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- Kreitz-Sandberg, Susanne
(författare)
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Children’s rights and strategies for inclusion in the context of special needs education
- 2011
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- “A policy of inclusion is generally understood around the world as part of a human rights agenda that demands access to, and equity in education” (Florian, 2008, p. 202). An understanding of discourses concerning inclusion in education contributes valuable information in the context of human rights and especially children’s rights in the welfare state. This paper is my contribution to discussions in circle 1 of the Nordic Summer University on “Human rights in the Nordic welfare states”. It shall also be developed into a theoretical background for my study on multi-professional cooperation in schools and the discussion of results from this study, which builds on focus groups interviews with teachers in Sweden, Germany and Japan, on which I reported early in this circle (Kreitz-Sandberg, 2010). Today’s presentation ignores both methodological questions of the empirical study, considerations on international comparisons and results from my focus group interviews. However, it takes a more extended view on possible theoretical frameworks for the study. We might consider if and in which form such a theoretical description could be part of the online anthology planned by circle 1.
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| 2. |
- Hammerin, Zofia, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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The Conscious Use of Relationship - How Teachers Promote Student Health in Their Everyday Teaching
- 2023
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Ingår i: European Conference on Educational Research, ECER.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- IntroductionThis study explores the role of the teacher in working with student health in high school. Teachers have been identified as crucial in promoting student health and wellbeing but it is traditionally not considered a teacher task. The article presents findings from an empirical study in which the views of the teachers are in focus.School is considered a suitable and vital arena for working with the health of children and young people. This can be done by implementing various programmes and initiatives lead by teachers or other professionals, or in a more informal way in the everyday school practice.Student health has been and still is a concern for the Student Health Services (SHS). It is however with the teacher that the students spend most of their time in school. A good relationship with the teacher, support from the teacher in meeting academic demands and classroom participation has proven beneficial to student health. There is also a well-documented reciprocal relationship between health and academic achievement. Overall, the same factors which promote learning, also promote health.In Sweden, where the study is set, student health work “shall be primarily preventive and promoting” (Education Act, 2010:800). Teachers are not explicitly tasked with health promotion but stipulated to cooperate with the SHS regarding student health. While the teacher is not presented as a central actor in the Education Act, other guiding documents highlight the teacher as important for student health. Teachers thus have a role in working with student health but what this role entails is not clear in the governing documents.The aim of the article is to contribute knowledge about how Swedish high school teachers describe their role(s) in working with student health.Brief Previous ResearchStudent health work has been empirically explored before but the role of the teacher in this work is a field in need of further empirical investigation. Much of the research regarding teachers’ involvement in student health work examines various programmes and initiatives implemented at the respective schools. The focus of this article is how teachers describe their role in the informal, everyday student health work, not in a programme or an initiative.Teacher involvement in health promotion has been criticized. Student mental health promotion can be regarded as an additional task to the existing abundance of teacher tasks. Expanding the role of the teacher is criticized as it can cause added stress and pressure. Lastly, teachers’ increased awareness of mental health problems among children and adolescents, can result in teachers starting to identify many behaviors and experiences previously deemed ordinary or understandable, as indicative of mental health problemsThis study contributes knowledge about how teachers describe their roles in student health promotion. This knowledge can be used to improve student health promotion further and contribute added understanding of the complex professional role of the teacher.Theoretical Points of DepartureThe study is based on theories of social constructivism in which social phenomena are understood and become active deeds by means of human interaction; people interpret, reinterpret, negotiate, and use various strategies to influence which interpretation takes precedence, thereby influencing how a phenomenon is understood.Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe empirical data used in this article was collected in connection with a larger qualitative study conducted in two Swedish high schools. Ten teachers participated in the study, with teaching experience from between four and 22 years.The data was collected using semi-structured individual interviews where six open-ended questions guided the interviews. Follow-up questions were formulated in order to gain a deeper understanding of their answers. