Page 111 - Looking_after_school

3. Touchstones: pedagogical articulations

every student. Obviously, examination is flexible in this system of open
qualifications: the learning outcomes, the level that will be qualified,
and the form and time of examination can all be chosen.
The already mentioned tension surrounding personalised goals will
also arise here. Formation becomes a kind of customised basic qualifi-
cation. It is difficult to reconcile this with the societal expectations of
a uniform curriculum which focuses on the basics for each student.
Depending on personal characteristics and choices, the student would
then be ‘formed’ more broadly or more specifically, more superfi-
cially or more deeply. Also, allowing students to choose (or making
them choose, based on their capacities) when they want their learn-
ing outcomes to be assessed either means determining beforehand
what every student can and must realise, or giving full freedom to all
students. In both cases, the duration of learning pathways is person-
alised. This is not problematic, in itself, unless of course the time that
is needed for a certain learner to achieve a certain outcome or level (the
time efficiency) will also be used as an indicator for the general level of
proficiency: the difference between ‘slower’ and ‘faster’ students, then,
becomes an indication of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ students. A personalised
duration of learning can then also be problematic if it becomes an alibi
for the lack of means to make everyone reach a certain level. This is
also often the case in the year class system: the personal adjustment of
learning duration has been anchored in the institution by school year
repetition. A flexible moment of examination can thus lead to making
the student fully responsible. A flexible form of evaluation, lastly, does
not seem to create a tension, but the question who can choose the form
of evaluation (and when and how) plays a part, and whether there are
guarantees of equivalence.

Personalisation of the learning process

The personalisation of the learning process comes in many different
forms. In the architecture of the learning environment, this learning
process can relate to several aspects: learning activities, teaching meth-
ods, contents, pathways, formative assessments, feedback, learning,
teaching functions… In a scenario in which the goals, the exam and/
or the degree are personalised, all the aspects of the learning process

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