| 1. |
- Carlsson, David, 1974-, et al.
(author)
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Images of Christianity in textbooks for the Swedish compulsory school and the mission to conduct a cultural legacy
- 2021
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The objective to teach Christianity is stated in the Swedish national syllabus since the very beginning of compulsory school. Initially, teaching proceeded from the Lutheran catechesis; a mission successively replaced by biblical studies and later developed into (Lutheran) Christianity as being part of non-confessional “Religious Studies” (Religionskunskap). However, the mission to pay certain weight to Christianity has survived, although in a new and secularized Swedish context. The privilege of Christianity is today instead motivated by its cultural position rather than from a religious rationale, and the ambition to conduct a cultural legacy. We will approach how Christianity is depicted in compulsory school by analysing currently used teaching books. This will be done within the frame of educational research, more specifically subject didactics. The purpose of our paper is to describe and problematize the depiction of Christianity in Swedish textbooks for Swedish compulsory Religious Studies.Nine national and prominent textbooks for the lower secondary school has been selected. Using discourse analysis (Fairclough 2003; von der Lippe 2011), dominating patterns will be revealed and related to broader discourses in society, within and outside Sweden. Our preliminary analysis shows that Christian doctrines are highlighted without relating them to religious practice, resembling a teaching tradition of presenting doctrines as demarcated facts; Christianity is further presented foremost in terms of church history which relate to an idea of religions as old entities carried by traditions from the past; the teaching books also tends to connect the teaching of Jesus with modern, protestant liberal theology.
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| 2. |
- Edling, Silvia, Universitetslektor, 1974-, et al.
(author)
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"Democracy for me is saying what I want”: The teaching profession on free speech, democratic mission and the notion of political correctness in a Swedish context
- 2020
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In: Teacher education and the development of democratic citizenship in Europe. - London, NY : Taylor & Francis Group. - 9780429030550
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In the light of current tendencies for stable democratic states to be challenged by authoritarian forms of governance, issues of democracy and its status in teacher education institutions need to be problematised. This chapter focuses on democracy as an ideological form of governance in Swedish teacher education and discusses the implications that the various views of democracy have on teachers’ professionalism. Teachers’ responsibilities are fleshed out based on the current political guidelines for teacher education and discussed in relation to the tensions between free speech and the importance of taking a stand against oppression. Accordingly, students enrolled in Swedish teacher education institutions are expected to actively create conditions in everyday life that promote equal opportunities for children and students. Whereas some student teachers tend to regard free speech as the cornerstone of democracy, the data gathered from the ICCS study of teachers’ ways of understanding their democratic obligations indicates a more nuanced approach to obligations linked to democracy. The majority of these teachers stress that they actively intervene in discussions when students’ free speech risks violating ethnic groups.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Edling, Silvia, Universitetslektor, 1974-, et al.
(author)
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Let’s talk about teacher education! : Analysing the media debates in 2016-2017 on teacher education using Sweden as a case
- 2020
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In: Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education. - 1359-866X .- 1469-2945. ; 48:3, s. 251-266
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The purpose of the paper is to contribute to research on themedia’s role in naming and framing the debate about teachereducation using Sweden as a case study. This is done by analysinghow articles published in four major Swedish newspapers from2016–2017 define: a) the challenges/strengths of current teachereducation and b) the kind of teacher professionalism that thedescriptions give rise to. Using content analysis, the study showsthat the media mainly emphasises the negative aspects of teachereducation and, in particular, scepticism of the scientific basiswhere postmodernism is regarded as problematic and needingto be replaced by cognitive science due to the insufficient knowledgeof teachers and student teachers, the shortage of teachers inthe country as a whole and disciplinary problems in the classroom.The debate is primarily fuelled by those outside the field ofeducational research, who argue that psychology and neurosciencescholars should have the power to define the contentof education, which indicates a view of professionalism as insideout-professionalism. There are more nuanced approaches to teachereducation as well, but these are marginalised.
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| 5. |
- Edling, Silvia, Universitetslektor, 1974-, et al.
