Chapter 5
A Role of Doing Philosophy
in a Humanistic Approach
to Teacher Education
Duck-Joo Kwak
5.1 Introduction: A Humanistic Approach to Teacher
Education
In teaching a philosophy of education course within teacher training program, we
are often challenged by self-assertive student-teachers with questions like:“What is
the relevance of philosophy to teacher training?”or more specifically,“What is the
relevance of‘philosophy of education’to the (professional) life of teachers?”
Knowing that any attempt to respond to such questions in the form of justificatory
claims—i.e., giving the account of how useful it may be—will sound unconvincing
to them,^1 I tend to throw the question back at them, asking what sort of relevance
they can conceive of in terms of its preparation for their professional lives. Very
often, doubtful silence follows. The raising of this relevance-question by students
over the role of philosophy of education in teacher education program has always
haunted me, but with a sense of frustration as well as a sense of fascination: it
frustrates me because I do not have any magical answer for them, and it fascinates
me because it suggests to me that they may at least be beginning their journey to an
answer. How exasperating yet deeply intriguing this challenge is to us!
An earlier version of this essay,“Stanley Cavell’s Ordinary Language Philosophy as an Example
of Practicing Philosophy in the Essay-form: In Search of a Humanistic Approach to Teacher
Education,”was published inTeachers College Record, 113:8 (2011). I am grateful for
permission to use this material here.
D.-J. Kwak (&)
Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
e-mail: [email protected]
(^1) What is assumed here is that practically minded students will be looking for some instrumental
connection between philosophy and their professional lives. That is, they will want to know what
skills and competences philosophy will equip them with.
©Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017
M.A. Peters et al. (eds.),A Companion to Research in Teacher Education,
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4075-7_5
69