The Fabrication of the Autonomous Learner

This book provides a thorough and detailed analysis of how the figure of the 'autonomous learner' shapes educational practices. It unpacks the impact of current educational reform discourse that focuses on the individual pupil as a learner, while neglecting the social dimensions of classroom practices.

Judith Hangartner is Professor at the University of Teacher Education, Bern, Switzerland. Héloïse Durler is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Teacher Education, Lausanne, Switzerland. Regula Fankhauser is Professor at the University of Teacher Education, Bern, Switzerland. Crispin Girinshuti is Lecturer and Scientific Collaborator at the University of Teacher Education, Lausanne, Switzerland.

SECTION 1: Effects of pedagogical approaches to foster autonomy in preschool (école maternelle) and primary school 1. Autonomous workshops and individual Montessori-type activities: An analysis of their effects on learning and inequalities 2. Invented spelling for achieving literacy on one's own: A persistent ideal of autonomy producing inequalities 3. The "pedagogy of autonomy": Similar educational tools for a variety of teaching practices 4. The didactics of autonomy in multigrade classrooms 5. "Notice how you feel" and "train your brain." Mindfulness meditation as a technology of the self in education SECTION 2: Teachers' guidance of pupil autonomy in secondary schools 6. (Un)supervised autonomy: Getting pupils to "take responsibility" for their learning 7. Doing reflexivity in a self-directed learning setting 8. Group pedagogy and the acquisition of autonomy in learning 9. Practicing social distinction when supervising pupils' autonomous projects SECTION 3: Autonomy concerns in the context of educational reforms: Inclusion and digitalization 10. Inside the "cocoon" of special education classes. When autonomy serves as a gold standard for reorienting children 11. On the norm of individual autonomy in school 12. The (de)construction of the autonomous learner in a digitalized school world