Clarify the connotation of educational belief
prerequisite
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Paul tillich, an existentialist philosopher, thinks that "belief is the existence state of ultimate concern", that is, belief is the "ultimate pursuit" of human beings, and it is the yearning and pursuit of the highest value of human beings and the ultimate meaning of life, which has found a reliable basis for the existence concept, state and value of human beings in the universe and society. It is an activity that transcends the limited pursuit of infinity, the lack of perfection, the accidental pursuit of certainty and the realistic pursuit of ideals. It is with the help of belief activities that people achieve self-transcendence, and its essence is to satisfy people's spiritual needs of pursuing infinity and their ultimate concern of transcending reality and self.
Educational belief is the concretization of belief in education (activity). The connotation of educational belief is the logical starting point of educational belief research. What exactly is educational belief is an important and unavoidable theoretical issue in the study of educational belief. At present, there are three influential views on the study of the connotation of educational belief in Chinese academic circles: the first view holds that educational belief is "people's extreme conviction and respect for the value of educational activities in the process of personal and social development and its realization, and regards it as the fundamental criterion of educational behavior"; The second view holds that educational belief is "the sublimation of belief formed on the basis of people's rational cognition of education, and it is the highest requirement for people to undertake educational mission"; The third view holds that educational belief is "the concretization of belief relationship in educational activities and a special way to grasp activities spiritually". The rest is either a transformation similar to this expression or an emphasis on one aspect.
According to the expression of the concept of "genus+species difference", we think that the first view accurately grasps the essence of educational belief, but this concept cannot distinguish the difference between "educational belief" and general "educational belief" in people's minds; The second view only shows the thinking characteristics of educational belief, but fails to point out what the essence of educational belief is; The third point of view refers to an overly broad concept.
Therefore, to understand and grasp the connotation of educational belief, we must start from the following aspects: First, the essence of educational belief is the pursuit and yearning for the ideal realm of education, its origin or logical starting point is the ideal value of education, and its manifestation is the internal educational ideal formed by different individuals on the basis of understanding the ideal value of education. Second, the foothold of educational belief is the psychological state of believing or firmly believing in one's educational ideal. Understanding educational belief from the perspective of subjective psychological characteristics is an "extreme belief", that is, a special psychological state such as yearning, worship, respect and belief in the due value or ultimate significance of education. Third, emphasize the behavioral characteristics of educational beliefs. The foothold of educational belief must be placed on educational action. Individuals use their own educational beliefs to regulate, restrain or correct their behavior, and act under the strict control of educational beliefs. Educational belief should be the organic unity of subjective psychology and objective behavior. Fourth, grasp the faith as a whole. Educational belief is a highly unified understanding of education, emotional experience, will belief and behavior activities. We should understand the thinking characteristics of educational beliefs from a holistic and comprehensive perspective. Fifth, there are two ways to produce educational beliefs. Educational beliefs can be generated from irrational states such as self-experience, perception, reflection and intuition, and can also be formed from rationality and knowledge.
Based on this, we believe that educational belief is a psychological state and spiritual appeal that transcends the essence of educational practice and internalizes into educational behavior instinct in the process of reflecting on one's own living situation, experiencing the noumenon of educational activities and constantly pursuing the ultimate significance of educational value. Its essence lies in the firm trust and persistent pursuit of the highest value of educational activities, and it is the eternal pursuit and yearning for the ideal realm of "truth, goodness and beauty" in education. It is the unity of rationality and irrationality that externalizes educational belief into the behavior of educational activities and internalizes it into the support of individual psychology, thus realizing the double transcendence of external behavior and internal spirit.
Grasp the characteristics of educational belief
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As a branch of faith, educational belief must have the general characteristics of faith; Educational belief is the concrete embodiment of belief in the field of educational activities, so it also has its unique characteristics. Starting from the ontological attribute and logical starting point of educational belief, we believe that educational belief has the following main characteristics.
Subjectivity and practicality. Contemporary philosophy of subjectivity holds that subjectivity is an attribute of the subject, which is opposite to objectivity. It is the autonomy from the deep heart and based on the subject's own needs. Judging from the subject of belief, that is, the state of believers, belief is a special psychological state such as yearning, worship, respect and piety to the object of belief, and its distinctive feature is subjectivity. The same is true of educational beliefs. The dependence on the spiritual world of educators (teachers), the ultimate concern for educational ideals and the pursuit of a happy life are all deep-seated needs inherent in the human nature of educators (teachers), their subjective feelings and internal experiences of educational values, and they have distinct subjectivity.
Educational belief should also be practical. On the one hand, belief, as the most profound spiritual phenomenon, no matter how mysterious and abstruse, is ultimately the complex and shaky reflection of social existence itself. Educational belief is also the ultimate concern based on the educational practice of educators (teachers) and the realistic survival dilemma. Marx once pointed out that "whether people's thinking has objective truth is not a theoretical issue, but a practical issue." In other words, the category of practice is the foundation and noumenon of "thinking", and meaning is the product of "thinking". Without people's practical activities, there is no personal appeal and evaluation of the meaning of life. In this sense, practice is the basis for the emergence, existence and development of faith. On the other hand, educational belief not only stays at the psychological level of educators (teachers), but more importantly, it should be put into action. In other words, educators (teachers) should practice educational beliefs as rules or norms of their own behavior, so as to "convert" their own body and mind.
