I am currently writing my doctoral dissertation, entitled: The rise and fall of philosophy of education: An institutional analysis. I presented my proposal for this thesis at the CSSE 2014 Philosophy of Education panel hosted at Brock University. My basic thesis tracks the birth and rise of philosophy of education as a field, following its manifestations in teacher education programs as courses and faculty positions, and concludes with its fall and absence from (many) teacher education institutions today. This work also includes an in depth case study of this history within my own Faculty of Education (Althouse College), Western University, as well as interviews with retired philosophers of education.

My supervisor is Dr. Derek Allison

Research Interests

In addition to the philosophy of education's health and purpose in teacher education programs, I have further research interests in the epistemology behind curriculum, especially concept formation and the hierarchy of knowledge. In other words, what are the epistemological roots of curriculum, and how does the structure of knowledge govern the order and organization of curriculum and instruction? Currently, I am attempting to publish an article on this idea via the learning perspectives of Maria Montessori. I have also previously presented a critical paper on modern conceptions of creativity at the AERA (Vancouver) in 2012, and most recently at George Brown College's (Toronto) 2015 Philosophy of Education Conference on philosophy as a crucial ingredient in teacher education programs.

Teaching

I have been involved with and taught in Social Foundations of Education, a required course in the teacher education program at Althouse from 2013-2015. I have also designed and taught my own course offered as an elective to teacher candidates: Developing Your Philosophy of Education. This half-course was offered twice in the 2014-15 school year and provided a tour of historic philosophies of education (from Plato to Montessori), as well as some general philosophy of education material (values and aims of education; the nature of concepts) in order to guide students in writing their own Philosophy of Teaching Statements which ultimately contributed to their teaching portfolios for their future careers.

Service

I have revived some interest in philosophy of education by presenting to both undergraduate and graduate students at my faculty. In December, 2013, I presented a public lecture directed toward pre-service teachers entitled The Philosophy of Education: A survey, and in February, 2014, I lectured on the topic of The Philosophy of Educational Research and provided a workshop to graduate students.