Abstract
In 2014 a new school reform in the Danish elementary school “Folkeskolen” has been implemented. Some of the changes in the new reform have similarities to the American philosopher John Dewey’s theory of education based on experiences. The similarities concern a requirement of 45 minutes of movement in average daily during the lessons, cooperation with the local surrounding society, assisting lessons for the subjects, and more focus on the objectives of the education. My motivation for writing this thesis was to study pupils’ experiences in education and to analyse the possible link from the theory of experience in education and the school reform.
The theoretical approach in the thesis is based on a pragmatic philosophical framework. Pragmatism understands science as tools and claims only knowledge to be true when it works in practice. This means that the theory of Dewey is only true if the empirical data confirm the theory.
The thesis consists of an exposition of Dewey’s theory of experience in education. In short, education based on Dewey’s theory aims at growth and continuity in reconstruction of reflective experiences. Dewey’s theory is basis for an analysis of the empirical part of the study. The empirical data analysed are two studies of education based on experiences in touch with reality. The first report is a collection of experiences from 15 schools in cooperation with off-site participants. The Danish Evaluation Institute has produced the data from this report. The second report is a comprehensive study of an ongoing project with school gardens in the Municipality of Fredensborg. A research group from the University of Aarhus has produced the data in the report.
The outcome of the study of the thesis shows that Dewey’s theory of experience is consistent with the empirical data from the two reports. That is
• education challenging all students
• welfare in school is increased
• pupils getting insight in professional knowledge and practice
The study shows furthermore that education based on pupils’ experiences in touch with reality implicates especially two challenges. 1. The subject knowledge in education based on experiences is difficult to define. 2. Teachers are uncertain about teaching based on the experiences of the pupils.
Cooperation with off-site partners and more movement in education are two important elements in the school reform seen from Dewey’s point of view. However, the increasing focus on objectives in education is not consistent with Dewey’s theory of experiences, as the focus takes external objectives as starting point.
The theoretical approach in the thesis is based on a pragmatic philosophical framework. Pragmatism understands science as tools and claims only knowledge to be true when it works in practice. This means that the theory of Dewey is only true if the empirical data confirm the theory.
The thesis consists of an exposition of Dewey’s theory of experience in education. In short, education based on Dewey’s theory aims at growth and continuity in reconstruction of reflective experiences. Dewey’s theory is basis for an analysis of the empirical part of the study. The empirical data analysed are two studies of education based on experiences in touch with reality. The first report is a collection of experiences from 15 schools in cooperation with off-site participants. The Danish Evaluation Institute has produced the data from this report. The second report is a comprehensive study of an ongoing project with school gardens in the Municipality of Fredensborg. A research group from the University of Aarhus has produced the data in the report.
The outcome of the study of the thesis shows that Dewey’s theory of experience is consistent with the empirical data from the two reports. That is
• education challenging all students
• welfare in school is increased
• pupils getting insight in professional knowledge and practice
The study shows furthermore that education based on pupils’ experiences in touch with reality implicates especially two challenges. 1. The subject knowledge in education based on experiences is difficult to define. 2. Teachers are uncertain about teaching based on the experiences of the pupils.
Cooperation with off-site partners and more movement in education are two important elements in the school reform seen from Dewey’s point of view. However, the increasing focus on objectives in education is not consistent with Dewey’s theory of experiences, as the focus takes external objectives as starting point.
| Originalsprog | Dansk |
|---|---|
| Status | Udgivet - 14 mar. 2015 |
| Udgivet eksternt | Ja |