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim.The data was analysed using qualitative content analysis. After the interviews were read through several times, sections of the interviews pertaining to the aim of the article were selected. These sections were read again and meaning units, i.e. statements that uncovered something related to the aim, were extracted. The extracted meaning units were condensed and coded, resulting in 102 codes. These codes were then grouped into themes, in an iterative process involving, re-reading of the selected interview sections as well as the whole interviews. The groupings were based on the relationship and underlying meanings regarding differences and similarities.Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe teachers clearly recognize and describe their work with student health in the everyday teaching.Tentative results show one main theme and four themes describing the different internal roles of the teacher as health promotor. The main theme is Conscious use of relationship to facilitate health and learning. The themes are The role of a caring adult, The role of a coach, The role of a student centred pedagogical leader and The role of security creator. The purpose of all the internal roles mentioned above, is to create a professional relationship with the students which is health promoting.There are no colclusions yet, but it is clear that the teachers consider health promotion a teacher task, not in conflict with their professional role but rather integrated with it.References Burr, V. (2015). Social constructionism. Routledge. Graneheim, U. H., & Lundman, B. (2004). Qualitative content analysis in nursing research: concepts, procedures and measures to achieve trustworthiness. Nurse education today, 24(2), 105-112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2003.10.001 Gustafsson, J.-E., Allodi Westling, M., Alin Åkerman, B., Eriksson, C., Eriksson, L., Fischbein, S., Granlund, M., Gustafsson, P., Ljungdahl, S., Ogden, T., & Persson, R. S. (2010). School, Learning and Mental Health: A systematic review. Hammerin, Z., Andersson, E., & Maivorsdotter, N. (2018). Exploring student participation in teaching: An aspect of student health in school. International journal of educational research, 92, 63-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2018.09.007 Partanen, P. (2019). Health for learning - learning for health. The Swedish National Agency of Education. Phillippo, K. L., & Kelly, M. S. (2014). On the Fault Line: A Qualitative Exploration of High School Teachers’ Involvement with Student Mental Health Issues. School Mental Health, 6(3), 184-200. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-013-9113-5 Pössel, P., Rudasill, K. M., Sawyer, M. G., Spence, S. H., & Bjerg, A. C. (2013). Associations between Teacher Emotional Support and Depressive Symptoms in Australian Adolescents: A 5-Year Longitudinal Study. Developmental Psychology, 49(11), 2135-2146. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0031767
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| 6. |
- Magnusson, Maria
(författare)
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Learning to write with pleasure
- 2006
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Ingår i: Presented at NFPFs/NERA´s 34th Congress, Örebro, 2006. - Örebro.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 7. |
- Schmidt, Catarina, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Textual Resources in Diverse Classrooms : Combining Functional Use with Approaches of Criticality
- 2018
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- INTRODUCTIONEvery classroom is affected by institutional conditions as well as curriculums and guidelines that steer and set standards for education, which are connected to and affected by ideas created and negotiated at the national level and within the EU and the OECD. Pedagogy within classrooms, including that of the two Swedish classrooms discussed in this paper consolidates these levels. Drawing on a larger classroom study[1] the paper focuses on teachers and students use of textual resources offline and online during over one year in two Grade six classrooms. It is within the practices of classrooms that students’ participation, and abilities to understand, question and draw conclusions from text content can be supported and developed. ‘Mainstream’ classrooms of today are characterized of standardized curriculums and of diversity in relation to student’s multilingual and cultural backgrounds as well as of a plurality of texts offline and online. Students with different backgrounds, needs and resources, are in the middle school years facing demands of coping with more compact texts of subjects’ content, including more of specific academic language (Gibbons, 2009). Basic and functional literacy cannot be dismissed, but needs to be integrated with meaning-making and critical analysis of text content (Cummins 2001; Luke & Freebody 1997; Janks, 2010; Langer 2011; Schmidt & Skoog, 2017; Schmidt & Skoog, 2018). This study draws on Alexander's (2001) methodological framework regarding teaching talk and learning talk together with Cummins (2001) framework for successful academic learning. Cummins (2001) and Alexander (2008) shed light on the need for students to learn about subject content while at the same time having access to subject-specific ways of understanding, talking, reading and writing where critical approaches are embedded. Reading texts in active and critically reflective ways relates to critical literacy and to the research drawing on this concept (e.g. Janks, 2010; Comber, 2013, 2016). In Sweden, new knowledge demands regarding digital competence are to be implemented 2018/19. The reasons for these changes in the national Curriculum Standards for Compulsory School are, in short, to enhance the student’s abilities to use and understand digital systems and to relate to media and information in critical and responsible ways[2]. These changes create increased challenges for teachers and students to sift, interpret, evaluate, question, compare and judge the trustworthiness of media. To understand