Levinasian Teacher

Recent years have seen educationalists turning to Emmanuel Levinas when considering the relationship between ethics and education. While it is true that Levinas never speaks of ethics in relation to the practice of classroom education, nonetheless, for Levinas, ethics is a teaching, and learning can only take place in the presence of the Other. This book considers how, within the constraints of the Irish primary school education system, teachers can develop a Levinasian approach to teaching, that affords both them and the children they teach multiple opportunities throughout the school day to take up their ethical responsibility for each other as Other. Beginning from a Levinasian understanding of learning and teaching as constituting primordially relational and ethical events, and weaving the philosophies of Levinas, and the educationalists he inspires, into the approaches of philosophy with children, restorative practice, and PAX, this book suggests a unique approach to ethics in Irish primary school classrooms. The focus of this book, then, is on both the philosophical underpinnings that anchor teaching as a Levinasian, and a consideration of what practical approaches could be employed by the Levinasian teacher.

Having worked in the voluntary, community, and adult education sectors for many years, Susan Bailey retrained as a primary school teacher in 2008, and received her Doctor of Education in 2019. Susan has published journal articles and book chapters on homophobic and transphobic bullying, school self-evaluation, policy archaeology, and arts-rich education. Susan currently works as a primary school teacher in Dublin, Ireland, and lectures parttime in philosophy and initial teacher education.