Browsing by Person "Oberski, Iddo"

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Approaches to APEL in France and the UK: Holism versus Empiricism?
(Staffordshire University, 2005) Pouget, Mireille; Oberski, Iddo
The APEL (Accreditation/Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning) systems in the UK and France are probably the best developed in Europe, but they are underpinned by different conceptions of learning and experience. In this article, we attempt to understand the two different approaches to APEL within the framework of Goethe's 'natural phenomenology', which essentially attempts to understand phenomena in their own right, without analysing them into parts. An initial analysis would suggest that in the UK the APEL process reflects a conception of experience and learning as being built up of a number of smaller units. In France, on the other hand, the process involves instead a more holistic approach to the evaluation and understanding of experience and learning
Contemplation & Mindfulness in Higher Education
(Springer, 2014-11-09) Oberski, Iddo; Murray, Sue; Goldblatt, Joe J.; DePlacido, Christine
This chapter presents initial observations of a pilot that introduces mindfulness meditation into teaching and university life. Short meditations were offered at the start of Year 1 and 2 lectures, besides weekly drop-in sessions. The purpose was to enhance the student experience through the affective domain, identified by Thomas 2012 as a key factor in improving retention. Contemplative practices (CPs) consist of enhancing awareness of the 'here' and 'now', characterised by the foregrounding of 'being' and 'living', rather than 'doing' or 'knowing'. Thus, it could be argued that CPs have the potential to enhance the affective dimensions of the student experience and thus, indirectly, impact positively on retention. Students and staff perceived benefits that applied to learning and teaching specifically, but also to broader dimensions of their personal life. Overall there was enthusiasm from both students and staff for the innovation and a request to continue and expand current provision.
Fostering Curriculum for Excellence teachers' freedom and creativity through developing their intuition and imagination: some insights from Steiner-Waldorf education.
(University of Stirling, 2009) Oberski, Iddo
Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in Scotland aims for young people to develop into responsible citizens, confident individuals, successful learners and effective contributors. It recognises teachers need more freedom to teach in innovative and creative ways- (Scottish Executive 2006a: 16). I argue that in the light of these proposals, changes are needed to the professional standards for teachers in Scotland and possibly also to teacher education courses, as teachers will need to become freer and more creative to allow them to exemplify the aims of CfE. However, even if understood in a common-sensical way, creativity and freedom are not currently explicit in the ITE Standards. Looked at with a deeper understanding of what creativity and freedom could mean, CfE could be seen as providing real opportunities for teachers and pupils alike, but ITE standards are then seriously lacking in addressing this. As the ideas of freedom and creativity have long been highly valued in the Steiner-Waldorf (SW) sector, I will draw on Steiner's philosophy of freedom to argue that the development of teachers' intuition and imagination should be the foundation for their creativity and freedom.
Innovative co-evaluation and co-creation of an online learning programme with de Bono's Six Thinking Hats
(2017-05-04) MacDonald, Kath; Oberski, Iddo; Christie, Kim; Stears, Amanda
In order to enhance diversity, internationalisation and widening participation, Queen Margaret University's PgCert in Professional and Higher Education was redesigned for online delivery in 2015-16. This programme has run successfully in a blended learning format for over a decade and this change was anticipated to be a major transition for both staff and students. In order to maximise student engagement in the online environment we involved students in the redesign of the programme and evaluation during and after the first year of delivery. This included a video record of the application of de Bono's (1989) 'Six thinking hats' in facilitating staff reflections, an online survey designed and run by two students representatives and a final collaborative thematic analysis of data with staff and students. We focus on student and staff experiences and perspectives on transitioning to the online environment and reflect on the student-engaged design and innovative evaluation method used.
Rudolf Steiner's philosophy of freedom as a basis for spiritual education?
(Taylor & Francis Group, 2011-02) Oberski, Iddo
The spiritual well-being of children is often thought to be an important goal and outcome of education. Such spiritual well-being is also implicitly assumed by the Human Rights Act, which includes the right to 'freedom of thought, conscience and religion' [Article 18]. I argue that such freedom requires an education that fosters development of spiritual freedom. What spirituality means to people can be determined through empirical research. However, the nature of actual spiritual freedom itself can be understood and experienced only through a phenomenology of one's own thinking. Steiner offered such an approach. As an extension of Goethe's earlier holistic scientific method, Steiner showed that in thinking we have hold of a corner of the world process in which we, as human beings, play a crucial part in its coming into being. Steiner's philosophy of freedom leads logically to spirituality, through intuitive thinking and forms the basis of Steiner- Waldorf education, which has the
They should try to find out what the children like;exploring engagement in childhood
(University of Stirling, 2008) Stephen, Christine; Cope, Peter; Oberski, Iddo; Shand, Peter
This paper is an account of an exploratory study of the perspectives children and teachers hold about the learning experiences and pedagogical activities which engage primary and secondary school learners. The investigation was prompted by the apparent contrast between the enthusiastic, self-initiated engagement observed in preschool playrooms and the efforts teachers report as necessary to engage older pupils. A review of our interrogation of the literature on disposition to learn and motivation is followed by a description of our empirical work to explore the ways in which the main actors in classrooms make sense of engagement in learning. Our findings suggest that for the children engagement stems from active involvement, enhanced by a perception that there is some scope for freedom of action and opportunity for choice. On the other hand, the perspectives of the teachers were focused on participation in learning activities selected and led by the teacher and carried out in a way which meets the adults' expectations.