There is a cross-disciplinary strand of thinking that seeks to understand how classification works formally, conceptually and in practice (Goodman, Douglas, Hull, Tilly, Hacking). These writers take the constitutive effect of classification seriously. Through classification we identify the kinds of things that exist or that we take to exist. The ongoing debate as to how far we discover kinds that subsist in nature and how far we constitute those kinds through our practices of classification has at least revealed that kinds can radically differ between different communities and are mutable within communities. Whether one accepts the philosophical arguments as to its constitutive effect classification is fundamental to thinking and indispensable in practice. As Mary Douglas observed the proper allocation to categories is essential to the orderly conduct of everyday life and provides the basis for correct prediction of other people’s actions and attitudes, explains common difficulties and weaves a coherent narrative as to how people (and things) should relate to one another.

Ian Hacking has, in line with a general form of nominalism, explored ways in which kinds of people are constituted. He argues that the identities available to us (or imposed) vary over time – new kinds of people emerge and some disappear. While the naming of a kind is central, sustained categories are part of a wider classificatory practice – it is only possible to be a certain kind of person when the social resources (structures, discourses, institutions) that affirm those identities are in place i.e. when the naming is part of a wider practice. Hacking has illustrates his argument through explorations of how the categories of ‘child abuser’, ‘people with multiple personality disorder’ and ‘autistic children’ emerged (Hacking 2007). In the process he offers conceptual/analytical tools to distinguish important aspects of the constitutive processes of classification – his engines of discovery and knowledge and looping effects. A key idea in his work is that, unlike animal species, or chemicals or other things without reflective capabilities, when people are classified they respond to being so categorised. They may resist such an identity, or accept it, elaborate on it, or use it, but they act in relation to it and this looping effect has consequences for the category.

This paper explores the applicability of Hacking’s arguments to the kinds of people found (or constituted) in the field of education. It considers the classifications and available identities of pupils, of parents and of teachers. Hacking’s arguments and their philosophical pedigree are briefly presented and critiqued and it is argued that they need to be supplemented by a theory of interests such as Tilly’s pragmatic explanation of the emergence of categories (Tilly 1999). Then kinds of pupils, parents and teachers are considered with examples drawn mainly from the British context but also from other European countries. Conclusions are then drawn about the implications of these classificatory practices, the usefulness of such an approach, and what further explorations might be fruitful.

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