who has produced a text and with what purpose, and how to evaluate this information, are part of fundamental critical approaches (Janks, 2010). This paper focuses on teachers’ and students’ use of textual resources offline and online during 24 lessons over one year in two Grade six classrooms in the subject areas of Information and Commercials and Laws and Rights. Our focus is on in what ways these textual resources and their content are introduced and drawn upon, and which approaches of critical approaches, including source criticism, that are integrated. Since digital resources, compared with printed resources, bring about other ways of producing and using texts in terms of multimodality and hybridity across time and space, this challenge the conditions for in what ways teaching and learning is carried out in classroom practices (Kress & Selander, 2011; Walsh, 2008). We ask:What textual resources are included?In what ways are these resources introduced and used?What approaches of criticality emerge?Do any differences emerge when comparing digital and printed resources?MEDTHODOLOGYThrough ethnographic studies of children’s literacy practices, Heath (1983) revealed the different ‘ways with words’ that children from various socioeconomic and cultural-ethnic backgrounds had. The work of Heath (1983) illustrates how power works in relation to uses of languages and literacies, something which we in this paper strived to be aware of and take into consideration when conducting this study, and above all when analysing the ethnographic material. The data of this study encompasses video recordings of 24 lessons from two different classrooms in two different schools and municipalities in Sweden, which altogether means 21.5 hours of video recordings. In each class, 12 lessons have been recorded in order to capture dimensions of classroom interaction and to document the use of instructional materials and texts. Further, five individual interviews with the two teachers and five group interviews with 4-6 students from each class have been conducted and transcribed literally. The interviews lasted from 20 minutes to one hour and were focused on the teachers’ and the students’ reflections considering the purpose, forms and content of the recorded lessons and their learning repertoires. During the interviews, parts of the video recordings were shown in order to make retrospective reflections possible from both teachers’ and students’ perspectives. Both classrooms are characterized of being culturally and linguistically diverse, where at least one quarter of the students have another linguistic background and/or speak another language than Swedish in their respective homes. The study has been carried out in accordance with the general requirements for Research Ethics (Swedish Research Council, 2011). All participating schools and informants have been given fictitious names in order to protect their identities during and after the finished project. The students as well as their parents have been informed about the aim of the study, and then asked to give their written consent for participation in the study, which they all did. By analysing the video recordings and the transcriptions of the retrospective interviews, this paper presents in which ways the used texts and media were introduced and drawn upon in the two classrooms, and which approaches of criticality, including source criticism, that were integrated.EXPECTED OUTCOMES AND CONCLUSIONSThe analysis reveals that printed material such as subject specific textbooks are introduced during whole class in the initial phases of the subject areas, and also that this text content is elaborated on more thoroughly when compared with the online resources. The analysis sheds light on the multifaceted possibilities of digital resources, such as web sites, educational movies, video clips, online educational portals and so on, and makes it clear that interaction and dialogue in relation to these resources tend to be overlooked compared with the printed resources. Further, the result sheds light on the challenges regarding how to integrate approaches of criticality. In both subject areas, norms and values that target diversity in various ways are present, but those are not deepened in relation to the subject content. Source criticism are mentioned, but tend to be simplified. We argue, that in order to compare and evaluate information, and to create knowledge from textual and digital resources, students need to be supported in the beginning of and throughout the learning process (Alexander, 2008; Schmidt & Skoog, 2017, Schmidt & Skoog, 2018). In addition, we argue that critical reflections must be connected to subject specific content and in relation to diversity and equality, and articulated and practiced through teachers’ and students’ own talk (Alexander, 2008; Schmidt & Skoog, 2018). Altogether this refers to conditions and possibilities for students to master literacy within and about subject content, and in relation to democratic values of the curriculum. Through the use of various textual resources offline and online, it is crucial that education support student’s subject- and literacy learning in integrated ways across the curriculum (Cummins, 2001; Schmidt & Skoog, 2016, 2018). Reflecting the conference theme of ECER 2018, this also highlights complex issues of access, inclusion and exclusion within education.REFERENCESAlexander, R. (2008). Essays on Pedagogy. London and New York: Routledge.Comber, B. (2016). Literacy, Place and Pedagogies of Possibility. London and New York: Routledge.Comber, B. (2013). Critical Literacy in the Early Years: Emergence and Sustenance in an Age of Accountability. In J. Larson & J. Marsh (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy (p. 587-601). London: SAGE/Paul Chapman.Cummins, J. (2001). Negotiating Identities: Education for Empowerment in a Diverse Society. Second Edition. Los Angeles: California Association for Bilingual Education.
