Deschooling for all? The thought of Ivan Illich in the era of education (and learning) for all

Abstract

Shortly after its publication in 1971, Ivan Illich's Deschooling Society made a significant impact on reports written at the most influential levels of international institutions, such as Edgar Faure's report for UNSECO, titled Learning to Be: The World of Education Today and Tomorrow (1972). However, Deschooling Society is but one of many aspects in the overall set of criticisms Illich constructed regarding education and its institutions throughout his entire career. With this matter in mind, this article presents a study on the usefulness of Illich's thoughts on education and its institutions in the debate on the «post-2015 agenda» being promoted by organisations such as UNESCO and the World Bank. The aim is to reclaim this author's works as key referents in the questioning of the theoretical grounds predominating many international development policies that advocate «Education for All» and «Learning for All» in the 21 st century. Resumen: Poco tiempo después de su publicación en 1971 La sociedad desescolarizada de Iván Illich tuvo un impacto destacado en los informes elaborados por las instancias internacionales más influyentes. Tal es el caso del informe de Edgar Faure para la UNESCO titulado Aprender a ser. La educación del futuro (1972). No obstante, La sociedad desescolarizada apenas representa una vertiente dentro del conjunto de la crítica construida por Illich en relación a la educación y sus instituciones a lo largo de su trayectoria. Una vertiente que décadas después el propio autor calificaría de obsoleta, ingenua e incluso insuficientemente radical (desde una perspectiva teórica e historiográfica). Teniendo presente esta cuestión, en este artículo se presenta un estudio de la utilidad del pensamiento de Illich sobre la educación y sus instituciones en el debate en relación a la «agenda post 2015» promovido por instancias como la UNESCO y el Banco Mundial. El objetivo es retomar el conjunto de la obra de este autor como punto de referencia para el cuestionamiento del fundamento teórico que predomina en las políticas internacionales de desarrollo que apuestan por la «Educación para todos» y el «Aprendizaje para todos» en el siglo XXI.Palabras clave: Illich; desescolarización; decrecimiento; Educación para Todos; Aprendizaje para Todos.Recibido /

Contributions of Ivan Illich to Education in a Digital Society

“…On the other hand, provocative thinkers who allow us to leave the ideological and socially delimited system, have the merit of helping to provide instruments that enable us to better understand the present and, consequently, the options for the future. Ivan Illich is one of these thinkers who, both in 1971 and currently, still makes us think for his proposals (Aimino, 2018;Santos Gómez, 2006;Zaldívar, 2015;Daniels, 2003;Zúñiga Chaves, 2003), causing "half of admiration, half of irritation" (Daniels, 2003, p. 80).…”

“…Ivan Illich (1926Illich ( -2002 was a very well-known author, mainly in the 1970s, for his provocative publications, such as Deschooling Society (1971), where he proposed the eradication of the School as an institution (Illich, 2013(Illich, /1970. This work, which caused, at the time it was published, deep waves of shock and criticism, but also a strangeness and, in some scientific and social swathes, even admiration (Hart, 2001;Daniels, 2003), is again mobilised due to its potential according to some authors (Narodowski & Botta, 2017;Zaldívar, 2015).…”

“…This review does not aim to develop Ivan Illich's biography or bibliography. For that purpose, the reading of the following authors is suggested: Zaldívar (2011Zaldívar ( , 2015, Narodowski and Botta (2017), Kahn and Kellner (2007), Daniels (2003), Inman (1999); Samerski (2018), Saurén and Määttä (2011) and Pacheco (2013).…”

“…For Ivan Illich, in addition to reproducing social inequalities with the legitimation of inequalities, the School also functions as a "model of bureaucratic and class reproduction". The School justifies its own existence (the School) (Varbelow & Griffith, 2012;Enguita, 2005;Santos Gómez, 2006Zaldívar, 2015) through "formal rationalisation systems [that] have universal compulsive tendencies to reproduce at increasingly higher levels […], although this process is also influenced and reinforced by social class antagonisms, generated in a great diversity of social formations" (Morrow & Torres, 1997, p. 210).…”

“…In Deschooling Society (1971/2013), Ivan Illich greatly influenced Critical Pedagogy (Varbelow & Griffith, 2012), by demonstrating (or, at least, trying to demonstrate) the ideological role of the School in this process of legitimate social reproduction (Zaldívar, 2015;Hardy, 2012;Valenzuela-Aguilera, 2008):…”