| 1. |
- Annerberg, Anna, 1972-
(författare)
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Gymnasielärares skrivpraktiker : skrivande som professionell handling i en digitaliserad skola
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to contribute to deeper knowledge about the writing practices of teachers in upper secondary school. Schools are under constant pressure to respond to the needs and expectations of an ever-changing society and political intentions. A major factor in this change which is taking place in schools is digitalization. Another factor is the adoption of new governing principles for schools involving management by goals and results, which brings increased demands for written documentation of teachers' work.In order to describe and problematize this development the thesis is based on a combination of Critical Discourse Analysis and New Literacy (Clark and Ivanič, 1997). The theoretical framework rests upon an understanding of writing as social action and the idea that texts both affect and are affected by the social environment. The empirical study focuses on twelve teachers and their writing practices, analyzed during week-long field visits over three years. The teachers' talk about their writing is used together with analyses of texts and images to investigate parts of teachers' writing which, according to the teachers, are considered complex and problematic.The findings indicate significant differences between the writing practices of the individual teachers, where each teacher has his or her own system of texts fulfilling different purposes. Despite these differences it is still possible to identify recurrent themes in the discursive conditions for teachers' writing: efficiency, reuse, authority, audit, relationships to addressees, and room to maneuver. The study illustrates possible dilemmas for teachers' writing at the intersection of teachers' professional responsibility and demands for accountability.
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| 2. |
- Börjesson, Mattias, 1978-
(författare)
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Från likvärdighet till marknad : En studie av offentligt och privat inflytande över skolans styrning i svensk utbildningspolitik 1969-1999
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- For most of the 20th century the dominant aim of Swedish educational policy was an integrated public school system under national state control. During the post-war era (1945–1989) this policy led to Sweden having one of the most centralized and integrated school systems in the world. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, there was a profound change in Swedish education policy towards decentralization, deregulation and marketization of the school system. The aim of this thesis is to provide a deeper understanding of the nature and causes of this shift in education policy. The thesis draws from a theoretical framework consisting of Critical Realism, curriculum theory and Neo-Marxism. From a Neo- Marxist perspective the configuration of state education policy is understood as a dominant education ideology. The empirical material consists of state policy documents which are understood as an expression of the dominant education ideology in society.The results indicate a shift in the dominant education ideology in Sweden between 1969 and – 1999: from an emphasis on state governance and goals of equivalence, equality and participation in the school system during the 1970s, towards increasing skepticism regarding state regulation and an emphasis on decentralization and aims to increase parental and pupil influence in the school system during the 1980s, to a dominance of private influence via school choice and competition in the school system during the 1990s. From a theoretical perspective consisting of Critical Realism and curriculum theory, this shift in education policy and restructuring of the school system is understood in relation to economic crises, a rightward shift in politics and the dominance of neoliberal ideas in Sweden during the 1980s and 1990s.
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| 3. |
- Carlsson, Reidun, 1948-
(författare)
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Gamla mönster i nya former? Tre studier om specialpedagogik i teori och praktik
- 2010
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of the research presented here is to examine challenges in the special needs support tradition and the consequences of these challenges with the aim of increasing knowledge regarding the opportunities and constraints that are created as partof the support. In addition, the overarching study aims to highlight issues of democracyand inclusion in the social practices that are focused here and in what manner theseemerge and are framed. These aims are examined through three separate studies.The first study theoretically examines the central concepts of democracy and inclusionin school policy. The central query here relates to what possible consequences differentmodels of democracy imply vis-à-vis inclusive processes and what possibilities exist forchallenging traditions in special need education? Tradition has often been recognized asan important factor for compensating individuals in a reactive and segregating way.The second study takes an ethnographic point of departure and focuses five languagepre-schools that are instituted with the primary aim of teaching Swedish to children fromhomes where Swedish is not spoken. The institutional intention is to prepare these pupilsfor inclusion in future school arenas. One query here relates to what types ofconsequences such a proactively conceptualized activity gives rise to?A case-study that focuses the analysis of a course to prepare teachers for writingremedial plans constitutes the third research foci. The course is offered by a national stateauthority, the older Institute of Special Education (Specialpedagogiska institutet). Theactivity of working on remedial plans is a challenge for the special educational traditionand its individualization of school related problems. A central issue here relates to whatconsequence such a challenge gives rise to when it is formulated by a school-authority?The results of the studies presented in this thesis indicate that traditions resist changeeven though there is an ambition to challenge these. Old patterns of providing support ininstitutional arenas are difficult to reshape. In both empirical studies individual deficits isa common understanding of school-problems. The results of the empirical studies are alsodiscussed in relation to the conceptual analysis presented in the first article.