Gibbons, P. (2009). English learners academic literacy and thinking. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.Heath B. S. 1983. Ways with words. Language, life and work in communities and classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Janks, H. (2010). Literacy and Power. London: Routledge.Kress, G. & Selander, S. (2011). Multimodal design, learning and cultures of recognition. Internet and Higher Education 15 (2012), 265–268.Langer, J. 2011. Envisioning Literature: Literary Understanding and Literature Instruction. New York: Teachers College Press.Luke, A. (2004). On the material consequences of literacy. Language and Education, 18(4), 331-335.Schmidt, C. & Skoog, M. (2018). The Question of Teaching Talk: Targeting Diversity and Participation. In N. Wahlström and D. Sundberg (Ed.), Transnational Curriculum Standards and Classroom Practices. The New Meaning of Teaching, (p. 83-97). London and New York: Routledge.Schmidt, C. & Skoog, M. (2017). Classroom interaction and
its potential for literacy learning. Nordic Journal of Literacy Research 3, 45–60. doi:10.23865/njlr.v3.474Swedish Research Council (2011). Good Research Practice. Stockholm: Swedish Research Council.Walsh, M. (2008). Worlds have collided and modes have merged: classroom evidence of changed literacy practices. Literacy, 42 (2), 101–108.[1] This paper is part of the larger project 'Understanding Curricul
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| 8. |
- Allodi Westling, Mara, 1959-
(författare)
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Emerging themes in the meeting between teachers and parents : when the children have special needs disabilites or are at risk
- 2011
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Ingår i: Educazione familiare e servizi per l'infanzia. - Firenze : Firenze University Press. - 9788866550280 ; , s. 99-
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Relations characterised by collaboration and alliance between staff and parents of children with particular needs, experiencing developmental challenges or disabilities are necessary conditions of a favourable educational situation. Several studies testimony the protective role of positive educational experiences for children at risk, but the educational experiences of these children are not always satisfactory and propitious for their future development. Studies on the experiences of the meetings between parents and educational staff describe which difficulties may arise in the form of conflicts, communication problems, loss of trust and reciprocal devaluation and critique. The meetings between families and the services are not just personal encounters; they are also influenced by the characteristics and structures of the surrounding educational context. The themes emerging from several studies can be related for instance to the fight for the support and the resources, and to the definition of the child’s needs, potential and of what is the best for the child. The analysis and reflection on these themes and their motives should help the teachers to understand and prevent these risks, changing the responses to the parents adequately.
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| 9. |
- Allodi Westling, Mara, 1959-
(författare)
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The experiences of mental health and well-being of Swedish children and youth with a focus on educational situations : Some results and reflections from a review of qualitative studies
- 2010
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Ingår i: Trender i barns och ungdomars psykiska hälsa. - Stockholm : Kungliga vetenskapsakademien. ; , s. 17-18
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The practice of including in reviews people’s experiences and perceptions, which are collected with non-experimental and qualitative studies, has been developed recently in the field of mental health studies. These approaches and methodologies have inspired the review of research on Swedish children and adolescents experiences of mental health and well being, with a focus on their educational situation, that was conducted as a part of a systematic review of research on School Learning and Mental health, performed by appointment of the Royal Academy of Sciences. The aim of the review was to gather testimonies that can give indications of the experiences of mental health and well being in this specific context. The results from the studies that were relevant for the aims of the review are structured in four themes: general views, protective factors, risk factors, individual factors. They are presented in a narrative synthesis, giving a particular weight to the direct and indirect report of children’s and adolescents’ own views. The adolescents defined mental health as emotional experiences, seen both as internal feelings and as relational feelings. Family, friends and educational environments as social and physical environments were perceived as determinants of mental health. A great number of feelings were related to school, both related to satisfaction and pain, in particular when the school attendance is presented as an obligation. Harassment and rejection at school, performance stress, worries about grades and future prospects could be threats against self-worth and self-esteem, while teachers that do not care could generate negative experiences. Various kind of stress could be described and various strategies to resist stressful situations: for instance emotional support, safety and involvement. The educational environments can be an arena for social, cognitive and emotional experiences, relationships and accomplishments that are enriching the individuals and increase their well being. General structural characteristics of the educational environments may also affect well being in different directions: performance, evaluation and feedback, freedom of choice and responsibility for the future may be perceived as a burden. The following reflections can be made: the experiences of children and adolescents change when they grow older, go through developmental processes and encounter different educational situations; the studies reporting views of younger children on the matters of this review were less well represented; the negative experiences may be expressed in rather cautious and non dramatic terms by younger children; there are unique contribution of the review of qualitative studies, but also several interesting correspondences with the results of the review of quantitative studies.
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