Abstract

The article addresses the emerging framework of ‘positioning theory’, which has become influential in educational theory. We will present the central concepts and ideas of ‘positioning theory’ and subsequently how they are being used to contribute to educational theory. We will focus on an article by Svend Brinkmann where he uses ‘positioning theory’ as the foundation for moral education. Seemingly, Brinkmann uses ‘positioning theory’ rather uncritically in an attempt to ‘strengthen’ the educational process by introducing fixed categorisations and concepts to it. Contrary to this approach, we will use the educational theories of Knud Grue-Sørensen and Gert Biesta to emphasise how we instead should recognise what is here defi ned as the ‘weakness’ of educational theory, and how we have to consider both the adaptive element of education as well as the emancipatory element of it