1. |
- Folke-Fichtelius, Maria, 1952-
(författare)
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Förskolans formande : Statlig reglering 1944–2008
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Preschool is a central part of Swedish family life. The manner in which the state regulates preschool through laws, ordinances, and various kinds of written objectives has an impact on many people in the Swedish society. The thesis examines the development of preschool state regulation from the 1940s until 2008. The starting point of the study is a draft for a new Education Act, put forward in 2003, which proposed that preschool should be integrated into the school system as a new form of school. The purpose of the study is to generate knowledge about the state regulation of Swedish preschool, and how it has contributed to the shaping of preschool as a societal institution. Questions considered in the analysis are how regulation delimits preschool as a social category, what role this regulation assigns preschool in relation to other actors and societal institutions involved in early childhood education and care, and what principles this regulation is based on. The study has evolved within the research tradition of curriculum theory as developed in studies in educational politics. The analysis is carried out as a text analysis, where the concepts of boundary work, official classification and activity system serve as important analytical tools. Texts produced within the formal chain of decision and legislation: directives for committees, government white papers, ministerial task forces, bills, legislative texts etc., form the empirical foundation for the study. The analysis shows that economic as well as legal and ideological governing instruments are used in the shaping of the framework of preschool. These frameworks are indicated in the form of different boundary markers that delimit preschool as a specific category and arrange it in relation to other categories. The boundaries indicated by these boundary markers have been subject to extensive discussion during the formulation process. Through this boundary work, preschool has been constructed as a full time preschool, commissioned to provide both education and care. The boundaries of this commission are in some respects indistinct and contain several overlapping elements with regards to family, social services and school. At the same time, preschool holds a fixed core with more distinct boundaries, in the form of a part time public preschool delimited by time and age and regulated by far-reaching legislation regarding the rights of children to attend. Owing to this construction, preschool may balance several different and partly contradictory demands placed on it by other institutions and by different interest groups, while at the same time maintaining a core of identity of its own. In that sense, preschool may be described as a boundary object. Thus, when it is suggested that preschool should constitute a form of school and be placed in the more formal regulation structures of the school system, the balance of this construction is challenged.
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2. |
- Hallsén, Stina, 1979-
(författare)
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Lärarutbildning i skolans tjänst? : En policyanalys av statliga argument för förändring
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Teacher education occupies a position between the school system and higher education. It is expected to both have an impact on the school system and to be influenced by it. Compared to other higher education programs, teacher education has more often been subject to government control and detailed regulation. This thesis deals with the various roles and functions ascribed to teacher education in its complex position within the educational system, and above all its relationship with the school system. The objective of the thesis is to increase knowledge on government policy, with regard to teacher education, and frames within which the policy is developed, that in turn creates the framework for teacher education. The issues outlined above are processed through two sub-studies. The first sub-study deals with these issues in a general and historical perspective. The second sub-study is focused on a specific content (ICT) in initiatives for teacher education reforms. By analyzing arguments put forward in government policy from a curriculum theory perspective the thesis shows that teacher education throughout the whole review period was considered to mainly benefit and serve the school system. However, the significance attached to this service varies. Generally two trails are highlighted. The first involves the teacher education service of delivering the teachers that the school system requires in order to live up to expectations of today. The other definition of working in the service of the school system is to contribute to a future-oriented development of the current school system. In many cases these perspectives are combined but the trend in the period reviewed in this study is that the first definition, to work in the service of the contemporary school system, has been accorded ever greater prominence.
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3. |
- Heikkilä, Mia, 1975-
(författare)
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Kommunikativa resurser för lärande : Barns gester, blickar och tal i tre skolmiljöer
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of this research has been to study how schools create possibilities for children to learn. Possibilities to communicate and to interact are seen as closely linked to a process of learn-ing in line with contemporary thinking of learning (Kress, 2003; Säljö, 2000; Selander, 2005). The theoretical starting point has been to consider use of modes in communication a means for participating in social activities in school activities (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001; Kress, 2003; Kress & Jewitt, 2003). Participation is a central notion in the study of multimodality, where focus is at children communication through the use of modes.The empirical material consists of ethnographic video recordings made in three Swedish ur-ban school settings from 2000 through 2003. The children were five, six and seven year olds during the study. Detailed transcripts and analysis of the use of the three modes speech, gesture and gaze were made of fifteen activities.The analyses focus on how the use of modes can be seen as means for taking different posi-tions of participation in activities. The fifteen sequences are presented in five different themes. The themes include; silence at school, the place of the body at school, how the physical object ‘rubber’ is a sign of competence of ‘right and wrong’, how negotiation appears in school settings as a way of doing gender, and finally, an analysis of how a changed social function of a content transforms positions of participation. The themes generally discuss how school ideologies are shown in communication.By showing how children use modes in different situations and for different social reasons to participate in school activities, the analyses also show how a social setting and physical objects contribute to what positions are chosen, and when. The variations of the use of modes in the different school settings can be seen as signs of a changed principal for categorization, and thereby, how is further more argued, how that connects to children’s learning.
