Justice and Legitimacy in 21st Century Schooling: New Directions in the Philosophy of Education

The philosophical literature on education is vast, addressing questions such as what ought to be taught to children in schools, what the ultimate purposes of a school education should be, what equal access to education is, and what a fair distribution of educational resources looks like. Yet there are several contemporary challenges which philosophers of education have yet to adequately examine. These include:

Education in an age of climate crisis: are schools doing enough to educate pupils about the environmental crisis? What would a schooling which adequately addresses climate injustice and our responsibilities to avert it look like? Should schools aim to instil in pupils an ethos of sustainability or should they confine teaching to the provision of accurate and impartial information about the climate crisis?

Schools and “wokeness”: during a House of Commons debate on Black History Month in 2020, the MP Kemi Badenoch (at the time the Government’s equalities minister) stated that “We do not want teachers to teach their white pupils about white privilege and inherited racial guilt […] Any school which teaches these elements of critical race theory […] without offering a balanced treatment of opposing views, is breaking the law.” Are teachers who intentionally educate pupils for racial, gender and economic and global justice indoctrinating students? What are the most compelling grounds for rejecting book bans and other measures undertaken by some US states in response to the (supposed) spread of “critical race theory” in schools?

The (in)justice of testing: recent years have seen increasing numbers of parents, teachers, and educational researchers campaigning against what they regard as the excessive numbers of assessments which schoolchildren are currently exposed to in primary and secondary schools in the United Kingdom, United States, and elsewhere. For example, the website of one UK-based campaign group states that “SATs and other government tests don’t help learning and cause unnecessary stress and pressure.” What are the most compelling philosophical grounds in favour of and against (so called) high stakes testing? Are there plausible arguments in favour of a regime of schooling which includes testing? How much time for unburdened play should schools offer to children?

AI and educational technology: artificial intelligence offers sophisticated learning tools, including personalised tutoring. AI-tutors will likely play an important role in future learning, but what are the normative principles that should inform the use of AI- tutors in school? May schools complement human teachers with AI-tutors, and if yes what kinds of tasks may be assigned to AI-tutors? May schools automate some of the teaching that is currently done by human teachers?

The aim of this workshop is to bring together leading political theorists and philosophers working on these (and related) questions.