Who can I be now? The complexity of students in policy enactment

This paper aims to contribute to the field of policy enactment studies with a deepened understanding of the significance of the students when a pedagogical vision is enacted. The paper is based on a single case study using observations, surveys, interviews, and document studies. Informed by policy enactment theory, we analyse the students' role in enacting the vision at the newly established Newschool, which emphasises entrepreneurship and challenge-based learning. The analysis shows that the student intake and population is of paramount importance for enacting the vision. The first generation of students was not particularly interested in the vision, which affected its enactment. Some were more interested in friendship projects, and others in getting good grades. Still, the students do enact the vision as policy narrators, entrepreneurs, receivers, survivors, and critics. However, the students oscillate between different policy roles depending on the context, which indicates that role positioning is complex. The longitudinal ethnographic approach and the different methods of the study were important for reaching multifaceted interpretations of various incidents at the school. An implication for school practitioners is that preconceived ideas about ideal students might hinder visionary work should the students not be those expected.