South African Journal of Education Copyright © 2009 EASA Vol 29:431-444 Why metaphor matters in education 1

I track the influence, presence and pivotal role of changes in the understanding of metaphor, which accompanied the paradigm shift from objectivism to plura-lism and relativism in education. These shifts are also reflected in the choice of teaching methodology. I argue that metaphors are constitutive of educational activities, events and processes and that they inter alia mediate foundational world view assumptions of these events and activities. Metaphor carries epis-temic and ideological freight, functions as a vehicle of a world view and provides access to a discipline’s assumptions about the way the world and humankind are structured