Beyond Categorisation and Competencies: Reclaiming the Human Person in Education through the Relational Anthropology of Edith Stein

Published June 2, 2026 | Version v1

Conference paper Open

Recent research into Edith Stein’s educational philosophy highlights her

balanced approach to education, which sought to integrate children’s

intellectual, ethical, emotional, and spiritual development within a Christian

framework. Despite the increasing secularisation of education already

present during her lifetime, Stein emphasised the necessity of God in

education, stressing not only the combined social and spiritual development

of children but also their relationship with nature as part of God’s creation.

Her work remains highly relevant today, particularly in fostering ecological

empathy and resisting the reduction of education to the mere acquisition of

competencies or the preparation of children for their future roles as citizens

and consumers. Burwood’s research on the evolution of social categorisation

in history and social studies textbooks in Canada and Switzerland reveals

how feminist ideologies integrated into public education since the 1960s have

simultaneously marginalized Christian spirituality and encouraged over

categorisation. The resulting paradigm shift has created gaps in pedagogical

materials that continue to neglect the interconnectedness of children’s social

and spiritual development, as well as their relationship with the natural world.

Conversely, the binary thinking still ingrained in many academic debates

– such as the essentialist/constructivist divide – also continues to filter down

to school education, perpetuating dualistic conceptions which oversimplify

the human condition. Stein’s Christian-based educational philosophy offers

a potential antidote to such challenges, advocating for a person-centered, yet

spiritually grounded approach to pedagogy, which simultaneously resists both

rigidly binary and unnecessarily complex categorisations, while continuing to

promote the holistic development of children.

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