In just a little over one hundred years, children's living conditions together with the v... more In just a little over one hundred years, children's living conditions together with the very notion of childhood have changed dramatically in the Western world. Child labor has been banned and institutions for care and schooling have become the primary life world of children rather than the farm and the household. Children are today perceived as individuals in their own right, as maturing through various developmental stages, and as having certain undeniable social and legal rights in relation to both parents and society. This development can of course be thought of in terms of humanitarian progress. But alongside this development we can also observe an increase in the monitoring and governing of children’s lives, to the point that childhood can be thought of as “the most intensely governed sector of personal existence” (Rose 1999:123). Against the backdrop of humanistic development on the one hand and an increasing governing of childhood on the other, this chapter explores the historical transformations of childhood through the lens of a few overarching themes: industrialization and urbanization, children’s path into public life and citizenship, changed notions of the child's nature and being, and the scientification of the child.
When punk culture travelled from The US and England to Sweden in the late 1970s and early 1980s, ... more When punk culture travelled from The US and England to Sweden in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the result was a mix of symbols, emotions and attitudes from all three national contexts. One Swedis ...
Grundskolereformen och talet om differentieringen : differentieringsfragan och konstruktionen av ... more Grundskolereformen och talet om differentieringen : differentieringsfragan och konstruktionen av barns och ungdomars olikheter
Denna bok ger kunskap och redskap för att arbeta med Foucaultinspirerad maktanalys. I bokens förs... more Denna bok ger kunskap och redskap för att arbeta med Foucaultinspirerad maktanalys. I bokens första del presenteras Foucaults tänkande om makt utifrån ett antal övergripande begrepp som beskriver maktens skepnader och effekter ur ett historiskt perspektiv. Här får läsaren stifta bekantskap med de maktbegrepp som Foucault formulerade för att beskriva makt under olika historiska perioder: suverän och disciplinär makt, biomakt, pastoral makt och styrningsmakt. Bokens andra del är metodiskt inriktad och ger verktyg för att arbeta med Foucaults tänkande om makt i empiriska undersökningar. Här diskuteras de specifika teoretiska och analytiska utgångspunkterna för en maktanalys. Boken avslutas med exempel från författarnas egen forskning och ger råd om hur man kan arbeta med maktanalysen i konkreta undersökningar. Författarna vänder sig framför allt till uppsatsskribenter, doktorander och forskare som är intresserade av Foucaults tänkande om makt och vill fördjupa sin kunskap och omsätta den analytiskt och metodiskt.
This article examines the dominant discourses of behaviour and discipline in the debate on school... more This article examines the dominant discourses of behaviour and discipline in the debate on schooling and the conduct of school pupils in Swedish professional teacher journals between 1946 and 1962, the formative years of the Swedish comprehensive school. Drawing from the theoretical framework of discourse, governmentality and the fabrication of the subject developed by Michel Foucault, the fabrication and governing of the school pupil is highlighted and analysed. The findings of the study are related to historical research of the period as well as Foucauldian studies where a historical shift of perspectives on discipline and behaviour in the school have been proposed. The result is a detailed analysis of the fabrication and governing of the subject within the dominant discourses of behaviour and discipline during the period, as well as a critical nuancing of the idea of this historical shift.
Boken handlar om den levande punkkultur som uppstod i Norrkoping aren 1977-83. Genom intervjuer, ... more Boken handlar om den levande punkkultur som uppstod i Norrkoping aren 1977-83. Genom intervjuer, fotografi- och dokumentstudier forsoker forfattarna forsta vilka punkarna var och vad som drev dem att anamma den subversiva stilen.
This article examines the vision of the Swedish comprehensive school reform between 1946–1962 as ... more This article examines the vision of the Swedish comprehensive school reform between 1946–1962 as it pertains to the ever-troubling questions of discipline and order in school. Inspired primarily by the work of Michel Foucault and his genealogical perspective, the article problematises the notion that character formation and school discipline during this period underwent a radical democratic transformation, and that this was the successful result of a progressive political agenda. This account of school discipline is shown to be problematic since it conceals a complex and even ironic historical process, where a disciplinarian discourse in school lingered and even widened and deepened disciplinary practice during the period.
SwePub titelinformation: Progressive School Politics and the Disciplinary Regimes of the Classroo... more SwePub titelinformation: Progressive School Politics and the Disciplinary Regimes of the Classroom a Genealogical perspective.
