Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-rdgjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-08T15:20:56.867Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 14 - Rethinking Problems in Danish Schools

Learning from Everyday Conflicts

from Part IV - Contradictory Co-production of Everyday Life with Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2026

Marina V. França
Affiliation:
Federal University of Mato Grosso
Ana Maria R. Gomes
Affiliation:
Federal University of Minas Gerais
Dorte Kousholt
Affiliation:
Aarhus University
Jean Lave
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
Line Lerche Mørck
Affiliation:
Aarhus University
Get access

Summary

This chapter discusses how conflicts in and about school are rooted in contradictions intrinsic to the organization of public education. Drawing on ethnographic research in Danish schools, the chapter develops a dialectical framework for analyzing everyday conflicts among teachers, parents, and children. Building on analyses of children’s perspectives on what matters in school life, the chapter examine a conflict between a parent and a teacher over how to understand a child struggling in school. The analysis of conflictual collaboration is interwoven with a theoretical exploration of the relationships between historical conditions and the situated interplay of everyday life (Axel 2011; Dreier 2008; Lave 2019). The concept of “situated generalization” (Schraube and Højholt 2019) is introduced to reconnect problems with their broader social contexts and challenge dominant psychologizing approaches. By tracing how conflicts unfold and how problem formulations shift over time, the chapter offers new insights into the conditions for understanding school problems.

Information

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×