---
_id: '37285'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: In the last decade, the German transition system has witnessed the
large‐scale introduction of so‐called “analysis of potentials” (<em>Potenzialanalysen</em>)
in secondary compulsory schooling. In most German Länder, 8th graders must participate
in a two‐day assessment center which combines psychometric testing with observations
of their social and professional competencies in pre‐specified tasks. The programmatic
aim of these assessments is to “introduce pupils early to choosing a job” (Bundesministerium
für Bildung und Forschung [BMBF], 2017, p. 2) as well as to enhance the propensity
of pupils to “take responsibility for their own future” (BMBF, 2017, p. 9). In
the context of the German school‐to‐work system, the introduction of these new
forms of diagnostics bear witness to a new preventive political rationality that
aims at reducing the entry age into upper secondary education, reduce the recourse
to so‐called “transition measures” and optimizing transitions into an apprenticeship
market that is characterized by structural inequalities and “mismatch” between
pupils’ job aspirations and the offers in apprenticeship places. However, little
is known on the role of competency testing devices for the construction of further
trajectories and aspirations and their role in the reproduction of inequalities
in transitions from school to work. Based on an in‐depth analysis of policy documents
and competency profiles (the documents handed out to the pupils after undergoing
testing), the article reconstructs the political rationale for the introduction
of the so‐called <em>Potenzialanalysen</em>. Based on a Foucauldian
framework, we show how pupils are constructed as “competent” subjects. We show
that competency assessments are part and parcel of a political rationality that
aims at the promotion of a specific (future‐oriented, optimized, self‐regulated)
relation to one’s own biographical future on the side of the pupils. Our results
demonstrate that competency profiles construct the process of choosing a job as
an individualized project of the self and that they invisibilize structural barriers
and power relations. In doing so, competency assessments potentially contribute
to the reproduction of inequalities in post‐secondary education through delegating
“cooling out” processes from institutional gatekeepers to the interiority of persons.
author:
- first_name: Stephan
full_name: Dahmen, Stephan
id: '95659'
last_name: Dahmen
citation:
ama: 'Dahmen S. Constructing the “Competent” Pupil: Optimizing Human Futures Through
Testing? Social Inclusion. 2021;9(3):347-360. doi:10.17645/si.v9i3.4354'
apa: 'Dahmen, S. (2021). Constructing the “Competent” Pupil: Optimizing Human Futures
Through Testing? Social Inclusion, 9(3), 347–360. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v9i3.4354'
bibtex: '@article{Dahmen_2021, title={Constructing the “Competent” Pupil: Optimizing
Human Futures Through Testing?}, volume={9}, DOI={10.17645/si.v9i3.4354},
number={3}, journal={Social Inclusion}, publisher={Cogitatio}, author={Dahmen,
Stephan}, year={2021}, pages={347–360} }'
chicago: 'Dahmen, Stephan. “Constructing the ‘Competent’ Pupil: Optimizing Human
Futures Through Testing?” Social Inclusion 9, no. 3 (2021): 347–60. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v9i3.4354.'
ieee: 'S. Dahmen, “Constructing the ‘Competent’ Pupil: Optimizing Human Futures
Through Testing?,” Social Inclusion, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 347–360, 2021,
doi: 10.17645/si.v9i3.4354.'
mla: 'Dahmen, Stephan. “Constructing the ‘Competent’ Pupil: Optimizing Human Futures
Through Testing?” Social Inclusion, vol. 9, no. 3, Cogitatio, 2021, pp.
347–60, doi:10.17645/si.v9i3.4354.'
short: S. Dahmen, Social Inclusion 9 (2021) 347–360.
date_created: 2023-01-18T10:33:25Z
date_updated: 2023-01-18T10:34:09Z
department:
- _id: '723'
- _id: '724'
- _id: '36'
doi: 10.17645/si.v9i3.4354
intvolume: ' 9'
issue: '3'
keyword:
- Sociology and Political Science
- Social Psychology
language:
- iso: eng
page: 347-360
publication: Social Inclusion
publication_identifier:
issn:
- 2183-2803
publication_status: published
publisher: Cogitatio
status: public
title: 'Constructing the “Competent” Pupil: Optimizing Human Futures Through Testing?'
type: journal_article
user_id: '48187'
volume: 9
year: '2021'
...