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Heidegger and the Lived Experience of Being a University Educator pp 1–19Cite as

Introduction

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Abstract

This chapter raises an existential question that sparked this book: What does it mean to be a university educator? In this first chapter, Spier extends an invitation for the reader to think along with him as he gathers and interprets university teachers’ stories about their everyday experiences. It is an invitation to look for shared and vital ontological dynamics that are easily missed or forgotten. This chapter also provides some background to a niche field of professional education shared by the storytellers, before giving an overview of a Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological approach and research process used to understand the lived experience of being a university educator.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For some exposés of these conditions, I recommend the work of Australian sociologist Raewyn Connell (too many works to reference here); Irish social equality scholar Kathleen Lynch (2010, 2014); American-Canadian cultural critic Henry Giroux (2002, 2014); the collection of essays edited by Australian socio-legal scholar Margaret Thornton (2014); American philosopher Martha Nussbaum (2010), and the recent trilogy by Ronald Barnett (2011, 2013, 2016) who is Emeritus Professor of Higher Education at the Institute of Education, London.

  2. 2.

    In Australia, the words ‘unit’, ‘subject’, ‘topic’ or ‘module’ normally refer to an academic ‘course’ as it is referred to in North America, while the word ‘course’ typically refers to the entire program of studies required to complete a university degree.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Joshua Spier

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Spier, J. (2018). Introduction. In: Heidegger and the Lived Experience of Being a University Educator . Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71516-2_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71516-2_1

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