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4. |
- Jonsson, Olof Gustaf, 1954-
(författare)
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Bilden och texten : En studie av ljusets och seendets pedagogik
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The thesis deals with a reading tradition that can be traced to medieval times, a tradition in which images and text, intertwined, convey the message to the reader. The strength of the coupling between image and text has varied over time. Initially closely interconnected, the connections between image and text were later separated. If text and image represent two diverse ways of organizing human memory, one serial and the other structural, we could say that the first focuses on reproduction and the other on detection. The relation between them is essential for pedagogical action as well as for pedagogical reflection. The aim of this work is to illustrate how this variation in strength changed the pedagogy and prevailing understanding of how images and texts are read. During the emergence of the Swedish elementary school, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a form of education referred to as ‘visual experience-based teaching methods’ (åskådningsundervisning, Anschauungs-Unterricht) was introduced, a philosophy of education that revitalized traditions from the Middle Ages, with a strong coupling between image and text. The idea of using the image as a tool for education developed into the tradition of ‘school posters’ (skolplanscher), which were used in Swedish education up the implementation of the comprehensive school system in 1962. The development of visual argumentation expressed through the use of school posters is analyzed by tracing the development of the school posters in parallel with normative texts, such as curricula documents and protocols from the school inspectors and the Swedish parliament (Riksdag). The introduction of visual experience-based instruction in the Swedish elementary school in the curriculum (normalplan) of 1878 gave rise to a tension between the new method and the earlier tradition of how texts and even letters should be read. The new teaching method related to the senses, especially the visual faculty and the visual memory, and served as a tool to break up a strong literacy tradition. This had repercussions for the entire school system. The consequence of an altered basic content of the concept of reading also involved a transfer of the right of examination from the church to the community. With the implementation of the curriculum of 1919 the content of the visual experienced-based teaching methods was moved to a new subject called ‘local history’ (hembygdskunskap) which strongly reduced the linkage to the teaching of reading. The visual lines of this argumentation after the curriculum of 1919 are primarily structural in nature, expressed by using the perspectives in the image.
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5. |
- Nihlfors, Elisabet, 1952-
(författare)
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Skolchefen i skolans styrning och ledning
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis addresses the problem of how it is possible to understand the governing system for the school sector by studying how the relationship between the government and municipalities comes to the fore in the position held by the directors of education, who are the administrative directors of education in the municipalities. In order to put the position of the directors of education in its place in the government´s system for adminsitrating the school sector, we have studied how this office developed to be a part of the central adminsitration of school acivities in the municipalities. The study includes an analysis of how the position and function of this office changes up until the 1990´s, as well as what experiences the directors of education who serverd during the 1990´s had of the control and adminsitration of matters in the school sector.The empirical material of the study consists partly of documents and litterature - particularly hostoric texts, and partly of a questionnaire and interviews. The questionnaires have been carried out among all of the directors of education that served during the whole 1990´s. The results of the study show that the changes in the government´s system for governing the school sector have rendered the system itself seomwhat obscure. Positions of responsibility have not become clear. Hidden control becomes visible by the way in which economic issues are handled and by the existence of the agreement on school development - both of which are control instruments in the school sector, but not parts of the national control and adminsitration system. Underpressure has been developed in which the government, through its decrees, has strengthened the school level in issues that need to be solved in the municipal level in the present system, whithout the municipal level actually beeing strengthening.
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6. |
- Nytell, Hans, 1953-
(författare)
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Från kvalitetsidé till kvalitetsregim : Om statlig styrning av skolan
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Swedish educational contexts were in the 1990ies characterized by extensive and rapid changes towards decentralisation and governing through goals and results. A significant feature was the introduction of instruments and techniques with a common core of “quality”. The concept “the quality idea” was used as a label for those elements that initially were imprecise and loosely put together. The objective of this study is to describe the development of the quality idea, and to analyse this from the perspective of the state governing of the school. A point of departure for the study is that educational forms and content are historically constituted and determined by conditions of society. Bernstein’s (1983, 2000) concepts of framing and classification and message systems, are used to capture links between societal conditions and state governing. Governing, power and legitimacy are central concepts. The analysis of texts from the national policy level shows that in early 2000, the quality idea has become a dominant order in the system. The prevailing order can be captured by the concept Quality regime, with its rationale, technologies and instruments. The government level determines the areas and criteria for controls, while municipalities, school managers and teachers are accountable for the running and the results. The Quality Regime is a transition towards a new form of central governing, with an externalised governmental involvement as a rule-setter and monitor. Case studies at the management level in two Swedish municipalities shows that they have been compelled to assimilate the discourse of the quality regime and its applications in measurements and reporting.
