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ERIC Number: ED379231
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1994-Nov-11
Pages: 17
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Teaching Democratic Theories of Education in El Salvador: Is the Laboratory Open?
Roth, Jeffrey
A philosophy of education course focused on concepts of democratic education was taught to primary and secondary school teachers working in a private bilingual school in San Salvador (El Salvador). The teachers' school was an "International School" serving children of the wealthy and the educated who lived nearby. The course was designed so that the form and content of the course were congruent and the students could experience democratically organized debate and evaluation. The course goal was to read two recent texts on democratic education and to examine participants' beliefs and practices to see whether they assisted or impeded the formation of persons able to participate in civic debate. Observations of the responses of the participants to the entire course led to three conclusions: (1) teachers are not comfortable evaluating their peers, even when anonymity was assured; (2) teachers face a profound struggle in democratizing their workplace as expressed in final essays where participants reported that the course had made them more aware of their limited autonomy some of which they conceded was self-imposed; and (3) that the crafting of a philosophy of education can be justified on different grounds: vocational, professional, and collegial. (JB)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: El Salvador
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A