18 research outputs found
A Reappraisal of Childrenâs âPotentialâ
What does it mean for a child to fulfil his or her potential? This article explores the contexts and implications of the much-used concept of potential in educational discourses. We claim that many of the popular, political and educational uses of the term in relation to childhood have a problematic blind spot: interpersonality, and the necessary coexistence for the concept to be receivable of all childrenâs âpotentialsâ. Rather than advocating abandoning the termâa futile gesture given its emotive forceâwe argue that the concept of childrenâs potential must be profoundly rethought to be workable as a philosophical notion in education. In an era marked by the unspoken assumption that âunlimited potentialâ is always a good thing, we argue that it might be necessary to think about the limitations of the notion of individual potential; namely, the moment when it comes into contact with other peopleâs projects. We propose a conceptualisation of potential as the negotiated, situated, ever-changing creation of a group of individuals, in a process marked by conflict, and which remains essentially difficult.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11217-016-9508-
Self-Esteem and Education
Proceedings of the International Colloquium between the Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University (Japan) and the Institute of Education, University of London (UK): 25 March-26 March 2008 Clark Hall Institute of Education, University of Londo