Nicholas Stock (Independent Researcher)
Does the teacher enjoy? Thinking through educational enjoyment with Lacan  

Philosophical questions about teachers often ask what teachers are for, or perhaps, how they can improve. But amidst teacher recruitment shortfall, waves of teacher strikes, a disillusioned workforce, and a rising sense of authoritarianism, we might wonder whether the teacher can enjoy “being” a teacher. Did they ever, and what sorts of enjoyment are to be found? Drawing on Lacanian theory, this talk will explore the structure of education that teachers find themselves amidst, consider the teacher as a subject in this structure, and pose questions concerning educational enjoyment, or jouissance.   

Nick Stock holds a doctorate in Philosophy of Education from the University of Birmingham, UK. He is an independent researcher, currently exploring Lacanian psychoanalysis as an approach to unravelling the desires of teachers. He has other interests in poststructuralist philosophy and radical political theory. He is also an English teacher in a Sixth Form College. He tweets @89stock