... Kanske kan den globaliserade hiphoppen stå som ett uttryck för och exempel på en samtida folk... more ... Kanske kan den globaliserade hiphoppen stå som ett uttryck för och exempel på en samtida folkbildning. ... I USA finns det en större benägenhet att fokusera på etnicitet än på klass vilket har lett till att arbetarrörelsen inte har fått samma maktpo-sition som i Västeuropa (Laclau & ...
In recent years, many programs and manuals for 'norm criticismh ave been produced for schools in ... more In recent years, many programs and manuals for 'norm criticismh ave been produced for schools in Sweden. In this article, I situate norm criticism and norm critical pedagogics within discourses of values and norms, legal rights and policies through a close reading of the material produced for the Swedish preschool. I explore the targets, modes, and techniques of governing the child through norm critical programs and practices. I give special attention to the moral regime inscribed in the norm critical project and how the desirable and undesirable subject is constructed. By problematizing norm critical pedagogics, the article propositions them (contrary to its advocates' claims) as doing much more than widening social norms, creating tolerance for diversity, or furthering freedom and authenticity. Norm criticism attempts to reshape powerrelations, assert the moral authority of professionals, and produce a state-approved social subject.
I centrum for avhandlingen star den konflikt om skolagan som aktualiserades nar det svenska skolv... more I centrum for avhandlingen star den konflikt om skolagan som aktualiserades nar det svenska skolvasendet skulle stopas om till en enhetsskola. Undersokningsperioden ar 1946-1962. Det overgripande syftet har varit att analysera denna konflikts upprinnelse, utveckling och foljder i relation till skolans fostransuppdrag och barndomens inneborder. Med utgangspunkt i detta syfte har dels har det formella skolpolitiska spelet kring enhetsskolan och skolans fostransuppdrag beskrivits, dels har ett antal centrala texter som producerades i denna process analyserats. Teoretiskt och metodiskt har undersokningen knutit an till ett diskursanalytiskt forhallningssatt dar fragor om makt och styrning ar centrala. I diskussionen om skolans fostransuppdrag framtradde olika diskurser som pa vissa punkter stod i skarp opposition mot varandra. Vid en narmare granskning av denna konflikt har diskursernas olika mojlighetsvillkor undersokts, i betydelsen deras historiska och samhalleliga forutsattningar oc...
In recent years a new subject, "Life Competence" (Livskunskap), has emerged within the Swedish sc... more In recent years a new subject, "Life Competence" (Livskunskap), has emerged within the Swedish school system. The subject is, as the name indicates, multivalent and fluid. It is about nothing less than "life," covering everything from health and sex education to emotional management and general social skills. It developed at the end of the 1990s, but has not yet achieved the status of a proper subject with a national syllabus and steering ordinances (Löf 2011). The ideas and practices of the subject have strong affinities to dominant discourses of values, ethics and democratic citizenship in Swedish society. Foundational for all of this is "The Common Value Foundation" (Värdegrunden), 1 which is a conglomerate of ethical guidelines for desirable attitudes and behavior that first appeared in the school political discussion in the mid-1990s, and from this time on has spread into many other arenas of society. In principle all authorities, organizations and companies worth the name are now doing some kind of "work" in relation to the Value Foundation. From central authorities such as the police, the fire service, the Swedish Migration Board, the Social Insurance Agency and the National Taxation Board, to associations and sports clubs of different kinds, policy statements are drawn up and codes of behavior are specified under the heading "foundation of values work." To work with these values is regarded as a solution, if not the solution, to various ethical problems that surface among figures of authority, bosses, employees and members. Historically speaking, the ambition to shape and form children and adolescents according to an overarching societal morality is nothing new. But in the Swedish context this has not before 1994 led to an introductory chapter on moral values and guidelines in the national school curriculum. This chapter is about the "fundamental values" that supposedly hold Swedish society together and are to be transmitted to coming generations through the school system. Furthermore, the values at issue are said to be based on "ethics passed on by Christian tradition and Western humanism" (Lpo-94: 3), a wording that has provoked quite strong reactions in certain corners of society. The relationship between the Value Foundation and Christian ethics is, we believe, important and provides us with a key to understand how the Value Foundation is put to play in the Swedish society as a quasi-religious moral standard with historical affinities. The
This article examines the dominant discourses of behaviour and discipline in the debate on school... more This article examines the dominant discourses of behaviour and discipline in the debate on schooling and the conduct of school pupils in Swedish professional teacher journals between 1946 and 1962, the formative years of the Swedish comprehensive school. Drawing from the theoretical framework of discourse, governmentality and the fabrication of the subject developed by Michel Foucault, the fabrication and governing of the school pupil is highlighted and analysed. The findings of the study are related to historical research of the period as well as Foucauldian studies where a historical shift of perspectives on discipline and behaviour in the school have been proposed. The result is a detailed analysis of the fabrication and governing of the subject within the dominant discourses of behaviour and discipline during the period, as well as a critical nuancing of the idea of this historical shift.
