Present-day globalised economy and working life has become increasingly knowledge- and development intensive. Not unexpected, education is to an increasing degree seen as innovative vehicle for serving economic ends, while the tasks of educational institutions as havens for nation building, citizenship education and personal growth as human beings in a broader meaning may have diminished.
In their analysis of educational policies, Moos & Wubbels (2018) summarize the above distinction by identifying two competing contemporary educational discourses; a democratic Bildung discourse and an “outcomes discourse”. Yet, for the time being, there is a growing uneasiness and increasing mistrust as to whether global neoliberal policies, an assessment driven educational policy where transnational organisations have a strong impact, may guide towards sustainable solutions in a broad understanding, and fruitful reform initiatives in the public sector including education. While the world seems to be in need considerate subjects and citizens with a sound cultural self-concept, good knowledge, ability act and a belief in the value of political participation, policies seems to emphasize instrumental values of learning subject matter.
However, in most cases and countries across the world, these two orientations intertwine in rather complex ways. In some countries, there is a strong belief that transnational and neoliberal curriculum policy promoting assessment for competitive comparison is beneficial for raising quality of teaching. In addition, the attention often turns to only a limited number of subjects, like reading, science and mathematics. Many other subjects, as well as the broader aim of schooling, i.e. growth of identity and personality, citizenship education, and becoming a member and part of humanity, is left out of sight.
How should then these more broad educational aims be conceptualized? Sometimes they are reduced into performative transnational competencies. May such general competencies be considered as reformulations of previously mentioned educational ideals? Does it make sense to to see these general competencies, that are assumed to be equally valid for any culture and nation, as new formulations of Bildung? We argue that answers to such questions require a dialogue with a Bildung centered tradition of theorizing pedagogical activity.
This research program finds it worrying that despite increasing complexity of teaching, studying and learning in multiple contexts, education as a field of study tend to dissolve in particularities. All too often education is seen as a ‘field of research’ applying insights from other academic disciplines like psychology, sociology, philosophy, economy, subject matter theory, or politics thus hindering a coherent and all-encompassing contemplation of the complexities at hand from a genuine educational perspective. This is not an argument against research specialisations, but rather an argument in favour of a strong and broader understanding education theory that help us frame the field within which specialized research approaches would operate.