Page 124 - Looking_after_school

Looking after school: a critical analysis of personalisation in education

Students without school

This pedagogical perspective on school allowed us to formulate a
number of touchstones for assessing developments which concern
personalisation. The basic question here is: which forms or versions of
personalisation are in conflict with learning in school under the sign
of equality, freedom, and formation? We want to bring two points of
criticism back to mind here, concerning what we discern as two differ-
ent versions of personalisation. First, we can speak of personalisation
from an external societal perspective, which comes down to ‘every-
one matters, get as much as possible out of everyone’. We can see this
clearly in the claim that talent cannot be wasted. In this version, the
unique student is always a means to an end. Second, personalisation
can also be understood from within education. Here, it is more about
‘everything can improve learning outcomes, take all individual dif-
ferences into account’. In this version, the unique student is always a
(didactic) starting point. In contrast, our pedagogical perspective, can
be summarised as follows: ‘everyone can become someone, nobody’s
future is set in advance’. Let us confront both perspectives on person-
alisation, as well as the combination of these perspectives, with the
pedagogical perspective.

If we want to make an equal, worldly-oriented formation possible,
to what extent can we honour the principle ‘everything can improve
learning outcomes, take all individual differences into account’? The
risk is that the person of the student is considered, and so many things
are being continually personalised, up to the level that it is no longer
possible to hold on to equal goals for everybody, or it leads to aban-
doning (additional) pedagogical effort and patience in order to strive
for it. In simpler words: the risk is that differences between students
receive all the attention, and that this puts a strain on the worldly
preparation of students.
To what extent can the focus on basic formation be reconciled with the
‘everyone matters, get the most out of everyone’ version of personali-
sation? Can basic formation be reconciled with the expectation that
maximal development of the potential of every student is a means
or input for, for example, economic growth or social stability? This
comes down to the following: can education which gives students the

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