Page 70 - Looking_after_school

Looking after school: a critical analysis of personalisation in education

and normality which are associated with a (physically and mentally)
healthy, economically viable, productive, and moral life.
Figure 2. Panoptic diagram

It is in those typical modern institutions - such as the family, the hos-
pital, the factory, and, of course, the school - that the norm can do
its work. Under a normalising gaze, and the disciplining actions of
teachers, parents, foremen, and doctors, a normalised individuality of
human being takes form. Modern man, then, is not just asking himself
‘is this allowed?’ or ‘is this legal?’, but also ‘is this way of thinking, act-
ing, judging, and dreaming normal?’ or simply ‘am I normal?’ (Hack-
ing, 1990). The paradigmatic expression of the power of the norm is the
panopticon: the generally applicable architectural model of an inspec-
tion house, that was designed in 1791 by Jeremy Bentham. In a way,
the logic of the panopticon is the opposite of that of the synopticon.
Singular humans in the middle of the circle supervise a group of indi-
viduals (in cells) at the exterior, without this group knowing whether
there actually is surveillance at that instant. The guiding principle is
that they must have the feeling of being under constant surveillance.

Panoptic power is thus permanent in its effect, but discontinuous in
its exertion; a current day example is the school inspectorate. Here,
the few (school inspectors) observe and inspect the many (schools and
teachers), but without the many actually knowing when there will be

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