Abstract
In this thesis I have sought to answer a question about why the Municipality of Skanderborg is implementing Visible Learning in all 18 of their schools right now, and which organisational problems and advances this brings with. The empirical material in this thesis has been qualitative interviews with a leader in the municipal school section and with a teacher and pedagogue from one of the 18 schools. The empirical material has been analysed with a method from discourse psychology. This method seeks to uncover interpretative repertoires, which is a term used and described by Potter and Wetherell (1987, 1992). Interpretative repertoires are a way of seeing discourses as a resource that people use to make sense of the world, themselves and as a means to argumentation. The theoretical descriptions in this assignment has had a focus on different ways of perceiving pedagogy, and a focus on placing Visible Learning in relation to these perceptions. Visible Learning is a method that focuses on the teacher’s role, the importance of doing what works the best and on making the teaching and learning visible for the students. I have argued that Visible Learning fits well with flows in society where focus lies on evidence based action, measurement of effects and an extended occurrence of individualisation.
The analysis in this thesis has uncovered use of different kinds of interpretative repertoires. There has among others been found an evidence- and measurement repertoire, a helper repertoire, a pragmatic repertoire and a repertoire about Visible Learning as a burden. The different repertories have led to discussions about the legitimization of practise and why it is difficult to achieve this in modern society. Furthermore I have discussed the idea of freedom of method and its possible decrease in the public sector in Denmark. Lastly there has been an organisational discussion where analysis’ of companies has been brought in to compare with the conditions in Skanderborg to establish what can be the inhibiting and fostering factors in implementing a new initiative.
It has been established that there is a need for a method that can meet the expectations of both society and the new reform in public schools in Denmark. At the same time there can be issues with controlling the practice field too much and implementing controlled methods because of the loss of legitimization of the professionals at school. Furthermore it can create a focus on only some things in school (the things that are measurable), and leave out the importance of other things. Visible learning seems like a necessity for the leaders in Skanderborg and like an ambivalence for the employees with both good and bad implications.