Page 69 - Looking_after_school

2. The architecture: from the educational institution
to the learning environment

The paradigmatic expression of the power of law is the synopticon as
can be seen at work in public punishment or in the (Greco-Roman)
arena (Mathiesen, 1997). The synopticon is shaped like a circle where
the crowd observes an individual in the centre. The main intention of
punishment (or glorification) of a single person is to enforce obedience
to the law, and thus to maintain or repair lawful order. Essentially this
‘power of the example’ or ‘power of the exception’ is about making the
consequences of breaking the law visible. This is an old exertion of
power, but it can still be seen at work today. Next to the obvious juridi-
cal practices, we can think here of the teacher who wants to main-
tain order in the classroom by setting an example and punishing or
rewarding a student in front of the class. But even in the functioning of
international comparative assessment studies, such as the PISA, there
are synoptic elements. The (un)successful countries are put into the
centre of attention and other countries are reminded, as spectators,
about their submission to the rule in effect. The motivation in this
international arena is the desire to be, one day, at the centre of atten-
tion as a top performer, or the fear of ending up in the centre of the
arena alongside the other bad performing countries. Of course, the
case of these public rankings is not about maintaining of a juridical
law or an administrative rule; there is a kind of ‘law of performance’
at work here: (wanting) more is better.
As is the case with other institutions, in educational institutions power
has a different configuration, one which has been described by Michel
Foucault as disciplinary power. In this configuration, it is not the law
or the rule but the norm that is the foremost instrument of power. The
norm refers to the desired, empirical situation of human features or
activities (behaviours, thoughts, bodily features). It allows the compar-
ison of human beings, and thus to individualise in terms of normality:
(ab)normal behaviour, (ab)normal development, (ab)normal sexuality,
(ab)normal mental health. In contrast to the law, the norm does not
ask submission, jurisdiction, or penalty. A norm needs disciplining,
judgment, and correction; for instance: judging and inspecting how
children (but also workers) behave in terms of normality and taking
corrective measures in light of that normality. According to Foucault,
in modern society, social life is organised not only on the basis of laws
and rules (supported by jurisprudence and law enforcement) but
also increasingly by a number of norms. Think for instance of norms
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