Thesis defense Marie Gosselin Kerhom

Marie Gosselin Kerhom will defend her thesis on December 17 at 9:00 a.m. Quebec time, 3:00 p.m. French time, to obtain a doctorate in Education and Training Sciences from Laval University in Quebec City and Paul Valéry University in Montpellier.

The thesis is entitledOpening up philosophy education to vocational high school students.

The defense will take place online (contact link).

The jury is composed of
Michel Sasseville, Co-Director, Professor of Philosophy, Laval University in Quebec City
Richard Etienne, Co-Director, Professor Emeritus of Education Sciences, Paul Valéry Montpellier 3 University
Mathieu Gagnon, Associate Professor of Education, PhD, University of Sherbrooke Edwige Chirouter, University Professor of Education Sciences, University of Nantes
Luc Begin, Full Professor of Philosophy, Laval University in Quebec City
Jean-François Goubet, University Professor of Philosophy, University of Lille

Thesis summary

Critical thinking is presented by specialists as essential for everyone in all circumstances of life, and particularly for citizens of a democracy. But it is not innate and must therefore be taught through proper education.

Philosophy seems to be the discipline best suited to this project. However, students in vocational high schools in France are deprived of it.

As part of this thesis, we examine the possibility and relevance of introducing philosophy into the vocational curriculum and attempt to verify the hypothesis that this discipline would be beneficial to students in these sections, including from a professional standpoint.

To this end, we first present vocational education as it is taught and the students who attend vocational high schools. We reflect on what a person-centered education would look like and discuss the reasons for introducing philosophy into this curriculum. We then focus on defining critical thinking and considering its links with vocational training and practice. We then present the current teaching of philosophy and study its possible transposition into vocational high schools. We then examine two methods from the New Philosophical Practices, namely the Philosophical Research Community and the Discussion with Democratic and Philosophical Aims, and their link with education in thinking. We then present and analyze the extensive data collected in our classes during these discussion practices and verify our hypothesis. Finally, based on these results, we propose avenues for further exploration.