Shifting school environment policies: A Deleuzian problematisation of universal rights in Norwegian education

Abstract

The learning environment of students is a fundamental part of school life, both socially and academically. The ambition to create a school serving the best interests of all children is explored by analysing key concepts encompassing students’ right to a healthy school environment, and examining how this discourse has unfolded over five decades in Norway. A conceptual analysis concerning the school environment, inspired by Deleuze and Guattari, is proposed and introduced as ‘regulative vector concepts’. The article examines key changes regarding students’ school environment, shifting from work environment to learning environment. As one consequence of the conceptual shifts, the individual rights of students have been ensured, such as through recent amendments in regulation. These concepts are understood as potential answers to already existing problems that policy and regulation attempt to encompass by producing new concepts, new policy and regulation.