The relational paradigm and education

The relational sociologies that have emerged and become internationally established over the last three decades have failed to provide, both in theoretical and empirical terms, any strong insight into education. Even if education has not been granted the broad treatment reserved by Donati for other themes, it has been an undercurrent running through his entire work, from his earliest publications to the present day. This essay does not propose an analytical study of all educational matters covered by the author, nor does it aim to place them within the overall body of his scientific work. Instead, this paper seeks to show how the relational paradigm can be understood as the interpretive key to studying important issues in the relationship between society and social systems, and to prove how relational sociology takes a critical stance against the constructivist approach to education and to the practice of teaching, towards shaping a new way of thinking and to experiencing educational relations in a more reflective way in a post-modern context.