Learning and Assessment in Postmodern Education

Educational Philosophy and Theory

Terry Eagleton suggests that the postmodernist view of history as hence forward post-metaphysical, post-ideological and even post-historical, was dealt a fatal blow by the resurgence of the grand narratives we have thought we had left behind us, leaving postmodern thinkers 'off-guard' , a state from which he doubts that we have recovered (Eagleton, 2016). At the same time, as Michael Peters points out, while 'post' and 'after' terms implicitly invoke apocalypse (the end of modernism, the end of metaphysics, the end of humanism, the end of Man, the death of God, the end of value), they also suggest an opening for 'a new beginning' or 'a return'. He notes that these eschatological narratives of endings (and beginnings) are endemic to Western culture and help define both its cultural specificity and its sources of renewal, which is, of course, to say, a continuation of sorts (Peters, 2008). This last point is crucial because it raises the question of just what these culturally specific sources of renewal and continuity are. I offer here a view that I will for the sake of brevity simply ascribe to Hannah Arendt: the idea of breaks and bindings within a civilization are always carried out through institutions for, and practices of, education (Arendt, 1961). It is by welcoming the 'newcomers' , the next generation, into a common world that we ensure both its continuation and its renewal. As educators, we can't do much more than show them what is and what has been, what we do, why we do it, what has worked and what has not. But what makes renewal, or as Arendt says, 'futurity' , possible is that the newcomers can choose to do otherwise. Arendt dates the great cultural rupture long before the advent of postmodernism, which I think she would see as so much fallout from the cataclysm of the Newtonian worldview, together with the advent of mass society, but she argues that however mechanistic, functionalistic and economistic our society has become, however unfathomable and irrevocable the loss of a shared common culture that commands authority not by authoritarian edict but rather by genuine acknowledgement, we have no reason to abandon hope and investment in the future, if we 'love the world enough' to take responsibility for it. This we do by taking seriously the form and content of our educational institutions as foundations for society, as 'institutions of truth' , rather than as consumer services, factories for the production of labour skills or indoctrination camps for whatever political winds happens to be blowing at the time. Since teacher's education has effects for coming generations, the single most important question for what to do 'after everything' is what to do about the education of teachers. Arendt's answer to this question is at one and the same time liberal and conservative. It is liberal insofar as she sees politics as enjoining equals in deliberation of matters of common concern, which means that teachers have the mission of forming capable and autonomous citizens. But she is conservative to the extent that she sees that role as entailing an unequal relationship between teacher and pupil: the pupil must recognize the legitimate authority of the teacher regarding the question of what there is and why it is if education is to take place at all. Without recourse to such theoretically laden terms as 'objectivity' or 'universality' , Arendt suggests than rather than searching for new isms, we should begin the task of rebuilding our

Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2018

Language pedagogy has been influenced by postmodern theories. The pedagogy of the English language classroom has become the site for reflecting, playing, exploring other al. Of all of them, asking questions in the postmodern class is an essential, inevitable teaching and learning tool. It is taken for granted that modern teachers raise questions and grant permission to students to raise questions as well. While teachers are absolutely convinced that the raising of questions is a legitimate pedagogical activity, they also imagine that allowing students to raise questions is a matter of charity. This paper argues that teachers ought to raise questions of different types and functions so that they can minimize teacher talk time and allow learners to use time for language production through comprehension. It also argues that students ought to raise questions so that they can develop strategies to approach language in a focussed manner. It does include learner autonomy that aims at maximizing the potentials of independent learners.

Horizons, 1998

This article calls for an acceptance of a constructive postmodernity and links that epoistemology with the use of collaborative learning techniques. If we and our students live in a postmodern world, then our pedagogy must make sense within that same postmodernity. To ignore these epistemological horizons is to split our intellectual commitments from our teaching. The tone of the work is set by a sketch of the muddled term “postmodern.” Four markers are developed to situate postmodernity's ironic sense of reality and to link it to a suspicion of any universal master narrative. Why should teachers care? Because learning should reflect our picture of knowing. We teach a world in what we do. The pedagogical practices most in line with the postmodern vision involve collaborative learning, which itself represents a departure from the classic vision of knowing. The article ends with a coda on the theologies resonant with these commitments.

Science, Education and Innovations in the Context of Modern Problems (SEI), 2025

This article offers a philosophical analysis of two foundational paradigms that have gained increasing prominence in contemporary educational discourse: the modern and postmodern models of education. The modern paradigm is rooted in an objective conception of reality and the pursuit of universal knowledge. It is characterized by a teachercentered approach in which knowledge is viewed as a fixed entity to be transmitted to students. In contrast, the postmodern paradigm adopts a constructivist and participatory framework, emphasizing that knowledge is shaped by subjectivity, context, and socio-cultural influences. Within this model, learning is not regarded as the transfer of static information, but as a dynamic process of meaning-making through dialogue and interaction. This study undertakes a comparative examination of the epistemological and ontological foundations of both paradigms, with particular attention to their treatment of key educational concepts, including knowledge, learning, socialization, curriculum, assessment, and authority. While the modern model often reflects a hierarchical teacherstudent dynamic, the postmodern approach prioritizes individuality, collaboration, and creativity. As such, postmodernism represents not only a methodological shift but also a deeper ethical and ontological reconfiguration of how knowledge and learning are conceptualized. Drawing on existing comparative literature, the article critically explores the underlying assumptions, internal coherence, and practical implications of each paradigm, ultimately shedding light on the influence of postmodern thought in the field of educational philosophy. Citation

An important issue of postmodern educational matter is the inquiry of supporting and training competent persons as active operators, both in the belonging field or in similar fields (and, why not, even in different fields as transdisciplinary connectors). Otherwise, we consider that the importance given to the cognitive and axiological dimensions must emphasize a purely social connotation within a new-built educational system. In these conditions, the dynamic of the current educational reality sends to the organization of a social system in a post-structural manner. Therefore, the decisional substantiation on the actual level of learning processes reflects the fact that the unity of scientific knowledge is sustained by optimal educational models, perfectible in the postmodern educational openings

JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE

The postmodern paradigm has developed very broadly. It has not only become a discussion in the field of philosophy but also influenced almost all fields of science, especially the socio-cultural sciences, including language teaching. This study aims to review how postmodernism affects language teaching and what effects it has on the language teaching and learning process, be it teaching a second or foreign language or teaching a first language. This is an analytic study using a literature review approach from written sources to describe the results and draw research conclusions. The results show that postmodernism has influenced language teaching, especially with the emergence of criticism of existing teaching methods and the raising of the critical question of whether teaching languages should use existing teaching methods or whether language teaching does not need to follow these methods. Criticism then gives birth to an understanding method of pedagogy that is based on communicat...

Journal of the Philosophy of Education, 2002

Educational Researcher, 2000

Of course when women practice pissed criticism, they're accused of being incontinent1 —Lee Quinby (1994, p. 131) Educational Researcher has recently published several articles focusing on postmodernism and research that have sought to clarify and contain postmodernism (Constas 1998a, 1998b; Howe, 1998). The tone of these articles invokes a form of "epidemic logic" (Singer, 1993) promoting the idea that postmodernism has infiltrated the academy like a virus and infected educational theorists with varied ill effects. Some theorists (paraphrasing the "three kinds of responses" outlined by Constas (1998a) exhibit symptoms such as speaking gibberish, while others wander aimlessly (and meaninglessly), and still others are in a state of paralysis. Mark Constas (1998a) laments the in-comprehension of this "state of transition" brought on by postmodernism while Kenneth Howe (1998) more dramatically points to the "pretty treacherous conceptual..." ....