II: The Conflict

An environmental project in a native language German class (writing a book on environmental issues) gave the pupils, thirteen‐yea‐old girls, a large scope of freedom for independent group work. When they could not present sufficient results of their work at an interim report stage, a serious conflict resulted in which the teacher reproached the pupils heavily. In the case study this conflict is analysed: its possible causes, processes and some of its effects. Available data were the teacher's own diary and essays in which the pupils wrote frankly how they experienced the conflict. One issue arising from the analysis was the differences between the teacher"s intentions (e.g. to stimulate self‐determination in the pupils) and what he had achieved In this conflict (e.g. showing them how narrow their room for discretion actually was). Another issue was the pupils” sense of responsibility for the project (e.g. the pupils saw the project as the teacher's business and not as their project). One of the hypotheses that emerged to explain the apparent inactivity of the pupils was their perception of “work”, which seemed to have been incompatible with a largely self‐determined activity. The study ends with the teacher's reflections on what he gained from the analysis. One outcome was an involuntary caution in the use of words in his interactions with pupils and a more intense feeling of respect for them as young personalities. Another was a reconstruction of his strategic approach to the design of project work.