The Rediscovery of Teaching presents the innovative claim that teaching does not necessarily have to be perceived as an act of control but can be understood and configured as a way of activating possibilities for students to exist as subjects. By framing teaching as an act of dissensus, that is, as an interruption of egological ways of being, this book positions teaching at the progressive end of the educational spectrum, where it can be reconnected with the emancipatory ambitions of education. In conversation with the works of Emmanuel Levinas, Paulo Freire, Jacques Rancière, and other theorists, Gert Biesta shows how students’ existence as subjects hinges on the creation of existential possibilities, through which students can assert their "grown-up" place in the world. Written for researchers and students in the areas of philosophy of education, educational theory, curriculum theory, teaching, and teacher education, The Rediscovery of Teaching demonstrates the important role of teachers and teaching in the project of education as emancipation towards grown-up ways of being in the world.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Prologue The need for a re(dis)covery of teaching
Chapter 1 What is the educational task?
Chapter 2 Freeing teaching from learning
Chapter 3 The rediscovery of teaching
Chapter 4 Don’t be fooled by ignorant schoolmasters
Chapter 5 Asking the impossible: Teaching as dissensus
Epilogue Giving teaching back to education
References
Index
About the author
Biography
Gert J. J. Biesta is Professor of Education and Director of Research at the Department of Education of Brunel University London, UK.
"This book is an essential read for anyone interested in the philosophy of education, education theories or the important role of the teacher. As someone new to philosophy I was challenged by the terminology, but recognized and agreed with many of the ideas and arguments presented."— Wendy Coley, inTuition (Society for Education & Training)
