Revisioning the Fifth Element. Can critical realism reconcile competence and Bildung for a more sustainable twenty-first-century education?

Abstract

This article addresses the concepts of competence and Bildung in contemporary education and how critical realism may contribute to reconciling these positions in a more sustainable theory of learning for the twenty-first century. Using the recent curriculum reform in Norway as a backdrop, the article discusses how unresolved disputes between competence and Bildung can provide fertile grounds for dichotomous theoretical positioning in research, short-sighted cherry-picking in policy and instrumental practice in schools. The author argues that it is possible, building on a critical realist ontology and learning environment, to resolve such disputes. Efforts to do so are needed to develop a better explanatory theory of learning and to mobilize research efforts to revision education as a protective force against unsustainable development.