ABSTRACT
Pupil autonomy appears to be a remedy for many ills: learning difficulties, lack of motivation, dealing with heterogeneity in the classroom, the problems related to distance learning, etc. If such a “solution” is so adamantly sought after nowadays, it is because autonomy is presented as a key value of contemporary educational standards. However, in the school context, the demand for autonomy is paradoxical, insofar as it contends that pupils must freely want what is imposed by the school system. Based on several ethnographic surveys related to the issue of pupil autonomy in primary and secondary schools in Switzerland, this chapter explores this paradox by examining its consequences for teachers, pupils, and parents. It highlights that the autonomy injunction contributes to the establishment of specific forms of learning, as well as new relations to authority, and even new forms of subjectivity. It also promotes certain teaching methods and pedagogical material while hindering others. The chapter emphasizes the risks of social inequalities associated with autonomy-based pedagogical practices insofar as they rely on the mastery of prerequisite skills that are unequally distributed among children depending on their social background.
