The Project

Philosophical Studies is an educational initiative in personalised learning and a unique aspect of this course is that our students engage in a context-driven project chosen by the learner him or herself, using it as a vehicle both for developing a personal portfolio of skills and also acquiring knowledge that is relevant and salient for today’s world. 'Philosophical Studies of Knowledge and Human Interests' has been designed to address the novel agenda created by the rise of the knowledge economy and by the graduate employment market created by this rise. The programme is grounded in an educational methodology structured around project-based context-driven inquiry which positions the learner at the interface between knowledge generation and knowledge use. The intention is to move beyond the exhausted language of rigid opposition between the academic and vocational and to assist the inquiring self in identifying and nurturing a personal portfolio of competences responding to the contemporary material condition of humanity.

Students in the past have looked at issues in architecture, art, consumerism, culture, disability, education, film, gender, love, music, property, technology, the family, and various other topics. A full list of past themes and questions accompanied by student abstracts can be found in The Book of Change

A useful discussion of the Project’s methodology has recently been published:

Jaros, M. & Deakin-Crick, R., “Personalised Learning for the Post-Mechanical Age”, Journal of Curriculum Studies, Volume 39, Issue 4 August 2007, 423 – 440.

A specific evaluation of the methodology and success of the Project module in Philosophical Studies has also been published, Rose, D., (2009), "Weaving philosophy into the fabric of cultural life", Discourse, 9(1): 165-182, and can be accessed online: http://prs.heacademy.ac.uk/publications/discourse/9_1.html.

The context based approach was also recently discussed at the Society for Research into Higher Education Annual Conference and a copy of the paper can ba accessed by clicking on this link: Rose, D. (2008), ‘Personalised, context-based learning: Philosophical theory and contemporary relevance’. Conference Proceedings for the Society for Research in Higher Education Annual Conference 2008, CD-ROM, no. 0019.

Philosophical Studies has recently secured funding to investigate the methodology and nature of the project learning approach from the Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies. The general aim of this research is to ensure that learners are aware of the skills they develop, that they perfect these skills and are also able to demonstrate and communicate the relevance and value of philosophical concepts outside the academic environment. The research has now come to an end and the report can be viewed at this link: http://prs.heacademy.ac.uk/view.html/prsfundedprojects/22.