In the curriculum for the non-compulsory school system, Lpf 94, the concept of responsibility is mentioned 32 times, which makes it important for pupils in all ages to acquire. But the question is if teachers really know what the concept means? This thesis’ aim was to investigate how teachers in English at upper secondary schools articulate discourses of responsibility. Discourse analysis, in forms of discourse theory and discursive psychology, was used to analyze the empirical data. The data consisted of statements from semi-structured interviews with four teachers in English at the upper secondary school level.
The results and analysis were presented in eight categories, which were The Concept of Responsibility, Responsibility in English, Responsible Behaviour, Responsibility but How and How Much, Responsibility and Influence, Responsibility and the Teacher, the Importance of Responsibility, and finally Inability to Take on Responsibility. The different categories were discussed in relation to previous research and Basil Bernstein’s theory about collection and integration codes. The thesis’ results corresponded to Bernstein’s theory about how some pupils benefit from an invisible pedagogy, whereas other does not. Previous research has focused a great deal on the question of the importance of pupils’ responsibility. The statements from teachers in this study showed that they expect pupils to show responsibility. The thesis’ conclusion is, in short, that teachers have to take on their responsibility to increase pupils’ awareness and thereby pupils’ ability to take on responsibility.