Being Human Today

Gert Biesta is Professor of Public Education at the Centre for Public Education and Pedagogy at Maynooth University, Ireland, and Professor of Educational Theory and Pedagogy in the Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, UK. From 2018 until 2022 he was Visiting Professor (Professor II) at the University of Agder. The current book is the outcome of the work done with colleagues during this time. Gert Biesta’s work focuses on the theory of education and the philosophy of educational and social research, with a particular interest in teaching, teachers, curriculum, education policy, arts education and religious education. Lisbet Skregelid is Professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Agder, Norway. Her research interests are within the field of art education. In particular she investigates how art and aesthetic practice can be relevant in school and society, and how educational theory can be of importance for artistic practice. Her research interests are within the expanded field of art education, and she has many years of praxis experience in this context. In her Ph.D. thesis, she investigated secondary school pupils’ encounters with contemporary art exhibitions over a period of three years in partnership with art museum and schools. In recent years, she has had extensive collaborations with artists in both teaching and research. Skregelid has written a number of books, book chapters and articles where she makes calls for arts-based approaches to education and what she calls pedagogy of dissensus. In her latest research, Skregelid’s own art practice is the point of departure for discussing art educational issues.Tore Dag Bøe is Professor in Department of Psychosocial Health at the University of Agder, Norway. He has many years of experience in mental health services as a mental health worker. In his doctoral work he investigated processes of change in mental health based on interviews with adolescents, their families and therapists involved. His research interests include phenomenological, ethical, and dialogical approaches to mental health. In recent years, he has written a number of books, book chapters, and articles on the ethical and dialogical aspects of mental health work, and also on methodological questions related to qualitative research in mental health. In his work he is seeking to develop new forms of practice and new ways of understanding in the field of mental health, based on phenomenological, social, and ethical perspectives.

'Being Human Today will speak to a wide range of readers – not only those engaged in education, art and mental health. Its core ideas are likely to resonate especially with those who, like me, approach education from a Bildung perspective, who advocate for embodied approaches in mental health or who value art for art’s sake. Likewise, it will – perhaps – provoke and challenge readers whose mindset is rooted in instrumental logic. Precisely for that reason, it is worth their attention. I also recognize that the content might be provocative for those who challenge certain humanist perspectives (e.g. disability studies) that question and redefine what it means to be human.Being Human Today is not merely an exhibition catalogue. I would argue that it is – in itself – a work of art. A work of art that hopes.'

• ENTRANCE1 A Catalogue of an Exhibition That Didn’t Take PlaceGert Biesta, Lisbet Skregelid and Tore Dag Bøe2 How to be a Self, TodayGert Biesta ROOM 1ARTWORK BY KURT JOHANNESEN3 The Art of Running and Being (or Just Running and Being?)Lisbet Skregelid4 Mental Health Work: A Disastrous, Superficial, Weak Practice Out of OrderTore Dag Bøe5 ‘Sit Down and Listen – Stand Up and Talk’: Classroom Life as Lived ExperienceDag Nome ROOM 2ARTWORK BY HELEN ERIKSEN6 In Search of New Beginnings: On Poetry and HopeSigurd Tenningen7 Being Helpful: An Autoethnographic Account of Trying and Its CompanionsRolf Sundet8 What Might Keep a Teacher Going? Reflections on Meaning and Persistence in the Life of TeachersAslaug Kristiansen ROOM 3ARTWORK BY JO RAVN ABUSLAND9 Touched by the Sight of Hands Touching Yarn Touching HandsMonica Klungland10 Otherwise in Life: Thoughts on a Minimalist PsychotherapyBård Bertelsen11 When I TeachGert Biesta EXIT12 CODAThe Authors