Publication 3660

Organizations are able to motivate and coordinate human activities in special ways. In modern society, organizations are present in almost every social subsystem. From the end of the eighteenth century onward, education also predominantly takes place in school organizations. In this article, the consequences of this organizational framing of education are examined. How are schools able to organize processes of education, although education depends so much upon face-to-face interaction? How is education itself affected by the fact that it takes place in an organized context? This article deals with these questions, while making use of a systems-theoretical framework that highlights the autopoietic autonomy of educational organizations in modern society.

Key words: systems theory, autopoiesis, organization, education, Niklas Luhmann