European classrooms are characterized by heterogeneity, meaning that classrooms are comprised of children with diverse abilities, learning needs and socioeconomic backgrounds (OECD, 2019). One way of making sense of this diversity is by classifying pupils as ‘weak’ and/or ‘strong’. This has been a common way of understanding differences among pupils in several countries and in several different arenas such as education, politics and the media. In these diverse contexts, socially shared knowledge about education is (re)produced.
In my forthcoming thesis, I explore common sense knowledge and sense-making processes about perceived differences in school children. Situated within the theoretical framework of social representations theory, it is suggested that understandings of differences are socially (re)produced and shared, taking the shape of common sense knowledge (Moscovici, 2001). The thesis draws upon news media, teachers’ drawings, teachers’ group discussions, and governmental inquiries, all of which have undergone thematic analysis.
One preliminary result of the thesis indicates that pupils’ differences are often made sense of in relation to a spectrum, with ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ at the poles, and ‘normality’ positioned in the center. My argument for this presentation centers around the idea that representing differences in this fashion contributes to the establishment of boundaries in education. These boundaries are shaped by representations of normality and deviance, along with concerns that ‘strong’ pupils are being negatively influenced by those represented and classified as ‘weak’. This common-sense knowledge of ‘weak pupils’ as a problem for ‘strong pupils’ constitutes a fertile ground for creating boundaries within education.