Last weekend I participated at the European Bildung Day Online conference. The original idea was to have a physical conference in Copenhagen. During the 2-day conference, there were several discussions about the meaning of Bildung how it could be implemented in practice.
The meaning of Bildung, which is a German word, can be described with synonyms as education, formation, transformation, emergence, self-development, knowledge, insights etc.
One way to describe Bildung is to present it as a concept leading to a process of holistic growth, self-realization of the individual as an entirety, freedom, and self-understanding as well as a sense of social responsibility.
Bildung is also seen as a method of reaching higher levels of awareness and wisdom. Many contemporary discussions about Bildung are connected to new ideas and theoretical approaches when it comes to metanarratives/paradigms. In the case of Bildung, at this moment, it is also connected to the development of the metamodern paradigm/narrative that is seeking to replace and integrate older meta-paradigms/narratives as modernism and post-modernism.
The conference itself focused mainly at the current situation in Europe as regards politics, democracy, education and other aspects, and as well as on the understandings of Bildung in a universal sense and its role for the world, such as when it comes to promoting “planetary awareness”.
For more information about the intellectual work around Bildung, please visit the European Bildung Network website.