Fostran som pedagogiskt projekt
Bilden av ?problembarnet? i statens offentliga utredningar
Titel: Fostran som pedagogiskt projekt. Bilden av ?problembarnet? i statens offentliga utredningar. (The bringing up of pupils as an educational project. The image of ?the problem child? in governmental committees). This study focuses on the image of the problem child as it appears in two texts (from the 1940s and 1970s) of governmental committees on Public Health (SOU) and the new school law (Ds 2009:25, will be implemented in July 2011). By image is meant that the image of the problem child is constructed for specific purposes rather than being ?found? in an objective reality. The aim is to describe, analyse and compare discourses on ?the problem child? as they appear in the texts. The method used is an application of discourse analysis based on a social constructionist approach and the work of Michel Foucault. Among the Foucauldian concepts used are discourse, governmentality, power and subjectification. In the final chapter possibilities and limitations of Foucauldian analysis are discussed. The discourses that influences the image of the problem child, in the different texts, have three major continuities operating, the talk of a school which aim is to not separate the pupils, the use of the term behavioural disorders and finally the pedagogical methods that individualises, differentiates, compares, places in hierarchy as well as shuts out pupils from the classroom. The emphasize of the teachers role to give knowledge to the pupils rather than bringing them up separates Ds 2009:25 from the two SOU-texts where the emphasize is placed on the bringing up of the pupils. Potential effects concerning the problem child because of this change in the pedagogical discourse are discussed.