21st Century (Brain)Child: The "Cerebral Subject" and Its Implications for Schools, Society, and Humanity

• In Event: Challenging Western Notions of Truth: Toward the Construction of Epistemic Justice

Abstract

This paper analyses the figure of the “cerebral subject” within discourses of 21st century childhood(s), in light of the growing influence of neuroscience in education. Using critical discourse analysis, we examine how the construct of the “21st century (brain)child” – as articulated by the OECD and UNESCO – is (re)shaping understandings of childhood to serve big corporations and “big tech.” Highlighting convergences between two agencies with radically different mandates, we highlight the depoliticizing effect of discourses which (re)frame pedagogy as a digital, “whole brain learner centric,” “robot proofing” exercise in service of the global economy. We stress the urgency of resisting reductive framings of childhood, which define children in relation to their economic utility, and their worth as “personalized learners” and “digital citizens.”

Authors

• Audrey Bryan, Dublin City University
  Presenting Author

• Yoko Mochizuki
  Presenting Author