Wild Competences: Challenging the neoliberal frame in adult education through collective actions

Przemyslaw Szczygiel; Piotr Kowzan

doi:10.3384/rela.2000-7426.5671

Authors

Przemyslaw Szczygiel Ateneum University in Gdansk https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5353-7870
Piotr Kowzan University of Gdańsk https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6506-8327

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3384/rela.2000-7426.5671

Keywords:

wild competences, social movement learning, collective action, polycrisis

Abstract

The article examines the concept of competences from a critical perspective. The authors begin with an analysis of the dominant competences discourse, highlighting its limitations in times of polycrises. They propose the concept of wild competences, acquired through collective actions. These competences are both individual and collective in nature. Unlike traditional competences focused on adaptation within neoliberal frameworks, wild competences are subversive, enabling social actors to destabilise hierarchies, challenge the status quo, and initiate transformative actions. The analysis explores three aspects of wild competences: their foundation for reflexive action, their role in the laboratory of emancipation, and their contribution to reconstructing social orders. Wild competences thus provide alternative pathways for societal change and democratic engagement.

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Author Biographies

Przemyslaw Szczygiel, Ateneum University in Gdansk

PhD

Associate professor

Piotr Kowzan, University of Gdańsk

PhD

Assistant professor

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