ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how the subject content that is highlighted in school can be understood in terms of power. In Foucault’s notion of power, power is not a question of who has, hold or exercises power. Power is seen as embodied in people’s everyday actions, for example the content (knowledge, norms and values) that is offered to students in a teaching situation. The chapter explains how the subject content guides students in certain directions and thereby favours certain ways of thinking and acting, which in turn create opportunities and restraints for students to understand and look at themselves and their environment in specific ways. The teaching practice in a school subject is often rooted in habits and traditions, and we often regard the content as natural and obvious. By highlighting the power dimension, the authors want to offer teachers a way of reflecting on the consequences of the choice of content. The chapter is illustrated with examples of classroom practices in environmental and sustainability education.
