Philosophical Inquiry in Education

Take the Mask Off? Autistic Masking as a Response to Epistemic Injustice

2025-01-13T07:44:51+00:00

The neurodivergence movement has recently drawn attention to the phenomenon of masking as an aspect of oppression faced by Autistics in social settings. Masking has been theorized across disability studies as an important facet of oppression that is deserving of significant attention. However, current theorizations of masking emphasize the pervasive social aspects, leaving out important epistemic dimensions. In this paper, I examine the phenomenon of masking through the lens of epistemic injustice, illustrating the ways in which masking takes place within the context of knowledge production and dissemination. Employing the framework of epistemic injustice, I argue that Autistics, faced with neuronormative pressure to conceal their Autistic identity traits within the context of epistemic spaces, experience forms of testimonial, participatory, and hermeneutical injustices.

The Contribution of Complexity Theory to the Rejuvenation of Philosophy of Education

2026-06-26T18:34:58+00:00

In this paper, we endeavor to connect Complexity Theory (CT), a meta-theoretical framework whose ontological assumptions are argued to align more closely with the nature of reality, with the philosophy of education. As a new paradigm, CT is fostered in a variety of fields, including education, where a shift has occurred from a linear, mechanistic, and reductionist approach in learning and development, toward recognizing the complex and dynamic nature of educational processes. Within this context, the paper discusses the main orientations of reductionist and mechanistic approaches, while highlighting the existing limitations. More specifically, this study examines learning and cognitive development through the lens of Complexity Theory, reconsidering them as complex nonlinear dynamical processes, and proposes the amalgamation of the conforming ontological and epistemological conjectures into the philosophy of education. The new perspective can provide a springboard for a rejuvenation of philosophical thought, which could lead to a better understanding and theory, development, and more effective interventions.

Dewey and the Creative Potential of Students’ Listening

2025-12-19T10:49:40+00:00

Drawing on John Dewey’s vision of growth as an open-ended process that is continually staring anew, this paper examines how student-initiated inquiries can enhance engagement and understanding by navigating the dynamic interplay between listening for the expected and listening for the unexpected. It is suggested that students listening for the expected temporarily halts exploration, providing an opportunity to consolidate understanding and create stable foundations for further explorations into the unknown. In contrast, students listening for the unexpected can expand the subject matter into new contexts, allowing topics to resurface in unforeseen ways. This form of listening is taken to encourage dialogue to venture beyond established boundaries, sparking novel connections and serendipitous insights. These two forms of listening are mutually reinforcing: Listening for the expected requires a willingness to engage with the unknown, allowing students to collaborate with others in a dialogue to test and refine their comprehension of the subject matter. Conversely, listening for the unexpected requires a grounding in the expected, serving as a reference point for assessing how far off the beaten path exploration can diverge. Although the tension between the two forms of listening can sometimes lead to uncreative outcomes, this tension is also integral to fostering students’ growth and an aesthetic sense of connection to subject matter.

Worlds Fall Apart: Education and Enshitification

2026-01-15T15:36:22+00:00

The ongoing debate over the implementation of generative AI in education highlights the need for deeper reflection on the purposes of education. Using Cory Doctorow’s concept of “enshitification”—which describes the decay of internet platforms as they exploit users—I draw an analogy to education and develop enshitification as a third way worlds come to an end. I claim that the rapid integration of AI into educational settings represents the final stage of education’s enshittening. In such a demise, the focus shifts from meaningful world-building to mere outcomes and self-perpetuation, revealing the abandonment of education's world-building purpose. In this scenario, enshittened education becomes a self-cannibalizing system devoid of purpose, meaning, and world-building. Turning toward a constructive conclusion, I consider Doctorow’s four constraints—competition, regulation, self-help, and labour—for preventing enshitification as necessary conditions for the continuation of education and our worlds. With this, I argue that the purpose of education is worlds: their construction and their maintenance; yet I question whether we still value education enough to preserve it and whether we love our worlds enough to prevent their demise.

“So Yeah, I Stepped Outside the Box”: Decentering Quality with Practical Wisdom

2026-03-17T10:47:37+00:00

Teachers are ethical actors tasked with protecting the best interests of children. This is central to teacher professionalism and written into codes of professional ethics. Ethical teaching demands a teacher qualified and permitted to make both small and large decisions. This capacity is hampered by what is referred to as “quality.” In contrast, practical wisdom describes a daily knowing in which a person considers the right thing to do, the right way to do it, and how to act in a manner that is responsive to context. I showcase how practical wisdom lives in the decisions of one new teacher as she tries to work around quality to act in “the children’s best interest.”