In recent years, many programs and manuals for 'norm criticism' have been produced for schools in... more In recent years, many programs and manuals for 'norm criticism' have been produced for schools in Sweden. In this article, I situate norm criticism and norm critical pedagogics within discourses of values and norms, legal rights and policies through a close reading of the material produced for the Swedish preschool. I explore the targets, modes, and techniques of governing the child through norm critical programs and practices. I give special attention to the moral regime inscribed in the norm critical project and how the desirable and undesirable subject is constructed. By problematiz-ing norm critical pedagogics, the article propositions them (con-trary to its advocates' claims) as doing much more than widening social norms, creating tolerance for diversity, or furthering freedom and authenticity. Norm criticism attempts to reshape power-relations, assert the moral authority of professionals, and produce a state-approved social subject.
Paedagogica Historica - International Journal of the History of Education , 2013
This article examines the vision of the Swedish comprehensive school reform between 1946-1962 as ... more This article examines the vision of the Swedish comprehensive school reform between 1946-1962 as it pertains to the ever-troubling questions of discipline and order in school. Inspired primarily by the work of Michel Foucault and his genealogical perspective, the article problematizes the notion that character formation and school discipline during this period underwent a radical democratic transformation, and that this was the successful result of a progressive political agenda. This account of school discipline is shown to be problematic since it conceals a complex and even ironic historical process, where a disciplinarian discourse in school lingered and even widened and deepened disciplinary practice during the period.
In just a little over one hundred years, children's living conditions together with the v... more In just a little over one hundred years, children's living conditions together with the very notion of childhood have changed dramatically in the Western world. Child labor has been banned and institutions for care and schooling have become the primary life world of children rather than the farm and the household. Children are today perceived as individuals in their own right, as maturing through various developmental stages, and as having certain undeniable social and legal rights in relation to both parents and society. This development can of course be thought of in terms of humanitarian progress. But alongside this development we can also observe an increase in the monitoring and governing of children’s lives, to the point that childhood can be thought of as “the most intensely governed sector of personal existence” (Rose 1999:123). Against the backdrop of humanistic development on the one hand and an increasing governing of childhood on the other, this chapter explores the historical transformations of childhood through the lens of a few overarching themes: industrialization and urbanization, children’s path into public life and citizenship, changed notions of the child's nature and being, and the scientification of the child.
When punk culture travelled from The US and England to Sweden in the late 1970s and early 1980s, ... more When punk culture travelled from The US and England to Sweden in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the result was a mix of symbols, emotions and attitudes from all three national contexts. One Swedis ...
Grundskolereformen och talet om differentieringen : differentieringsfragan och konstruktionen av ... more Grundskolereformen och talet om differentieringen : differentieringsfragan och konstruktionen av barns och ungdomars olikheter
Denna bok ger kunskap och redskap för att arbeta med Foucaultinspirerad maktanalys. I bokens förs... more Denna bok ger kunskap och redskap för att arbeta med Foucaultinspirerad maktanalys. I bokens första del presenteras Foucaults tänkande om makt utifrån ett antal övergripande begrepp som beskriver maktens skepnader och effekter ur ett historiskt perspektiv. Här får läsaren stifta bekantskap med de maktbegrepp som Foucault formulerade för att beskriva makt under olika historiska perioder: suverän och disciplinär makt, biomakt, pastoral makt och styrningsmakt. Bokens andra del är metodiskt inriktad och ger verktyg för att arbeta med Foucaults tänkande om makt i empiriska undersökningar. Här diskuteras de specifika teoretiska och analytiska utgångspunkterna för en maktanalys. Boken avslutas med exempel från författarnas egen forskning och ger råd om hur man kan arbeta med maktanalysen i konkreta undersökningar. Författarna vänder sig framför allt till uppsatsskribenter, doktorander och forskare som är intresserade av Foucaults tänkande om makt och vill fördjupa sin kunskap och omsätta den analytiskt och metodiskt.
