Emancipation, Violence, Cosmopolitan Engagement: the Inner Paradox of Education

The concept of education in Western culture is grounded in the ideas of emancipation and freedom, on the one hand, and on the idea of self-improvement, on the other hand. he will to go beyond, to overcome ourselves and “to get more” has more than a “paciic meaning,” so to speak. To “overcome ourselves” can easily drift into the will to go beyond and to overcome others by abusing and denying them. Contemporary with this awareness we attend to a deep crisis of the Enlightenment’s education project, which demonstrates its cultural belonging and internal contradictions. hus, as educationalists, we are called to work within a problematic notion of truth. On one hand, to educate entails a strong concept of truth, choosing a way to act, and bearing the responsibility for our choice. On the other hand, we work with a weak concept of truth: truth is conceived as openness, as sense and meaning, as an indescribable work towards changing. he aim of this contribution is to provide some groundwork to argue how these paradoxes can be used as a picklock to open and look inside our ideas about education and democracy, considering others from a diferent perspective. In recognising that our grounding is only one possibility that we have chosen, we can enhance a real dialogue among human beings by attempting to overcome the inner violence of our culture and fostering a cosmopolitan engagement grounded in differences

Essere in relazione, innovazione e democrazia a scuola. La lezione di Democrazia e educazione

Over the last couple of decades, the narrative of educational competitiveness and the current climate of economic efficiency, have narrowed down the role of schooling and education, thus reducing their function to that of mere providers of skills and competencies functional to neoliberal educational apparatus. Neoliberal educational agenda, on the one hand, and the spreading Right-wing populism, on the other, grip education and schooling in a kind of claws maneuver that put at risk priceless educational features, such as students’ capacity to autonoumously set one’s aims and purposes, democratic attitude, and the primacy of the common good. In such a landscape, it is enough clear how a democratic and critical education is cornered.Nonetheless, room for alternative narratives remain. In my paper, by analysing Deweyan oeuvre, I wish to offer an interpretation of education and schooling far removed from the failures of both neoliberalism and populism. Deweyan theory of social intelligence is, in fact, at poles with any reductive conception of education, be such reductivism dependent on neoliberalism or populism.  Particularly, Deweyan lesson as it is expressed in Democracy and Education, goes deep into the meaningof interrelatedness and connectedness as essential not just to democratic education, but also to intelligence and self-formation. Otherwise stated, the Deweyan lesson about interconnetedness, democracy, newness and education is of priceless educational value.A partire almeno dalla fine degli anni Novanta, l’enfasi posta dalle politiche neoliberali sulla competizione e l’efficienza economica ha severamente ridotto il raggio d’azione della scuola, quasi confinandola a fabbrica di competenze funzionali a politiche decise dall’alto, non sottoposte alla discussione e al controllo democratico. A ciò va aggiunta la scalata dei recenti movimenti neo-populisti che, dal lato opposto, erodono il ruolo dell’educazione come formazione della coscienza critica e luogo di condivisione e costruzione del nuovo. La concomitanza di questi due movimentimette all’angolo ogni reale concezione di educazione critica e democratica. In questo lavoro, attraverso l’analisi di parti dell’opera deweyana, chi scrive prova a mostrare come la condivisione è il luogo nel quale non solo si forma la democrazia, ma, più radicalmente, il luogo nel quale l’intelligenza e il sé prendono forma. In tal senso, la lezione deweyana riguarda l’emergenza del nuovo e l’educazione democratica sono di inestimabile valore educativo

Connectedness, Newness and Democracy in Schooling. The Lesson of Democracy and Education

Over the last couple of decades, the narrative of educational competitiveness and the current climate of economic efficiency, have narrowed down the role of schooling and education, thus reducing their function to that of mere providers of skills and competencies functional to neoliberal educational apparatus. Neoliberal educational agenda, on the one hand, and the spreading Right-wing populism, on the other, grip education and schooling in a kind of claws maneuver that put at risk priceless educational features, such as students’ capacity to autonoumously set one’s aims and purposes, democratic attitude, and the primacy of the common good. In such a landscape, it is enough clear how a democratic and critical education is cornered. Nonetheless, room for alternative narratives remain. In my paper, by analysing Deweyan oeuvre, I wish to offer an interpretation of education and schooling far removed from the failures of both neoliberalism and populism. Deweyan theory of social intelligence is, in fact, at poles with any reductive conception of education, be such reductivism dependent on neoliberalism or populism.  Particularly, Deweyan lesson as it is expressed in Democracy and Education, goes deep into the meaningof interrelatedness and connectedness as essential not just to democratic education, but also to intelligence and self-formation. Otherwise stated, the Deweyan lesson about interconnetedness, democracy, newness and education is of priceless educational value

Wonder, education, and human flourishing:Theoretical, empirical, and practical perspectives

The premise that underlies this volume is that there are strong interconnections between wonder, education and human flourishing. And more specifically, that wonder can make a significant difference to how well one’s education progresses and how well one’s life goes. The contributors to this volume – both senior, well-known and beginning researchers and students of wonder – variously explore aspects of these connections from philosophical, empirical, theoretical and practical perspectives. The three chapters that comprise Part I of the book are devoted to the importance of wonder for education and for human flourishing. Part II contains four chapters offering conceptual analyses of wonder and perspectives from developmental psychology and philosophy (Spinoza, Wittgenstein, philosophy of religion). The seven chapters that form Part III contain a wealth of ideas and educational strategies to promote wonder in education and teacher education. This volume not only underlines and articulates the importance of wonder in education and in life but also offers fresh perspectives, allowing us to look with renewed wonder at wonder itself