Teachers as Learners: The Limits of Individualization as a Disciplinary Method

• In Event: Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Discipline and Resistance in Education: On the Limits and Possibilities of Teachers and Other Subjectivities

Abstract

The disciplinary method of individualization, as defined by Foucault, functions at various levels of the educational system. For some higher education faculty, while there may be limited departmental oversight over curricular specifics, envisioning and creating a classroom space free from pressures of disciplinary methods—hierarchy, normalization, and competition—may be difficult. In the paper, the function and expression of individualization in the higher educational system is considered through examination of a case study of a faculty member’s experience teaching an introductory level science course at a public university. The paper also addresses how reflection on the gap between an individual’s expectations and experiential encounters with the educational system may expose the reductionist tendency of individualization limiting its impact.

Author

• Mary Chang, University of Hawaii - Manoa