The Experience-Based Cultivation of Teachers From the Perspective of Confucianism and Phenomenology

• In Event: Confucianism, Phenomenology, and Teacher Education

Abstract

Objectives
This paper aims to :(1) reveal the essence of "experience" and its relationship with teacher ontology;(2) explore the characteristics of experience-based teacher development;(3) reconstruct teacher education in the 21st century "big data" era based on experiential ontology.

Theoretical Framework
The Confucian tradition of Chinese wisdom is an educational philosophy with "benevolence" as the core (the Analects of Confucius), which starts from personal experience in the context of family and community relations to realize self-creative transformation (Roger Ames, 2019). Phenomenological interest is also concerned with the experience of life, insisting that the entire field of human meaning is based on the direct experience of the individual to the world (Merleau-Ponty,1988). Both Confucianism and phenomenology pay attention to the daily situational experience of human relations, in which the highest value and meaning of life can be developed.

Methods
This research adopts the research paradigm of Confucianism phenomenology and consists of two interwoven methods: (1) the philosophical exploration of the experiential ontology of Confucianism phenomenology and the concept of teacher education;(2) historical exploration of the origin and development of Confucian phenomenological experiential ontology and teacher education.3) the humanistic life experience research method of Confucianism phenomenology focuses on the study of experience, studying the life world directly experienced.

Data
The main materials are from classical texts, focusing on the development of experiential knowledge and teacher education from the wisdom tradition of Confucianism and phenomenology.

Results

Confucianism and phenomenology insist that the growth of life must start from awakening the basic understanding and experience of the world. Experiential ontology and "experiential knowledge" provide specific goals for education, which enlighten teachers that "teacher education is the subjective construction of those who personally experience those situations"(Aoki,1988).We must respect the individual inquiry of those living in the "here and now" situation, attach importance to the individual's situational "self-understanding and reflection", and cultivate the experience of "ownership" and "ownership".

Conclusion
At present, the field of teacher education in the world starts from indirect experience---management by objectives, competence-oriented education, standardized tests and behavioral goals. Learners become objects and subjectivity is weakened.
This paper holds that from the perspective of traditional wisdom and phenomenology of Confucianism, the above-mentioned teacher education is impossible in epistemology and impossible in ethics. The "experiential knowledge" and "experiential ontology" of Confucianism phenomenology make teachers "become themselves" and make teacher education become an experiential teacher education of "learning for oneself".

Significance
Teacher education in the 21st century "big data" era shows more interest in the instrumentalism of control. The study of Confucianism and phenomenology is helpful to overcome this trend, to call on teacher education to restore individual's direct experience of self and world, and to seek to construct a kind of teacher education liberated from technological determinism.

Author

• Jianpei Wei, Taishan College