Reframing responsibility in an era of responsibilisation: education, feminist ethics and an ‘idiom of care’

Abstract

Late modern social theories and critiques of neoliberalism have emphasised the regulatory and negative aspects of responsibility, readily associating it with self-responsibility or analytically converting it to the notion of responsibilisation. This article argues for stepping back from these critiques in order to reframe responsibility as a relational disposition and practice in education that warrants a fresh look. Feminist scholarship on the ethics of care, affective equality and relational responsibility are revisited in light of a consideration of teachers’ work and educational purposes. It is argued, first, that there is an urgency for repositioning responsibility as a productive orien..