Educational Philosophy and Theory,Vol. 41, No.

7, 2009
doi: 10.1111/j.1469-5812.2009.00588.x

Making Sense
Clinton Golding
I would have liked to begin with an account of how I precociously engaged with
philosophical questions when I was but a small child. With a beginning like that, even
though I am a newcomer to philosophy of education, I could argue that my journey to
philosophy and the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia was almost inevitable.
Alas, I cannot remember having much of a philosophical tendency when I was young. I
do remember being intrigued by philosophical questions such as Does time have an
end? when I started high-school and at 17 I said I was going to be a philosopher when
I left school, though I think this was more of a joke than an accurate prediction, as I
didnt have a clue what a philosopher actually did.
Study at the University of Auckland in the early 1990s was quite different. I manipulated my degree so that every subject I took was philosophical. As well as almost the
entire range of Philosophy subjects covering logic, metaphysics, ethics and continental
philosophy, I did political studies (political philosophy), Asian studies (Asian philosophy), psychology (which informed my philosophy of mind) and art history (modern art,
especially conceptual art, was like practical philosophy of art).
For my postgraduate study I completed an MA and then a newly created Diploma of
Professional Ethics while I tried to figure out whether I would next do a PhD or devote
my energy to teaching philosophy. I had three tacit insights during this period that would
shape all my later intellectual work and which would slowly evolve into conscious
conceptions. While studying philosophy of art, which was taught by analysis of
problematic cases, I began to think that philosophy was best done by addressing the
root philosophical problems rather than by responding to philosophical arguments and
positions. While studying professional ethics I realised the importance of teaching
philosophy and how philosophical methods can make a difference in any area of life. In
writing my Masters thesis The Liberation of Freedom on the problem of free will, I
started to develop the general principle that philosophical problems are resolved by
reconceptualisation (which 10 years later became the heart of my PhD).
In my studies I covered almost every area of philosophy except philosophy of education and metaphilosophy, which is odd given these are now two of my central research
interests.
At the same time as I was studying postgraduate philosophy I began teaching
philosophy, philosophy for children and later professional ethics. My passion shifted from
personally studying and doing philosophy to helping others to philosophise, so I became
a professional philosophy teacher.
My intellectual focus was now on philosophy in education or, as Lipman puts it,
educational philosophy. I taught philosophy throughout New Zealand in various
universities and tertiary faculties such as Medicine, Business, Adult Education,
2009 The Author
Journal compilation 2009 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia
Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and
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Education, and of course Arts; in many schools, sometimes in the role of Philosopher in
Residence; and to all age groups including pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary,
professional and adult. In 1999 I co-founded and was the first coordinator of the New
Zealand Philosophy for Children Association.
My interest in philosophy in education slowly evolved into a concern with educating
thinking because I had begun to use the tools and methods of philosophy to help
students to improve their thinking. Based on Lipmans Philosophy for Children praxis,
I developed techniques for helping students to learn to think creatively, critically, scientifically, historically or artistically and for schools to be thinking schools. As a result of
my work in this area, I created and held the position of Thinking Coordinator at St
Cuthberts College in Auckland and later Queen Margaret College in Wellington, where
my job was to develop the thinking of staff and students from prep through to year 13 and
in all subject areas.
When I completed my first stint at university in 1994 I had rejected the idea of
doing a PhD in philosophy because I was far more inspired about teaching philosophy.
Now my thinking had changed. I wanted an intellectual challenge, which I knew only
a PhD could provide, and academic life now looked very attractive as a long-term
career. I used to think that a philosophy academic would teach a few subjects and
publish papers that two or three people might read (if they were lucky). I had rejected
this option because I wanted to use philosophy where it would make a difference. Now
I had a more accurate and appealing picture of what an academic could be: a teacher,
public intellectual, consultant, mentor and investigator, who engages with their
research community and with the public. I also had the realisation (which amazed me)
that I could do a PhD in education rather than philosophy. Despite working as an
educator for 10 years I had never considered that I could do a PhD outside my initial
discipline of philosophy.
Without changing my mind in these ways I would never have become an academic.
I intended to enrol for a PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2005 or 2006, and
later apply for an academic position, but fate (in the guise of my Philosophy for Children
colleague Sue Wilks) intervened. She was retiring from the Faculty of Education and
suggested I apply for her position. I thought she was crazy given I had no teaching or
education qualifications, nor a PhD. After my wife insisted I apply, I was surprised and
delighted to get the job (my wife was just delighted).
So it was University again and a chance to develop my intellectual work, to start a
PhD, and to get paid for the privilege! I started January 2004 as a lecturer in the Faculty
of Education (now the Graduate School of Education) at the University of Melbourne.
Soon after, I began working on a PhD jointly in philosophy and education, Philosophical
Progress in Philosophy for Children, which examines what it means to make epistemic
progress, or in other words, what it means to get somewhere or move forward in an
open-ended philosophical inquiry.
PESA was the obvious Society to join. It was especially valuable for me because it
provided a conference where I could share my work and receive encouraging and critical
feedback from colleagues with similar interests. I have been an active member since
2004, attending and presenting at every conference. I was also awarded a PESA PhD
scholarship, which made it possible for me to work full-time on my thesis for a year.
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Clinton Golding