This article examines the dominant discourses of behaviour and discipline in the debate on school... more This article examines the dominant discourses of behaviour and discipline in the debate on schooling and the conduct of school pupils in Swedish professional teacher journals between 1946 and 1962, the formative years of the Swedish comprehensive school. Drawing from the theoretical framework of discourse, governmentality and the fabrication of the subject developed by Michel Foucault, the fabrication and governing of the school pupil is highlighted and analysed. The findings of the study are related to historical research of the period as well as Foucauldian studies where a historical shift of perspectives on discipline and behaviour in the school have been proposed. The result is a detailed analysis of the fabrication and governing of the subject within the dominant discourses of behaviour and discipline during the period, as well as a critical nuancing of the idea of this historical shift.
Boken handlar om den levande punkkultur som uppstod i Norrkoping aren 1977-83. Genom intervjuer, ... more Boken handlar om den levande punkkultur som uppstod i Norrkoping aren 1977-83. Genom intervjuer, fotografi- och dokumentstudier forsoker forfattarna forsta vilka punkarna var och vad som drev dem att anamma den subversiva stilen.
This article examines the vision of the Swedish comprehensive school reform between 1946–1962 as ... more This article examines the vision of the Swedish comprehensive school reform between 1946–1962 as it pertains to the ever-troubling questions of discipline and order in school. Inspired primarily by the work of Michel Foucault and his genealogical perspective, the article problematises the notion that character formation and school discipline during this period underwent a radical democratic transformation, and that this was the successful result of a progressive political agenda. This account of school discipline is shown to be problematic since it conceals a complex and even ironic historical process, where a disciplinarian discourse in school lingered and even widened and deepened disciplinary practice during the period.
SwePub titelinformation: Progressive School Politics and the Disciplinary Regimes of the Classroo... more SwePub titelinformation: Progressive School Politics and the Disciplinary Regimes of the Classroom a Genealogical perspective.
... Kanske kan den globaliserade hiphoppen stå som ett uttryck för och exempel på en samtida folk... more ... Kanske kan den globaliserade hiphoppen stå som ett uttryck för och exempel på en samtida folkbildning. ... I USA finns det en större benägenhet att fokusera på etnicitet än på klass vilket har lett till att arbetarrörelsen inte har fått samma maktpo-sition som i Västeuropa (Laclau & ...
In recent years, many programs and manuals for 'norm criticismh ave been produced for schools in ... more In recent years, many programs and manuals for 'norm criticismh ave been produced for schools in Sweden. In this article, I situate norm criticism and norm critical pedagogics within discourses of values and norms, legal rights and policies through a close reading of the material produced for the Swedish preschool. I explore the targets, modes, and techniques of governing the child through norm critical programs and practices. I give special attention to the moral regime inscribed in the norm critical project and how the desirable and undesirable subject is constructed. By problematizing norm critical pedagogics, the article propositions them (contrary to its advocates' claims) as doing much more than widening social norms, creating tolerance for diversity, or furthering freedom and authenticity. Norm criticism attempts to reshape powerrelations, assert the moral authority of professionals, and produce a state-approved social subject.
I centrum for avhandlingen star den konflikt om skolagan som aktualiserades nar det svenska skolv... more I centrum for avhandlingen star den konflikt om skolagan som aktualiserades nar det svenska skolvasendet skulle stopas om till en enhetsskola. Undersokningsperioden ar 1946-1962. Det overgripande syftet har varit att analysera denna konflikts upprinnelse, utveckling och foljder i relation till skolans fostransuppdrag och barndomens inneborder. Med utgangspunkt i detta syfte har dels har det formella skolpolitiska spelet kring enhetsskolan och skolans fostransuppdrag beskrivits, dels har ett antal centrala texter som producerades i denna process analyserats. Teoretiskt och metodiskt har undersokningen knutit an till ett diskursanalytiskt forhallningssatt dar fragor om makt och styrning ar centrala. I diskussionen om skolans fostransuppdrag framtradde olika diskurser som pa vissa punkter stod i skarp opposition mot varandra. Vid en narmare granskning av denna konflikt har diskursernas olika mojlighetsvillkor undersokts, i betydelsen deras historiska och samhalleliga forutsattningar oc...
