Our relationship with knowledge : its role in education

Abstract

Relationships with knowledge lie at the heart of the teaching profession. Although this statement may seem excessive, in both the English- and French-speaking world such relationships are increasingly associated with teaching strategies, assessment methods, types of learning, didactic contracts, students’ role, learning approaches, persistence to graduation, academic success, and so on. To enlighten readers on this subject, this article delves deeper into the concept of relationships with knowledge in order to identify useful benchmarks with respect to the teaching stance and education response. First, the author stipulates that relationships with knowledge form part of epistemology in education. After classifying the different relationships with knowledge, he presents a summary table that attempts to establish connections between various epistemological stances and the related teaching-learning dynamics.