Educational practice as care of the self: from concept to myth

The article examines some aspects of the formation of the performative identity of the participants in the process of education (teacher and student) as a practice of care of the self. In performative theories the concept of identity is associated with the subject's actions which contribute to the production of new relation types (physical, mental, social, ethical, existential) and determine belonging to it. The practice of care of the self is considered in dynamics - from concept to myth as a syncretic unity of various dimensions of care. In the real modern educational practice, care of the self demands an approach of mutual openness, interactivity and conformity of borders of care between the teacher and the student. The teacher should care about the non-dogmatic perception of algorithms or "knowledge-skills-experience" by the student. The teacher should make sure the student understands semantics and sense as an event and experience, as an existential adventure rather than simply reproduces some syntax. Performative identity as a permanently continuing process of transformation of the "image of the self', as it was mentioned above, is like a fluid, paradoxical (non-)identity that should be created only in the context of mutual care: docendo discimus - we learn by teaching. This kind of educational practice demands openness to the Other, decentration, interactivity and "risky thinking" as its principles.

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