Page 106 - Looking_after_school

Looking after school: a critical analysis of personalisation in education

The first question to ask from a pedagogical perspective is what a scho-
lastic form of evaluation would be. It should in any way be a school
internal evaluation of formation, and thus more an examination of ‘what
is learned’ rather than a test of ‘capacities’ or an assessment of ‘social
employability’. This also means that the evaluation from a pedagogical
point of view must always be open: there is the possibility of pedagogi-
cal adjustments and, in principle, endless do overs. From this perspec-
tive, the characteristic scholastic examination appears as a pedagogical
means of exerting pressure or creating a sense of urgency. This kind
of ‘pedagogic leverage’ makes sure that there is enough pressure and
creates time to be occupied and concentrated intensively on the sub-
ject matter. This pressure is (sometimes) needed to work on the basic
condition, and to move the boundaries of one’s lifeworld. Examination
thus helps to be or become a student, in so far as the process is not
reduced to a purely personalising instrument of feedback. Evaluation
is then seen as part of practice and study and prompts a deepening of
intensive attention and interest. It is, concurrently, a very artificial yet
serious pedagogical moment where, as Michel Serres (1991) would say,
one is brought into a situation where one is not allowed to make mis-
takes. Pedagogically, it is also of importance that the student, as a student
(not as an individual or a person), receives a degree; for instance, the
same degree of secondary education at the end, without pretentious
and often determining statements about where and how graduates dif-
fer (in view of higher education, for instance). As much as the school
can place young people in an equal situation of beginning, by using
the degree it can put them in an equal position at the end. This does
not mean that there are no differences among students at the end of
(for instance) secondary education, but through the degree the school
gives the opportunity to put the emphasis on equality, and not on those
differences. Lastly, it is of importance that the school is limited in time
and space. This means for instance that the school acknowledges other
forms of learning (in or out of school) and that it closes off the time in
school literally and figuratively. Schooling must have an end.

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