The L1 subject in a world of increasing individualism

Democratic paradoxes in Norwegian L1 classrooms

Abstract

This article examines the subject of first-language (L1) instruction in the student-oriented, democratic Norwegian school. L1 instruction, a humanistic and hermeneutic subject, is closely related to interpretations of everyday life and to everyday discourses and understandings. As this subject is approached in modern, student-oriented schools and in contemporary individual-oriented cultures, learning difficulties commonly arise for a growing number of students. This article first reviews the historical development of the Scandinavian, particularly the Norwegian, school, for which the creation of a democratic school for all has been a goal for many decades. We then present three qualitative studies on the L1 school subject (Frydensbjerg Elf & Kaspersen (ed.) 2012, Skarstein 2013, Penne 2014), which reveal aspects of the same trend and can help explain the increasing social inequalities in Norwegian schools.