Dear Students

Attached please find the list of questions and groupings. Just click on the above PDF link

If there are problems please email me asap

Regards

J

Attached please find the handbook and book in docs format

You can download these by clicking on the link below.

These take some time to download. When using this material please acknowledge the project Menon and the EU commision for making this possible.

If you have problems pls let me know and I sent you the docs on a CD

Regards

J

Doing philosophy in the classroom Handbook

Dialogue on dialogue

Please upload the material from the links below.

The first three files are simply the covers in colour.

The others are the colour pages – just in case you want to print the seeratos in colour and the rest in black and white.

The pdf files are in colour and they are the full texts.

I will send these as well as the docx versions to the MENON partners who sent me their mail address. It may take some time because of the Christmas post

Best regards

Joe

Handbook colour

front and back covers

Dialogue on dialogue colour

Doing philosophy in the classroom Handbook

Dialogue on dialogue

A few students asked me for a copy of past papers icw the assessment of this unit.

You can download three past papers from the link underneath

best regards

J

past papers

November 2009

www.unesco.org/shs/e-news

An international celebration of World Philosophy Day 2009

An international celebration of World Philosophy Day 2009 will take place in Moscow and Saint Petersburg from 16 to 19 November 2009. A country with a long tradition in philosophy and a true passion for thought and word, this year the Russian Federation takes the place of honour, as organizer and host of this international event.

For the 2009 edition of World Philosophy Day, celebrated since 2005, the Russian Federation will host this international event, co-organized by UNESCO, the Institute of Philosophy at the Russian Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the National Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO and the Permanent Delegation of the Russian Federation to UNESCO. Various other activities will also take place at UNESCO’s Headquarters in Paris as well as in numerous countries in all regions around the world.

Philosophers, students, journalists, academics, diplomats and other philosophy enthusiasts will gather in Moscow and Saint Petersburg to discuss the theme “Philosophy in the Dialogue of Cultures” – a subject selected in an effort to foster the dissemination of philosophy in all its traditions.

Activities will be inaugurated by Pierre Sané, Assistant Director-General for UNESCO’s Sector of Social and Human Sciences, and by Sergey M. Mironov, Chairman of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation; Sergey V. Lavrov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, President of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO; Yury S. Osipo, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Vladimir P. Lukin, Human Rights Ombudsman for the Russian Federation; Yury M. Luzhkov, Mayor of Moscow; Abdusalam A. Guseinov, Director of the Institute of philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

This celebration will precede the commemoration of the 2010 International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Several parallel round tables, all of which will take place at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, will focus on the following topics:

• Getting free of the historic stereotypes of philosophy;
• Dialogue of rationalities;
• Cultural self-consciousness in the era of globalization;
• Philosophical images of the human being;
• XXIst century’s technological challenges;
• Values and dialogue of cultures;
• Philosophy for children;
• Common cultural grounds of the national self-consciousness of the nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Baltic states;
• Teaching philosophy in a multicultural context.

Ever since its inauguration as a “Philosophy Day at UNESCO” in 2002 and particularly since its institutionalization in 2005 as a “World Philosophy Day”, this celebration of philosophy has inspired much enthusiasm. With its aim to bring philosophy closer to everyone, academics, students and the general public alike have all shown great interest in this activity that offers new opportunities and space for philosophical reflection, critical thinking and debate.

Several activities are also planned at UNESCO’s Headquarters in Paris, namely:

• Launch of the publication Philosophies d’ailleurs
• Symposium and debate on “Islamophobia in the World of Scholarship?”
• Colloquium on Pierre Clastres
• International Congress on John Stuart Mill
• 9th Meeting on New Philosophical Practices

Finally, in UNESCO’s Member States, a variety of activities organized by different partners, including National Commissions, UNESCO Field Offices, universities, associations, research centres, specialized NGOs and institutes, will bring together numerous philosophy enthusiasts, namely philosophy students, teachers, professors and researchers.

Other events relating to UNESCO’s Social and Human Sciences programme in November 2009:

• 2 November: Anatolian Bioethics Days. Eirne, Turkey.
• 4-6 November: Regional meeting on Best Practices in Youth Policies and Programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean. Colima, Mexico.
• 7-10 November: Series of Events on the Greater Horn Horizon Forum. Djibouti, Djibouti.
• 9-10 November: World Science Day for Peace and Development. Pathumthani, Thailand.
• 16 November: International Day of Tolerance / Award Ceremony of the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence. Paris, France.
• 16-18 November: Training on Working Methods for National Bioethics Committees. Nairobi, Kenya.
• 16-20 November: Technical-Legal Meeting for the Finalization/Validation of Legal Documents for the Regional Research and Documentation Centre for Women Gender and Peace Building for the Great Lakes Region and Terms of Reference of National Associated Centres based in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zanzibar, Tanzania.
• 19-20 November: 3rd General Conference of the European Coalition of Cities against Racism. Toulouse, France.
• 20 November: 1st Meeting of the Caribbean Forum of Ministers of Social Development. Kingston, Jamaica.
• 23-25 November: 16th Session of the International Bioethics Committee (IBC). Mexico City, Mexico.
• 26-28 November: European Commission-UNESCO, Conference: Joint Action for Capacity-building in Bioethics (JACOB). Mexico City, Mexico.
• 27-28 November: Forum Iberoamericana. Estoril, Portugal.

