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In my need to distract myself from real life, I have delved into Biesta’s ‘The Beautiful Risk Of Education.’ If Educational Philosophy isn’t your thing, but you’d like a palatable précis, I’m going to tweet highlights of each chapter as I read them.
Here’s Chapter 1 (thread
)
Here’s Chapter 1 (thread
)
Education is an act of creation: of bringing something new into the world. This act though, is not undertaken by an omnipotent creator (all powerful hero-Headteacher for example), but of a creator who is willing to take risks... but what does this mean?
It means that you have to be prepared for noise, dissent, resistance & a general disturbance of the peace. That is, you need to TRUST that it’s worth it.. even without evidence it’ll work (‘trust without ground’). Definitely need that in a special measures school, I can tell you.
It means you have to have tolerance for failure. In fact you have to accept the inevitability of failure BUT DO IT ANYWAY. You sign up to that risk as an educator / school leader and you do so unconditionally.
If not, you’re chasing an ideal. You’re acting as an omnipotent creator and in doing so are being risk-averse (and infantile). An omnipotent creator in this sense is on a quest for certainty (and nothing is ever certain) which stops us engaging with the things that really matter.
What really matters are our students; those messy individuals who give life to our endeavours. They are people in their own right; ‘subjects of action and responsibility.’ Their uniqueness lies in their singular responsibility.
And this is the crux of the chapter really.
And this is the crux of the chapter really.
This is not a rallying cry for schools to ‘create’ responsible citizens. No. It’s the opposite. And THAT’S the risk. We can’t ‘create’ perfect people. All we can do is create the right conditions...
...conditions where students can realise their responsibility.
...conditions where students can realise their responsibility.
...and then we hope for the best. 
We have to be willing to take this risk. Risk of failure. Risk of nothing happening. Risk of no discernible, evidential outcome.
We have to be willing to take this risk. Risk of failure. Risk of nothing happening. Risk of no discernible, evidential outcome.
We take the risk of creating the conditions in schools where students are called upon to be responsible knowing that it might not work.
We do this because we know the limits of what we can create. We know we can’t create people, only contexts.
We do this because we know the limits of what we can create. We know we can’t create people, only contexts.
Biesta argues that it is responsibility which brings us into uniqueness, into a state of subjectivity, singularised by our relationship with others.
In service of others, without gaining anything in return.
In service of others, without gaining anything in return.
The chapter concludes by describing what it is that educators create: the potential for students to have a life shared with others in responsiveness and responsibility. A life well lived, if you will.
End of Chapter 1 thread. More coming soon. I hope.
End of Chapter 1 thread. More coming soon. I hope.
