Revisiting Biesta’s model of education: insights from a phenomenographic study of graduates’ conceptions of education

Biesta’s tripartite model of qualification, socialisation, and subjectification has become increasingly influential in debates about the purposes of higher education, yet little empirical research examines how these domains are experienced by graduates themselves. This study uses phenomenography to investigate the qualitatively different ways postgraduate students conceptualise education. Findings demonstrate that Biesta’s domains are empirically visible, across four qualitatively different conceptions of education, but holistic integration emerges only within the most sophisticated, complex conceptions. Qualification appears consistently, whereas socialisation and subjectification are often recognised in isolation, highlighting the conditional nature of awareness. The outcome space further reveals the centrality of process, context, and agency in shaping educational experience – dimensions that function as mediating conditions through which educational purposes become visible, and are largely implicit in Biesta’s framework. By mapping variation in lived experience onto a normative model, the study provides an empirical complement to Biesta’s theory, illuminates limitations in graduates’ understandings of educational purpose, and offers practical implications for curriculum design, teacher education, and pedagogical approaches in higher education.