Theme: Exploring teaching and learning through the lens of phenomenology
GUEST EDITORS: Dr Oscar Koopman (CPUT) and Dr Karen Joy Koopman (UWC)
What is learning? Man learns when he disposes of everything he does to him at any given moment. We learn to think by giving our mind to what there is to think about” (Heidegger, 1968, p. 4).
“Teaching is even more difficult than learning. We know that, but we rarely think about it. And why is teaching more difficult than learning? Not because the teacher must have a larger store of information, and always have it ready. Teaching is more difficult than learning because what teaching calls for is this: to let learn. The real teacher, in fact, lets nothing else be learned than—learning (Heidegger, 1968, p. 15).
Phenomenology, the study of experiences-as-lived, illuminates the structure and meaning of human consciousness. This philosophical movement has its roots in Edmund Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology but quickly evolved into various forms of hermeneutical and existential phenomenology through the work of philosophical scholars such as Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Satre, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Paul Ricoeur, amongst many others. The philosophies of these canonical phenomenological authors appear quite strongly in the academic contributions made by modern Western curriculum and pedagogical scholars, such as Maxine Green, Tetsuo Aoki, William Pinar, Max van Manen, and Madeleine Grumet, who have all made significant contributions to the field of curriculum studies and teaching and learning. What all these scholars have in common is that they see the learner (student/teacher/lecturer) as a living, subjective, and knowledge-producing being.
In South Africa, unlike in much of the contemporary Western world, phenomenological research in the field of education – particularly in teaching and learning – has been a neglected terrain. This neglect is partly a consequence of the strong legacy of positivism that subscribes to a Cartesian mind-body duality that sees the body as an instrument that is controlled and moved around by the mind. In other words, in the same way, that the feet move and carry a person from point A to point B, or kick a ball in a specific direction, the mind achieves certain outcomes through the body. Unlike the Cartesian model, phenomenology embraces lived experience as concretely felt in the whole body to understand the structure of human consciousness. This is because the premise of lived experience – concretely felt experience – is primordial in any activity, be it thinking, feeling, perception, or memory, amongst many other human activities. Therefore, what separates phenomenology from quantitative and various other forms of qualitative research, is that, in experience, is embedded the significance that functions before language, thoughts, feelings, and various other forms of symbolization as concepts, theories, or scientific laws.
This special issue of African Perspectives of Research in Teaching and Learning, therefore, invites scholars of phenomenology to submit papers on teaching and learning at home, in schools to post-school levels, ranging from pre-and foundation phases to undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The issue welcomes theoretical or empirical insights into teaching and learning with a phenomenological focus that helps us to understand the essence of learners’/students’ perceptions of their learning and/or teachers’/lecturers’ awareness when they teach.
Articles should not exceed 6,000 words, including references.
Expected date of publication: December 2022.
ABSTRACTS FOR PAPERS SHOULD INCLUDE:
- A succinct title
- A brief abstract (± 200 words) which includes at least the focus of the study, the importance of the study/ contribution to knowledge, the (empirical) methodological approach adopted and key findings/ aspects to be covered
- Author/s name/s
- Author/s institutional affiliation
- Contact details
TIMEFRAMES (FEBRUARY – DECEMBER 2022)
- Friday 25 FEBRUARY 2022: Deadline for submission of abstracts
- Friday 29 APRIL 2022: Final date for submission of an article
- Friday 6 MAY to Tuesday 15 SEPTEMBER 2022: Peer-review process
- Friday 28 OCTOBER 2022: Submission of final edited chapters
- NOVEMBER 2022: Publication
INTERESTED CONTRIBUTORS
Interested contributors are encouraged to submit their abstracts to the corresponding editors of this special edition, Dr. Oscar Koopman, at: koopmano@cput.ac.za or Dr. Karen Koopman, at: kkoopman@uwc.ac.za
The SUBJECT line of the email should read: Special Issue – Phenomenological studies in teaching and learning
AFRICAN PERSPECTIVES OF RESEARCH IN TEACHING AND LEARNING which is housed at the University of Limpopo is a fully accredited, peer-reviewed South African Department of Higher Education and Training journal.
All articles are subject to peer review by at least two independent peer reviewers. All articles that pass the review process, and that are accepted for publication, are published online.
The Journal homepage is available at https://www.ul.ac.za/aportal/
APORTAL CHIEF EDITOR: Prof Newman Wadesango (the University of Limpopo, Republic of South Africa-email: aportal.journal@ul.ac.za)