Week 9 - Power and Negative Power

Biesta (2020) states that as teachers we give ākonga something they didn't ask for. While this isn’t necessarily negative, it does mean that as educators we need to be careful what it is we are giving and the messages that might be portrayed.  For a long time I felt that my job was to support ākonga to the point that I did not give them any room for movement. I didn’t give them the room to be taught, just the opportunity to learn from me, the resource (Biesta, 2012). This meant that the knowledge I had, the things that could be learnt from me were upheld as having the most power. 


This desire to support did not come from a place of wanting to be the giver of all knowledge, rather from a place of wanting to help and to guide - but of course was misguided. I actually needed to give ākonga space to figure out things for themselves rather than jumping in and 'saving' them. I realised that this was only showing them my own strategies to solve problems and not acknowledging that they could and should come up with some of their own. This holding back and relinquishing control allowed ākonga to bring their own knowledge to the learning and is an example of me practicing negative power.


Biesta’s three readings this week resonated with me, in particular in regards to its significance in the current educational/political climate. Biesta (2012) argues that politicians and policy makers are increasingly exerting control over national curriculums with ever increasing demands on the production of learning outcomes (Biesta, 2015).  There are also two main trends that are driving this push to an outcome based education system - all teaching and learning should be evidence-based and there are a certain set of competencies required for teaching. While both of these areas are important, neither of them should have/bear more weight than making judgements for unique educational circumstances (Biesta 2012).


Biesta, G. (2012). Giving Teaching Back to Education: Responding to the Disappearance of the Teacher. Phenomenology & Practice, 6(2), 35-49. https://doi.org/10.29173/pandpr19860 

Biesta, G. (2015). Freeing teaching from learning: Opening up existential possibilities in educational relationships. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 34(3), 229-243. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-014-9454-z  

Biesta, G. (2020), Risking Ourselves in Education: Qualification, Socialization, and Subjectification Revisited. Education Theory, 70: 89-104. https://doi.org/10.1111/edth.12411

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