University of Stirling

School of Education

Staff

 

Gert Biesta

Gert Biesta  

Professor
 
Gert Biesta
address

Room A43

Pathfoot Building

School of Education

University of Stirling

Stirling

FK9 4LA

telephone

Tel: 01786-466136

fax Fax: 01786-466131
email

Email: Prof. Gert Biesta
web Web: www.ioe.stir.ac.uk

Background:

Gert Biesta is Professor of Education and Director of Research at the School of Education, University of Stirling and editor of Studies in Philosophy and Education. He is Visiting Professor for Education and Democratic Citizenship at Mälardalen University, Sweden. He conducts theoretical and empirical research on a range of topics but is particularly interested in the relationships between education, democracy and citizenship. His writing falls within four broad domains. He writes about the theory and philosophy of education. He has tried to make original contributions to understanding educational processes and practices, particularly in Beyond Learning: Democratic Education for a Human Future (2006) and Good Education in an Age of Measurement: Ethics, Politics, Democracy (2010) and in the book-project he is currently working on (The Weakness of Education, scheduled for 2011). He is also interested in the educational potential of complexity theory. In addition he has made major contributions to the educational interpretation of key theorists and philosophers such as George Herbert Mead (G.H. Mead’s Lectures on the Philosophy of Education, co-edited with Daniel Tröhler, 2008), Jacques Derrida (Derrida & Education, co-edited with Denise Egéa-Kuehne, 2001), Jacques Rancière (Jacques Rancière: Education, Truth, Emancipation, with Charles Bingham, 2010), John Dewey, Emmanuel Levinas and Hannah Arendt. His empirical research focuses on citizenship learning of young people and adults particularly in informal settings, on the formation and transformation of learning cultures in educational settings (Improving Learning Cultures in Further Education, with David James 2007), and on learning through the life course (for example Transitions and Learning through the Lifecourse, co-edited with Kathryn Ecclestone and Martin Hughes, 2009; and Narrative Learning, with Ivor Goodson, Michael Tedder and Norma Adair, 2010). He has also published on teachers’ professional learning and on the significance of young people’s participation in sport. In the field of critical policy analysis he has particularly focused on lifelong learning policies, on policies and practices of citizenship education, on the civic role of Higher Education, and on educational research policy. With regard to the theory and philosophy of educational research he has published on the significance of pragmatism for educational research (Pragmatism and Educational Research, with Nicholas C. Burbules, 2003), on problems surrounding the idea of evidence-based education (particularly my article “Why ‘what works’ won’t work: Evidence-based practice and the democratic deficit of educational research”, in Educational Theory, 2007), on the role of values in educational evaluation and measurement, and on the philosophical dimensions of mixed methods research. or more information on his publications see www.gertbiesta.com

Recent Book Publications:

Bingham, C. & Biesta, G.J.J. with Jacques Rancière (2010). Jacques Rancière: Education, truth, emancipation. London/New York: Continuum.

Osberg, D.C. & Biesta, G.J.J. (eds) (2010). Complexity theory and the politics of education. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Goodson, I., Biesta, G.J.J., Tedder, M. & Adair, N. (2010). Narrative learning. London/New York: Routledge.

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). Good education in an age of measurement: Ethics, politics, democracy. Boulder, Co: Paradigm Publishers.

Ecclestone, K., Biesta, G.J.J. & Hughes, M. (eds) (2010). Transitions and learning through the lifecourse. London: Routledge.

 

 

Recent Journal Articles:

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). “This is my truth, tell me yours.” Deconstructive pragmatism as a philosophy for education. Educational Philosophy and Theory 42(7), 710-727.

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). An alternative future for European educational research. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Historiographie 16(1), 105-107.

Osberg, D.C. & Biesta, G. (2010). The end/s of education. Complexity and the conundrum of the inclusive educational curriculum. International Journal of Inclusive Education 14(6), 593-607.

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). Why ‘what works’ still won’t work. From evidence-based education to value-based education. Studies in Philosophy and Education 29(5), 491-503.

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). Learner, student, speaker. Why it matters how we call those we teach. Educational Philosophy and Theory 42(4), 540-552.