(author)
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Student teachers’ task perceptions of democracy in their future profession – a critical discourse analysis of students’ course texts
- 2018
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In: Australian Journal of Teacher Education. - : Edith Cowan University. - 1835-517X. ; 43:7, s. 82-97
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The education system is still important for establishing and maintaining democracy in society. In relation to this, it is reasonable to suggest that teachers’ different interpretations of their mission to teach for democracy will influence their teaching practices. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on student teachers’ task perceptions as a dimension of their professional role to teach for democracy in school. An analysis of Swedish student teachers’ course texts written as an assignment during a course focusing on democracy is conducted using critical discourse analysis as an analytical tool. The task perceptions are described according to two main discourses: as narrow and broad approaches to teaching for democracy. These two approaches are further analyzed in terms of two corresponding strategies for teacher professionalism: outside-in professionalism and inside-out professionalism. The result partly confirms earlier studies of student teachers, where narrow approaches to democracy have been found to be most common.
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| 6. |
- Elm, Annika, Universitetslektor, 1958-, et al.
(author)
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Documentation between local professionalism and accountability – a case from the Swedish preschool
- 2018
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In: ATEE, 2018, book of abstracts..
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Documentation of pedagogical practise has become a vibrant issue through its relationship with educational policy- and government in many national contexts. Documentation is also regularly used as a tool for local, collegial development, not necessarily driven by the external demands for accounting educational outcomes. Against this background, the practise of documentation could be related to different modes of teacher professionalism; outside-in-professionalism, characterized by teachers as responding to external and standardized demands, and inside-out-professionalism characterized by teachers as responding to complexity and change, through qualified judgment. Although documentation is regularly employed as a tool for local, collegial development, the responsibility for documentation commissioned by educational authorities remains an assignment, coming with consequences for how to relate this self-initiated local documentation to the demands of the educational authorities. The purpose of this presentation is to investigate the tension, between documentation based in inside-out-professionalism and outside-in-professionalism, by means of a case study from the Swedish preschool. Our research questions reads: how do external demands of documentation impact on the collegial conditions of documenting practise? How do professional conditions of documenting impact on the external demands of documentation?Our analytical point of departure proceeds from the assumption that documentation is shaped from certain positions, interests and perspectives (Vallberg Roth 2012), including the crossing between different interests and logics within educational institutions. A qualitative case study of one preschool setting in which a long term documentation has been performed, using CoRe (pedagogical content representation) has been adapted as an approach for teaching science, in a practice based research collaboration project, will be related to intentions from the municipality. The gathering of data includes participant observations in preschool and interviews with participating preschool teachers, at municipal briefings, interviews with responsible parties representing the local preschool as educational agency, and by collection of documents. The expected outcomes of our study indicate that preschool teachers are acting between norms of designing documentation from their professional and local interests and that of adapting to the interests of the educational agencies. The first norm is based in their collegial self-defined needs (in collaboration with the researchers) for teaching science in preschool, mainly by teaching science and technology themes, paying attention to preschool children’s responses to science and technology content. The second norm is characterised by accounting for national goals in the national syllabus, in ways corresponding with the national school system. The preschool teachers respond to this latter assignment through (professional) deliberations, aiming to deliver material from their everyday work to the agency, while simultaneously keeping the integrity of their own work as separated from the assignment of the agency. These local deliberations and decisions will further be analysed in terms of the dynamic between the two modes of professionalism mentioned above, in light of the local policy context. Our project shed light on conditions shared with several European countries regarding possibilities for sustainable teacher development within broader contexts of demands for accountability impacting on teachers professional work.
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| 7. |
- Elm, Annika, 1958-, et al.
(author)
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Innovative preschool teachers as educational development leaders: A Swedish case
- 2023
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In: Characteristics and Conditions for Innovative Teachers. International Perspectives. - : Taylor & Francis. - 9781032107608
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This chapter addresses a Swedish case with a focus on conditions for innovative preschool teachers so called educational development leaders (EDL), with a special assignment to contribute to innovation and development of preschool practice. Reforms put preschool teachers and preschool leaders in a position to rethink former practices. Expectations for preschool teachers involves being innovative and to take a leading role to develop practice in a changing context. Our question reads: What conditions are required for educational development leaders (EDL) in Swedish preschools to act as innovative preschool teachers in a distributed leadership? This distributed role includes the other preschool teacher’s leadership and innovative work. The contribution of the study emphasises a strong relationship between the conditional and personal level of the conceptual model in chapter 1. By taking a holistically view, this chapter contributes to knowledge about innovative preschool teachers in their role as EDL.