Value and transcendence. For the understanding of value, we used to focus on understanding it as the reflection and evaluation of the role of "facts" on the subject's own needs, which actually did not reveal the true essence of value. In our view, value has opened a future or ideal world for mankind, and the essence of value should be "homogeneous" with the ideal world and development prospect of mankind. In other words, value should be based on the constructive requirements of one's own ideals for "facts", not just the functional evaluation of existing "facts". This philosophical understanding of value is more thorough in the field of education. The pursuit of "what should be" in educational value by educational belief is the most basic and profound spiritual value activity of educators (teachers), which embodies educators' commitment to the ideal or highest value construction of "people" and "education" and maintains educators' pursuit of educational ideal spiritual home and ultimate concern for educational value.
Faith is man's self-transcendence and an eternal effort and impulse to transcend his own reality. The reason why education is different from other social practice activities lies in its inherent idealism, surrealism and utilitarianism, and educational belief is the "conviction" of this value ideal in spiritual appeal and emotional identity. It puts forward the requirements for educational reform and expectations for a better life from the perspective of necessity. Educational belief is a firm belief in the highest value of education, the pursuit of the ultimate value of educational activities beyond reality, and the highest spiritual care and concern of educators (teachers). For educators (teachers) with faith, it will not conform to the educational reality of any era. The object or object they believe in is always higher than the reality they live in, which has the nature of surreal ideal, that is, education is the essence of education and people, which is beyond the educational belief.
Understand the value of educational belief
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As the "ultimate concern", faith permeates the life world and becomes the wisdom of human existence, which is only the universal value of faith. Educational belief, as the core of educational values in the minds of educators (teachers), plays a leading role in various forms of educational thoughts. The ontological value of educational belief to educators (teachers) lies in liberating the essence of teachers and is an important guarantee for teachers' professional growth.
From "Covering" to "Clarity": Awakening Teachers' Self-consciousness. The "teachers' self-awareness" mentioned here is aimed at the phenomenon of teachers' inaction in classroom teaching. In the teaching work day after day, most teachers gradually lose the ability of independent thinking and become "puppets" controlled by textbooks, teaching reference materials and lesson preparation materials. They are often just "megaphones" and gradually lose or even have no sense of "self". Because of the authority of teaching materials, teaching reference and exam answers, teachers dare not say that their words are inappropriate or choose their own teaching content for fear that it has nothing to do with the exam.
Only educational belief can give teachers enough spiritual strength, resist utilitarianism, instrumentalism and formalism from educational reality, awaken teachers' self-awareness, give full play to teachers' subjectivity, let teachers participate in textbook selection, text dialogue, classroom design and teacher-student dialogue with their own knowledge and enthusiasm, and give teachers "teaching courage". Only teachers who are full of self-awareness and independent spirit can make themselves have perfect personality and truly give students independent personality.
From "bondage" to "liberation": the significance of encouraging teachers to pursue education. Educational belief is the ultimate concern based on educational reality, and it is the spiritual expectation and behavior pursuit of teachers for the highest value goal and ultimate meaning of their own lives. Teachers' pursuit and belief in educational beliefs is the creative essence of realizing their educational ideals by establishing their own survival foundation. That is to say, educational belief gives definite meaning to teachers' educational life with its clear ultimate educational goal, and finds a reliable basis for teachers' living state and value in educational practice and life, and a basis and strong pillar for teachers' spiritual life.
Educational beliefs have a dual impact on teachers' educational practice or life. On the one hand, it is a binding force, which establishes lofty norms and standards for teachers through its ultimate goal of educational value; On the other hand, it is also a liberating force. By setting the ultimate standard for teachers, it promotes teachers to transcend the limited educational value or educational reality and pursue the ultimate value or significance of education. This lofty ultimate concern leads teachers to liberation and freedom.
From "loss" to "gain": improving teachers' professional happiness. Teachers' way of life, way of thinking and value orientation are directly or indirectly restricted and dominated by specific educational beliefs. A true teacher with educational beliefs must be a person with inner freedom, spiritual happiness and rich life. It is in this sense that educational belief can give teachers a happy experience in the spiritual level at the metaphysical level. In short, educational belief is the "source" of teachers' professional happiness.
At present, due to the lack of educational belief, teachers are experiencing a serious "belief crisis". Most teachers are experiencing and feeling mental pain, loss in meaning and confusion in value, which is far from "professional happiness". Only educational belief can provide strong spiritual support for teachers, which is a mental state held by teachers, helping teachers to seek liberation, explore ways out and self-improvement from confused living situations or educational practice situations, embody the meaning and value of life in the pursuit of educational ideals, and experience the happiness of their own careers and lives.