Academics and academics call to relieve the role of philosophy in times of crisis

Within the framework of the COVID19 inter-university work table, a new report was presented that provides navigation routes for teachers in the school system. The webinar was held this Wednesday, August 4, and was attended by more than 260 people connected from different parts of Latin America.

Philosophy wonders about the symptoms of an era, the extreme situations, the causes of events. In that context, The philosophy class seems to have a fundamental role to reflect on the questions that emerge in global and national crises. However, philosophy in schools is experiencing complex moments, with little space within the curriculum, fighting for spaces in the midst of the health emergency and with few specialist teachers in the area.

This is expressed by academics from 14 universities that prepared the sixth report of the COVID-19 Interuniversity Working Group entitled Educating Philosophically in Times of Crisis, which was presented on Wednesday, August 4 at 17:XNUMX p.m. in a joint transmission through social networks between the universities of Chile and the Catholic University, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Education of the University of Chile and the UC College of Education. Teachers and students of the educational system also participated in the preparation of the document.

The academic from the Faculty of Education of the UC and one of the authors, Marisa MesaHe explained that the document presents navigation routes and intends to share new tools and reading possibilities to address the matter (philosophy). With the conviction that creativity will help us face together the unprecedented situation in which we find ourselves”.

In the report, the authors express their concern about "how the subject has materialized in the pandemic space", relegating it to one session every 15 days, and they give an account of the labor outlook of teachers in the specialty: 64% of the teachers of the subject have between 25 and 40 hours of contract, according to the Center for Improvement, Experimentation and Pedagogical Research, CPEIP. At the initial training level, it is indicated that the degree is taught only in six state universities and nine non-state ones (of which four are continuing studies and two are bi-disciplinary), counting only 105 final year students in all these programs. .

In this regard, the authors provide some recommendations on how to prioritize, according to specific contexts, measures that guarantee the well-being and inclusion of students; promote, in the case of remote education, philosophy classes in synchronous mode to promote dialogue and reflection; and in the case of classes in hybrid mode, seek weekly meeting spaces and intentional between philosophy teachers and students.

To the dean of the Faculty of Education of the Catholic University, Alejandro Carrasco, the report “is very rich and we are very happy to contribute with this content and proposals to the school system. We appreciate this generous work that they have done and that collect different voices and contribute with didactic tools”, he pointed out in the webinar that had more than 260 people connected from different parts of Latin America.

The document collects the experiences not only of schoolchildren, but also of philosophy teachers and in training and inquires about whether they have had the possibility of transforming their life experiences into experiential knowledge.

In addition, the authors provide didactic guidelines to work in the Philosophy subject, with a focus on experiential knowledge and reflection situated in dialogue with philosophical questions.

Relive the webinar

Download the report “Educating Philosophically in Times of Crisis”