This paper approaches the conception of criticism in Foucault as a strategy for questioning, tensioning, acting on and transforming the government excesses in the field of education. The hypothesis is that the meaning of the criticism regarding education is relevant as long as it aims toward transforming institutional relations. To this end, the present paper takes two analytical steps. First it investigates the effects of governmentalization in educational institutions concerning three levels: the association of the school with the arts of government, the role of the teacher in the art of government and the function of official discourses while keeping the school institution under the effects of government. Secondly, it analyzes criticism in its own right and its consequences to education. It discusses the art of not being governed, of the voluntary insubordination and of the unruly reflection, and finally of the limit and experimental attitudes.
Education; school institution; Foucault; criticism; arts of government