Proceedings of The 6th International Conference on Advanced Research in Education
Year: 2023
DOI:
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Education For Human Flourishing Across Cultures
Alvaro Balaguer
ABSTRACT:
The aim of this presentation is to show the conclusions of the Templeton Research Project entitled “Education, Purpose and Human Flourishing in Uncertain Times: Culture and Context”, from the Department of Education at Oxford University. In general, the project examines the purposes of education in the face of current uncertainties and explores how education could support pathways to human flourishing in different contexts. Specifically, we analyze the impact of culture and context on the paths and understand the notions related to education for human flourishing in different countries of Asia, Africa, and America.
We will first explain how we understand the ‘idea’ or indeed the ideal of flourishing, and the importance of education as a pathway to it. We will examine a variety of important concepts concerning personhood and society as it relates to flourishing, such as character and virtue, and asked whether flourishing lies in the development of these. Second, we will turn our attention to other notions interdependently related to flourishing, specifically the notions of culture and context. The question is whether and how the development of mind and socio-emotional qualities such as character, virtue, open-mindedness, resilience, and actualisation are differently, but no less meaningfully, shaped by history and culture across world contexts. We seek to tease out the dynamic cultural-historical processes and social perspectives that define human endeavor: who we are and where we are heading.
keywords: Contexts, Globalization, Research, Development, Uncertainties