Cultivating the Wisdom of Wuxing Cosmology and Daoist Philosophy for Authentic States of Wellness and Resilience Through the Lens of a Student-Teacher Diary

2026-03-06T06:58:52+00:00

This article focuses on an elective university course in which the wisdom of ancient Chinese Wuxing cosmology and Daoist philosophy became the potential foundation for the cultivation of more authentic states of wellness and resilience. It firstly observes the cycles of Wuxing (in terms of its generative and restraining phases of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) and the flow of the Dao (in terms of its harmonizing principles of De, Yin-Yang, Qi, Ziran, Wuwei, and Pu). It then contemplates their contemporary pedagogical implications through the lens of a student-teacher diary, which integrates meditation, patterns of conceptual alignment with the Wordsmith Tools program, consultations with the Classic of Changes, and the wisdom of the Daoist classics of the Laozi, the Zhuangzi, and the Liezi. In doing so, it suggests that insights derived through the lens of a student-teacher diary inspired by Wuxing and Daoism can be effective in cultivating states of authentic wellness and resilience within contemporary academic settings.

Exploring Difficult Ethical Situations: The Case of Novice Primary School Teachers in Quebec

2026-03-10T07:01:52+00:00

This article presents results from a study of problematic ethical situations faced by novice primary school teachers in Quebec. Around 30 teachers were interviewed in order to understand what are the situations in which their values are challenged and action is rendered difficult because of this ethical dimension. First, we define what we mean by “problematic ethical situation” through the theoretical framework of professional teaching ethics. Second, we describe the different aspects of 73 situations brought to light by our interviews of novice teachers, before analyzing which ethical obligations are faced, using the Code of ethics for all members of the personnel of the educational organization and for any person required to work with minor students or students with handicaps, or be regularly in contact with them, published by the Ministry of Education of the Government of Quebec in April 2025.

The Right to Parental Educational Oversight: What It Is and What It Isn’t

2026-01-19T07:33:37+00:00

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The Formation of Imperfect Teachers

2026-01-01T21:12:56+00:00

This paper explores the paradoxes of the nature and existence of preservice teachers as human beings anchored on the idea of Nietzsche, which is “human, all too human.” As humans, preservice teachers possess essential characteristics and capabilities for self-actualization. On the contrary, they are flawed and restricted because they are all too human. They are bound by their very being. It is argued in this paper that there is nothing wrong with this imperfection. This is part of preservice teachers’ true being that calls for self-awareness and transcendence. With resilience, these flaws can become avenues for growth and development. Given that preservice teachers are still trained of becoming teachers, their curriculum should be responsive to the identified complexities. The teacher education curriculum must embrace humanistic approaches, highlighting holistic development, reasoned freedom, philosophical integration, and purposeful practice. In this manner, the formation of future teachers will go beyond imperfection, leading to professional competence and quality education.

Review of Academic Citizenship, Identity, Knowledge, and Vulnerability by Nuraan Davids (Springer Singapore, 2023)

2025-11-06T08:50:34+00:00

This review examines Academic Citizenship, Identity, Knowledge, and Vulnerability by Nuraan Davids, a book that critically explores how intersecting structures of power, identity, and knowledge shape life in academia. I highlight the author's contribution and focus on interrogating the uneven experiences of belonging and participation in higher education, revealing how academic citizenship is not equally distributed but influenced by race, gender, nationality, and institutional hierarchies. The review emphasizes the author’s distinctive approach to considering individual academic identities in shaping experiences of belonging. I also discuss limitations regarding the book’s generalizability, given its specific context, setting, and participant recruitment. Overall, the review of this book contributes meaningfully to ongoing debates about equity and inclusion in academia, supporting the author's call for institutions to rethink what it means to belong, contribute, and thrive in higher education.

Review of Philosophy of Education by Laura D’Olimpio, Jane Gatley, and Ruth Wareham (Palgrave, 2025)

2026-01-29T18:43:33+00:00

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Review of Historical Consciousness and Practical Life: A Theory and Methodology by Paul Zanazanian (University of Toronto Press, 2025)

2026-02-05T05:51:35+00:00

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Review Symposium: The Witness as Educator

2026-05-04T12:56:06+00:00

This review symposium pivots around a recent book by David T. Hansen: The Witness as Educator: Reading W.G. Sebald, Aimé Césaire, and Walt Whitman. State University of New York Press, 2025. ISBN: 9798855803488.