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A unitary philosophy for U.K. Jewish primary schools educating pupils within two diverse educational conceptions: The Jewish religious and that of the national curriculum

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This philosophy addresses the complex educational issues arising in Anglo-Jewish education catering for a community which is rooted in two cultures: the Jewish-Orthodox and the Western-liberal, a community that incorporates all aspects of Western culture that do not conflict with Jewish law or its value system. Underpinned by diverse ontologies and epistemologies these cultures differ in many aspects, most significantly for educators, in their value systems and therefore in the hermeneutic understanding of the "excellences" to be designated as ultimate and proximate aims for the education. Whereas the liberal Western culture endorses anti-authoritarian, individual autonomy, the Jewish thesis endorses such only in areas for which Jewish law has not legislated. For all other, free choices are to be exercised against the divinely commanded value system. The National Curriculum, through which secular subjects are delivered, and Judaism both require holism in education. In both, all knowledge is to serve also as a vehicle for pupils' overall personal and social growth: the cognitive/intellectual, ethical, spiritual and physical. Since holism necessarily has to be governed by an overall organic quality of wholeness, in which all the educational aims permeate every area of education, it is axiomatic that contradictions in the aims cannot be accommodated within any specific educational structure. This unitary philosophy responds to the requirements of holism by establishing an educational structure which, in itself, is free of conflict. This is achievable due to the liberal National Curriculum's acceptance, qua being liberal, of non-public values to overlay the statutory political ones in the entire school's curriculum — which, for Jewish education is the Halakhic value system. A conflict-free philosophy, however, does not guarantee conflict-free development of pupils who live their lives within both the Jewish thesis and the all pervasive, multi-media imposed Western culture. The unitary philosophy sets out strategies for dealing with these conflicts within carefully structured programmes.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Generic

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Link to download in university repository, A unitary philosophy for U.K. Jewish primary schools educating pupils within two diverse educational conceptions: The Jewish religious and that of the national curriculum

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Pinner, Hana A unitary philosophy for U.K. Jewish primary schools educating pupils within two diverse educational conceptions: The Jewish religious and that of the national curriculum. Institute of Education, University of London. 2006:  https://archive.jpr.org.uk/object-uk381