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| 4. |
- Göhl-Muigai, Ann-Kristin
(författare)
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Talet om ansvar i förskolans styrdokument 1945-1998 : en textanalys
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With the overall aim of "analysing and comparing the language that was used during the period 1945-1998 in pre-school documents with regard to the duty of promoting the development of children into responsible persons and citizens", the thesis studies seven authoritative government texts for pre-schools. The goal documents form an intertextual chain whose first link was published under the auspices of the National Swedish Bord of Health and Welfare, when the number of institutions for the care and education of the youngest children was still very limited. The goal document which make up the latest link in the chain serves as an indication of the altered status of pre-schools caused by their becoming a part of the educational system. - Starting out from curriculum theory the thesis makes a text analysis where the methodology has been inspired by Quentin Skinner's histiorical-pragmatic and intertextual approach and by John Austin's speech act theory. The source texts are contextualised by means of parliamentary reports, government bills, and other contemporary texts. - Since 'ansvar' ('responsibility') is a contingent concept, the context has a decisive importance for the meaning. The analyses of the pre-school goal documents reveal certain differences from the usual lexical definitions of 'ansvar' ('responsibility'), which are 'punishment', 'answer' and duty, and which are used in law, moral philosophy and political science. The authority and adulthood implied by the standard meanings, and the weight, seriousness and negative axiological sense associated with these, are changed when in a "new" context, the pre-school context, the issue is children's development of responsibility. - When the goal documents refer to the youngest members of society as having the ability to take and show responsibility, this indicates not only that the sense, reference and speech act potential of the word have changed, but also that the underlying perception of children has changed. - "New", positively axiological senses of 'ansvar' ('responsibility') appering in several of the pre-school goal documents are that the children are expected to "respond to" other people and "show consideration" and a "democratic responsibility" - an interpretation which has been caused by the advocacy that children should participate and share the responsibility and also have a real influence on the everyday life of pre-schools.
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| 5. |
- Jonsson, Linda, 1963-
(författare)
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Mellan tradition och förnyelse : Utmaningar i religionsläraruppdraget
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The current assignment of religious studies teachers is grounded on a confession-free foundation, expressed through the values of Swedish society. However, the subject still carries traces of a confessional tradition. Up until recently, Christianity played a major role in both teaching and teacher assignments. This study focuses on the complexity that emerges when it comes to the assignment of religious studies teachers in Swedish schools. In order to shed light on two traditions of importance – a confessional Christian tradition and an objective religious tradition, an analytical contextualisation is constructed within the time span 1842–1994. Such a long-term perspective is seen as a necessary historical contextualisation for the empirical study, which contains an analysis of the contemporary religious studies teacher assignment, here called the uncertain period (1994-2011). The study is to be regarded as an analysis of a school subject related challenge from a general didactical approach. In order to study the religious studies teacher assignment, religion as a school subject will be a key component in this study. The use of the subject – in the sense of its status, role and function – is clarified, and has implications for the teacher assignment as such. The historical context has its starting point in a literature study of policy documents and texts, and shall be regarded as the study’s secondary literature. The empirical material of the study comes from a journal entitled Religion & Livsfrågor (Religion and Life Issues) from the time span of 1994–2011. The material is analysed and attention drawn to different voices on the religious studies teacher assignment. The challenges that the teacher assignment is facing are summarised in three concluding challenges: Between tradition and renewal, Limitless assignment in limited time, and Pupil-related questions or “when-it-pops-up”-pedagogy. An account is given of the contributions made by two educational philosophers, John Dewey and Wolfgang Klafki, in the latter part of the study. These contributions serve as basis for analyses of the challenges in the uncertain period of contemporary religious studies teacher assignment. Their writings on theory and practice, tradition and renewal, as well as teacher engagement, add a valuable perspective to the analyses in order to understand the challenges the teacher assignment faces. In conclusion, the analyses of the voices on the religious studies teacher assignment and its challenges are summarised and related to their historical context characterised both by a confessional and an objective tradition. The thesis provides a more detailed image on the complexity of the religious studies teacher assignment, through a contextualization of the contemporary assignment in curriculum historical perspective.
