My publications

Most Recent Publications

An Educology of Home Schooling (February, 2023) (Kindle eBook and Kindle Direct Publishing paperback). Synopsis: The basic issue about the desirability, or otherwise, of home schooling for children of ages 5-18 is the general question of what balance should be struck between the wishes of the parents vs. the demands of the state? Should parents decide, or the government decide,

  1. what range of knowing the children should be prescribed, permitted and/or proscribed to learn?
  2. what content should the children be prescribed, permitted and/or proscribed to study to achieve the prescribed range of knowing?
  3. what materials and resources (books, videos, computers, laboratories, etc.) should be prescribed, permitted and/or proscribed for the children to access and use in their study?
  4. what intended learning outcomes should be prescribed, permitted and/or proscribed for the children to achieve through their study?
  5. what study activities should the children be prescribed, permitted and/or proscribed to complete in their endeavors to learn the range of knowing that is specified by the intended learning outcomes?
  6. what assessments and evaluations should be prescribed, permitted and/or proscribed to establish the degree to which children have achieved the intended learning outcomes?
  7. what uses (preparative, formative, summative) should be made of the evaluation results of student achievement?
  8. what qualifications and characteristics should be prescribed, permitted and/or proscribed for those who are to teach the children?

The question as to where to strike the balance between the parents’ rights to conduct home schooling for their children and the government’s rights to mandate, permit and/or proscribe the ways, means and outcomes for compulsory education of children (ages 5 to 18) who are subject to the authority of the government is one that is under constant scrutiny, review and negotiation. Every generation engages in analysis, inquiry and debate in developing adequate answers to this question.

In jurisdictions where home schooling is permitted, there are abundant materials and extensive support for parents who want to conduct home schooling. The sources of materials and support include government agencies, commercial publishing firms and special interest groups.

Parents who elect for their children to engage in home schooling are confronted with the same questions that any person taking on the role of teacher (whether professionally qualified and certified, or not) must ask, answer and provide necessary and sufficient justification for the answers. Those questions include

  1. what prescribed range of knowing do we, playing the role of teacher, want to specify as intended learning outcomes for our at-home students to achieve?
  2. why do we want our at-home students to achieve this particular set of intended learning outcomes (what makes the intended learning outcomes extrinsically and/or intrinsically worthwhile)?
  3. what must the at-home students do and/or produce (including under what conditions and conforming to what criteria) to adduce necessary and sufficient evidence to prove their achievement of the prescribed range of knowing as specified by the intended learning outcomes?
  4. what intentional guided study activities (performed under what conditions, with what resources and within what time frame) will maximize the probabilities that the at-home students will intentionally learn under guidance the prescribed range of knowing as specified by the intended learning outcomes?

Parents basically have three choices in dealing with these questions. They can formulate their own individual answers. They can use the answers provided in curriculum documents and materials which others (state authorities, commercial publishing firms, special interest groups, etc.) have already developed and published. Or they can make adaptations of existing materials to suit the individual circumstances of their at-home students. The book is now available as an eBook and paperback at Amazon amazon.com: James E. Christensen

