O'Neill John
Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
N Z J Educ Stud. 2023;58(1):5-30. doi: 10.1007/s40841-023-00276-5. Epub 2023 Jan 30.
For Jean Herbison, learning in her early 20th century childhood world was relatively uncomplicated and predictable. Life was shaped by unambiguous family, faith and settler colonial prescriptions about how children behave and what they should become. Approaching the centenary of her birth, children today must navigate a very different society of 'unlimited ; an achievement society that generates a debilitating compulsion to self-improve (Byung Chul-Han). In this Herbison lecture, I offer a personal reflection on the contemporary 'triangle' of education research, policy and practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. Viewed as a culturally and historically specific 'form of life' (Rahel Jaeggi), I ask whether, over the last thirty five years, this triangle may have unwittingly contributed to a collective failure to give adequate recognition to children's learning. Despite our best intentions, have we simply reified students and in doing so alienated them from learning in all its complexities and dimensions (Knud Illeris)? More than mere acknowledgement of 'the other', recognition theory highlights the importance of socially developed qualities such as confidence, respect and esteem (Axel Honneth) to each child's capacity to develop meaningful relationships to or 'resonance' with an ever accelerating and uncontrollable world (Hartmut Rosa) and the people and communities in it. In practical terms, then, what can we draw on that is already immanent in our research, policy and practice triangle to transform children's institutionalised learning?
对于让·赫比森来说，在20世纪初她童年的世界里学习相对简单且可预测。生活由明确的家庭、信仰以及定居者殖民时期关于儿童行为方式和未来走向的规定塑造。在她诞辰一百周年之际，如今的孩子们必须在一个截然不同的“无限制”社会中前行；这是一个成就社会，它产生了一种令人衰弱的自我提升的强迫感（韩炳哲）。在这次赫比森讲座中，我对新西兰当代教育研究、政策与实践的“三角关系”进行个人反思。作为一种具有文化和历史特殊性的“生活形式”（拉赫尔·耶吉）来看待，我想问，在过去三十五年里，这个三角关系是否不经意间导致了集体性地未能充分认识到儿童的学习。尽管我们初衷良好，但我们是否只是将学生物化了，并且这样做使他们与学习的所有复杂性和维度相疏离（克努德·伊勒里斯）？承认理论不仅仅是对“他者”的承认，它还强调了诸如自信、尊重和自尊等社会发展品质（阿克塞尔·霍耐特）对于每个孩子与一个不断加速且无法控制的世界（哈特穆特·罗萨）以及其中的人和社区建立有意义关系或“共鸣”能力的重要性。那么，从实际角度来看，我们能从研究、政策与实践这个三角关系中已有的内在因素中汲取什么来改变儿童的制度化学习呢？
