Children's Rights and Self-Actualization Theory.

From property to person status: Historical perspective on children's rights.

Psychological theory and research assume conceptions of the self that are highly individualistic and instrumental. When incorporated into educational theory and practice, such conceptions serve to elevate goals and strategies of self-fulfilment and individual freedom over goals and practices that emphasize citizenship and civic virtue. We present a brief, critical history of self studies in psychology as applied to education, as well as an example of the influence of psychological conceptions of the self on elementary school curricula in British Columbia. We conclude that the autonomous, self-governing individual is celebrated at the expense of the socially dependent, committed citizen.

methods

/pdf/psychology-and-the-education-of-persons-in-british-columbia-zxllkiiuom.pdf

Psychology and the Education of Persons in British Columbia: A Critical Interpretive Investigation.

Critical scholarship contends that psychology has provided ways of thinking about our selves that are consistent with the Enlightenment notion of persons as autonomous and self-governing. Utilizing this framework, I examined the interrelationships between psychological conceptions and practices of the self, and the education of persons. I conducted a critical review of self, children and schooling in PSYCINFO from 1850 to 2008, and an analysis of self measures in educational psychology. Psychology's scientific measurements and classifications have produced an increasingly fragmented self, the various aspects of which are presented as amenable to research-based educational interventions. I also conducted an exhaustive review of elementary school curricula in British Columbia, Canada 'from 1872 to 2008, to understand the ways that public education has contributed to the production of children as selves. Conceptions of the self in school curricula, derived from psychological theory and research, have resulted in an elevation of goals and strategies of self-fulfillment and individual freedom over citizenship and civic virtue. I then examined how psychological theorizing and research on the self translates into B.C. elementary school and classroom practices and policies. Psycho-educational kits, programs and initiatives adopted at school and classroom levels emphasize personal expression and selfresponsibility at the expense of social commitment and curricular content. I contend that psychological theories, research, and practices have produced an empirical self that has contributed much to educators' understandings of the selves of children as discrete, calculable sets of competencies that can be developed and enhanced through instructional procedures. Whether the measured self is packaged as scores on self-concept scales, steps in self-esteem programs, or self-regulated skills and strategies, t~lis

background or methods

https://summit.sfu.ca/system/files/iritems1/9062/etd4117.pdf

The educated self: psychology's contribution to the education of children in twentieth-century North America

/pdf/individual-and-socio-cultural-factors-contributing-to-the-ee4w9hjry7.pdf

Children's Rights and Self-Actualization Theory.

Citations

From property to person status: Historical perspective on children's rights.

Psychology and the Education of Persons in British Columbia: A Critical Interpretive Investigation.

The educated self: psychology's contribution to the education of children in twentieth-century North America

Individual and socio-cultural factors contributing to the spread of the HIV and AIDS pan-demic among adolescents: a socio-educative perspective

Related Papers (5)

Beyond Competence: Self-Actualization as an Integrative Concept

The Role of Art in Self-Actualization

The Relationship between Metacognition, Self-Actualization, and Well-Being among University Students: Reviving Self-Actualization as the Purpose of Education

Influence of Transcendental Meditation on a Measure of Self-Actualization.

Polarities, Perceptions and Problems.