21 st Century Child and Youth Care Education: An Ontological Relational Turn in Teaching and Learning

Gerard Bellefeuille* and Ahna Bekikoff
Additional contact information
Gerard Bellefeuille*: Child and Youth Care Department, MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Ahna Bekikoff: Child and Youth Care Department, MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Research Journal of Education, 2020, vol. 6, issue 3, 14-24

Abstract: The pedagogical challenges in preparing child and youth care (CYC) education for 21st century CYC practice, global citizenship and life cannot be rightfully addressed by an antiquated higher education system predicated on a Newtonian/Cartesian ontology that assumes a mechanistic view of the materialistic world and a solitary view of the “self†as completely autonomous, ego-based, and self-enclosed. In this article, we propose an alternative ontological stance for teaching and learning in higher education, one that is informed by the growing body of relational ontology scholarship in theology, philosophy, psychology, nursing, political theory, educational theory, and even information science. The basic contention of a relational ontology is that all relations between entities are ontologically more fundamental than the entities themselves. Within this perspective, the “self†is not so much a personal possession as it is a process of relatedness and a reflection of one’s relational experiences. This view of the self has enormous implications for teaching and learning. A relational ontological approach to education will employ more holistic, collaborative, and experiential methods of teaching and learning in which the learner’s (i.e., the self’s) mind, body, emotions, spirit, and environment are all considered essential components of the learning process. The conversation presented in this article is an invitation to rethink the ontological foundations upon which CYC education is currently constructed and to explore the potential of an ontological revolution in CYC teaching and learning pedagogy. In CYC, as in other disciplines, it is the visionaries operating at the edges of the discipline’s philosophical, theoretical, and practice boundaries who provide the critical reflection and creativity of thought to nudge the field forward. The educationists are suggested to join this adventure.

Keywords: Cartesian; Education; Learning; Ontology; Relational; Teaching. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.arpgweb.com/pdf-files/rje6(3)14-24.pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.arpgweb.com/journal/15/archive/03-2020/3/6 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:arp:rjearp:2020:p:14-24

Access Statistics for this article

Research Journal of Education is currently edited by Dr. Waleed Al Abiky

More articles in Research Journal of Education from Academic Research Publishing Group Rahim Yar Khan 64200, Punjab, Pakistan.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Managing Editor ().