The aim of the course is to enable students to develop knowledge of the philosophy of science and research methods within education and the education sciences, in order to problematise relevant epistemological, ontological and ethical matters. Additionally, the course aims to help students strengthen their academic writing skills.

The course provides an overview of perspectives in the philosophy of science and methodology relevant to educational theory. It also investigates how these perspectives relate to various ontological and epistemological approaches. Ethical matters concerning historical studies will also be discussed, and traditions in academic writing will be explored.

Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to

1. compare and discuss the foundations of different traditions within the philosophy of science;

2. test and evaluate various methodological approaches, and problematise the relevant epistemological, ontological and ethical concerns in relation to them;

3. formulate an academic text in genre-conscious ways.

The course is based on regular lectures, seminars, workshops and field trips. There will be opportunities for feedback between the students throughout the course.

Test 1 (2001): Written exam, 5 credits. This test examines learning outcomes 1, 2, and 4.

Test 2 (2002): Oral exam, 2.5 credits. This test examines learning outcome 3.

The course coordinator will provide information about grading criteria at the start of the course.

It must be possible to distinguish between individual performances for all assessments.

Foucault, Michel (1970). Foreword to the English Edition, and Preface in Foucault, Michel, The Order of Things. New York: Vintage Books (40 p)

Foucault, Michel (1997). ‘What is Enlightenment?’. In Faubion. J. (ed.), Essential Works of Foucault (1954–1984) Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth, vol. 1. New York: New Press, pp 303–20 (17 p)

Friesen, Norm (2017). The History of Education as the History of Writing. In Siljander P., Kontio K., Pikkarainen E. (eds.), Schools in Transition. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, pp 273-287 (15 p)

Godfrey-Smith, Peter (2003). Theory and reality: an introduction to the philosophy of science. New ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (288 p)

Haraway, Donna J. (1988). Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies 14(3), pp 575-599 (25 p)

Harding, Sandra (1995). ‘Strong Objectivity’: A Response to the New Objectivity Question. Synthese 104 (3): 331–349 (13 p)

Labaree, David (2012). A sermon on educational research. International Journal for the Historiography of Education, 2(1), pp 1-11 (11 p)

Mintz, Avi (2016). The Use and Abuse of the History of Educational Philosophy. In Levinson, N. (ed.) Philosophy of Education Yearbook 2016 (available online) (8 p)

An additional 200 pages will be distributed during the course.

Students who participate in or complete a course must be given the opportunity to share their experiences and provide feedback on the course via a course evaluation issued by the University. The University will compile the course evaluations and provide information regarding the results and any measures taken as a result of the course evaluation. Results will be made available to the students. (Higher Education Ordinance 1:14).

All teaching is in English.