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Social Imaginaries and Education as Transformation

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Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory

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Introduction

Education as a transformational process has been discussed across traditions of philosophy of education. If we initially consider the basic meaning of transformation as a process of change, we can say that education, in the social imaginary of western society, is commonly understood as a process by which human beings undergo change through the acquisition of new knowledge and skills. Philosophy of education, however, has developed a more specialized concept of education as transformation that will be discussed here.

As early as 1916, in his major work Democracy and Education, John Dewey refers to the “ordinary” conception of education as the transmission of information from the older generation to the younger (Dewey 1916/2008, p. 12). Today, 100 years after Dewey’s remarks, such a notion of education as transmissionremains a prominent part of the social imaginary. This popular understanding of education continues to be reinforced through a particular image of the...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Andrea R. English

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  1. Andrea R. English
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Correspondence to Andrea R. English .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Michael A. Peters

Section Editor information

  1. Institute of Education, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

    John O'Neill

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English, A.R. (2016). Social Imaginaries and Education as Transformation. In: Peters, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_385-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_385-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-287-532-7

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