An Educology of Development and Learning (August, 2022) (Kindle eBook and Kindle Direct Publishing paperback). Synopsis: The educology of development and learning is the fund of knowledge (the set of recorded true statements) about the mutual effects of human development (the physical and psychical maturation process), learning (the process of coming to know) and education (the activities of teaching and studying intentionally under guidance). Human development is a synchronous progression of physical and psychical development. Physical development includes progressive changes in size, mass, proportion, strength and function. Psychical development includes synchronous progression of volition, perception and cognition. Volition is determining what to do and what not to do. Perception is the extrospection of physical objects (trees, grass, birds, etc.) and the introspection of mental objects (emotions, imaginings, internal sensations {pain, thirst, hunger}, urges and memories. Cognition includes conceiving, knowing, understanding, inquiring and reasoning. Children are born with the capacity and desire to learn an extensive range of knowing, and they learn from many circumstances. From happenstance (serendipity and misadventure), they experience accidental learning of a range of accidental knowing. From coercion (socialization, enculturation and indoctrination), they experience coerced learning of a range of compelled knowing. From inquiry (playful trial and error and/or systematic investigation), they experience discovery learning of a range of discovered knowing. From education (teaching and studying intentionally under guidance), they experience conduced learning of a range of prescribed knowing. The four variants of learning (accidental, coerced, discovered, conduced) have mutual effects with the physical and psychical development of children, especially in the early years from birth to five years of age. Of the four variants of learning, only conduced learning of a prescribed range of knowing is the product of education. Education is a field of phenomena in which there are teachers, students, content and context (the physical, social and cultural setting). Education can be unofficial (taking place in families, among friends, at workplaces, etc.), and it can be official (taking place in schools, academies, institutes, universities, etc.) Education can be ineffective (the students do not achieve the intended learning outcomes), and it can be effective. Education can be bad (the students study under unethical conditions and/or they study to learn a range of knowing that is not worth knowing or is harmful), and education can be good. The ideal education, of course, is that it is effective and good. In education, teachers provide opportunities, guidance and supervision for students to study intentionally under guidance some content. Students accept voluntarily and willingly the opportunities, guidance and supervision to study intentionally under guidance the content. The content is some fund of knowledge and/or some range of knowing that is organized for the purposes of teaching and studying intentionally under guidance. When the teaching and intentional guided studying are effective, the students learn some prescribed range of knowing. A range of knowing is a combination of some kind, level and form of learned ability. Knowing is a cognitive state of mind. Students who have learned some range of knowing can express and/or use their range of knowing linguistically, emotionally, imaginally, physiologically and/or physically to solve problems and/or achieve desired outcomes or states of affairs. Education begins at birth, continues throughout our lifetime, and contributes to part (but not all) of human development and learning. The book is now available as an eBook and paperback at Amazon amazon.com: James E. Christensen

An Educology for Freedom (August, 2021) (Kindle eBook and Kindle Direct Publishing paperback). Synopsis: Education for employment is a widely accepted argument for educational programs offered by schools, colleges and universities. It is obviously an advantage for an economy to have an adult population whose skills, attitudes and attributes of character match those which employers in private enterprises and public services require. Education for employment aims to develop technical expertise plus dispositions, attitudes and habits such as those of honesty, cooperativeness, diligence, dependability, loyalty, reliability and responsibility. Education for employment benefits individuals by helping them develop marketable skills which will secure them income. Education for employment benefits society as a whole by contributing to the efficiency of the economic system in the tasks of production and distribution of goods and services for the society. But education for employment provides an inadequate range of knowing to deal with the challenges of unlimited economic growth, exponential population growth, existential threat from overconsumption of resources, pandemic diseases, nuclear holocaust (by intention or misadventure), the deluge of misinformation and falsehoods spread through all forms of media and attacks (overt and covert) upon democratic processes. What is required to deal with these contemporary challenges, and with challenges which are to come in the future, is an education for freedom. Education for freedom gives paramount importance to critical thinking as the most important intended learning outcome of any educational program. Critical thinking, combined with action guided by critical thinking, as intended learning outcomes imply learning of a range of knowing that includes (1) knowing to conduct inquiry as a matter of lifelong habit to answer questions, resolve issues and solve problems, (2) knowing that inquiry is the only rational way to verify answers to questions, solve problems and resolve conflicts, (3) knowing how to conduct inquiry effectively and productively and (4) knowing how to use the products of inquiry to guide action that is effective achieving desirable and worthwhile states of affairs. Only through persistent, continuous and well-disciplined inquiry, conducted outside of and beyond socialization, enculturation and indoctrination, is it possible to develop the postconventional creative range of knowing requisite to deal constructively with physical, social and cultural change, personally and collectively. Studying intentionally under guidance to achieve conduced learning of the habits and skills of inquiry is the essence of education for freedom. The book is now available as an eBook and paperback at Amazon amazon.com: James E. Christensen

An Introduction to Educology (February, 2021) (Kindle eBook and Kindle Direct Publishing paperback). Synopsis:  Education has the same relationship to education as society has to sociology. Education is a field of phenomena. Educology is the fund of knowledge about the field. Education is a system with the elements of teacher, student, content and setting, all standing in some relation to each other, and all having mutual effects on each other. Educology is the set of recorded true statements about the structure, function and purpose of education. Educology provides descriptive, explanatory and normative theory about education. Descriptive theory provides well-defined terms for denoting, discerning, observing and describing education. Explanatory educological theory consists of statements which use the well-defined terms from descriptive theory to describe the controlling conditions for resultants in education and to predict resultants from specified controlling conditions. Normative educological theory consists of statements that provide evaluations and prescriptions for states of affairs in education and justifications for the evaluations and prescriptions. The book is now available as an eBook and paperback at Amazon amazon.com: James E. Christensen

