Time out? Can education do and be done without time?

• In Event: Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Elements of Education: Time, Space, Experience, Other People

Abstract

The question I explore in this paper is whether it is possible to understand and 'do' education without time or, to be more precise, without conceiving of education in terms of a certain temporality. Through a discussion of six concepts – change, learning, development, schooling, the child, and progress – I demonstrate the pervasiveness of a certain understanding of time in educational discourse and practice. Taking inspiration from Ranciere’s notion of dissensus and his critique of a temporal understanding of (in)equality, I focus on the question of speech, and more specifically the question how the child can be a subject of speech, in order to articulate an understanding of education that can best be characterised is a-temporal.

Author

• Gert J. Biesta, University of Luxembourg