The notion of a community of inquiry has been treated by many of its proponents as being an exemplar of democracy in action. We argue that the assumptions underlying this view present some practical and theoretical difficulties, particularly in relation to distribution of power among the members of a community of inquiry. We identify two presuppositions in relation to distribution of power that require attention in developing an educational model that is committed to deliberative democracy: (1) openness to inquiry and (...) readiness to reason, and (2) mutual respect of students and teachers towards one another. Our contention is that these presuppositions, presented as preconditions necessary to the creation of a community of inquiry, are not without ideological commitments and dependent upon the ability of participants to share power. Using group dynamic theories and the ideas of Hannah Arendt, we argue that behaviours commonly interpreted as obstacles to dialogue or reflective inquiry could provide opportunities for growth. (shrink)

A classroom Community of Inquiry depends on the deliberation skills of its members and their willingness to share ideas, time and power, despite conflicting interests, in the process of social inquiry. This vision of sharing power is not without challenges to both P4C and other theoretical movements within the discourse of democratic education. The kind of theorizing that is missing should explore students’ perceptions, judgment, decision making, agency and the like, through meaning making in particular contexts of democratic education. To (...) explore such challenges, I designed a qualitative study to unfold the meanings of power that middle school students constructed within a learning environment, which was influenced by democratic education principles. In explaining their meanings of power in democratic education, the participants explicitly challenged the pre-set notion of power equality between teachers and students, and between the members of a CI, and also the foundational concept of power that is based on redistribution of time and ideas. Arendt’s view of power mirrors the students’ perspectives. This notion of power in education explains why the students supported the teachers’ ‘power’, and why students used their power to different degrees. It is the way Arendt “stylized the image of the Greek polis to the essence of politics as such” (Habermas, 1986, p.82; Arendt, 1986, p.62) that explains how power should support democratic education according to the youths’ view. (shrink)

There may be a possibility that young women find it difficult to express their female ways of knowing and gain equal public representation. This leads us to reflect on a possible gap between a well developed theory of justice in P4C and pedagogical practices of social influence. In this paper I attempt to reflect on these questions provisionally, and suggest an initial theoretical framework for discussing such issues within the P4C movement. First, I report some personal and social narratives that (...) were described by individual writers. These narratives reflect, mostly, female authors’ personal histories from childhood to adulthood, and how their carrier choices were influenced by prevailing constructed gender roles. Second, I discuss the theory of the Community of Inquiry (CI) and examine the possibilities for self transformation and women liberation that this practice allows. Third, I introduce Hannah Arendt’s argument that education should not attempt to present the future of the human condition as finite and resolved. (shrink)