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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Abstract
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.
Topics
Orthodox Judaism Haredi / Strictly Orthodox Jews Schools: Primary / Elementary Curriculum and Schoolbooks Jewish Schools Main Topic: Education
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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
Bibliographic Information
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. . 2006: https://archive.jpr.org.uk/object-uk381
