The L1 subject in a world of increasing individualism. Democratic paradoxes in Norwegian L1 classrooms
Original version
Penne, S., Skarstein, D. (2015). The L1 subject in a world of increasing individualism. Democratic paradoxes in Norwegian L1 classrooms. L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature. http://dx.doi.org/10.17239/L1ESLL-2015.15.01.04Abstract
Ever since the 1930s when the Social Democrats took over, Norwegian public school has been
based on a democratic metaphor of liberation. John Dewey´s ideas about pragmatism offered a
way to think about a free individual associated with modernity. In this article we examine the
L1 subject today and its didactical traditions in the still student-oriented, open and democratic
Norwegian school. In this tradition the L1 subject, a humanistic and hermeneutic subject, has
been closely related to “natural” interpretations of everyday life and to everyday discourses
and understandings. As this subject is approached in modern, student-oriented schools and in
contemporary individual-oriented cultures, learning difficulties commonly arise for a growing
number of students. We present three qualitative studies that all show aspects of this same
problem (Elf & Kaspersen (ed.) 2012; Skarstein, 2013; Penne, 2014). They reveal aspects of the
same trend and can help explain the increasing social inequalities in Norwegian schools.