To follow a rule: The construction of student subjectivities on classroom rules charts

Abstract

Rules charts are commonplace on classroom walls throughout the world. This article examines how such charts work to sustain discursive power relationships among teachers and students by mobilising idealised notions of the student within the classroom. The article reports on a discourse analysis of 50 rules charts and identifies three disciplinary and subjectivising discourses mobilised by charts: the Apollonian ‘good’, Dionysian ‘bad’ and Athenian ‘choice-making’ student. The article argues that awareness of the constitutive effects of discourse can enable practitioners to reflect on how their discursive practices might have material impacts on students’ capacity to move through educational spaces, and in particular can work to marginalise already disenfranchised students who do not fit the normative mould.

A Study on Examination of Perceptions on Critical Pedagogy Among School Administrators in Terms of Functions of Schools and on School Practices: A Case Study

“…Similar findings were found in the study conducted by Şahin (2002) arguing that when students participate in decisions related to rules they develop commiment to the rules. According to Drew (2020), students need to be active in the rule-making process and think about the rules. Similarly, Aelterman, Vansteenkiste and Haerens (2019) emphasized that students' ownership of the rules (accepting the rules by questioning) is quite positive in some aspects such as school adjustment.…”

Responsive Classroom Management Practices in the Context of Preschool Teachers’ Professional Experiences

“…It is seen that teachers' instructions in classroom rules are created in a way to target the irregular and negative behaviors of children; that the instructions are commanding; and that the child is expected to obey these instructions. Drew (2020) stated that teachers who adopt this attitude tend to think that children are rebellious and prone to mischief and that they therefore create instructions giving orders to gain idealized behaviors. Noisy classrooms are seen as an important problem by teachers (Gangal & Öztürk, 2019) because both the teacher and the child are affected by noisy classroom environments.…”

“…Öğretmenlerin sınıf kurallarındaki yönergelerinin çocukların düzensiz ve olumsuz davranışlarını hedefleyen, komut verici ve çocuğun itaat etmesi beklenilen bir şekilde oluşturulduğu görülmektedir. Drew (2020), bu tutumu benimseyen öğretmenlerin çocukları asi ve yaramazlığa yatkın olduklarını düşünme eğilimde olduğunu, bu sebeple de idealize davranışları kazandırmaya yönelik emir veren nitelikte yönergeler oluşturduğunu ifade etmiştir. Gürültülü sınıflar öğretmenler tarafından önemli bir sorun olarak görülmektedir (Gangal & Öztürk, 2019).…”

Taming unruly beings: students, discipline and educational technology

“…In this sense, the sign is no different from all the other behavioral injunctions to which students are constantly subjected: Be on time, sit down, listen up, be quiet, keep still, and so forth. Within the critical framework, then, the classroom rules chart can be understood as yet another disciplinary text that sustains the asymmetrical power relation between students and teachers (Drew, 2020). The sign's public display of rules for proper behavior symbolizes school's sustained attempt to discipline students.…”