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APA Committee on

Pre-College Instruction in Philosophy

2002 Report

Committee on Pre-College Instruction in Philosophy

Mark Weinstein, Chair

During the academic year of 2002 the Committee worked to advance the recognition of its concerns by offering programs at the three scheduled meetings of the APA. The theme of all of the three meetings was Opportunities for Philosophers in Teacher Education based on the work of philosophers at Montclair State University. These presentations which included both theoretical and practical work reflected recent developments at Montclair that included the incorporation of philosophy as a discipline and as a practice within graduate degree programs for teachers interested in advancing their professional status and competence.

Montclair has enjoyed a reputation of some twenty years duration as regards the development and dissemination of the Philosophy for Children Program. More recently the study of philosophy within the context of pre-college instruction was institutionalized through the offering of both Masters of Arts in teaching which offered certification in the state of New Jersey and Masters of Education for certified teachers. This program was part of but not deeply integrated into the teacher education program. Within the past several years an Ed.D. degree in Pedagogy was developed that included, among others, a specialization in Philosophy for Children. This doctoral degree is deeply integrated into the College of Education and Human Services at Montclair and furnishes the philosophical core of all of the present and future specializations in this doctoral program. At Montclair, philosophy is both an area of specialization for teachers seeking advanced degrees and forms the conceptual basis for all other specializations including such areas as Mathematics.

By presenting these views to other philosophers, and including some of the theoretic work on Community of Inquiry, a notion familiar from within Pragmatism, we hope to show other philosophers the possibilities of a deep theoretical and practical engagement with teacher education.

The Committee also strove to coordinate information on pre-college instruction through the country and elsewhere and to responded to inquiries about curriculum and teaching opportunities to interested parties.