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Looking after school: a critical analysis of personalisation in education

tional system. This means that the school has a duty of care that meets
the specific needs of its students. These recent reforms symbolise the
continued positioning of the student at the centre of education.
This book covers more terrain than is outlined by these policy initia-
tives towards inclusive education. In fact, we want to make the case
that there is far more at stake: that placing the student at the centre
is not merely driven by educational motives; that there are indica-
tions of a thorough transformation of what education is; and, that the
meanings of school, freedom, and equality within schools are being
radically called into question today. Although the focus of this book is
rather general and does not directly address specific reforms towards
inclusive education, we do hope that it succeeds in offering a number
of perspectives and touchstones that are of use to discuss the oppor-
tunities and limitations of these and other concrete initiatives.
In the first chapter, we will examine policy discourse in search of the
problems that are expected to be solved by centring on the student.
The question is: how, and from what perspective, are the problems
defined for which focusing on the student is expected to offer a solu-
tion? This inventory of perspectives forms the base for the second
chapter, in which we will clarify that today there is, indeed, some-
thing more at stake than a century ago. We will argue that traditional
educational institutions are concerned with normalisation, whilst the
common denominator for contemporary learning environments is
personalisation. Here, noticeable shifts have occurred, from being an
individual to being a person, from norms to profiles, and from disciplinary
power to feedback power. Our ambition, however, is not to oppose one
system against another. Above all, we want to clarify what is at stake
today, and scrutinise the implications of personalisation and the power
of feedback. Therefore, we offer pedagogical touchstones in the analy-
sis of the third chapter: what makes a school into a school, and when
is the scholastic condition under pressure? These touchstones conse-
quently allow us to evaluate the focus on the student and to critically
examine the limits of personalisation amid today’s power mechanisms.
Today it seems evident that the student is the main centre. After all,
who could be against such an idea? In this book, we try to make clear
that there is also a serious drawback to personalisation: namely, that
personalisation risks to de-school the school from within. This means

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