The notion of responsibility makes a significant appearance in a range of Westernised education policy documents concerned with student conduct, welfare and values. While policies may differ in the extent to which responsibility is explicitly defined or generally assumed, most seem to emphasise an ideal social subject who is accountable, self-regulating and actively contributing to civic life. Drawing on insights from Michel Foucault, Emmanuel Levinas and Judith Butler, I argue that the emphasis on neoliberal and neoconservative discourses in Australian educational policy can work to undermine more unconditional forms of responsibility grounded in notions of ethics, care and recognition of the other.