Page 30 - Looking_after_school

Looking after school: a critical analysis of personalisation in education

interests of students or parents (the demand side). This discourse then
also implies that we should focus on the student as our main concern.
The figure of the student that arises here is the figure of a customer in
need of a service, which is then modelled as an economic transaction.

The learner as user and co-producer - a market
economic perspective

The criticism directed at the bureaucratic organisation of public ser-
vice, among which we should and must include education, is related
to another perspective on the main role of the learner: the discourse on
the new economy, especially the discourse about marketing in which
the person and their experience take central stage.
A good articulation of this new vision on the economy is the thesis
of Pine and Gilmore (1999) about the rise of the experience economy.
Briefly summarised, these authors see shifts from an agrarian econ-
omy which is based on raw material and core products to an indus-
trial economy that is based on manufactured products. This industrial
economy is in turn followed by a service economy based on develop-
ment and sales, and, finally, by an experience economy that immedi-
ately places focus on the customer who buys into personal, memorable
experiences. This means that mass produced articles are no longer the
standard, and the customer is no longer satisfied by them. According
to Pine and Gilmore, focusing on services was already a first recom-
pense of mass production and a way to meet the personal needs of
customers. But in the experience economy, customisation goes a step
further: it is not products or adapted services that are being sold, but
personal experiences.

“Mass customising any good turns that good automatically into a service;
and mass customising any service turns that service automatically into
an experience.” (Pine & Gilmore, 2011, p. xiv)

Even though the perspective of these authors is very specific, it pro-
vides us with the words that we can use to clearly describe the prob-
lematisation of educational service in the name of the student as per-
son.

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