Page 68 - Looking_after_school

Looking after school: a critical analysis of personalisation in education

Architectures and power diagrams

This description of the building blocks and principles of the educa-
tional institution and the learning environment brings one aspect of

their architecture to the fore, namely the power configuration which

pertains to a certain architecture. Every configuration of power can
be described as a diagram or an abstract machine which presents the
mutual relationship of its main parts (Simons, 2014a; 2014b). A power

diagram thus shows or expresses the architecture in its most refined
or simplest form; but a diagram also clarifies that a power configura-

tion - in different shapes - is also visible in other domains of social life,
and not merely in education. Before going into the power diagrams of
the educational institution and the learning environment, it is impor-

tant to reflect upon the older but still well-known (sovereign) power
diagram of juridical rules.
Figure 1. The synoptic diagram

The main instrument of the juridical configuration of power is the law,
or the rule. A law or administrative rule prescribes or prohibits actions
which should be maintained in one way or another. Furthermore,
everybody is equal in the eyes of the law; law enforcement, legal juris-
diction, or administrative sanctions in principle do not judge the indi-
viduality of the law breaker, but instead focus on the alleged actions
which must be punished to maintain order (and thus the law). A law
or a rule works in so far as there is obedience or compliance.

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