Educology of Teaching (May, 2020) (Kindle eBook and Kindle Direct Publishing paperback). Synopsis: The educological perspective is one which chooses the field of phenomena denoted by the term education as its object of inquiry. From the educological perspective, education, as an object of inquiry, is a field of phenomena which consists of the basic elements of teacher, student, content and setting, all standing in some relation to each other (e.g. constructive, reconstructive, destructive, sustaining). Educological inquiry provides descriptions, analyses and explanations of the elements and the relations among the elements which constitute education. Educological inquiry also provides justified evaluations of and prescriptions for practices, relationships and states of affairs in education. When educological inquiry is careful, well-disciplined and fruitful, the product is recorded true statements about education. A term which denotes recorded true statements is knowledge, and a term which denotes knowledge about education is educology. The educology of teaching is knowledge about the relationships between teaching and education. The educology of teaching includes analytic philosophical educology, normative philosophical educology, historical educology, jurisprudential educology, scientific educology and praxiological educology of teaching. In Educology of Teaching the educological perspective is used to address four key questions. (1) What is teaching? (2) What do teachers do? (3) What is effective teaching? (4) What is good teaching? The first question, “What is teaching?” is analyzed and identified as an analytic philosophical educological question. The question calls for analysis of what set of phenomena is denoted by the term teaching. The analysis reveals that the term is used to denote (1) intentionally guiding students in their study, (2) intentionally and successfully guiding students in their study such that the students learn what they are studying and (3) happenstance (misadventure and/or serendipity) which causes an extension of one’s range of knowing. The first denotation – intentionally guiding students in their study – is chosen as the appropriate one for careful and disciplined educological discourse about teaching. The second question, “What do teachers do?” is analyzed and identified as a scientific educological question. Answers to this question require observation of teachers in action to identify their typical language moves and patterns of conduct in the course of playing the role of teacher. A report is presented of the current state of knowledge about what teachers say and otherwise do in the course of carrying out their duties as teachers. The third question, “What is effective teaching?” is analyzed and identified as a praxiological educological question. Answers to this question require systematic observation and/or experimentation to identify teaching practices and relationships which maximize the probabilities that students will be successful in achieving some nominated set of intended learning outcomes. A report is presented of the current state of knowledge about effective teaching practices and relationships. The fourth question, “What is good teaching?” is analyzed and identified as a normative philosophical educological question. Answers to this question require the use of normative reasoning to identify and justify a set of criteria by which it is justifiable to judge what constitutes good teaching. Normative arguments are presented for identification and justification of a set of attributes essential to ethical teaching. Normative arguments are also presented for the identification and justification of teaching as being intrinsically and extrinsically good. The normative argument is presented that teaching is intrinsically good when it is part of philomathic education. The normative argument is presented that teaching is extrinsically good when it is part of, for example, occupational education, liberal education and/or health education. This book is available as an eBook and paperback at amazon.com: James E. Christensen

