The title of this work is “The pupils` responsibility for their own learning – intensions and realities.” Education policy in Norway currently emphasises personal flexibility, responsibility and freedom of choice for learners. This can be related to demand on school knowledge are changing concurrently with a changing society. Many educators and policy makers currently defend the view that a major goal for formal education should be to teach pupils self-regulatory skills. Boekaerts claims that such skills are view as vital not only to quid one’s own learning during schooling, but also to educate oneself and up-date one`s knowledge after leaving school. Encouraging pupils to take responsibility for their own learning have become a quite common phrase. Changes in our modern society are reflected in various documents concerning school. This has been set out in official document, and had led to fundamental change in the organisational conditions of educational practices. New situations are created for students and teachers.

My purpose is to bring new perspective of pupils’ responsibility for their own learning. But also which new practices are carried out by a school and teams of educators. My work is process oriented. I am interested in how responsibility in learning and work is understood, experienced and operationalized by pupils and teachers within two programs in upper secondary school. I study how pupils and teachers deal with self-regulated learning (responsibility) by examining a school as a context for study and teaching.

Theoretical framework

This study is based on different, but related basic theoretical frameworks; one is the theory of self-regulation, then theory related to discipline, and finally theory of teachers work and school organization. Successful adoptions to school require that students develop self-regulation, or process that activate and sustain cognition, behaviours and affects, and that are oriented as goal oriented. I related self-regulation theory to motivational theorist as for example self-determination theory. Many theorists have focused attention on the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Deci and Ryan introduced the idea of self-determination by saying that point is not whether the task has intrinsic or extrinsic value, but whether or not engagement in the task is self-determined. The second perspective is based on Foucault. I use some of his theory to show growth of disciplinary society as a whole, for example how development of schools system is a form of social control between teachers, students, management and architecture. But new patterns of social interactions, working forms in classroom, student activity and an emphasis on student’s self-discipline demands new way of controlling students’ behaviour. The discipline function has become mild and invisible. Different pedagogical tools which have the power to discipline students in certain ways are emphasized. Another part of my theoretical framework is theory of teachers work and chances in schools organizations. My aim is to describe how teachers become a part of shared practices though languages, activities and relations to others. I emphasize “practice architectures” as an element to see practice settings like schools and classroom as designed. Meta-practices, frames, school culture or school climate are some for the theme in this section.   

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