How do I contribute to the education of myself and others through ...

Sequence 1 Values in Education1.1 Living myself through othersWithin this section I want to explain my original contribution to knowledge and todemonstrate how I am drawing on the work of Thayer-Bacon (1995) in terms ofunderstanding relational epistemology and the influence of this on the developmentof my living educational theory. I refer to the work of Connelly & Clandinin (1999) interms of their expression of ‘stories to live by’ and ‘narrative landscapes’ in helpingme to explain my standard of judgement. I draw on this to reflect the importance ofothers within my own living educational theory (Whitehead, 1989) and to demonstratemy originality of mind in living out my standard of judgment of living myself throughothers. Beyond this, through my examples of the educational relationships that I havehad, I want to reflect how I account for my own living educational theory. I am usingNaidoo’s (2005) relational sense of depending on others in order to establish self andengaging with Pring (2000) in also reflecting the importance of recognising others aspeople and human beings. Through engaging with Sartre (2003) I am demonstratingmy ability to understand the other and acknowledge the other as a person andhuman being. I understand Kincheloe (2003) in terms of acknowledging theimportance of experience in contributing to the debate on education and educationalresearch.In terms of ontology, the debate surrounding the nature of understanding education; Ibelieve that my approach is associated with the view that there is not a truth to findbut rather one that emerges through the engagement with my own practice. This maybe in contrast to a more social science perspective that acknowledges the presenceof an absolute truth that needs to be found through research. This approach isreflected through, for instance, my living methodology that was not planned inadvance but rather emerged through time and experience. My ontological approachis rooted within relational epistemology due to the fact that I believe the ‘truth’ that Ifind will be as a result of the interactions that I have through the journey that I amundertaking.In terms of epistemology, the debate to understanding knowledge; it is my approach,an anti-positivist approach, to acknowledge the value of living through experiences inorder to fully understand them as opposed to a more traditional, positivist view ofbeing able to research from a distance upon a subject that may be unfamiliar. Thisliving through of experiences again reinforces my relational epistemology in terms ofconstructing events as they happen from the experiences that I have, through24