My teaching philosophy

 

I believe that the knowledge taught at universities should be based on Aristotle’s three intellectual virtues: epistemé, techné, and phronesis.

 

• Epistemé refers to broadly applicable context-independent knowledge;

• Techné to practical, applied and context-specific knowledge; and

• Phronesis to pragmatic, action oriented and context-dependent knowledge, based on value-rationality, such as ethics (Flyvbjerg 2005).

 

In my teaching, I aim to help students gain epistemé by learning academic theories; techné by applying the things they have learnt in practice and real life contexts; and phronesis by challenging them to think critically and ethically.

 

My pedagogical approach has a strong emphasis on experiental learning, case studies and collaborative project work. While I also enjoy the traditional academic seminar style lecturing, my teaching has been influenced by Habermas’ communicative action, Foucault’s thoughts on power & knowledge, and particularly the Freirean empowerment pedagogy.