Educational failure as a potential opening to real teaching – The case of teaching unaccompanied minors in Norway

Abstract

The hegemony of theoretical and abstract educational thinking as a means for political and economic aims (Biesta, 2014; Masschelein & Simons, 2013) takes for granted that education should serve some purpose outside of itself, like the job market, economic growth, knowledge production or individual flourishing. The length of stay and when the interview will be is the preserve of the case officers handling their cases. [...]they are put in a state of uncertainty, with total reliance on the caregivers at the reception centres and in schools, if given the opportunity. Since they are neither minors (below 15) nor adults (above 18), their state of being in-between (15-18-yearolds) casts them in a legal limbo; considering them children is decidedly not possible and considering them as asylum seekers is often improbable. [...]to stay temporarily becomes the official political discourse. The idea of self-managing learners is paradoxical in the sense that preference is given to learning over teaching, and the teacher becomes a facilitator of the learning environments.