School in Society - Students, Principals, and Teachers as Political Subjects

The aim is to investigate how students, school leaders, and teachers become political subjects in connection with political struggles related to the societal  role of compulsory education.

The project contributes with knowledge of the role of schooling and these actors in shaping society.Data is produced by multi-sited ethnography.

The researchers follow processes, people, discourses, connections and differentiations that emerge in relation to political conflicts where students, teachers or school-leaders participate as activists. The methodology involves moving between local, regional, national and transnational contexts.

Researchers will follow activities and representations of political struggles in social and other media, in practical political work, and in local, national and global events.

There will be observations at political events as well as interviews with central actors.The materials will be analyzed with content and discourse-theoretical analysis based on questions about how political subjectivity emerge and how constructions of political subjectivity and democracy have significance, and what this means for the school´s mission to maintain and develop democracy.Theoretically, the project draws on Mouffe’s and Biestas reasoning on the political, and political subjectification.

In addition to developing knowledge that can contribute to maintaining and enhancing democracy within and outside education, theory development is a central part of the project.