In a deinstitutionalized society, the idea of the ‘school’ and its legitimation has been altered. School can no longer be defined in direct relation to an overarching moral ideal of citizenship. In contrast to the modern state, the late modern state has become a facilitating state, which only conducts through processes of self-regulation and recognition of the demands of specific interest groups (Gauchet 1985). Seen from this evolution, it seems more and more evident to define ‘the school’ in direct relation to society itself. Society is then understood as a diversity of cultural contexts, which produce different needs and require different forms of individualized care.

In Belgium, the point of support for Equal Opportunities in Education made a plea for the ‘community school’. (Joos et al. 2006). The ‘community school’ has the explicit aim to function as a close connection between the milieu of the society and the milieu of the school. The community school therefore integrates the school itself in the local cultural context and creates a rich and sheltered learning environment. The consequence is a broad contribution to a rich exchange which ‘helps to build bridges and close gaps’ (Joos et al. 2006, 5). This form of school requires a permanent attention for deprived cultural groups and finds its ultimate foundation in the individuality of both persons and groups and their special needs.

In this conception the school needs to close the gap between school and society/cultural context. The ‘community school’ therefore recognizes and represents the diversity of needs of specific individuals and groups.

This paper wants to question this idea of a ‘community school’ and wants to critically examine the relationship between society and the school. Are the milieu of the ‘school’ and the milieu of ‘society’ necessarily to be mixed with one another? Does the close connection between the school and the cultural environment really lead to a ‘common’ experience or is it only based on the acknowledgment of a diversity of individual needs?

Following the French sociologist Marcel Gauchet, the common/public sphere has become transformed into a private sphere (Gauchet 1985). On the basis of the thinking of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, this paper will elaborate a different conception of the idea of ‘community’ (Agamben 1993). In his thinking, the community is only established between people who precisely have nothing in common. This form of community only appears when the exchange and recognition of individual or group interests disappears. This paper will explore in what way this philosophical idea can be put into action for the design of an ‘community school’ which is no longer an exchange environment of individual and cultural needs, but an exploration of a commonness ‘without means’ (Agamben 2000).

Agamben, G. (1993). The Coming Community. (Transl. M. Hardt), Minneapolis/London: University of Minnesota Press. Agamben, G. (2000). Means without Ends. Notes on Politics. (Transl. V. Binette & C. Casarino). Minneapolis/London: University of Minnesota Press. Gauchet, M. (1985). Le désenchantement du monde une histoire politique de la religion. Paris: Gallimard. Joos, A. et al. (2006). Community schools in Flanders and Brussels. A Framework for development. Brussel: Flemish government.