Schooling is a profoundly ‘ritualized performance’ (e.g. McLaren, 1999). Not only is schooling itself a kind of rite de passage (Durkheim, 1915) with the purpose of preparing children for adult life – a school is also a place where everyday pedagogical life often depends on ritualized activities.

The notion of ritual has been of interest to philosophers of education already since the 1960’s (e.g. Bernstein et. al. 1966), but it has not been given much attention in recent years (Losito, W. F. 1996; Quantz, 1999). One reason for the neglect is political and historical suggesting that ritualistic practices connote to repetition, sameness and conformism, even to collective political manipulation and fascism (i.e. World War II, e.g. Adorno, 1997). Another reason is ethical and ideological, suggesting that rituals bear conservative connotations, referring either to habitual activities and routine (i.e. “empty ritual”), or to ancestry and tradition. In short, the pedagogical meaning of rituals has been of little interest to progressive theories of education due to its conservative connotations (Quantz et. al., 2011; Warnick, 2009) – a reluctance that seems to be rooted in its assumed inability to offer possibilities for change and transformation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore this ‘assumed inability’ and rethink the notion of ritual so that it holds possibilities for change. It is suggested that the notion of time is crucial in this regard and, hence, that a pedagogical rethinking of the notion of ritual also requires a rethinking of the notion of time. The question in focus is thus: what notion of time is needed for exploring the notion of ritual pedagogically, that is, beyond the divide between a progressive, future oriented idea of education rooted in a linear notion of time and a conservative, past-oriented idea of education rooted in a circular ditto?

To this end, the first part of the paper turns to Julia Kristeva’s (1995) critique of linear and circular time as well as to literary theorist Rita Felski’s (2015) focus on the experience of ‘doing time’ – two philosophers who both take the question of difference and different temporalities into account when rethinking the antithetical division between past and future, or, between preservation and transformation. The second part of the paper brings this discussion on time to bear on pedagogical practice, turning to scholars in philosophy of education who, inspired by the work of Hannah Arendt, explore the school as the ‘time and space’ that a society inserts between the past and the future in the present (e.g. Masschelein & Simons, 2011, 2013; Todd, 2021, 2022; Vlieghe & Zamojski, 2019). By mobilizing particularly Felski’s notion of everyday time as a bodily experience beyond the circular – linear divide it is suggested, by way of conclusion, that a pedagogical understanding of rituals in schools can contribute both to rethinking education beyond the confines of modernity, and, in doing so, expand the repertoire within which teaching is understood as an affirmative gesture.

The method used in this paper is a philosophical argument (see above).

Pedagogical practices and forms are currently given attention in continental philosophy of education (general pedagogy). It is for example suggested that there are good reasons for ‘defending’ the specific form of the scholastic school (Masschelein, 2011; Masschelein & Simons, 2013) and for exploring the specific practices of teaching and studying (Vlieghe & Zamojski, 2019). The paper wishes to contribute to this area of research with a timely (!) focus on the pedagogical potential of ritualistic practices beyond the conservative – progressive divide.

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