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7. |
- Pettersson, Daniel, 1972-
(författare)
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Internationell Kunskapsbedömning som inslag i nationell styrning av skolan
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The object of study is the international knowledge assessments and attention is given to the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). As a way to explain the content in the international knowledge assessments an historical exposition about the IEA and OECD is written. International knowledge assessment is studied in relation to the national and international perspective, but also in relation to educational governing. By doing this concepts of globalisation and internationalisation are discussed as communication patterns. It is then possible to understand organisations like the IEA and OECD as institutionalised communication channels. If this is done it is possible to discuss globalisation and internationalisation as something else than an inevitable endpoint. Through institutionalised communication channels international knowledge assessments appear in national contexts and some observations can be made. The first one is that international knowledge assessments reformulate relationships. In this the educational actors on national levels are observed. These actors are involved in a struggle for power over definition in what should be seen as educational problems and solutions. In this the actors and the educational system they represent tries to strive and communicate modernity, strong international competitiveness and development. Secondly the actors when reformulating the international ideologies into national contexts transform extern priorities to internal priorities. Thirdly an international ideology might be understood as isomorphic ideology. When the isomorphic ideology impacts national contexts it has to be mediated. The mediation is driven by the fact that it is constituted by the national context, but also by the different roles the actors take or are given. The notion about isomorphic ideology is investigated more properly in Appendix I, in relation to UNESCO, and it is declared that international cooperations are part of nations urge to make their educational institutions more effective. In relation to the conclusion from Appendix I international knowledge assessments are interpreted as a technological/instrumental method for making the production process more effective.When the international knowledge assessments come down in national contexts some empirical reactions can be discussed. This is analysed from examples taken from the Swedish context, but these results are also in relation to the contexts in Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands. In the study examples are given on how international knowledge assessments are given meaning by political, administrative and media actors. It is primarily three results that can be uplifted. International knowledge assessments are used as an arena for communication in which arguments can be fetched and discussions can be made. International knowledge assessments are also used as present point descriptions, and point of departure for descriptions of educational vision of the future. And finally they are used for legitimising or repudiating politics of education.
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8. |
- Román, Henrik, 1965-
(författare)
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Skönheten och nyttan : Om synen på gymnasiesvenskans litteraturundervisning 1947-1985
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The object of study is the ongoing discussions on upper secondary literature instruction during 1947-1985, the foundation era of the integrated Swedish school system. Publications from the Swedish Teacher Association have been the main source material. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the tensions between contemporary and historical reproduction. The pedagogical ideals of the upper grammar school met with progressive ideals politically introduced in the 1940s, renewed in the 1970s. Four subject emphases work as analytical tools: Culture, Skills and Experience and Aesthetics. The literature discussions among the teacher representatives shift over time, partly following the school reform process. Before 1970, Culture was dominant, but Skills was to some degree welcomed by the teacher association. In the 1970s, Culture is marginalized. Skills together with Experience heavily dominate, partly as opposites. The literature discussions generally decrease and move from literature to literature instruction. Didactic research focusing learner-relevant or social-minded reading is introduced. In the 1980s, both literature and literature instruction are key topics. The discussions on Culture are especially intense, but still the 1980s represent a wide number of angles on literature, including both Experience and Aesthetics. To conclude, the study indicates that the contemporary demands on education, connected to the reform of the school system, had a great impact on the subject discussions, both in the 1960s and in the 1970s. Furthermore it indicates an acceptance, more or less willingly, among the teacher representatives for these demands, partly including the more radical demands of the 1970s. The effects of these radical demands are visible in the 1980s. In addition, the reoccurrence of Culture in the 1980s were not all together a plea for the upper grammar school ideals. Thus the study suggests that the new Swedish school system was both forming and reformed by the school and their representatives.
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9. |
- Skott, Pia, 1967-
(författare)
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Läroplan i rörelse : Det individuella programmet i möte mellan nationell utbildningspolitik och kommunal genomförandepraktik
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis examines the activities within the Swedish steering system concerning upper secondary school. Sweden has a long history of shared responsibility between the state level of government and the municipalities, dating back to federal decisions concerning the establishment of a compulsory school system. By the early 1990s two parallel changes were taking place within the Swedish educational sector, one concerning the steering system which evolved towards deregulation and decentralization, and the other an extension of the compulsory school. A consequence of the latter change was that in practice upper secondary education became mandatory. The political aim was to realize the vision of “one school for all”. In this study the political vision and the larger question of how to turn it into reality (the differentiation question) is used to show how activities at national as well as the local level of the steering system are formed.
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