Self knowledge in education

Self knowledge is the preserve of both education and spirituality. Through self-knowledge pupils learn to live with and as the particularity of their brain. “Learning to learn” is an extremely powerful pedagogical tool, and part of a pupil’s journey towards lifelong learning and civic competence. Through self-knowledge we are also unsurprised by the strange or sinful turns our internal monologue takes. So how are we to negotiate the strategic and educational consequences of our growth in self-knowledge? This paper discusses common features between educational knowledge (harvested by assessments, screening, etc.) and spiritual development and their advantages and disadvantages for pupils and teachers. Is knowing oneself the gateway to emancipation or manipulation, to passivity or political virtue? And if both are possible, how is it to be deployed responsibly in the classroom? Concrete educational and spiritual practices are analysed from postcolonial perspectives and other critical theory (Achille Mbembe, Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt, James Scott).