Empowering Educators through ‘Emancipation’: A Philosophical Appraisal on the Concept of ‘Power’ in Education

Abstract

In modern educational system, the word empowerment has long been utilized to denote the process in which individuals within the educational sector advance their skills necessary to effectively solve their own challenges by creating effective strategies. However, in literal sense, the concept of empowerment centralizes the role of power as a basic theme and draws attention to alienation of an agent form the power to enact the appropriate activity. An educational system which alienates educators from ownership of the activity, above all, will force the agent to develop a psychologically detrimental effect of powerlessness. In relation to alienation of ownership which is the primary cause of powerlessness, educators also experience a sense of meaninglessness, normlessness, isolation, and self-estrangement which prevent them from finding purpose or significance from the activity of teaching and learning. This research primarily investigated the factors and practices which contribute to different forms of alienation in the education sector such as alienation of educators from their work, their learning, teaching process, and from themselves and their students and other teachers. Consequently, it aimed to articulate the fundamental correlation between educators’ alienation form the educational system and the negative outcome of the quality of education. The study, therefore, adopted an exploratory research design and employed a qualitative research approach which heavily relies on secondary data sources such as books, scholarly articles, research articles and other publications. Finally, it is argued for the reconceptualization of emancipation in the education sector and its enduring potential in the empowerment of educators.