Individualisering Att kliva ur och vara i gemenskap

Sammanfattning: Traditionally the nation of individualization is being used to signify a pedagogical method, where teachers differentiate tasks and work load among students, based on their interests and abilities. Such conceptions, turning individualization into a matter of instruction adapted to individual students, however, provide a very narrow and restricting perspective. In this thesis I therefore approach the issue of individualization from quite a different angle. In my view, arriving at a more basic conception of individualization implies that you have to pose the general questions of what is an individual and what kind of change processes increased individualization would refer to. At the background of this ambition, the thesis contains two sections taking on the charader of conceptual investigation, and one section where the results of the theoretical work is confronted with empirical material based on classroom observations.In the first section I take a point of departure in the works of Norbert Elias and Lorentz Lyttkens, providing an extensive historical account of how people, from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Society, have become increasingly individualized in various respects. I conclude my analysis in this section by proposing a definition of what is an individualized person, pointing at the capacity of individuals to conceive of themselves as autonomous subjects with the ability to consciously reflect on their interaction with their environment. Individualization in such a context refers to people transcending their immediate circumstances, extending their horizon of understanding and action repertoire, etc. In a sense they thus both step out of and remain in their community. In the second section I return to the school context by connecting the above conclusions to the itleas of John Dewey and Lev Vygotskij. As a result a model recognising differendeacher-student relations that might contribute to individualization, is suggested. Finally this model is applied to four case studies of classroom practices. As it appears, the conceptual framework developed is helpful in identifying different kinds of structures and processes that further the students experiences of themselves as individualized persons.