Education: Coexistence of Risks and Values — An Interpretation Based on Biesta’s Conception of Beautiful Risk in Education
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In contemporary educational practice, which prioritizes controllability and predictability within a climate of increasing standardization and accountability, measurable outcomes are highly valued, while pedagogical risks—understood as actions or decisions with uncertain educational consequences that challenge predefined protocols—are often systematically avoided. This prevailing tendency results in a profound lack of recognition of the inherent and necessary coexistence of risk and intrinsic value in education, forming a core practical and philosophical contradiction. This paper aims to construct and apply a robust theoretical framework for analyzing the dynamic, often tension-filled relationship between educational risk and value, drawing centrally on Gert Biesta’s theory of “the beautiful risk of education. The research employs the Douban “Teacher” Group, a major and influential Chinese online community for educators, as a critical digital ethnographic case study. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, combining extended netnography with in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with 12 primary and secondary school teachers of varying experience. This methodology allows for a triangulated investigation into the complex ecosystem of teachers' work. The study systematically explores and delineates the multi-layered institutional pressures , ingrained cultural norms of safety and success, and personal apprehensions that collectively contribute to a pervasive aversion to educational risk. Concurrently, it reveals how this defensive posture leads to the alienation of the pursuit of authentic educational values, reducing teaching to a technical, risk-averse enterprise. Finally, by integrating and critically applying Biesta’s three-dimensional purposes of education—qualification, socialization, and most crucially, subjectification—the paper argues for the inherent inevitability of the symbiosis between educational risk and core value. It demonstrates that genuine subjectification, characterized by the emergence of independent thought, ethical agency, and creative growth, is fundamentally dialogical and unpredictable, and thus cannot be manufactured within a completely controlled, risk-free environment. This research provides both nuanced empirical insights from a distinctive local context and substantive theoretical support for re-examining, rebalancing, and more thoughtfully embracing the necessary risks that are constitutive of meaningful educational practice. 在当前的教学实践中，可预测的教育结果备受重视，教育风险却常被系统性规避。这一倾向导致对教育中风险与价值内在共生关系的必然性认知不足，构成了教育实践的核心矛盾。本文旨在基于格特•比斯塔提出的“教育的美丽风险”理论，构建一个解析教育风险与价值之间动态关系的理论框架。研究以豆瓣的“教师”小组为关键案例，采用网络民族志与深度访谈相结合的方法，对小组内的日常讨论进行参与式观察，并对12位中小学教师进行了深度访谈。通过系统探究教师规避教育风险的制度、文化与个人层面成因，本研究同时揭示了在此规避过程中，教育本真价值追求所面临的异化问题。最终，研究整合比斯塔关于教育的资格化、社会化与主体化三维目的论，论证了教育风险与核心价值共生的内在必然性：真正的主体化教育与创造性成长无法在完全无风险的环境中发生。
Author: Zhao Xue
Institution: Anhui University
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7117254464