'Bringing more than I contain': Ethics, curriculum and the pedagogical demand for altered egos

Abstract

`Bringing more than I contain': ethics, curriculum and the pedagogical demand for altered egos SHARON TODD Building from the notion that learning occasions an`ontological' violence, this paper examines the ethical relations implicated in pedagogy and curriculum. In particular, it explores ways in which pedagogy is rooted in a demand for students to alter their egos, and, thereby, draws attention to the delicate nature of the teaching±learning relationship. Appealing to the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, it discusses how ethical, non-violent relations are made possible in the day-to-day encounters between teachers and students. A reading of one of Melanie Klein's case studies highlights the speci®c ways teachers participate in ego-alteration at the same time as they participate in conditions for establishing ethical relations. The paper concludes with a discussion of these conditions and the role that curriculum plays in responsible teaching.

Disrupting colonial discourses in the geography curriculum during the introduction of British Values policy in schools

“…She presents education as the act of 'becoming' (Todd, 2001), arguing that curriculum and pedagogical relations play an important role in constituting student subjectivity by demanding that students ' … alter themselves, to become different people from what they were prior to the learning encounter' (ibid., p. 431). The individual thus becomes a subject or self through the learning process and curriculum 'lends substance' (ibid., p. 446) to a person's being and becoming.…”

Curriculum Knowledge, Justice, Relations: The Schools White Paper (2010) in England

“…The works of Sharon Todd and Paul Standish are helpful in indicating two directions this might take. The former is interested in the role of curriculum within pedagogical relations (Todd, 2001(Todd, , 2009) and the latter in the role of curriculum knowledge as ways in which the relation to the other might be realised (Standish, 2004(Standish, , 2008 (Todd, 2001, p. 446). Arguing that curriculum plays a role in pedagogical relations between the subject and the , she reminds us that within this is an ethical relation bearing the unlimited responsibility of the I to respond to the needs of the other in such a way that secures her right to be other.…”

In the neighbourhood of uncertainty : poststructuralisms and environmental education

“…Both of these nuances have dkect relevance for education generaUy (see Todd, 2001). The second nuance, however, has a special relevance for envkonmental education sUice the face to face encounter with the non-human Other marks the site of Levinasian eco-ethics as per Llewelyn.…”

“…WhUst the number of engagements with Levinas in education is Umited to date, three distinct foci can be discerned: the conduct of educational research (ChUd, WUUams, Bkch, & Boody, 1995;Dykeman, 1993); die dynamics of die teacher-smdent relationships (Biesta, 2003;Chinnery, 2003;Safstrom, 2003;Todd, 2001); and phUosophy of education (Biesta, 2003;Chinnery, 2003;Nuyen, 2000;Safstrom, 2003;Simon, 2003;Todd, 2003aTodd, , 2003b The report assigns two meanings to the term 'uncertainty'. In the section that introduces the seven principles or dimensions of sustainable development, uncertainty is described in terms of "limits of knowledge" (Panel for Education^r Sustainable Development, 1998, p. 4).…”