Sex education opt out is reduced

By Hannah Richardson BBC News education reporter

Parents’ right to pull their children out of sex education classes in England is being ended once the pupils turn 15.

The change means all pupils will get at least one year of sex and relationship education before their 16th birthday once it becomes compulsory in 2011. Currently some 0.04% of parents choose to use the opt-out, but that number could grow once it is compulsory. Under these plans, even faith schools will have to cover areas such as same sex relationships and contraception. However, governing bodies will still be able to ensure classes reflect the religious ethos of the school. “ Parents right to withdraw their children from sex and relationship education should continue until their children reach the age of 15 ” Ed Balls Children’s Secretary Under current rules, parents have the right to withdraw their child from sex and relationship education (SRE) classes up until the age of 19. Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said that currently only a “very small minority” of parents chose to exercise this right. But over the past few months there had been debate about the age at which parents should still be able to remove their children from such classes, he said. “What’s happened over the past few decades is that the English courts have been saying it is important to strike a balance of the capacity of the young person to make their own decisions and the rights of the parents,” he said. # Sex and relationship education – who does what? Age 5-7 – puberty, relationships and how to keep safe # Age 7 – 11 – puberty, relationships including marriage, divorce, separation, same sex and civil partnerships and managing emotions and dealing with negative pressures # Age 11 – 14 – Sexual activity, human reproduction, contraception, pregnancy, STDs including HIV/Aids and high risk behaviours, relationships, including those between old, young, girls, boys and same sex # Age 14 – 16 – Body image and health, choices relating to sexual activity and substance misuse, and the emotional well-being, reducing risk and minimising harm, parenting skills and family life, separation, divorce and bereavements, prejudice and bullying Mr Balls suggested with the age of consent being 16 and with young people being able to vote at 18, it did not make sense for parents to have control over whether their children attended sex education classes right up until the age of 19. “I have concluded that parents right to withdraw their children from sex and relationship education should continue until their children reach the age of 15.” This was based on what was “balanced, practically deliverable and legally enforceable”, he added. The move does go back on what the government had said it would do when it received a report it commissioned on the subject back in March 2009. At this stage the opt out was to be kept in tact. However, polling for the Department for Children Schools and Families suggested that the vast majority of parents believed the opt out should end at an earlier age. ‘Building a consensus’ A third of those polled said the right should end at age 11 and 20% said there should be no opt out at all. But Mr Balls said he hoped the higher age limit of 15 offered the best chance of building “a strong consensus”. As a third of schools in England are faith schools, having the support of representatives of Anglican and Catholic church is vital if the policy is to be a success. Sir Alasdair Macdonald, the east-London head teacher who led the review on sex education, agreed: “I am pleased the government is taking forward my recommendations, including that schools should involve parents in developing their SRE policy. “I support the government’s decision to limit the parental right of withdrawal, given the importance of SRE for all young people.” Adam Lonsdale, a member of the Youth Parliament for East Riding of Yorkshire, said: “The best news however is that parents will no longer be able to withdraw older students from SRE.” The Catholic Education Service said welcomed the government’s reiteration of its support for the important principles underlining SRE and that governing bodies retain the right to determine what is taught, and must determine this in line with the ethos of the school.

Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/education/8344373.stm Published: 2009/11/05 13:43:04 GMT

Dr. Vella and myself have to attend a conference next week.

We have amended the timetable so that no group misses any lecture.

Dr. Mercieca will deliver the whole group lecture on Monday.

Attached please find the new timetable

Apologies for any inconvenience

J

EDS 4407 time table amended 2009_2010

Next week I will be attending two conferences, one in Malta and one abroad.

For this reason I have to postpone our lectures to January, after teaching practice.

Best of luck for your last TP in which I am sure you will do well.

Attached please find a document that you might find useful to use in class.

You also have another document that might be of interest to you if you are interested in philosophy.

Regards

J

Thinking Adventures McCall

philosophical inquiry

For the section THE CLASSROOM please download the following papers:

1 Schools as communities (Kenneth A. Strike)

4 Community of inquiry_ Its Past and Present Future (Pardales and Girod)

My_Pedagogic_Creed_Dewey

EDS2207 Thinking skills and Problem solving Course Description

J