Biesta, G.J.J., Field, J. & Tedder, M. (2010). A time for learning: Representations of time and the temporal dimensions of learning through the lifecourse. Zeitschift fur Pädagogik 56(3), 317-327.

Lawy, R., Biesta, G.J.J., McDonnell, J., Lawy, H. & Reeves, H. (2010). The art of democracy. British Educational Research Journal 36(3), 351-365.

Rutten, E. A., Biesta, G. J. J., Dekovic, M., Stams, G. J. J. M., Schuengel, C. & Verweel, P. (2010). Using forum theatre in organised youth soccer to positively influence antisocial and prosocial behaviour: a pilot study. Journal of Moral Education, 39(1), 65 - 78.

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). How to exist politically and learn from it: Hannah Arendt and the problem of democratic education. Teachers College Record 112(2), 558-577.

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). A new ‘logic’ of emancipation: The methodology of Jacques Rancière. Educational Theory 60(1), 39-59.

 

Recent Book Chapters:

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). D is for democracy: Critical education between inclusion and interruption. In I. Gur Ze’ev (ed), The possibility/impossibiloity of a new critical language in education (pp 293-304). Rotterdam: Sense.

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). Valuing what we measure or measuring what we value? On the need to engage with the question of purpose in educational evaluation, assessment and measurement. In W. Böttcher, J.N. Dicke & N. Hogrebe (Hrsg.), Evaluation, Bildung und Gesellschaft: Steuerungsinstrumente zwischen Anspruch und Wirklichkeit (pp. 35-46). Munster: Waxmann.

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). Evidenz und Werte in Erziehung und Bildung.  Drei weitere Defizite evidenzbasierter Praxis. In H.-U. Otto, a. Polutta & H. Ziegler (Hrsg.) What Works - Welches Wissen braucht die Soziale Arbeit? (pp.99-115). Opladen: Barbara Burdich.

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). Education after the death of the subject: Levinas and the pedagogy of interruption. In Z. Leonardo (ed), The handbook of cultural politics and education (pp.289-300). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Priestley, M., Biesta, G.J.J., Mannion, G. & Ross, H. (2010). Education in a global space: The framing of ‘education for citizenship.’ In T.L.K. Wiseley, I.M. Barr, A. Britton & B. King (eds), Education in a global space. Research and practice in initial teacher education (pp. 27-36). Edinburgh: IDEAS.

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). “The most influential theory of the century.” Dewey, democratic education and the limits of pragmatism. In D. Troehler, T. Schlag & F. Osterwalder (eds) Pragmatism and modernities (pp. 197-213). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). Five theses on complexity reduction and its politics. In D.C. Osberg & G.J.J. Biesta (Eds). Complexity theory and the politics of education (pp. 5-13). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). Pragmatism and the philosophical foundations of mixed methods research. In A. Tashakkori & C. Teddlie (Eds), Sage handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research. Second edition (pp. 95-118). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Biesta, G.J.J. (2010). Witnessing deconstruction in education. Why quasi-transcendentalism matters. In C. Ruitenberg (ed). What do philosophers of education do? (And how do they do it?) (pp. 73-86). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

 

 

Doctoral Supervisory Interests

So far I have successfully supervised 16 doctoral students in such areas as the philosophy and theory of identity in relation to lifelong learning, student experience in higher education, EFL classroom culture, the formation of young people’s vocational aspiration, learning biographies of adult learners, educational work in United Reformed Churches, citizenship education in Hong Kong, the development of education as an academic discipline, John Dewey’s educational theory, the role of auxiliary staff in schools, the English literacy hour and teacher professionalism, educational leadership, teacher education policy in Colombia, reflexive learning and human violence, the professional development of FE teachers. I currently supervise doctoral research on the teaching of management ethics, liberal education and democracy, young people’s democratic learning, philosophy for children and the community of philosophical enquiry, educational leadership, community education and civic learning, notions of professionalism in education, interagency work in education. I am interested in supervising projects across the educational spectrum (school education, vocational education, higher education, lifelong learning), including theoretical/philosophical and empirical research. My own research focuses on such topics as education and democracy, citizenship, theories of education, the theory and philosophy of educational research, teacher education and professional learning. I have particular expertise in pragmatism, Continental philosophy and educational theory, democratic education and citizenship. See also www.gertbiesta.com