ATTENTION, ASCETICISM AND GRACE: SIMONE WEIL AND HIGHER EDUCATION

Academic work is one of those fields containing a pearl so precious that it is worth while to sell all our possessions, keeping nothing for ourselves, in order to be able to acquire it (Weil, 2001a, p. 65). The past two decades have witnessed a revival of interest in the work of Simone Weil. Weil died in 1943, aged just 34, but the writings she left behind have influenced philosophers, theologians, classicists, novelists, literary theorists, and social activists, among others. To date, however, Weil’s books have attracted relatively little attention from educationists (exceptions include Liston, 2008; Smith, 2001; Tubbs, 2005). This is surprising, given the obvious connections between Weil’s ideas and those advanced by a number of other educational thinkers. These links are especially strong in areas such as spirituality and education, feminist theory in education, and critical pedagogy. Weil 2 worked in schools and some of her writings address educational questions directly. More broadly, it might be said that in Weil’s epistemology and ethic, the basis for a distinctive approach to teaching and learning can be found