In recent years a new subject, "Life Competence" (Livskunskap), has emerged within the Swedish sc... more In recent years a new subject, "Life Competence" (Livskunskap), has emerged within the Swedish school system. The subject is, as the name indicates, multivalent and fluid. It is about nothing less than "life," covering everything from health and sex education to emotional management and general social skills. It developed at the end of the 1990s, but has not yet achieved the status of a proper subject with a national syllabus and steering ordinances (Löf 2011). The ideas and practices of the subject have strong affinities to dominant discourses of values, ethics and democratic citizenship in Swedish society. Foundational for all of this is "The Common Value Foundation" (Värdegrunden), 1 which is a conglomerate of ethical guidelines for desirable attitudes and behavior that first appeared in the school political discussion in the mid-1990s, and from this time on has spread into many other arenas of society. In principle all authorities, organizations and companies worth the name are now doing some kind of "work" in relation to the Value Foundation. From central authorities such as the police, the fire service, the Swedish Migration Board, the Social Insurance Agency and the National Taxation Board, to associations and sports clubs of different kinds, policy statements are drawn up and codes of behavior are specified under the heading "foundation of values work." To work with these values is regarded as a solution, if not the solution, to various ethical problems that surface among figures of authority, bosses, employees and members. Historically speaking, the ambition to shape and form children and adolescents according to an overarching societal morality is nothing new. But in the Swedish context this has not before 1994 led to an introductory chapter on moral values and guidelines in the national school curriculum. This chapter is about the "fundamental values" that supposedly hold Swedish society together and are to be transmitted to coming generations through the school system. Furthermore, the values at issue are said to be based on "ethics passed on by Christian tradition and Western humanism" (Lpo-94: 3), a wording that has provoked quite strong reactions in certain corners of society. The relationship between the Value Foundation and Christian ethics is, we believe, important and provides us with a key to understand how the Value Foundation is put to play in the Swedish society as a quasi-religious moral standard with historical affinities. The
This article examines the dominant discourses of behaviour and discipline in the debate on school... more This article examines the dominant discourses of behaviour and discipline in the debate on schooling and the conduct of school pupils in Swedish professional teacher journals between 1946 and 1962, the formative years of the Swedish comprehensive school. Drawing from the theoretical framework of discourse, governmentality and the fabrication of the subject developed by Michel Foucault, the fabrication and governing of the school pupil is highlighted and analysed. The findings of the study are related to historical research of the period as well as Foucauldian studies where a historical shift of perspectives on discipline and behaviour in the school have been proposed. The result is a detailed analysis of the fabrication and governing of the subject within the dominant discourses of behaviour and discipline during the period, as well as a critical nuancing of the idea of this historical shift.
In recent years, many programs and manuals for 'norm criticism' have been produced for schools in... more In recent years, many programs and manuals for 'norm criticism' have been produced for schools in Sweden. In this article, I situate norm criticism and norm critical pedagogics within discourses of values and norms, legal rights and policies through a close reading of the material produced for the Swedish preschool. I explore the targets, modes, and techniques of governing the child through norm critical programs and practices. I give special attention to the moral regime inscribed in the norm critical project and how the desirable and undesirable subject is constructed. By problematiz-ing norm critical pedagogics, the article propositions them (con-trary to its advocates' claims) as doing much more than widening social norms, creating tolerance for diversity, or furthering freedom and authenticity. Norm criticism attempts to reshape power-relations, assert the moral authority of professionals, and produce a state-approved social subject.
Paedagogica Historica - International Journal of the History of Education , 2013
This article examines the vision of the Swedish comprehensive school reform between 1946-1962 as ... more This article examines the vision of the Swedish comprehensive school reform between 1946-1962 as it pertains to the ever-troubling questions of discipline and order in school. Inspired primarily by the work of Michel Foucault and his genealogical perspective, the article problematizes the notion that character formation and school discipline during this period underwent a radical democratic transformation, and that this was the successful result of a progressive political agenda. This account of school discipline is shown to be problematic since it conceals a complex and even ironic historical process, where a disciplinarian discourse in school lingered and even widened and deepened disciplinary practice during the period.
