On the short-sighted view of heterogeneity

The discourse-critical pattern of interpretation in the school pedagogical discourse on heterogeneity

Abstract

This article presents a critique of the common discourse on heterogeneity in school education and derives a discourse-critical heuristic from it. According to the discourse-critical interpretation pattern, heterogeneity in the discipline of school education is reflected in a simplified and consequently inadequate way. An appropriate reflection should consider heterogeneity as a permanent problem and take four aspects of the problem into account: Heterogeneity as a problem of understanding, of the profession, of school organisation and of society. Finally, the cognitive potential of the heuristic is assessed and the limits of the perspective are examined.