LIFE-HISTORIES AND DEVELOPMENT OF NEW FOR MS OF VITAL KNOWLEDGE

Life histories can be a way of making sense of personal events and can project into the realm of education the whole of life and of living p ersons. They are part of a biographical tradition which goes back to t he Socratic ''bios'', perceived as a means of giving birth to consciou sness. But recently they also seem to be part of a fundamental bio-eth ical and bio-political movement which questions vocational and discipl ine-based training and life investment models. Three models are distin guished: the biographical model, in which others invest in the subject 's life; the autobiographical model, in which the subject invests in h is or her own life; and the dialectical model of co-investment. These models force education to rethink the conditions for the creation of n ew life knowledge: new social actors are entering the picture, with hi therto unknown practices that are leading to changes in epistemologica l and methodological perceptions in concert with new research and trai ning networks.