Education, Educology and Meta-Educology: A Conversation. (December, 2018) (Kindle eBook and Kindle Direct Publishing paperback). Synopsis: This book presents a conversation between a teacher and a student about the relationships among education, educology and meta-educology. Through the course of the conversation it is established that the term education in ordinary language denotes (1) teaching, (2) learning as process, (3) learning as product, (4) teaching and studying under guidance and (5) educology – knowledge about teaching and studying under guidance. Educology is the fund of recorded true statements about teaching and studying under guidance. Educology includes (1) analytic philosophical educology – knowledge about patterns and meanings of terms, expressions and sentences used in discourse among teachers, students and third parties in education, (2) normative philosophical educology – knowledge about good (and bad) states of affairs in education (3) historical educology – knowledge about past states of affairs in education, including what happened, why it happened and what followed, (4) scientific educology – knowledge about extant states of affairs in education, including what happens, why it happens and what will happen, (5) praxiological educology – knowledge about effective (and ineffective) practices and relations in education and (6) jurisprudential educology – knowledge about what is required, prohibited and allowed by rules, regulations and laws governing education. The basic elements of education are teachers, students, content and setting (physical, social, cultural). Someone (a teacher) intentionally provides guidance and opportunities for someone (a set of students) to study under guidance some content (some fund of knowledge and/or some set of exemplifications of knowing) in some physical, social and cultural setting with a view in mind that those studying under guidance extend their range of knowing and understanding. Education can be unofficial (conducted within families, peer groups, clubs, work places) or official (conducted within schools, academies, institutes, colleges, universities). Education can be effective (students achieve intended learning outcomes) or ineffective (students do not achieve intended learning outcomes). Education can be good (the process is ethical and benign, the intended learning outcomes are worthwhile and desirable) or bad (the process is unethical and harmful, the intended learning outcomes are not worthwhile nor desirable). The ideal state of affairs for education is that the intended learning outcomes are worthwhile, the students want to achieve the outcomes, they like the guided study activities provided to them and they achieve the intended learning outcomes. In addition to the four basic elements of education, unofficial and official education have derivative components: (1) language, (2) resources, (3) methods, (4) styles, (5) focus, (6) organization, (7) pace, (8) sequence, (9) initiation, (10) intentions, (11) goal structures, (12) assessment, (13) evaluation, (14) strategies. Official education also has (15) certification, (16) curriculum, (17) syllabi, (18) unit plans and (19) lesson plans. Effective education produces intentional guided learning. Other categories of learning (outside of education) are discovery learning, compelled learning and accidental learning. Learning extends one’s range of knowing, and range of knowing extends one’s mindfulness. Mindfulness extends one’s personal domain of discourse and vice versa. Discovery learning from problem solving enables one’s mindfulness to transcend the knowing achieved from intended guided learning, compelled learning and accidental learning. Meta-educology is knowledge about the formation of well defined terms for discourse about education and the formation, transformation and verification of statements about education. Meta-educology provides knowledge about how to form descriptive theory, empirical facts, explanatory theory and normative theory for education. This book is available as an e-Book and paperback at amazon.com: James E. Christensen

Perspectives on Education as Educology (June, 2018,  first published by University Press of America, 1981) (Kindle eBook and Kindle Direct Publishing paperback). Synopsis: Perspectives provides an exposition, from many points of view, of the justification for the use of the term educology to name knowledge about education and of the distinguishing characteristics, applications and utility of educology. Questions addressed include (1) What is education? (2) What is knowledge about education? (3) What is an appropriate name for knowledge about education? (4) What kinds of knowledge about education can be distinguished? (5) How is knowledge about education produced? (6) What uses can be made of knowledge about education? (7) How can knowledge about education be used to extend professional and vocational education? (8) How can knowledge about education be used to extend liberal education? This book is available as an eBook and paperback at amazon.com: James E. Christensen

Education, Mindfulness and Educology (December, 2017) (Kindle eBook and Kindle Direct Publishing paperback). Synopsis: The human psyche consists of experiencing interactions among conation, perception and cognition. The more that cognition is extended, the more that cognition can inform, guide and learn from the consequences of conation and perception. And the more that cognition is extended, the more mindfulness there is available in making choices, establishing purposes and formulating goals. Also, the greater the extension of cognition, the more competency there is available to apply in endeavors to achieve nominated goals. Mindfulness takes an individual from saying, “I didn’t know that I had a choice,” to saying, “I know what my options are, I know which choice is the best, I know why it is the best, I know what to do to achieve what I have chosen, and I stand accountable and responsible for the consequences of my choices.” Mindfulness provides the capacity to lead an authentic and responsible life. The means by which cognition is extended is through learning. Learning can be accidental learning, i.e. it can be by misadventure and happenstance. Learning can be compelled learning, i.e. it can arise from socialization, enculturation and indoctrination. Learning can be discovery learning, i.e. it can arise from independent deliberate unguided inquiry. And learning can be intentional guided learning, i.e. it can result from education. Education is the process in which someone teaches and someone intentionally studies under guidance some content within some context (physical, social and cultural) with the view in mind that those doing the studying extend their range of knowing and understanding. Through education, students can extend their mindfulness beyond the limitations of the initial social conditioning and enculturation of their childhood and adolescent years. Through discovery learning, i.e. learning achieved by independent inquiry, students can transcend the range of knowing and understanding achieved by means of education and extend their mindfulness beyond that which is possible to attain by accidental learning, compelled learning and intentional guided learning. This book is available as an eBook and paperback at amazon.com: James E. Christensen

