A tale of two schools: Arguments for a theory of Post-Education

For decades, educators and academics have debated the transformative potential of technology in education, yet the promised shift has failed to materialise. Even during the pandemic-driven emergency learning period, most schools merely replicated pre-pandemic methods using technology, with traditional formats remaining dominant. This resistance to technological integration reflects a profound tension between competing educational paradigms: the Anaesthetic School —characterised by disembodied, contemplative learning and rooted in humanist values that centre the subject—, and the emerging Aesthetic School which emphasises entangled, ecological, experiences that reflects posthuman, postdigital sensibilities. At the core of this paradigm shift lies Digital Entanglement —a theoretical framework capturing the complex system of engagements between learners and digital devices, creating potentials, entrapments and interdependencies where agency becomes a process of manoeuvrability within relational assemblages. This paper develops arguments for a theory of Post-Education that acknowledges this entanglement and its implications for learning in the Digital Technological System. It argues that our understanding of education must move beyond viewing digital technologies as mere tools, and recognise them as constitutive structures reshaping perception, action, but also cognitive processes and subjectivity. This paper proposes a series of arguments that highlight the need for a theory of Post-Education. To do so, it (1) examines the legacy of the Anaesthetic School; (2) analyses how technology is conceptualised in the classroom; (3) explore the notion of digital ontophany as a philosophical matrix for our current Technological System; and (4) develops the concept of Digital Entanglement as a way to contribute to a deeper understanding of how digital technologies are reshaping not only educational practices but the very nature of perception, action, cognition, and being in the world.