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On September 17th, CERC was honored to have Prof. Liz Jackson to deliver a talk titled “What is Knowledge in the Age of AI?”. This seminar is also the first one of the CERC 2026 fall semester seminar series “Educational Research, Knowledge, and Artificial Intelligence: Beyond Scientism and Individualism?”. The talk attracted more than 100 participants (including both in-person and online) from diverse background.

In this seminar, Prof. Jackson discussed different understandings of intelligence and wisdom in ancient Greek and Chinese philosophy, such as conscious and unconscious wisdom. Building on this discussion, Prof. Jackson observed that although Large Language Models (LLMs) perform better in conscious intelligence (in form of deductive reasoning), they can be significantly deficient in defeasible reasoning (as they often mistake generals for universals) and unconscious wisdom (as they lack the embodiment such wishdom requires). Prof. Jackson further argued that researchers and educators should pay more attention to such deficiencies of LLMs when implementing them in educational settings. That is not only because LLMs have deficiency in reasoning, but also because they are highly influenced and even determined by the human knowledge fed to them as well as the capitalist logic they operate on, which manifest in their sycophacy towards users.

Prof. Jackson’s talk sparked vibrant discussions among the audience. Many questions were asked about how educators should utilize AI and LLMs in educational practices. Prof. Jackson further clarified that the deficiencies of LLMs do not mean that they can never be used in education, but rather it reminds us of what is valuable and educationally significant in human interaction and critical thinking that should not be substituted by the utilization of AI.

Prof. Jackson’s talk shed light on the issue of AI and education from a perspective of global philosophy. In the upcoming seminars of this semester, CERC speakers will continue to provide insights on the how education can grapple with the rapidly advancing technology, through drawing on a wide range of philosophical resources.

CERC was honored to host Dr. Karsten Kenklies’ seminar on the 14^th of May. The title of the talk was “Unfused Horizons: Challenges of an Intercultural Theorising of Education”. The talk was well-attended with both in-person and online audience.

In this talk, Dr. Kenklies called attention to the increasing inclusion of “non-Western” philosophical resources in recent studies of philosophy of education. Acknowledging the values of such approach, Dr. Kenklies was also concerned about the lack of methodological/disciplinary reflection behind the inclusion, and about the risk of presenting a false dichotomy of “the West” and the rest. To illustrate the diversity within the West, Dr. Kenklies discussed the difference between the Anglo model and the Germanic model of constructing the field of educational studies and positioning the role of philosophical studies in the field. In the Anglo model, educational studies are defined as the studies of educational institutions, i.e. schools, and philosophical arguments are utilized to discuss especially normative issues relevant to schooling. On the other hand, the object of interest in the Germanic model of educational studies is the pedagogical relation, i.e. influence with intention of improvement, which can happen both formally and informally, within and outside schools. And in the later model, philosophies are used to reflect on the nature and boundary of the pedagogical relation. Emphasizing that these are only two models among many and there is no better or worse model, Dr. Kenklies concluded that the intercultural approach in philosophy of education should not stop at the level of adding different perspectives on pre-defined issues, but rather should facilitate a deeper comparison and conversation among different models of imagining “education”.

The rich talk by Dr. Kenklies sparked vibrant discussion both in the seminar room and online. Audience appreciated the speaker’s scrutiny over the difficulties of intercultural approaches, and discussed with the speaker possible ways of moving forward, especially in the context of East Asian and Hong Kong. This talk provided profound insights for the CERC community since intercultural approach has long been the emphasis of research here.

On March 12, 2026, the Shadow Education SIG successfully held the seminar “Scaling eliteness: Private tutors’ self-promotion in commodified shadow education”, delivered by Vincent Wai Sum Tse, Joint PhD in Applied Linguistics at Monash University and the University of Warwick.

Chaired by Professor Nutsa Kobakhidze of HKU, the seminar explored how private tutors in Hong Kong’s shadow education sector construct and promote images of prestige, exclusivity, and distinction in their online profiles. Drawing on critical discourse analytic perspectives, the talk highlighted how tutors present their academic backgrounds, unique experiences, and forms of expertise to position themselves as elite figures within an increasingly commodified education market.

The seminar was attended by five participants on site and 11 participants online, reflecting strong engagement from both in-person and virtual audiences. The session sparked thoughtful discussion on the marketization of education and the ways in which eliteness is strategically communicated in contemporary shadow education.

We look forward to having more SIG meetings in the following months.

CERC was honored to host Prof. Wang Pei’s seminar on the 22^nd of January, 2026. The title of the talk was “Sex Robots as Perfect Confucian Wives? Which Confucianism? Whose Fantasy?” The talk attracted more than 70 participants (including both in-person and online) from diverse background.

In this talk, Prof. Wang criticized the interpretation that a sex robot would meet the standard of an ideal wife in Confucianism. Through examining the classics, Prof. Wang articulated how “wife” was depicted in Confucianism and claimed that sex robot would not qualify even by the most conservative standard. Prof. Wang also elaborated on a long-neglected aspect in Confucian studies, namely love and sex in spousal relationships. By introducing hexagram in the Book of Changes, Prof. Wang interpreted that ancient Chinese depicted bodily resonance in intimate relationships as mutual exposure of ones vulnerability in front of the other, which adds aesthetic dimension to the moral aspect that is usually emphasized in Confucianism.

Prof. Wang’s talk sparked vibrant discussion in the seminar room. Audience not only asked about the traditional philosophy, but also discussed themes such as human/AI relationship and techno-solutionism with the speaker. Prof. Wang also clarified the differences and connections among different kinds of relations in Confucianism. Last but not least, Prof. Rappleye exchanged ideas with the speaker on methodology of navigating oneself through the influence of Western modern legacies in researching traditional philosophy.

This talk is in line with previous CERC talks on philosophies in different traditions. CERC believes that traditional ideas can and should be put in dialogue with contemporary issues and will continue to provide space for such dialogues.

The Shadow Education SIG successfully hosted an engaging online talk on December 8th, bringing together 19 participants from across the globe to explore new insights into the growing field of shadow education. The session focused on the underexamined role of elite independent consultants in India and how their moral narratives shape inequalities in global university admissions.

The speaker, Swati Puri, a Ph.D. Candidate from Graduate School of Education, Harvard University,  presented findings based on interviews and analyses of marketing materials from high-end consultancies. The talk highlighted how these consultants craft identities built on claims of serving “diverse” clients, delivering superior guidance, and maintaining ethical standards. At the same time, markers of “premium” status, such as high fees, bespoke services, and international credentials, help legitimize a system that remains largely inaccessible to the majority of Indian students.

Participants engaged actively in the discussion, raising questions about the implications for equity, the possibility of regulating the sector, and the role emerging technologies like AI may play in reducing information asymmetry.

The event concluded with positive feedback, noting the talk’s timely relevance and its contribution to critical conversations about global education, social mobility, and the privatization of admissions support.

This session is part of an ongoing series of talks on shadow education research by Shadow Education SIG at the Comparative Education Research Centre (CERC) at the Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong.