Ateneo Philosophy faculty and students lead and present at first Philippine Society of Education and Philosophy conference

The Philippine Society of Education and Philosophy (PhilSEP) held its first conference recently last September 20-21, 2024 at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila. With its theme of, "Philosophizing about Education in the Philippines,” the 1st PhilSEP Conference gathered presenters and attendees from different schools, universities, seminaries, and government offices over the two days.

The conference’s keynote speakers were Dr. Janet Orchard, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion in Teacher Education and Director of Postgraduate Research at the School of Education, University of Bristol, and Fr. Francis D. Alvarez, S.J., Chair of the GBSEALD Department of Catholic Education Philosophy and Practice at the Ateneo de Manila University who both opened and closed the gathering. The conference then hosted several parallel sessions with themes ranging from Teaching Ethics, Artificial Intelligence, Critical Perspectives, Historical Perspectives, to Philosophy Education, to name a few.

Ateneo’s Department of Philosophy faculty members and students present

Among the presenters of the conference were several faculty and students from Ateneo’s Department of Philosophy. The presentations and research projects given (in alphabetical order) were titled:

• Don Claro Abutal and Angelo Julian Perez, 'A critical realist evaluation of the EDCOM II Year One Report'
• Maria Jevie Cruz, 'Epistemic merits of Freirean dialogue in traditional educational assessments'
• Sergio Andre Gerardo Gabriel, 'Should students from different disciplines take their philosophy classes together? Exploring a phenomenon of interdisciplinary learning inside a philosophy classroom through a philosophical-historical development of Husserl's system of phenomenology'
• Sergio Andre Gerardo Gabriel, 'Kwentuhan' as formation: A brief discussion on the framework of formation and teaching built on kwentuhan (exchanging stories) through Ateneo's ladderized formation program by the Office for Social Concern and Involvement'
• Kelly Agra (UPB), PJ Mariano-Capistrano (ADMU), Christine Tan (NUS) 'Philosophical (Mis)education: Philosophy's structural foreclosures and the paralysis of critique'
• Joshua Jose Ocon, 'Education is humanization: A Thomistic appreciation of Freirean pedagogy'
• Ysabella Margarette Zureta, 'Educating the Filipino philosopher: Assessing and (re)directing the undergraduate philosophy curriculum in the development of Filipino philosophy'

Dr. Rowena Azada-Palacios, Assistant Professor with the Department of Philosophy of Ateneo de Manila University, who was also in attendance currently serves as PhilSEP’s first and current president.

Attendees of the conference included members from (in alphabetical order) Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, De La Salle University-Integrated School, Department of Education (DepED), The Education University of Hong Kong, Emilio Aguinaldo College, Far Eastern University, Granby Colleges of Science and Technology, Hiroshima University, Holy Cross of Davao College, La Consolacion University,  National University-Baliwag, National University-Manila, Our Lady of Fatima University, Senior High School in San Nicholas III, Bacoor City, Silliman University, University of Asia and the Pacific, University of the Philippines Baguio, University of the Philippines Diliman, University of Philippines Los Baños, University of San Jose Recoletos, University of Sto. Tomas, and Waseda University.

More information and full schedule of PhilSEP’s first conference "Philosophizing about Education in the Philippines" can be found below: https://sites.google.com/view/1stphilsepconference/home?authuser=0