Education Research and Development is an international, peer-reviewed open access journal dedicated to advancing research the field of education. The journal provides a rapid publication process to ensure wide dissemination of high-quality articles to scientists, professionals, and interested individuals worldwide. Our goal is to serve as an efficient, reliable, and trusted platform for scholars and readers, publishing cutting-edge research in the field.
Abstract: In contemporary educational practice, which prioritizes controllability and predictability within a climate of increasing standardization and accountability, measurable outcomes are highly valued, while pedagogical risks—understood as actions or decisions with uncertain educational consequences that challenge predefined protocols—are often systematically avoided. This prevailing tendency results in a profound lack of recognition of the inherent and necessary coexistence of risk and intrinsic value in education, forming a core practical and philosophical contradiction. This paper aims to construct and apply a robust theoretical framework for analyzing the dynamic, often tension-filled relationship between educational risk and value, drawing centrally on Gert Biesta’s theory of “the beautiful risk of education. The research employs the Douban “Teacher” Group, a major and influential Chinese online community for educators, as a critical digital ethnographic case study. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, combining extended netnography with in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with 12 primary and secondary school teachers of varying experience. This methodology allows for a triangulated investigation into the complex ecosystem of teachers' work. The study systematically explores and delineates the multi-layered institutional pressures , ingrained cultural norms of safety and success, and personal apprehensions that collectively contribute to a pervasive aversion to educational risk. Concurrently, it reveals how this defensive posture leads to the alienation of the pursuit of authentic educational values, reducing teaching to a technical, risk-averse enterprise. Finally, by integrating and critically applying Biesta’s three-dimensional purposes of education—qualification, socialization, and most crucially, subjectification—the paper argues for the inherent inevitability of the symbiosis between educational risk and core value. It demonstrates that genuine subjectification, characterized by the emergence of independent thought, ethical agency, and creative growth, is fundamentally dialogical and unpredictable, and thus cannot be manufactured within a completely controlled, risk-free environment. This research provides both nuanced empirical insights from a distinctive local context and substantive theoretical support for re-examining, rebalancing, and more thoughtfully embracing the necessary risks that are constitutive of meaningful educational practice.Abstract: In contemporary educational practice, which prioritizes controllability and predictability within a climate of increasing standardization and accountability, measurable outcomes are highly valued, while pedagogical risks—understood as actions or decisions with uncertain educational consequences that challenge predefined protocols—are often systemat...Learn More
