In this symposium we explore the possibilities that the philosophy of Agamben offers for educational theory and practice. Although his oeuvre has gained much recognition, it has not been given much attention  in the field of educational research. We believe however that an Agambenian perspective might open new ways of thinking about major educational issues. We furthermore concentrate on a major theme in his work that has been disparaged, viz.: the question what it means that human beings are capable to say of themselves “I can”. Although Agamben indicates that his thought is ultimately concerned with this question, his oeuvre has been almost solely read as a macro-political analysis accounting for exclusionary practices. Therefore we want to focus on his defying conceptualization of the commonplace that we are creatures of possibility .

Agamben explores and analyzes a great variety of practices and experiences, ranging from writing and studying, to celebrating and playing, to show that “potentiality”, i.e. the human potential taken in its most literal sense, is linked, counter-intuitively as it might seem, with the experience that we are “capable of our own impotentiality”. This means that only at the cost of leaving behind the will to actualize concrete objectives and at the cost of interrupting  attempts to strengthen one’s position in life, a transformation of the present is granted. With this Agamben transcends the more common conviction that the category of “the possible” always relates to the realization and thus the continuation of something that is already “given”, e.g. the fulfilling of individual needs, the occupation of a rightful position in society or the discovery and development of inborn, but not as yet discovered, talents and abilities.

We want to elaborate the idea that education should not be considered as a tool for developing as fully as possible what pupils/students might become, but instead embrace the thought that education is itself an “(im)potentializing” affair. This exercise is very much of the order of the day, because we are currently confronted with a dominant educational discourse,  according to which we are continuously demanded to capitalize our capacities in order to strengthen our position in life (and at the same time society as a whole), closing off the possibility of a transformative experience of the self (and of the communal life), and therefore the possibility of an alternative future.

All contributions focus upon concrete educational practices such as teaching and studying, or playing and exercising, as well as upon school curricula, and spatial and temporal dimensions of school education, in order to explore what it would mean to conceive an education  that is concerned with “(im)potentiality”. Our approach is critical towards the existing pedagogical order, but we simultaneously  envisage to find new words to describe these practices and dimensions in a fully positive way. Moreover, we are also addressing an alternative idea of educational research, in which, the researcher decides to stay attentive for the possibility of the impossible to come into existence, and gets in that sense educated herself.