Citation

Murris K. Perspectives in Education 2013; 31(4): 85-99.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

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Abstract

Philosophical teaching gives permission to learners to explore the meaning of texts by drawing on their own experiences. By thinking out loud, they construct new meanings of texts. As a result of this oral work, what texts mean shifts in the unique relationship between text and reader and include child's voice. If educators nurture children's competencies and abilities in interrogating texts philosophically, their ability to read against texts will not only be strengthened, but the reading experience itself will also be transformative - but neither in the sense that South African educator Jonathan Jansen suggests, nor as proposed by Critical Literacy. Philosophical teaching assumes a relationship of 'emptying', not 'filling', and a conscious effort from the teacher to resist the urge to regard education as a formation of childhood. My argument will be supported by a transcript of a dialogue I facilitated with nine-year-olds discussing Bernard's apparent suicide in David McKee's picturebook Not now Bernard. © 2013 University of the Free State.

Language: en

Keywords

Comprehension; Listening; Childism; Controversial topics; Critical literacy; David McKee; Developmentalism; Early literacy; Epistemic injustice; Jonathan Jansen; Picturebooks; Relational pedagogy