Page 112 - Looking_after_school

Looking after school: a critical analysis of personalisation in education

will likely be customised as much as possible. Several tensions in this
vein have already been briefly sketched. In a scenario in which per-
sonalisation only relates to the learning process (and not to the goals
or the exam), everything in the personalised offer should be judged
on whether it is (im)possible for every student to work with the same
basic subject matter and in light of the same goals. From a pedagogical
perspective, the use of the same contents and setting the same goals
does not intend to normalise (to shape all the students according to
the same image) but aims to prepare all children for participation into
societal life. We would like to touch on two critical points in this matter.
Differentiation of learning processes is usually carried out based on
indications of a student’s capacities or individual characteristics (by
using formative assessment or a diagnostic tool). The question is: from
which perspective are these indications understood? If it is understood
from a pedagogical and didactic consideration (e.g., an indication that
there may be a need for adjusted or added support of the student)
then there is most likely no tension; however, when this indication is
from the onset clarified in terms of limited learning or added value,
and thus in terms of efficiency and effectivity (or learning gain), then
this runs the risk of goals becoming personally adaptable outcomes,
and contents becoming interchangeable learning means. This would
immediately affect the ambition of a basic formation for everyone.
Of course, there is also a tension when the indication is immediately
explained in terms of one or another ‘natural’ characteristic of the
student which limits their possibilities, and therefore asks for a learn-
ing process with ‘limited’ contents and outcomes.
A second point of criticism is that personalised learning pathways
separate students in time and space, even if they aim towards the same
targets. The point is not as much that this could lead to an isolation
that would put stress on the socialisation function of education (on
socialising by sitting and living together in the same time and space,
for instance, in a year group). Prior to this, this separation means that
the differences between students are always more visible than that
which they share. Differences among students are, then, maybe no
longer shown through different scores on a test or through delays, but
instead differences in learning speed (often in terms of efficiency and
effectivity) or in so-called personal characteristics, come to replace

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