Demokratisk dannelse i professionsuddannelserne

om nødvendigheden af andenordenstænkning

Abstract

Following the latest reform of vocational and professional education programmes, university colleges are now obliged to contribute to students' democratic education. In doing so, the institutions are venturing into new and, to some extent, unfamiliar territory. To gain an understanding of the implications this has for the future teaching and research practices of professional colleges, this article draws on a distinction between first-order and second-order thinking. By examining the emergence of second-order thinking from a history of ideas perspective, the article argues for a crucial connection between the historical development of democracy and this form of thinking. The necessity of a relationship between democracy and second-order thinking is then examined from a philosophical perspective, in which conflict is emphasised as constitutive of all sociality, and second-order thinking is identified as a necessary element of democratic practice. Finally, the article suggests what it means to think at a second-order level when working with democratic education. On this basis, the article argues for the necessity of integrating second-order thinking (in the form of the history of ideas, philosophy of science and philosophy) as a fundamental dimension of democratic education and, consequently, of the future self-understanding and practice of professional education programmes. It is thus argued that second-order thinking must constitute a necessary supplement and corrective to first-order thinking if the goal of democratic education is to be realised within the confines of professional education programmes.