Facilitator or Mediator? Rethinking the Meta-Challenge of Twenty-First-Century Education and Its Foundational Presuppositions
Subject Areas :
1 -
Keywords: facilitation, mediation, philosophy of childhood, Bildung.,
Abstract :
In contemporary education, we encounter various challenges that can be transformed into problems and subsequently addressed through problem-solving processes. In contrast, there are challenges that more fundamentally shape the actions and dispositions of teachers and students. Amid these concerns, a central pedagogical question that arises in the present era is whether, within the triangle of student, teacher, and subject matter, the teacher ought to assume the role of a facilitator or a mediator. Each of these concepts carries its own underlying assumptions and presents distinct possibilities and limitations. For instance, the discourse of facilitation—largely inspired by the intellectual tradition of pragmatism—has become dominant in educational movements as the superstructure of a broader pedagogical paradigm. By contrast, the formation of the concept of mediation, with reference to the importance of culture, rests on a fundamental presupposition about human perfection and perfectibility, emphasizing the need to learn from humanity's finest achievements. A range of thinkers identified as philosophers of culture may be regarded as intellectual predecessors of this perspective. Within the presupposition of mediation—and the teacher as mediator—a form of continuity in individual experience, as well as a connection to a shared cultural heritage, is assumed. The present article seeks to examine the foundational elements of these two approaches, analyze the seemingly contradictory aspects of their coexistence, and explore how they might be coherently arranged in relation to educational aims.
Ahrens, S. (2014). Experiment and exploration: Forms of world-disclosure: From epistemology to Bildung (A. Rossiter, Trans.). Springer.
Arendt, H. (2006). Between past and future (Penguin Classics ed.). Penguin Books. (Original work published 1961)
Arnold, M. (1869). Culture and anarchy. Smith, Elder & Co.
Bloom, A. (1987). The closing of the American mind. Simon & Schuster.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). Greenwood.
Collini, S. (1994). Matthew Arnold: A critical portrait. Oxford University Press.
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education. Macmillan.
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. Kappa Delta Pi.
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. Pantheon.
Hegel, G. W. F. (1977). Phenomenology of spirit (A. V. Miller, Trans.). Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1807)
Herder, J. G. (2002). Treatise on the origin of language. In M. N. Forster (Ed. & Trans.), Philosophical writings (pp. 65–164). Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1772)
Herder, J. G. (2004). Another philosophy of history and selected political writings (I. D. Evrigenis & D. Pellerin, Eds. & Trans.). Hackett. (Original works published 1774–1791)
Hirsch, E. D. (2016). Why knowledge matters: Rescuing our children from failed educational theories. Harvard Education Press.
Horlacher, R. (2012). What is Bildung? Or: Why Pädagogik cannot get away from the concept of Bildung. In P. Siljander, A. Kivelä, & A. Sutinen (Eds.), Theories of Bildung and growth: Connections and controversies between continental educational thinking and American pragmatism (pp. 135–147). Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-031-6_9
Horlacher, R. (2016). The educated subject and the German concept of Bildung: A comparative cultural history. Routledge.
Kant, I. (1996). An answer to the question: What is enlightenment? In M. Gregor (Ed.), Practical philosophy (pp. 11–22). Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1784)
Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006). Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75–86. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4102_1
Kivelä, A., Siljander, P., & Sutinen, A. (2012). Between Bildung and growth: Connections and controversies. In P. Siljander, A. Kivelä, & A. Sutinen (Eds.), Theories of Bildung and growth: Connections and controversies between continental educational thinking and American pragmatism (pp. 303–311). Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-031-6_19
Lipman, M. (1991). Thinking in education. Cambridge University Press.
Piaget, J. (1970). Science of education and the psychology of the child. Viking Press.
von Humboldt, W. (2000). Theory of Bildung. In I. Westbury et al. (Eds.), Teaching as a reflective practice (pp. 57–61). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (Original work written 1793)
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
Willingham, D. T. (2009). Why don’t students like school? Jossey-Bass.
