Den implicitte studerende

The article introduces the concept of ‘the implied student’ encapsulating the array of expectations and anticipations about what the student should be like and how. It focuses on the interplay and interrelation between the expectations and prior knowledge and experience of the teachers and of the students, the structure of the studies and the modes of teaching. The implied student is not an empirical student, but a structure that it is presupposed that the students can act in and with in order for the teaching and study to proceed in an optimal way, and for the students to realize the study in a meaningful way. It is a structure that provides the students with specific possibilities for acting in the study. The implied student is not necessarily explicit or consciously present, just as there may be contradictory images of the implied student. The concept opens to an understanding of what is happening when students enter an educational context, and through this to an understanding of the inclusionary and exclusionary processes in the educational system. The use of the concept is illustrated through two short analyses related to the Natural Basic Study at Roskilde University and the study of Physics at University of Copenhagen.