ABSTRACT
Using Foucauldian concepts this chapter sets out to examine the subject/object relationship between the learner, learning society and the world of enquiry-based learning (EBL) within higher education (HE). EBL lacks a commonly agreed definition and has many hybrid forms but is predicated on the principles of scaffolded discovery learning that is owned by the learner and propelled by a process of enquiry.
Although Foucault did not write specifically about education in itself, parallels can be drawn between some of his key concepts and significant contemplations in relation to the world of EBL, its ‘techne’ or technologies, architecture and apparatus, construct and organisation. And the purpose of this chapter is to consider these concepts in relation to power, knowledge and subjectivity, concepts about which Foucault problematised. In so doing significant and complex considerations emerge in relation to learners who are asked to utilise EBL and for teachers who favour it as a contemporary strategy of learning and teaching in HE.
