AUTHORITY, BOND, AND KNOWLEDGE IN EDUCATION: TRANSMITTING A TESTIMONY OF DESIRE

The aim of this article is to address the issue of authority in education and to provide some keys to building a position of desire in educators, while at the same time inspiring passion and a desire for knowledge in learners. The crisis of authority affects all of us who, as teachers and educators, represent a part of the symbolic system and institutional order that enables social bond. Therefore, from an educational standpoint, it is worth asking what kind of authority should be built for educators to continue fulfilling their educational role. The well-known essay entitled << The Crisis in Education >> by German philos- opher Hannah Arendt allows us, in a first line of reflection, to situate and update the social, cultural and pedagogical changes that have weakened authority in the field of education. Our analysis then turns to the questioning and reformulation of the knowledge to be imparted in school, a process that has shifted the role of educators towards more ambiguous and confusing tasks and responsibilities. The question of what pedagogical actions would serve to restore the bond and authority in education places the desire for knowledge on the part of educators at the centre of the discussion. In this regard, our proposal explores how one can assume the responsibility of education through a determined commitment to transmit a testimony of desire, that is, a way of engaging with the world and knowledge, thus seeking a path towards reviving the educational bond between educator and learner and, with it, the social bond between generations.