208 Chapter 6 that personhood formation has to do with understanding one’s responsibility to oneself and others, ‘while the teacher plays a role as an example to help students to develop an intrinsic motivation and discover their own qualities’. After this student’s presentation, which reflected some of the core elements of Biesta’s (2013, 2022) subjectifying education, the participants separated into four groups to discuss broad and integrated formation, as well as the pedagogical competences teachers need to foster this in children. At the end of the eighth meeting, all four groups presented their ideas on the topic. Their presentations were recorded and afterwards analysed by the leading senior student, who summarised the insights from all of the presentations in the following conclusion on personhood formation, which was approved by all of the participants: Personhood formation is not a separate subject but rather a matter that pertains to the whole class. It is not only focused on strong or weak students but on everybody, in line with their age development. As a teacher, you know, if all goes well, what to expect from your students. Important starting points are Bible stories and connections to the children's experiences. As a teacher, you are the identification figure who is allowed to be vulnerable. You act, the students imitate; there is two-way traffic. This can be done in lessons and around lessons. Important lessons or forms that can play a role in promoting identity development are the expressive subjects, various collaborative forms and philosophising/theologising. Personhood formation takes place at different levels. Here, qualification, socialisation and subjectification (or subject-becoming) are important. Having children reflect on the good and less good moments can also contribute to gaining insight into the question: ‘Who am I and what do I think/want?’ However, the place in the group and the development are also very important: Do the children have a place in the group and can they reflect on the relationship with others, the group and the teacher? Here, communication at the interaction and existence levels is also of great value. At the end of the meeting, all of the participants agreed to taking this research further by interviewing at least one child per person to be able to clarify during the next meeting what works from a child’s perspective. The group endorsed the proposal by one participant to do this through 10 starting sentences to be completed by the child, which were based on the joint conclusion formulated by the senior student (3). In the ninth meeting, which involved the same joint 3 For more information and details about the joint investigation process, I refer readers to the internal DCU document that resulted from these meetings (van Olst, 2022b).
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