In the pursuit of “Quality Education”: From ancient times to the digital era, can there be a consensus?

Abstract

AbstractThe article begins with a discussion on the importance, subjectivity, and longstanding search for a definition for Quality Education (QE). It conceptualizes QE in terms of “resilience” and “responsibility towards other”. It reviews the theoretical landscape and philosophical contributions of philosophers and learning theories to the field of education. It seeks to identify salient principles of QE from ancient times to the digital era and it speculates of how philosophers and learning theories would have thought about digital pedagogy today. Three principles of QE are proposed: 1) mutual respect and reciprocity, 2) differentiated and student-centered instruction, 3) attainment of knowledge for a virtuous humanity, along with two universal, timeless values: Equity and Democracy. The paper concludes with a discussion of how democracy and equity could be supported by Nussbaum’s model of human development as to cultivate the ethos of schools in the digital ages and transform QE into classroom practices.

Keywords

• teacher education
• pedagogy
• SDG 4: Quality education
• philosophers
• learning theories
• democracy and equity in education