The past two decades have witnessed a remarkable rise of the language of learning in education and in our lives more generally. Not only is it claimed that we live in an age of learning; we are also being told that we must become lifelong learners. At the same time the learning sciences and so-called learning analytics are trying to measure and monitor learning in ever more detail in order to secure that learners become more and more effective at producing the learning outcomes that the global economy apparently needs from them. What started out as a liberating idea – placing learning at the centre of our educational endeavours – seems to have turned into its opposite, where learning itself has become a mode of control and increasingly also a mode of self-control. Looking at learning in this way begins to reveal the political work done through and in the name of learning. In my presentation I will not only attempt to explore and expose different dimensions and manifestations of this ‘politics of learning,’ but will also argue why it might be important to interrupt this politics and resist the ongoing demand to learn and to be a learner. Against this background I will make a case for a return of education beyond learning, arguing that the liberation we need in our times may well be found in our willingness to engage with the beautiful risk of education, both as students and as teachers.