Reading Summary of Dall'Alba's Ambiguities of Becoming

History and Philosophy Week4 Reading Summary


Research Problem: About *Professional Education*

(My Q here: what is the definition of "professional education"? In my opinion, the idea of this paper suitable for probably all kinds of education leading to a job. What if the education not necessarily leading to a job? e.g. undergraduate education, both leading to job and graduate school and research. Now I understand why this article is only about professional education. Then my question should be: okay, professional education is like this, what about other forms of education? What other factors should be added into universities education? Also, I still couldn't fine a proper word to describe "non-professional education"? Is liberal Art Education is totally the opposite of Professional Education?)

Key Ideas:Epistemology(what we know and can do,how we act,or knowledge and skills)is not enough for education. Ontology(the process of becoming/transformation)should be emphasized.

Claim: The purpose of professional education programs can then be conceptualized in terms of developing ways of being the professionals in question, rather than simply as a source of knowledge and skills acquisition.

Research Questions: what does it mean to develop "professional ways of being"(mentioned in Dall'Alba's previous work)? Where the focus is becoming the professionals in question, not simply knowing as an end in itself?

Method: For the 1st research question: The ambiguity mentioned by Merleau-Ponty, opens up possible ways "to know, to act and to be" that interrelate with the stands we take on our being. It provides openings for re-thinking our taken-for-granted assumptions. Exploring implications of this ambiguous relation to our world for professional education can enable us to better grasp what it means to learn professional ways of being.

Structure: aspiring professionals-->transition period-->practising professionals
(1) The importance of ontological education. transition period: knowledge and skills, also transformation of self. Professional education should lead to the transformation (Heidegger)
(2) Our ambiguous relation with the world.(Merleau-Pony)
(3) Some features/ambiguities during the period of the transition. (Dall'Alba)
(4) Conclusion

Martin Heidegger: Being and Time, (1)He considered it's necessary to clarify what it means to be human if we are more fully to comprehend thinking and knowing as modes of being human. He regarded modes of knowing as ways of being. This means if we are fully to understand knowing , we must understand the being of those who know. (2) "being-in-world", we are absorbed in and take for granted, the routine and everyday--"average everydayness". so we generally do not place them under scrutiny. (3)Being human means having possibilities, or possible ways to be. We also understand ourselves in terms of possibilities. We are continually in a process of becoming, or we are already (oriented to) what we are "not yet"--commitent. (4) distinction between "being-possible" and "ability-to-be" (5) The purpose of education, is transformation of the self. interrogating what we take for granted, challenging assumptions we make or historically made. "turning around the whole human being" (6)difficulties: being we interwined with our world, but we are also interwined in traditions. In other words, the traditions of which we are a part tend to be taken for granted and are not transparent to us: the fish is the last to discover water. so, transformation of the self

Jain Thomson: Blattner "opening up the range of possibilities, and pressing ahead into one of them". (1)We become what we are "not yet" by pressing ahead into (or projecting ourselves upon) our projects. (2) not only have possibilities, but also it matters to us who we are and who we are becoming. we take stands on our being, and we are defined by that stands. (3)In the process of the forming and shaping of the stands we take, education plays a key role. "who we are becoming" includes: "what we come to know","how we act", and "who we are".

Both Michael Bonnett& Jain Thomson are doing explanation of Heidegger's philosophy of education.

(My Q here: what is "re-thinking education"? what is "re-thinking ontology"? This maybe a language problem. I feel something, but couldn't totally understand.)

Maurice Merleau-Ponty: Ambiguous relation to our world.

Note1: E.g.: nurse/wounds,architect/locate a building on a designated site, engineer, historian,medical practitioner, teacher, musician, economist

Note2: This paper is actually an extension of a previous research by Dall'Alba, so there might be more things in previous work.

Note3: There are some interesting references I might look into in the future.

Reference:
Dall’Alba, G. (2009). Learning Professional Ways of Being: Ambiguities of Becoming. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 41(1), 34-45.