In liberal, democratic and capitalist societies today, we are increasingly invited to disclose our innermost thoughts to others. We are asked to turn our gaze inwards, scrutinizing ourselves, our behaviours and beliefs, while talking and writing about ourselves in these terms. This form of disclosure of the self resonates with older forms of church confession, and is now widely seen in practices of education in new ways in nurseries, schools, colleges, universities, workplaces and the wider policy arena.

Author bios Acknowledgements Part 1 - Introduction 1. An emergence of confession in education Part 2 - A politics of confession in assessment 2. Confession and subjectifications in school performance evaluations 3. Fabricating the teacher's soul in teacher education 4. Assessing confession in shaping the professional 5. Confessions of an individual education plan 6. Visualization, performance, and the figure of the researcher Part 3 - A politics of confession in dialogue 7. On confessional dialogue and collective subjects 8. Guiding adults: researching the ANT-ics of confessing 9. Confessional talk in parenting Part 4 - A politics of confession in State programmes 10. Is giving voice an incitement to confess? 11. Are we constructing Lutherans, people with values or US citizens? 12. Subjectivity, youth unemployment and culture of self 13. Historicizing Chinese self-reflection as a technology of confession Part 5 - A politics of confession as Care of the self 14. Reflections on lifelong learning and the making of the self in 15. Living the present otherwise