Abandoning Our Fixation with the Individual Mind: The Path Beyond Psychologized Language

Abstract

The authors point at the educational language impregnated by psychological perspectives as one central aspect standing in the way to achieve the needed change. First, it creates metaphors in students and teachers that are an obstacle to learning/knowing, what we are told schools want to teach. Second, it produces learning/teaching practices that bring about practices (being a submissive citizen) that work against the declared practices schools say they want to achieve (e.g., critical thought, independent individuals, etc.). The chapter offers some examples to sketch the path beyond psychologized language, suggesting that educators take into consideration a number of guiding principles that are derived from some of the conceptualization in this book and may serve as parameters for practical activities.