Education, Research and Educology (December, 2016) (Kindle eBook and Kindle Direct Publishing paperback). Synopsis: This book deals with the topic of how to conduct well disciplined research about the educational process. The argument is presented that educological research consists of the process of asking and answering questions about the educational process. Education is taken to be the process in which someone intentionally teaches and someone else intentionally undertakes to study some content in the context of some physical, social and cultural setting. When the educational process is successful, the students achieve an extension in their range of knowing. Different kinds of questions require different kinds of rules of research to adduce the necessary and sufficient evidence to form true answers to the questions.  At least five kinds of questions can be asked about education, and therefore there are at least five kinds of educological research that are possible about education. The result of successful and fruitful educological research is the correction and/or extension of educology, i.e. of warranted assertions about the educational process. This book is available as an eBook and paperback at amazon.com: James E. Christensen

Education, Universities and Educology (March 2015) (Kindle eBook and Kindle Direct Publishing paperback). Synopsis: The big question addressed is how can the structure of the fund of knowledge about education be used productively and fruitfully to organize university faculty, curriculum and research programs whose purpose is to teach, extend and disseminate knowledge about education. Part One deals with the questions of: (1) what is knowledge about education? (2) why is it desirable to use the term ‘educology’ to denote knowledge about education? (3) what is the origin of the term ‘educology’? (4) what kinds of knowledge about education are possible? (5) what disciplines are required to produce knowledge about education? (6) what are some different ways of organizing knowledge about education? (7) how do discipline, study and fund of knowledge differ? (8) how are the tasks of creating knowledge about education, teaching knowledge about education and using knowledge about education connected with each other and how do they differ? Part Two deals with the questions of: (1) What constitutes education? (2) What are the basic components of education? (3) What are the basic processes of education? (4) What are derivative features of education? (5) Where does curriculum fit into education? (6) How do official and unofficial education resemble and yet differ from each other? (7) What is the proper domain for educological research? (8) How are the tasks of creating knowledge about education, teaching knowledge about education and using knowledge about education connected with each other and how do they differ? Part Three deals with the questions of: (1) What uses can be made of educology in naming of organizations whose purpose it is to conduct research about education, teach about education and disseminate knowledge about education? (2) What uses can be made of the structure of educology in organizing faculties, curricula and research programs in universities? This book is available as an eBook and paperback at amazon.com: James E. Christensen

Education, Curriculum and Educology (May 2014) (Kindle eBook and Kindle Direct Publishing paperback). Synopsis: This book addresses the questions of (1) what is curriculum? (2) how does curriculum fit in the educational process? (3) what constitutes a sound curriculum plan? (4) what are some well established viewpoints about what should be included in a curriculum? (5) how do social, cultural and political forces affect curriculum? This book is available as an eBook and paperback at amazon.com: James E. Christensen

Education, Knowledge and Educology (July 2013) (Kindle eBook and Kindle Direct Publishing paperback). Synopsis: This book is a work in the philosophy of educology. It is an examination of the questions of (1) what is education, (2) what is knowledge about education and (3) how can that knowledge be organized so that it can be used fruitfully to take rational action in the educational process to pursue and achieve worthwhile intentions and purposes. Techniques of ordinary language analysis are used to illustrate how to address and answer these questions sensibly. This book is available as an eBook and paperback at amazon.com: James E. Christensen

Other Books

  • Christensen, James E (1981): Curriculum, Education, and Educology. Sydney: Educology Research Associates. ISBN 094978401X.
  • Christensen, James E (1981): Education and Human Development: A Study in Educology. Sydney: Educology Research Associates. ISBN: 094978400.
  • Christensen, James E (editor) (1981): Perspectives on Education as Educology. Washington, DC: University Press of America. ISBN 0819113934.
  • Christensen, James E (editor) (1986): Educology 86:  Proceedings of a Conference on Educational Research, Inquiry and Development with an Educological Perspective, Canberra, July 10-12, 1986. Sydney: Educology Research Associates. ISBN 0949784052.
  • Christensen, James E and Fisher, James E (1979): Analytic Philosophy of Education as a Subdiscipline of Educology. Washington, DC: University Press of America. ISBN 0819108022.
  • Christensen, James E and Fisher, James E (1983): Organization and Colleges of Education: An Educological Perspective. Sydney: Educology Research Associates. ISBN 0949784028
  • Lane, David and Christensen, James E (1985): The School Librarian’s Guide to Curriculum Development. Sydney: Educology Research Associates. ISBN 09497840306.

Articles, papers and chapters