Oswald Tanti Rigos is a Lecturer in Philosophy of Education at the Institute for Education. Working with Foucaultian perspectives, he studies how subjectivity is shaped in institutionalised education. His master’s research traced a genealogy of Malta’s Junor Lyceum examination. He also convenes the Philosophy of Education SIG (Malta) and runs the quarterly “Philosophy and Movie Nights” series hosted at the Institute.

This presentation revisits Foucault’s History of Madness to explore how madness is a historical construct produced through systems of classification and exclusion. Drawing parallels with education, it examines how schools similarly define normality and difference through institutional expectations. The paper argues that contemporary emphasis on speed, performance, and productivity pathologises slowness and reflection, urging a rethinking of what counts as reason, value, and meaningful learning in education today.