Since 2004, with support provided by PESA, the Graduate School of Education and
within the framework of writing a PhD, I developed and consolidated my approach to
philosophy and education and integrated my diverse scholarly activities.
Overall my approach to teaching and researching is (and in hind-sight, always has
been) about making sense where inadequate or incongruous conceptions fall into place
or are transformed so they are congruous and adequate. Dewey, as interpreted through
Lipman, is a very strong influence on this conception. The theory of making sense
integrates my teaching and research. Researching and learning are two processes of
making sense, while teaching is a process of helping others to make sense. The pedagogical and research methods I advocate for making sense are the tools and general
intellectual dispositions of philosophical thinking, inquiry and problem solving applied
across the disciplines. Philosophy examines the foundations of the different disciplines
and develops general intellectual skills and habits such as of logic and critical thinking.
It is the integrating discipline that helps us to make sense of everything else.
In my teaching I apply the methods of philosophy to help my students make sense
for themselves. I believe that for students to develop more adequate and congruent
conceptions, they must engage in philosophical dialogue about substantial philosophical issues with no easy or simple resolutions. This is a modern twist on the ancient
tradition of Socratic dialogue backed up by contemporary learning theory, which
emphasises tacit teaching, modelling, enculturation and social learning. I call this
teaching philosophically.
In my research my aim is to personally make sense of the issues I am exploring and to
work out how to present the insights I construct so they make sense to, and are useful for,
others. In particular, my aim is to make sense of how we can best assist others to make
sense.
Because making sense is my general philosophical approach to teaching and research,
I am able to engage with a wide range of topics and areas. In particular, I work in the
fields and borders of meta-philosophy, teaching philosophy, epistemology (particularly
comparative epistemology, developmental epistemology and epistemic progress),
philosophy of education, reflective education and educating thinking.
I am currently Senior Lecturer at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education
(CSHE) at the University of Melbourne, and working towards completing my PhD by
the end of 2009. At the CSHE my work in making sense is applied to interdisciplinary
teaching and learning across the University. My future research trajectory is likely to
continue on this path, with a special focus on the thinking employed in the different
disciplines as well as how they make epistemic progress.
I find myself now in an ambiguous position in relation to philosophy of education,
which I think is mirrored in the present state of PESA. I work in a Graduate School of
Education that does not teach nor particularly value philosophy of education. I am
working on issues that are not only philosophical but also empirical and pedagogical,
working alongside, and for an audience of, teachers and researchers from every discipline. Under these circumstances I still consider myself to be a philosopher of education,
but I am unclear about exactly what this means.
I think the philosophy of education in PESA is similarly ambiguous, especially if
changes in the conferences are representative of the Society as a whole. Over the last five
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years the PESA conferences seem to have changed from being small and supportive,
made up mostly of veteran philosophers of education who each speak a common
language or at least are familiar with each others work, to larger, less collegial and more
impersonal conferences made up of participants from diverse backgrounds and with far
less common grounding in philosophy or philosophy of education. Many attendees seem
to have little or no undergraduate training in philosophy or philosophy of education, and
in some cases no postgraduate training either.This diversity puts PESA in an ambiguous
position. By what criterion do PESA conferences count as philosophy of education?
Approaching an educational issue like creativity or knowledge, or applying a philosophical theorist like Foucault or Heidegger, may count as educational research, but it does
not guarantee the work will be philosophical. Alternatively, empirical work or theorising
in disciplines apart from philosophy may have a philosophical dimension.
The challenge for PESA, and for members like myself, is to redefine philosophy of
education for a new era where there is lack of institutional recognition or support in
either education faculties or philosophy departments, where much of the educational
work is interdisciplinary, and where academics who are interested and willing to engage
in the issues of philosophy of education may not have the grounding in the discipline that
was assumed in the past.

2009 The Author

Journal compilation 2009 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia