VIRTUAL: Applying Education

Abstract

Competition is prevalent in numerous experiences that characterize human existence; game, school, sports, and work are some of the examples in which competition constitutes the very modality of conducting activities. Such experiences, due to their competitive trait, are situations marked considerably by their complexity: in the face of this complexity two opposite meanings tend to be attributed: on the one hand, it is very common to deny competition by emphasizing its negative aspects. On the other, it is also risky to excessively promote competition exaggerated in its competitive traits. These two readings make competition unsustainable within the educational scene: an excessive or denied competition risks not sustaining the activities in which it is experienced, compromising both its effectiveness and its educational significance. However, these two readings do not exhaust the possibilities of the interpretation of competition and its complexity: is it therefore possible to think of a competition that is sustainable in the process of human definition? This contribution, starting from a general recognition of the idea of competition centered on the main literature of reference, intends to advance a possible image of “educational competition”, capable of being recognized in its sustainability within the educational scene. This proposal will be clarified in its structures, meanings and actions, in a further attempt to define possible lines of future research.