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| 6. |
- Quennerstedt, Mikael, 1966-
(författare)
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Att lära sig hälsa
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to an understanding of the subject content in Physical Education (PE) foremost from a health perspective. By using an approach deriving from John Dewey’s transactional perspective on meaningmaking (Bentley & Dewey 1949), and a discourse theoretical position, the discourses identified in the dissertation’s studies are consequently regarded as participants in pupils’ meaning-making. This makes it possible to discuss the results of the studies in terms of the institutional content and conditions of meaning-making in PE. The thesis consists of three different discourse analyses, where the institutionalised aspect of meaning-making in PE is examined by analysing local curriculum documents from 72 Swedish compulsory schools. The results of the dissertation show that in the study of subject content in PE a dominance of an activity discourse can be identified, although a social development discourse is also identified as being important in the documents. The results, thus, suggest that the subject content of PE can be characterised by a wide variety of activities, where pupils are expected to be active participants in the sense of being physically active. The content is also characterised by actions promoting good relationships, co-operation and consideration for others. Actions privileged within the discourses in PE are movement, physical activity, trying many different activities together, active participation, good relations and enjoyment. The results also show that health is explicitly constituted as fitness training, life-long physical activity and knowledge about physical training based on scientific facts from physiology and anatomy. Learning health in PE thus mainly consists of a pathogenic health discourse. But from a salutogenic perspective, health is also constituted as the possibility to participate in movement, physical leisure activities and social relations, and enjoy a life-long engagement in different movement and sport activities. The analysis also shows, however, that within the frame of the subject content of PE, it is also possible to regard health in terms of a commitment to health- and environmental issues, a sense of well-being in ongoing activities and an active involvement in subject content matters within PE. Health can therefore be constituted in different ways within PE, although this is not always made explicit in the local curriculum documents.
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| 7. |
- Rosenquist, Joachim, 1980-
(författare)
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Pluralism and unity in education : on education for democratic citizenship and personal autonomy in a pluralist society
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overarching theme of this thesis concerns the possibility of balancing the values of unity and pluralism in education in developed nation states characterized by an increasing pluralism when it comes to the beliefs and values of its citizens. The author suggests that democracy has a normative basis in the principle of reciprocity which can be supported in an overlapping consensus by reasonable persons who differ in their moral, religious and philosophical beliefs. It is argued that this basis mandates a deliberative kind of democracy and that certain implications follow for how to understand the relation between democracy and individual rights, between democracy and religious belief and speech, and between rationality and deliberation, among other things. The author proceeds to discuss three educational issues in relation to the principle of reciprocity and its implications: 1. The legitimacy and content of a mandatory citizenship education, 2. Children’s rights to develop personal autonomy, 3. The opportunity for parents and children to choose which school children attend. These issues are important in relation to the question of how to balance unity and pluralism in education in that they concern the promotion of certain common beliefs, values and dispositions among citizens or the creation of a system of choice between schools with different profiles. The purpose of the discussion is to construct a theoretical position which balances the values of unity and pluralism in education, by giving diversity its due (contra communitarianism) while upholding a measure of unity (contra libertarianism and radical multiculturalism) which is located in the democratic and autonomy- promoting purposes of education rather than (exclusively) in its economic/vocational purposes (contra neo-liberalism). The discussions make use of political philosophy, educational philosophy and empirical research carried out by other researchers.