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| 8. |
- Elm, Annika, Universitetslektor, 1958-, et al.
(author)
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Preschool Teachers’ Design for Learning Physics in Early Childhood Science Education
- 2019
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper reports on an ongoing practice-based research project in which preschool teachers and researchers collaborate on the content in physics. The aim is to contribute to a deeper knowledge of preschool teachers’ design for teaching physics (friction) and how children create meaning of the content. The research questions are: How do the preschool teachers design learning opportunities so that the children can create meaning about friction? How do young children create meaning from the teaching aids that are offered to them? A number of studies have reported on preschool children’s (aged 5-6 years) and older children’s misconceptions in their reasoning about natural phenomena and how this differs from accepted scientific ideas. Previous research has also shown that there is a gap in preschool teachers’ knowledge of natural science and physics. Most of the research in this field has focused on the effect of preschool teachers’ teaching of natural phenomena rather than children´s meaning-making and learning processes. Research on young children´s (aged 3-7) learning often highlights their individual knowledge and emphasises cognitive understanding and conceptual development. The most common methods used are interviews, pre- and post-tests that aim to show cognitive understanding and scientific conceptual development as an effect of the teaching intervention. When it comes to preschool education and young children’s learning, children´s experiences of natural phenomena are seldom verbal, but are instead physical and practical. In this respect, there is a need to use different methods to investigate preschool activities in order to acquire more knowledge about preschool teachers’ teaching and young children’s meaning-making of natural phenomena. In order to deal with these challenges, this study adopts a multimodal design-oriented qualitative approach and makes use of the concepts of representation and transformation. Here, the focus is on preschool teachers’ and children’s creation of symbols as a social activity. The use of symbols combines content and form in order to carry meaning and create and express conditions for meaning-making. The data consists of audiotaped video self-reflection seminars (focusing on children’s verbal, physical and practical actions) and semi-structured interviews with nine preschool teachers. The findings indicate that preschool teachers’ teaching of physics is closely linked with their vision of how the subject will stimulate the children’s learning. They also show how friction is represented in connection with play, outdoor activities and experimental activities. The results of the children’s meaning-making show that they become familiar with friction as a notion in relation to everyday experiences and are in that way introduced to what friction means in scientific terms. Further, the children relate their experiences of play to their own bodies and preferences, for example, by learning that icy slopes are slippery (low friction), that surfaces are slippery or rough (have different friction) and friction has force (over-under effect). These findings address the relevance and implications for science education and research by moving from the idea of focusing on children’s verbal communication and their conceptual understanding of natural phenomena towards an approach that includes their learning processes and physical experien
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| 9. |
- Elm, Annika, Universitetslektor, 1958-, et al.
