ABSTRACT

The broad, contested notion of vulnerability is one of the areas of education in which concerns with the mental health and wellbeing of young people come together. This paper examines the theoretical and socio-political development of the ‘vulnerability Zeitgeist’ in recent years and the extent to which it has been applied to both young people and teachers in schools. We outline how the instrumental and negative views of vulnerability, which dominate policy discourse, run counter to the more expansive and ambivalent understandings familiar from sociological and psychoanalytic theory and use two cases drawn from studies undertaken in England and Germany to highlight their deleterious effects. Our analysis suggests that a more relational and collaborative approach, which explores vulnerability from the perspectives of both teachers and students, is necessary to improve support for the most vulnerable young people. We suggest that there are benefits to focusing on the vulnerability of young people and teachers, which research has until now examined separately, together conceptually and in practice to help to build trust and change attitudes to mental health and wellbeing in schools.

摘要

脆弱性这个广泛且有争议的概念是教育领域之一，其中关注年轻人的心理健康和福祉。本文探讨了“脆弱性时代精神”的理论和社会政治发展近年来，它在年轻人和学校教师中的应用程度。我们概述了主导政策话语的工具性和消极的脆弱性观点如何与社会学和精神分析理论中熟悉的更广泛和矛盾的理解背道而驰，并使用英国和德国研究中的两个案例来强调其有害影响。我们的分析表明，有必要采取一种更具关系性和协作性的方法，从教师和学生的角度探讨脆弱性，以改善对最脆弱年轻人的支持。我们认为，关注年轻人和教师的脆弱性是有好处的，到目前为止，研究已经单独审查了这一点，