Unfinished business: education without necessity

In both its substance and form this paper speaks of the arid direction of education, particularly under the conditions of what some call ‘performativity’, such as the constraints of quality assurance and the demands of academic research. The paper tries to construct a counter or alternative discourse about educational practices. It speaks of them as unpredictable, not susceptible to closure or summary, and foregrounds the importance of relationships between students, and between them and their teacher. It speaks of learning as intellectual, but also as emotional and embodied. It asks questions, and offers one kind of suggestion, about just what kind of language is appropriate for writing about our lived experience as teachers and learners.