Conference Program

Achievement is not a neutral educational category but historically and politically framed and produced within “discourse-practice formations” (Ricken & Reh 2018). Since decades it is furthermore a crucial element of educational scientific research (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Agrusti, 2021; Piscozzo & Stefanel, 2022). Referring to Foucault’s concept of dispositif (2002), achievement can be understood as part of a complex ensemble of discourses which powerfully structure social practices within school as an institution (Seitz et al., 2024a).

Starting from here, this contribution addresses the question of which ideas of achievement and achievement differences are conveyed through educational policy documents in the Italian inclusive educational system. In a sub-study of a cross-national research project, discourse analyses on educational policy documents (2001-2020) on primary education from Italy and Germany were conducted (APrA: “Achievement: A social practice in Primary School. An International Comparative Analysis on Germany and Italy” DFG-JOINT, 2025–2027; Free University of Bozen-Bolzano; Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg).

In this context and based on the sociology-of-knowledge approach to discourse (SKAD; Keller 2013), we problematize the phenomenon “achievement” as a discursive construct that is historically shaped within intertwined complexes of power and knowledge (Foucault, 2002). The sampling process of the discourse analysis combined deductive and inductive procedures, that led to a data corpus of 20 analyzed documents regarding primary education in Italy (and the Autonomous Province of Bozen-Bolzano), valid or issued between 2001-2020. The analysis was conducted by adapting coding strategies of Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 2017) to the requirements of SKAD and the specific knowledge interests of this study (Keller, 2013).

The reconstruction of the discourse related to Italy uncovered a strong focus on individualized acquisition of competences being embedded into tensions between logics of meritocracy and educational equity (Boarelli, 2019; Seitz, Baroni & Schwermann, 2026 in press). As assessment translates learning processes into visible and measurable forms, achievement functions as a societal contribution of each. This manifests itself in the subjectification of all students as autonomous achieving subjects and future contributors to society, while the institutional structures foster personality development by valuing, on the one hand diversity and on the other hand, deserving behavior and merit.

In our presentation, we critically reflect on the derived concepts of autonomy of the individual and relate it to implicit hegemonial concepts of ability and their close connection to normalcy (Stojanov, 2018; Migliarini, D’Alessio & Bocci, 2018; Seitz et al., 2024b) which change meaning in the light of meritocratic dynamics of achievement enhancement – even within an inclusively structured educational system. This study therefore contributes to the internationally oriented, inequality-critical reflection on achievement-related discourses and their significance for the (re-)production of normality, difference, and educational inequality at the level of (inclusive) primary education.