Confucian Philosophy of Teacher Education

• In Event: Confucianism, Phenomenology, and Teacher Education

Abstract

Context and Objectives
This paper will explore: 1) the connotations of teacher and teacher education in Confucianism; 2) the philosophical foundation of Confucian teacher education; 3) the current implications of Confucian philosophy of teacher education.

Theoretical Framework
This paper is based on the following hypotheses or theories: 1) Confucian moral metaphysics is the foundation of philosophy of teacher education, which holds that “cosmic order is moral order” (Mou, 2005, 65); 2) Confucian ontology of “benevolence” or emotion is the basis to understand the relationship between teachers and students; 3) The idea of “pedagogical relation” in phenomenology can be compared with the teachers-students relations in Confucianism. For example, phenomenological educator Max Van Manen said, “We may always feel indebted for the rest of our lives to a real teacher, even though the stuff we learned from this person may have lost its relevance.” (Van Manen, 2015, 120). This is very similar to Confucianism. So the comparative perspective between Confucianism and phenomenology on teacher education is the third hypothesis for this study.

Methods
This paper adopts three methods and integrate them on the philosophy of teacher education. The first is historical research, trying to recover the real circumstances of teacher education in Confucian tradition. The second is hermeneutic study, which interprets the rich meanings of teacher education in Confucian classics and historical events. The third is comparative study, which integrates Confucianism and phenomenology to deepen the understanding of philosophy of teacher education.

Data
The main data are from Confucian classics like Analects, Mencius, the Great Learning, Xunzi, Records of Rites, and so on.

Results
From this study, I have got the following results. As for teachers’ roles, Confucianism put “teachers of moral persons” (Ren Shi人师) at the first priority, “teachers of classics” (Jing Shi 经师) at the second place (Zhang, 2008). As for teacher learning, Confucianism contributes the great idea of “mutual growth of teaching and learning” . As for teacher development, there are lots of great ideas in Confucianism, like “connection of learning and thinking”, “self-cultivation”, “self-discipline”, and so on. In sum, for Confucianism, teachers are moral creators, who integrate moral creativity with spiritual happiness in their teaching process (Zhang, 2015).

Conclusion
I draw out the conclusion that Confucian philosophy of teacher education with the cooperation with phenomenology can contribute to rescue current teacher education from information-based “technical rationality”.

Scholarly Significance
This study will open up a new area in education studies: wisdom traditions-oriented teacher education. Meanwhile, it can also contribute to how to nurture teachers on practical level.

Author

• Hua Zhang, Hangzhou Normal University