Assistant teacher program/Practical philosophy

Practical philosophy

Activity:	lecture, group work
Group size:	unlimited
Preparation:	handouts
Instructors:	1
Duration:	?

Practical philosophy is a school subject in North Rhine-Westphalia; the subject has a strong affinity to educational goals of an assistant teacher effort. The subject is meant as a substitute for the subject religion, similarly to the subject ethics.

Practical philosophy and assistant teachers

Chapter 5 "achievement evaluation" of the core curriculum ^[1] specifies that the subject has no written examinations or other formal skill level ascertainments; learning outcome assessment is restricted to the evaluation of contributions to class education. Class education must therefore allow pupils to apply acquired competencies repeatedly and in varying contexts. Learning outcome assessment must allow understanding for individual learning progress and assess acquired competencies. Teachers should recommend individual learning strategies and help parents to understand ways to support their children. Longer, continuous contributions by single pupils or groups of pupils are typical of the subject.

Handouts:

Practical philosophy: Competence expectancies

Discuss ideas for assistant teachers contributing to lessons in practical philosophy.

Which competencies can assistant teachers acquire and how?
Which competencies can pupils acquire and how?
What can assistant teachers do to support indvidual learning strategies?
What can assistant teachers do to help parents?

The assistant teacher effort as a topic

An assistant teacher effort can be treated as a topic in practical philosophy, but this may become incompatible with the goal to separate the assistant teachers as an independent and self-governed organization. If the pupils are actively engaged in the planning phase of the assistant teacher effort they may quickly decide to demand democratic participation from the start. Advantages and disadvantages can be discussed by the participants; solutions to the problem should be easy to deduce.

How is the planning phase of the assistant teacher effort related to practical philosophy?

Discuss the possible and desirable effects of an assistant teacher effort on
- debate skills.
- media literacy.
- understanding for others.
Discuss a federation of assistant teacher groups as a pluralistic society.
Who should be allowed to determine the inherent value system of the policies guiding an assistant teacher effort?
Should the assistant teacher office be given competence expectancies itself? Select the competence expectancies from the handout that apply.

Qualification in practical philosophy

The subject practical philosophy has by design a greater need for "longer, continuous contributions by single pupils or groups of pupils",^[1] which makes the subject a good choice for qualifying projects of assistant teacher candidates.

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External links

Germany

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 schulministerium.nrw.de: Kernlehrplan "Praktische Philosophie", Sekundarstufe I in Nordrhein - Westfalen (PDF), Entwurf vom 31. August 2007.

learnline.de: Praktische Philosophie - Das neue Unterrichtsfach, Kernlehrplan Juni 1997

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[core_curriculum_2007-1] 1.0 ^1.1 schulministerium.nrw.de: Kernlehrplan "Praktische Philosophie", Sekundarstufe I in Nordrhein - Westfalen (PDF), Entwurf vom 31. August 2007.

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