Beauvais, Clementine orcid.org/0000-0002-5854-4866 and Higham, Rupert (2016) A Reappraisal of Children’s ‘Potential’. Studies in Philosophy and Education. pp. 1-15. ISSN 0039-3746
Abstract
What does it mean for a child to fulfil his or her potential? This article explores the contexts and implications of the much-used concept of potential in educational discourses. We claim that many of the popular, political and educational uses of the term in relation to childhood have a problematic blind spot: interpersonality, and the necessary coexistence for the concept to be receivable of all children’s ‘potentials’. Rather than advocating abandoning the term—a futile gesture given its emotive force—we argue that the concept of children’s potential must be profoundly rethought to be workable as a philosophical notion in education. In an era marked by the unspoken assumption that ‘unlimited potential’ is always a good thing, we argue that it might be necessary to think about the limitations of the notion of individual potential; namely, the moment when it comes into contact with other people’s projects. We propose a conceptualisation of potential as the negotiated, situated, ever-changing creation of a group of individuals, in a process marked by conflict, and which remains essentially difficult.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Clémentine Beauvais is a Lecturer in English in Education at the University of York. Rupert Higham is a Lecturer in Education at the University of Cambridge. © 2016, The Author. |
Keywords: | potential,agency,existentialism,intersubjectivity |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Social Sciences (York) > Education (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 30 Mar 2016 13:49 |
Last Modified: | 16 Oct 2024 12:55 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-016-9508-5 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s11217-016-9508-5 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:97380 |
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