Eisner- Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Educational Connoisseurship and Educational Criticism
- Eisner proposes that we improve education through an artistic paradigm. We need to become education connoisseurs and critics.
- Teachers and others engaged in education need to improve their ability to see and think about what they do
- Education connoisseurship means that you become aware of education’s characteristics and qualities. Eisner compares this to being a wine connoisseur.
- Education criticism describes what is going on in the educational setting
- Education criticism is more than describing behaviour
- Aim for thick description rather than thin description. A thin description is “the eyelid closed at a rate of two closures per second” A thick description would describe the closure as a wink to someone of the opposite sex. In your description you are trying to pick up the story, the significance and the meaning.
- You should aim to use language artfully and fluidly, but more important than language is to be able to get at the history and values beneath the practices.
- When observing someone’s practice, the education critic needs to be able to say what values are present, and which values have been rejected
How should you/ can you study a classroom?
1) Even though the classroom is ever changing, watch for enduring qualities. Visit the classroom persistently.
2) Capture the classroom, and hold episodes of classroom life for critical examination. To do this, you should videotape classrooms
3) We need to explore how fine art criticisms could be applied to classroom settings