Biesta, G. (2020)
Risking Ourselves in Education: Qualification, Socialization, and Subjectification Revisited
Educational Theory 70(1), 89-104 · 10.1111/edth.12411
Revisits three educational domains, giving subjectification a potentially central role. It means present freedom as a subject, not merely individual capacity development. This is an alternative framework, not a direct empirical test of Hirsch.
Used in Dossier 4
This critic is attached to the exact objection and inference it challenges, not merely to the topic.
D4 · O4 — Qualification and socialization are not the whole of education · targets A4 A5 A8 I4 I5 I8
D4 · O5 — Publicity and majority rule do not complete legitimacy · targets A5 A8 A9 A10 I7 I8 I9 I10
D4 · O7 — The rivals are not content-free or anti-authority · targets A4 A7 A9 I5 I6
Primary targets: P18 P16
Availability: open access
Full publisher HTML re-read 2026-09-07; prior repository read retained in correction history.
Registry verification: yes
Availability: open access
Full publisher HTML re-read 2026-09-07; prior repository read retained in correction history.
Registry verification: yes
Positions (4)
The three domains remain inseparable, but Biesta tentatively places subjectification at their core or around them; his position is not equal balancing.
“Perhaps it’s better to think of it as three concentric circles”
Hirsch's response — not found
none found in ten books
The opening description of enhanced individual capacities concerns individuation. Biesta later distinguishes subjectification as present freedom to act or refrain, rather than a developmental achievement.
“It is an event that occurs in the here and now.”
Hirsch's response — not found
none found in ten books
The 'age of measurement' answers the question of education's purpose in terms of measurable learning outcomes -- the wrong register for what education is for.
“One of the problems with the current 'age of measurement' is that the question of the purpose of education is often answered in terms of the production of measurable 'learning outcomes.'”
Hirsch's response — not found
none found in ten books
The point of education is not simply that students learn, but that they learn something specific, for a reason, from someone -- 'learning' alone is an empty process-term.
“The term 'learning' is a rather empty process-term that doesn't say much - if anything at all - about what the learning is supposed to be about and for.”
Hirsch's response — not found
none found in ten books