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| 8. |
- Öijen, Lena, 1977-
(författare)
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Samverkan lärosäte-skola : en studie av Regionalt utvecklingscentrum som samarbetspart
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is a study of a phenomenon in Swedish education: the RegionalDevelopment Centre (Regionalt utvecklingscentrum, RUC). Insetting up RUC, the Swedish state’s original intention was to enhancecollaboration between teacher education and training, research andschool development. RUC was specified in the appropriation directionsfor Swedish higher education institutions (HEIs) that trained teachers in1997–2010. The purpose of this thesis is to clarify and analyse differinginterpretations and implications of RUC as a phenomenon and conceptualisethe task of addressing them in a changing education-policy context.Empirical sources for the study are central government publicationsand interviews with RUC representatives at 22 HEIs. This empiricalmaterial has been modified and analysed in four stages: a survey of RUCas a phenomenon, construal of ‘ideal types’ of RUC, testing of the construedideal types as analytical tools, and application of the construedideal types as analytical tools to gain an ‘explanatory understanding’ ofRUC. Through analysis of needs, actors and value, five ideal types empiricallybased on transcribed interviews are construed: the receiveroriented,trust-creating, region-boosting, conceptualising and salesorientedtypes. A model shows how these ideal types can be mutuallyunderstood and conceptualised. Examples are given, based on this model,of specific interpretations and implications that may fit each idealtype. RUC’s legitimacy in 2012 still entails a marked emphasis on RUCas a receiver-oriented associate. Three aspects enhancing the likelihoodof RUC, in 2012, being deemed important to retain at an HEI appear tobe the HEI’s goodwill towards RUC, its dependence on remits from theSwedish National Board of Education and schools’ research needs. Focusingmore on RUC as the region-boosting partner would mean oncemore uniting RUC’s role in teacher education with school developmentand research, but on the basis of ‘common needs’ within the frameworkof a distinct growth policy.
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| 9. |
- Arneback, Emma
(författare)
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Med kränkningen som måttstock : om planerade bemötanden av främlingsfientliga uttryck i gymnasieskolan
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this dissertation is to map and analyse planned responses to expressions of racism in upper secondary schools. Three questions are in focus: (1) What courses of action, in response to expressions of racism, are advocated in philosophical texts and equal treatment plans for upper secondary schools? (2) What consequences have these courses of action for the formation of the mission of schools, the responsibility of teachers, and the limits of free speech? (3) What kinds of expressions of racism are these courses of action intended to be a response to? The study takes its point of departure in two theoretical traditions: Pierre-André Taguieff’s categorisations of racism are used to define the problem in the dissertation, while John Dewey’s moral philosophy provides the methodological base. From an analysis of equal treatment plans four temporal phases are identified. In the first phase, preventive measures, the purpose is to prevent students from developing racism. In phase two, limitations in schools, the dominant course of action is to prohibit violations in schools. The third phase, corrective measures, is concerned with how to handle situations that are contrary to the limitations in schools. The final phase, limitations on schools, relates to when schools are required to transfer responsibility for action to the social services, work environment or police authorities. The results indicate that the national laws (since 2006) have a strong impact on equal treatment plans, and that ‘non-violation’ becomes a dominant moral principle that displaces or subsumes other views of morality. How the non-violation principle is applied also affects the space for political conversations on topics that can be hurtful. Finally, the analysis indicates that equal treatment plans are mainly concerned with expressions of racism among students, and pay little attention to expressions of racism that occur in the organization of schools. The plans thus describe schools as a force for good that seeks to combat (potential) racism among students.
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| 10. |
- Englund, Boel, 1947-
(författare)
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Skolans tal om litteratur : Om gymnasieskolans litteraturstudium och dess plats i ett kulturellt återskapande med utgångspunkt i en jämförelse av texter för litteraturundervisning i Sverige och Frankrike
- 1997
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the main study literary anthologies and textbooks used in the mother tongue subjects at upper secondary schools in Sweden and France around 1920 and 1980 are analysed with reference to the conception of literature-what counts as literature and why-and the proposed way of studying literary texts. Conclusions are drawn as to the potential functions of the study of literature, the character of the literary studies and their place in a process of cultural re-production. In the second part of the thesis, the results from the main study are used as a starting-point for an analysis where the characteristics of the different discourses on literature are connected to the educational institution and society. In the case of France, the roots of these characteristics are sought in the very long tradition of an education of the mind of the French secondary school. The results from the study may be summarized as follows:The discourse on literature of the school is understandable above all as part of a cultural re-production which concerns other things than literature; as an element of broader social control.This discourse has undergone great changes in Sweden during the period of study, but not in France, although the transformation of the economic structure in both countries and the increase in the fraction of a generation attending upper secondary school are much the same. One possible part of an explanation is a difference in the social anchorage of the state; another that the French study of literature has all the time represented a socially valid discourse.In France, the conception of literary texts and the way of approaching them, in the second half of the 20th century-according to textbooks accepted by the educational institution-still bore the mark of a tradition which is that of the education of the mind. This conception of texts, and this way of treating them, are such that there seems to have been question of a cultural reproduction in the strong sense, a reproduction of mental structures.
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