Discontinuity in Learning
Dewey, Herbart and Education as Transformation

In this groundbreaking book, Andrea English challenges common assumptions by arguing that discontinuous experiences, such as uncertainty and struggle, are essential to the learning process. To make this argument, Dr English draws from the works of two seminal thinkers in philosophy of education - nineteenth-century German philosopher J. F. Herbart and American pragmatist John Dewey. English's analysis considers Herbart's influence on Dewey, inverting the accepted interpretation of Dewey's thought as a dramatic break from modern European understandings of education. Three key concepts - transformational learning, tact in teaching, and perfectibility - emerge from this analysis to revitalize our understanding of education as a transformational process. Dr English's comparative approach interweaves European and Anglo-American traditions of educational thought with a contemporary scholarly perspective, contributing to a work that is both intellectually rewarding and applicable to a classroom setting. The result is a book that is essential reading for philosophers and scholars of education, as well as educators.

Prologue. Why Herbart and Dewey?; Part I. Education, Discontinuity, and Transformation: 1. The moral dimension of education; 2. The problem of continuity, the need for struggle, the role of tact; 3. Discontinuity and educational openings in learning; 4. Teaching in the openings of learning; 5. Conclusion: morality, democracy, and pluralist society; Part II. Teaching and Learning Forgotten?: 6. Revisiting 'learning in-between' and umlernen; 7. Pedagogical tact: learning to teach 'in-between'; 8. Perfectibility and recognition of the other for education; Epilogue. Should teachers think? Re(dis)covering the meaning of philosophy for the education of teachers.

Andrea English is Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Education at Mount Saint Vincent University in Canada. Dr English, an American scholar, previously taught at the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, from which she received her doctorate in 2005. Her work on theories of teaching and learning has appeared internationally in scholarly journals and essay collections.