In just a little over one hundred years, children's living conditions together with the very noti... more In just a little over one hundred years, children's living conditions together with the very notion of childhood have changed dramatically in the Western world. Child labor has been banned and institutions for care and schooling have become the primary life world of children rather than the farm and the household. Children are today perceived as individuals in their own right, as maturing through various developmental stages, and as having certain undeniable social and legal rights in relation to both parents and society. This development can of course be thought of in terms of humanitarian progress. But alongside this development we can also observe an increase in the monitoring and governing of children’s lives, to the point that childhood can be thought of as “the most intensely governed sector of personal existence” (Rose 1999:123). Against the backdrop of humanistic development on the one hand and an increasing governing of childhood on the other, this chapter explores the historical transformations of childhood through the lens of a few overarching themes: industrialization and urbanization, children’s path into public life and citizenship, changed notions of the child's nature and being, and the scientification of the child.
Maktens skepnader och effekter: Maktanalys i Foucaults anda, 2017
Denna bok ger kunskap och redskap för att arbeta med Foucaultinspirerad maktanalys. I bokens förs... more Denna bok ger kunskap och redskap för att arbeta med Foucaultinspirerad maktanalys. I bokens första del presenteras Foucaults tänkande om makt utifrån ett antal övergripande begrepp som beskriver maktens skepnader och effekter ur ett historiskt perspektiv. Här får läsaren stifta bekantskap med de maktbegrepp som Foucault formulerade för att beskriva makt under olika historiska perioder: suverän och disciplinär makt, biomakt, pastoral makt och styrningsmakt.
Bokens andra del är metodiskt inriktad och ger verktyg för att arbeta med Foucaults tänkande om makt i empiriska undersökningar. Här diskuteras de specifika teoretiska och analytiska utgångspunkterna för en maktanalys.
Boken avslutas med exempel från författarnas egen forskning och ger råd om hur man kan arbeta med maktanalysen i konkreta undersökningar.
Författarna vänder sig framför allt till uppsatsskribenter, doktorander och forskare som är intresserade av Foucaults tänkande om makt och vill fördjupa sin kunskap och omsätta den analytiskt och metodiskt.
Foucault and a Politics of Confession in Education, 2015
In liberal, democratic and capitalist societies today, we are increasingly invited to disclose ou... more In liberal, democratic and capitalist societies today, we are increasingly invited to disclose our innermost thoughts to others. We are asked to turn our gaze inwards, scrutinizing ourselves, our behaviours and beliefs, while talking and writing about ourselves in these terms. This form of disclosure of the self resonates with older forms of church confession, and is now widely seen in practices of education in new ways in nurseries, schools, colleges, universities, workplaces and the wider policy arena. This book brings together international scholars and researchers inspired by the work of Michel Foucault, to explore in detail what happens when these practices of confession become part of our lives and ways of being in education. The authors argue that these practices are not neutral, but political and powerful in their effects in shaping and governing people; they examine confession as discursive and contemporary practice so as to provoke critical thought. International in scope and pioneering in the detail of its scrutiny of such practices, this book extends contemporary understanding of the exercise of power and politics of confessional practices in education and learning, and offers an alter- native way of thinking of them. The book will be of value to educational practitioners, scholars, researchers and students, interested in the politics of their own practices.
Uploads
Papers by Jonas Qvarsebo
Bokens andra del är metodiskt inriktad och ger verktyg för att arbeta med Foucaults tänkande om makt i empiriska undersökningar. Här diskuteras de specifika teoretiska och analytiska utgångspunkterna för en maktanalys.
Boken avslutas med exempel från författarnas egen forskning och ger råd om hur man kan arbeta med maktanalysen i konkreta undersökningar.
Författarna vänder sig framför allt till uppsatsskribenter, doktorander och forskare som är intresserade av Foucaults tänkande om makt och vill fördjupa sin kunskap och omsätta den analytiskt och metodiskt.
This book brings together international scholars and researchers inspired by the work of Michel Foucault, to explore in detail what happens when these practices of confession become part of our lives and ways of being in education. The authors argue that these practices are not neutral, but political and powerful in their effects in shaping and governing people; they examine confession as discursive and contemporary practice so as to provoke critical thought.
International in scope and pioneering in the detail of its scrutiny of such practices, this book extends contemporary understanding of the exercise of power and politics of confessional practices in education and learning, and offers an alter- native way of thinking of them. The book will be of value to educational practitioners, scholars, researchers and students, interested in the politics of their own practices.