(author)
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Preschool Teachers´ Professional Development : Teachers and Researchers in Collaboration
- 2019
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In: ECER 2019.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- As in many other European countries early childhood education, including preschool, includes teaching in the area of subject knowledge. In Sweden this is related to a changed policy in order to connect preschool with the school system. Since 2011, “teaching” has been established as a new aspect of the preschool’s mandate and, since 2010, subjects like maths, science have been added to the national syllabus. Earlier, subjects has also been part of a preschool tradition already present in Fröbel’s kindergarten. In this earlier approach the intention was not to prepare for the forthcoming school and its subject content. Today, the national preschool syllabus has subject goals that overlaps with those of the school, often stated in a rather detailed, academic form. In addition, the Swedish school inspectorate has also included the preschools in its evaluations. According to the Swedish education act, practice should be based on scientific knowledge and proven experience. These changed directives comes with increasing expectations and demands on the preschool teacher profession for implementing this assignment. In light of this background we aim to support the preschool teachers to develop a professional and inside-out based (Stanley & Stronach 2013) knowledge for acting as professionals in this changed context. In this contribution we will direct our interest on the subject area of science and technology.Previous research has identified possibilities or lack of possibilities for science and technology learning in early childhood environments, with a tendency to a ‘diagnostic’ approach to preschool teacher knowledge. However, this research does not go far enough in investigating programs for developing preschool teachers´ science content knowledge (e.g. Nilsson, 2014; Fleer, 2009; Nilsson & Elm, 2017). Against the background of the need for including preschool teachers experiences and knowledge in a fair way (cf. Berry et al. 2008), while simultaneously recognize the need of further development in subject content, in the institutional frame of the preschool, we will address preschool teachers pedagogic content knowledge (PCK). The latter (PCK) refers to teachers´ understanding of the content and experiences and attitudes towards science. Our research question reads: In what ways can collaboration between preschool teachers´ and researchers contribute to preschool teachers’ professional learning and preschool development with special regard to preschool teachers’ pedagogic content knowledge?Our methodological approach is guided by Participatory Action Research (PAR) highlighting the need of a democratic process, developing of practical knowledge related to issues that are of great concern for the participants (Reason & Bradbury 2001). Furthermore, PAR recognizes our partners’ knowledge and experiences as a vital element to be brought into the research process (Brydon-Miller, Greenwood & Maguire, 2003). Thus, an important factor is the interaction between the researcher and the interests within the educational field, in order to promote both researchers and the practitioners work and goals. From this starting point there is initially an explicitly stated drive to meet on equal terms and to support each other to develop.The other leg, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) includes teachers’ understanding of how children learn, or fail to learn; in relation to this specific subject matter has been found to be an important matter. That is, a perspective on professional development that focus on preschool teachers´ understanding of the content, pedagogical content knowledge and attitudes towards science (cf. Schulman, 1987; Van Driel & Berry, 2012). Representation of teacher content knowledge (CoRe) by means of a commonly developed table, is systematically used as a tool to trigger preschool teachers´ ideas of both science and technology content as a tool for development and cooperation.Methodology or Methods/ Research Instruments or Sources Used 9 preschool teachers during 1,5 year (currently ongoing) participates in the research project which includes both indoors- and outdoors activities focusing on technology and science content, paying attention to children’s perspectives. The teachers are meeting in reflective group sessions once a month. For this paper data was collected through a qualitative approach consisting of 23 + 29 hours recorded semi structured interviews with the participating preschool teachers from one preschool unit. The interviews were conducted after the first and third semester of participation. Data was then analysed out from thematic content analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006).As Braun and Clarke (2006) argue, it is a method that requires researchers to be clear about what they do, why they do it and how the analysis is conducted. The analyses of the data in this study were part of an inductive process from a) transcription → b) identifying emergent initial codes → c) searching for themes → d) reviewing and revising themes → e) defining and naming themes → f) formulating the result (with the starting point in identified and named themes). First, the interviews were transcribed verbatim. Some of the statements made in the interviews that did not correspond to the subject were not transcribed. Second, the data was read, and assigned initial codes.The third step involved searching for overall themes, based on the initial codes. In this step, the researchers sorted the data under each theme separately. In the fourth step themes were compared, data were reviewed the themes revised. In this process, similarities were identified in the themes that had emerged in the analysis of the interviews. Related examples of the participants’ learning were examined and refined until consensus was reached. Fifth, to establish the validity of the coding and identified themes, the authors worked to finally define and name the themes. The main data was then compared with the themes and provided a critical overview in terms of aspects being overemphasised, under represented, too vague or biased. The final step in the analysis, with a starting point in the themes, was to formulate the results.Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Our results from the interview data shows that the use of CoRe:s contribute to focus on the specific content in a more systematic way. Some of the preschool teachers expressed how the use of the CoRe:s and the formulation of ‘Big Ideas’ supported them to establish the fundamental ideas of the topic they were teaching. With documentation in CoRe preschool teachers have been able to make visible aspects of their own practice and to see the educational value of a current situation. In their collegial work, the documentation of CoRe contributes to the preschool teachers distancing themselves from their daily practices and makes them evaluate their actions and activities. Further, the use of CoRE seems to provide a different point for innovative change in the preschool development. In this way, the collective knowledge of a team becomes qualitatively different to that of a single individual. In addition, other themes also comprises: improved knowledge of processes for planning; visibility of different aspects in the daily practice and in children's learning processes; a broader view connected to international and national development in preschool and society, and a practice on scientific basis. Our research contributes with how “teachers and other professionals on the field of education learn and develop throughout their professional career” in the developing field of early childhood education and its rising expectation of subject knowledge. We also attempt to show how teacher development and the research process is dependent on their reciprocal development in order to be accomplished. In a time characterized by rapid policy changes in the educational systems in Europe, the need for practitioner-researcher collaborations supporting professionalism based on conscious professional agency is of great concern.ReferencesBerry, A., Loughran, J. & van Driel, J.H. (2008) Revisiting the Roots of Pedagogical Content Knowledge. International Journal of Science Education, 30:10, 1271-1279.Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, vol. 3. (2). p. 77-101.Brydon-Miller, M., Greenwood, D. & Maguire, P. (2003). Why action research? Action Research, vol. 1. (1). p. 9-28.Fleer, M. (2009). Supporting scientific conceptual consciousness or learning in ‘a Roundabout Way’ in play-based contexts. International Journal of Science Education, 31(8), p. 1069–1089.Nilsson, P. (2014). When Teaching Makes a Difference: Developing science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge through learning study. International Journal of Science Education, 36(11), 1794-1814.Nilsson, P. & Elm, A. (2016). Capturing and developing early childhood teachers´ science Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) through CoRes. International Journal of Science Education, 28 (5), 406-424.Reason, P & Bradbury, H (2001). Introduction: Inquiry and participation in search of a world worthy of human aspiration. Peter Reason & Hilary Bradbury (eds.) Handbook of Action Research. London: SAGE.Skolverket (2011). Curriculum for the preschool Lpfö98. www.skolverket.seShulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57, 1-22.Stanley, E. and, & Stronach, I. (2013) Raising and doubling ‘standards' in professional discourse: a critical bid. Journal of Educational Policy, 28(3), pp. 291-305.van Driel, J. H., & Berry, A. K. (2012). Teacher professional development focusing on pedagogical content knowledge. Educational Researcher, 41(1), 26 - 28.
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| 10. |
- Hammarberg, Annie, et al.
(author)
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The Construction of the Child on Documentation Panels in the Swedish Pre-School
- 2013
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In the Swedish pre-school, documentation of children’s activity is mandated in the national syllabus, Lpfö -98 (Skolverket, 2010). There are different documentations, both concerning material, e.g. photos, drawings, videos and for different purposes. One kind of documentation which is prominent for different kinds of actors in the pre-school, is the documentation panels of children’s activities posted on the walls (Helm, Beneke & Steinheimer1998; Kline 2008). Such “publications” can be seen as a case for how the pedagogues are interpreting the task of documenting the activity of the children in relation to their educational goals. However, documentation of children is always a social construction, focusing on certain things while excluding (possible) others. The documentation is not only a presentation of what is going on in the daily practice of the pre-school, but a discursive practice in which children are being constructed in different ways (Lenz Taguchi 2010). Our purpose is to explore how constructions of the child are performed in documentation panels in Swedish pre-schools. The theoretical framework is taken from post-structural theory and from visual methodology (Rose 2007). The material consists of photographs from documentations from which a selection of documentations has been made. Some preliminary categories are discerned and will be presented in our paper. Our preliminary findings show that the child is constructed mostly (but not only) in relation to educational goals which are attached to photographs with an accompanying text, constructing the child as e.g. someone who is learning and as someone being socialized as a “good pal”. The documentation panels focus mainly on good examples, i.e. of successful development and with a claim of capturing such a process in the public documentations. Our project is exploring both the local preconditions as well as the local consequences of the increasing accountability in the pre-school sector, and can be regarded as relevant for educational research in Scandinavia.
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