The Future of Education in the Impulse Society: Why Schools and Teachers Matter

The Future of Education in the Impulse Society: Why Schools and Teachers Matter

The future of education is a favourite topic for speculation. Some highlight the important of continuity; others argue for radical change. Nowadays it is particularly common to have high hopes about technology which, according to some, will make it possible to tailor education increasingly to the learning needs of individual students, so that they acquire useful knowledge that will equip them for an unknown, and rapidly changing future. In my presentation I will argue that such views are actually a step backwards rather than forwards. In doing so I will make a case for the importance of the school, particularly in what I will characterise as the current ‘impulse society.’ Within this I will also make a case for the importance of the teacher as a progressive figure rather than an agent of control. For this, so i will argue, it is important that we overcome a long-standing fear of teaching and reposition it on the emancipatory end of the educational spectrum. Such teaching will neither be teacher-centred nor student-centred, but will always put the world in the centre of attention.

Gert Biesta• University of Edinburgh, UK & Maynooth University Ireland

Professor of Educational Theory and Pedagogy at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, and Professor of Public Education in the Research Centre for Public Education and Pedagogy at Maynooth University, Ireland. Since 2023 he is an appointed member of the Education Council of the Netherlands, the advisory body for the Dutch government and parliament. He has published widely on educational theory and policy and the philosophy of social and educational research, with a specific interest in teachers, teaching, teacher education, curriculum, citizenship, arts education and religious education. So far his work has been published in 21 different languages. His latest monograph, World-Centred Education: A View for the Present was published by Routledge, New York, in 2021.