Focal practices and the ontologically educated citizen

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between phenomenology, critical pedagogy, and arts education, showing how they support one another in pedagogical contexts. Examples are offered that illustrate how creative praxis in the arts can provide experiences and critical insights that may help teachers and students look beyond prescriptive attitudes towards life and education; and therefore, explore their potential as creative, world-making beings. Such possibilities are then considered in connection with the critique of modern and postmodern technology provided by phenomenological thinkers such as Heidegger and Borgmann. To conclude, it is argued that a revised understanding of arts education in light of the idea of ‘focal practices’ can help teachers and students recognize and better understand the kinds of activities and relationships that imbue life with meaning, and that this could help them lead fuller lives as ‘ontologically educated’ citizens.