The conference Why Still Education? is conceived as an open forum to enable the exchange of experiences, developments, and reflections on education, and to encourage challenges to existing educational practices. The conference brings together educational researchers from various fields, as well as experts in education management and  practitioners.

The fourth edition of the conference, entitled “Experience of Education”, will take place 9-11 October 2024. Drawing from the traditions of theories of Bildung, phenomenology, and critical pedagogy, we approach fundamental questions of the nature and role of education by focusing on the lived experiences of education. We believe this can help tackle the problems of contemporary education by reorienting educational theory and practice towards what truly matters: from education as a tool of human capital management to education as a process that shapes human life, relations, and personal growth. We invited contributions from all areas of the social sciences and humanities that would draw on a variety of lived educational experiences to reveal their underlying structures and lead to a deeper understanding of educational phenomena in their rich diversity and significance. By turn ing to lived experiences of education, this year’s contributors are able to address numerous themes, for example, the essence of education; educational relationships between the educated and the educators; the normativity of education; critiques, resistances, and alternatives in our contemporary educational scenarios; the variety of school experiences; the nature and exercise of educational research; and other themes connected to various educational concepts, tools, materials, spaces, contents, activities, etc., with a focus on lived experience. The conference includes both theoretical analyses of the general  structures of education, as well as empirical studies of lived educational experiences.

Keynote Speakers

• Gert Biesta (Maynooth University Ireland & University of Edinburgh)
• Malte Brinkmann (Humboldt University)
• Carla Rinaldi (Fondazione Reggio Children – Centro Loris Malaguzzi)

The conference program can be found here.

Organization of the Conference

The conference is organized by EduLab – the Laboratory for Educational Theories of the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade.