ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors introduce concepts to help educators reflect on children’s status as knowers in schools. They suggest that hermeneutical marginalisation might seem necessary in schools because children have had far less experience of the world than adults and thus have had less time to develop their knowledge practices. The term ‘epistemic’ means pertaining to knowledge and knowing. For the purposes of this argument, the authors understanding of epistemic norms is informed by T. Green’s discussion of social norms in relation to the formation of conscience in his book Voices: The Educational Formation of Conscience. The authors show that of ‘hermeneutical marginalisation’, which their have borrowed from feminist literature. In philosophy, the term ‘hermeneutical’ is concerned with how something might be interpreted. Shannon’s repeated decision not to participate in schooled writing activities was ‘respected’ by the teacher, and the decision was left in her hands as to whether it was worth her effort to learn to write.
