MAKING STUDENTHOOD LEGIBLE: DISCIPLINARY INFORMATION AND SUBJECT POSITIONING ACROSS CONNECTED SCHOOL AND RESIDENTIAL SPACES

Abstract

Educational institutions do more than regulate conduct. They make students visible, comparable, and recognisable within institutional categories. This article examines that process at Sekolah Rakyat Menengah Atas (SRMA) 7 Palembang, Indonesia. The qualitative case study analyses hierarchical observation, normalising judgement, and examination. It draws on interviews with one principal, one teacher, one caregiver, and seven students. Two institutional student reports supplement these accounts. The findings show that routines distribute opportunities for observation. Normative standards differentiate everyday conduct. Examination converts selected conduct into institutional information through assessment, documentation, and reporting. Such information can extend the relevance of conduct beyond the encounter where it was observed. Student accounts also reveal habituated adherence, situational non-compliance, avoidance, and performed compliance. The “disciplined student” therefore emerges as a situated subject position rather than a fixed identity. Institutional recognition therefore cannot be equated with internalised discipline. The article specifies an identity-oriented dimension of Foucauldian discipline. Selected conduct can become portable information and make studenthood recognisable across organisational relations. The study does not establish causal behavioural change, stable identity transformation, or generalisation beyond the case.