Koulu ja yksilöllisyys : jännitteitä, haasteita ja mahdollisuuksia

Abstract

Koulussa ei viihdytä. Koulu tappaa luovuuden. Yksilöllisyyttä ei huomioida riittävästi. Oppimisen pitää olla yksilölähtöistä. Joukkomaiset rituaalit joutavat romukoppaan. Koulun julkinen kuva on varsin kriisivetoinen. Koulu tuntuu olevan koko ajan kehittämistyössään jäljessä muuta yhteiskuntaa. Mutta millaista siellä oikeastaan on? Mitä alakouluikäiset lapset itse ajattelevat koulutyöstään ja oman yksilöllisyytensä toteutumisesta?- Kysyn tutkimuksessani, mitä ala-asteikäiset lapset itse ajattelevat yksilöllisyydestään koulussa. Lisäksi pohdin koulun pedagogisia mahdollisuuksia kulttuurissa, jossa kasvatuksen perusteet ja käytännöt ovat aiempaa epäselvemmät. Kasvattaminen ja aikuisuus ovat hapertuneet, eikä opettajallakaan enää ole entistä auraa, Saukkonen kuvailee.

The purpose of this study is to investigate individuality and mass schooling. In the study I open up two perspectives on mass schooling. The first one is a critical, sociological approach. The short history of modern mass schooling and the shaping of the modern individual are discussed. The second one is an empirical case-study inside a Finnish comprehensive school. This consists of an ethnographic journey to school and interviews with 28 pupils from the 4th and the 6th grade. At the end of the study I try to indicate what kind of pedagogy could be sound at the contemporary school. In the study the present social situation is taken into account. It is difficult to locate basic co-ordinates of society that are uncontested. This gives rise to debate about the effects of social changes on child-rearing practices and even about the disappearance of adulthood altogether. These societal changes are manifested in school life. The "aura" of school is almost gone. The field study showed that many harmful features of schooling, which have been the main concern of the critical educational sociology, still exist. However it seems that in the criticized rigid school there might be many pedagogically useful practices. Discussions with the pupils partially confirm that. The pupils are not so concerned about their individual needs as the educational policy makers are. For the pupils the most significant features of school are consistency, safety, the company of other children and the relationship with a fair and assertive teacher. I interpret this as a consequence of the state of child-rearing and education in our present society. I am not seeking to moderate criticism of school in order to let school stay as it is. I argue that the distance between school and the late modern culture is not to be considered a disadvantage. It seems to me that the "old-fashioned" pedagogy has a possibility to strengthen community and teaches young people to mutually respect each other