and the society should address the issues of stratification (Hubanov, Mosondz and Melnychuk, 2018). Based on the transformational approach, various stakeholders including the ministries of education, school administrations and policy makers should consider borrowing some policies from other nations. For example, the education system should be re-created to accommodate a more exposed child. The education systems should be enhanced to ensure that children have access to tools that are more relevant in the modern and future societies.

Social Justice Issues

The modern society is segmented and there are numerous disadvantaged groups that have been created. For example, well-equipped schools charge extremely high fees hence locking away children from low income families. Racial discrimination has also been on the rise where children from minority groups have limited access to job opportunities and well-equipped schools. Discrimination is also evidenced by the unequal distribution of government resources. The government has created a level playing field for all children instead of empowering the less fortunate and disadvantaged children. The government has also failed to create laws that ensure that the rights and freedoms of all children are guaranteed. For example, there are limited laws that ensure that children from migrant families have equal access to quality education compared to locals.

Solution

John Rawls created the Rawls’ Theory of Justice which was based in the liberal egalitarian view of justice (Gališanka, 2019). Justice according to Rawls is based on two principles. First, justice prevails if each person has the same indefeasible claim to a fully adequate scheme of basic rights. Secondly, social and economic inequalities have to satisfy two main conditions. First, the inequalities have to be attached to offices and positions open to equality of opportunity. Secondly, inequalities have to bear the greatest benefit to the least advantaged groups of the society (Gališanka, 2019). According to the theory, inequalities should only occur when the least advantaged will have the greatest advantage. In such a case, the government should empower families that are disadvantaged including minority races, children from poor backgrounds and immigrants to create equality. 

Conclusions and Implications

The world has experienced continuous changes in the economic, social and political spheres mainly due to globalization. The opening-up of countries has resulted to changes in the behavior and experiences of the individuals as people strive to accommodate foreign beliefs and behaviors. The education sector has also been affected by globalization both positively and adversely. The growth of social media use has exposed children to hacking and cyber-bullying. The rate of negative social behavior including lying, bullying and engagement in sexual activities have also increased over the past decade. Various stakeholders including the government and school administrations have a major role in reducing the cases of such issues. The theories mentioned above including Rawls’ Theory of Justice, moral sense theory and various approaches to globalization can be crucial in eradicating such issues and ensuring that children and the entire society are cushioned against the new emergent issues. The current research is useful to various stakeholders in the education sector including teachers, education officers and religious leaders since the strategies mentioned can be used to develop a relevant and reliable curriculum. 

Bibliography 

Bengtsson, M., 2016. How to plan and perform a qualitative study using content analysis. NursingPlus Open, 2, pp.8-14.

Burlacu, S., Gutu, C. and Matei, F.O., 2018. Globalization–pros and cons. Calitatea, 19(S1), pp.122-125.

Furlong, J. and Whitty, G., 2017. Knowledge traditions in the study of education. Knowledge and the study of education: An international exploration, pp.13-57.

Gališanka, A., 2019. John Rawls: The Path to a Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press.

Herron, S., 2016. Dark humour and moral sense theory: Or, how Swift learned to stop worrying and love evil. Eighteenth-Century Fiction, 28(3), pp.417-446.

Hubanov, O., Mosondz, S. and Melnychuk, O., 2018. Transformational Dimensions Of Science Under Globalization Challenges. Baltic Journal of Economic Studies, 4(5), pp.59-62.

Mills, C. and Ballantyne, J., 2016. Social justice and teacher education: A systematic review of empirical work in the field. Journal of Teacher Education, 67(4), pp.263-276.

Zanette, S., Walsh, M., Augimeri, L. and Lee, K., 2020. Differences and similarities in lying frequency, moral evaluations, and beliefs about lying among children with and without conduct problems. Journal of experimental child psychology, 192, p.104768.