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- Pedersen, Helena, 1968-
(författare)
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The School and the Animal Other : An Ethnography of Human-Animal Relations in Education
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How human-animal relations are expressed and negotiated has significance for the situation of animals in society and offers insights that contribute to our understanding of how we organize relations between humans as well. This critical ethnographic investigation is positioned at the intersection of education research and the interdisciplinary area of human-animal studies. It uses participant observation, interviews with students and teachers and critical discourse analyses of texts and other artefacts used in the schools investigated to contribute cross-curricular perspectives on how human-animal relations are configured in the daily activities of both vocational (animal caretaker) and university preparatory programs. Building on central ideas from the Frankfurt School, the study proposes a platform for a critical theory of human-animal relations in formal education that embraces species-inclusive versions of critical pedagogy as well as gender and postcolonial analyses. In this vein, the study explores how social processes and practices in and outside the classroom enable certain human as well as animal subject positions while disabling others. A primary question is how a species-discourse intersects with categories formed around conceptions of gender, race/ethnicity, and class. A variety of ascribed animal representations and positions embedded in these processes are identified.The study argues that human-animal relations are characterized by indeterminacy and contradiction. While the school may educate to achieve improved conditions for animals inhuman society, it is at the same time involved in a process of social and cultural reproduction that normalizes the accessibility of animal bodies for human purposes. At the heart of this reproduction process lies boundary work around the animal as “other”. Such conceptualizations at times conflict with the views of animals that students bring with them to school and they therefore receive guidance about the “appropriate” position of animals in society; guidance that at the same time allows students to keep intact a sense of self as caring and moral actors toward animals. The school has a repertoire of concrete strategies for achieving this, and the effects of these strategies are identified as key components in a hidden curriculum of human-animal relations. The analyses show that these effects constitute a shared frame of reference of commonsense knowledge about animals in which contradictions embedded in human-animal relations can be comfortably accommodated. In addition, analytical tools borrowed from postcolonial theory are proposed that contribute to understanding the operations of hegemonic discourses of human-animal relations in the classroom as well as the effects generated by resistance to these discourses.
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| 2. |
- Lindahl, Britt
(författare)
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Lust att lära naturvetenskap och teknik? : en longitudinell studie om vägen till gymnasiet
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of the study was to follow a group of pupils from the age of twelve until they leave lower secondary school at the age of sixteen to describe and analyse how their attitudes towards and interest in science and technology develop and change but also how this and other factors such as ability, understanding of scientific concepts, gender and home background influenced their choice for upper secondary school. The sample consists of 80 pupils, the whole age group in a school. Data was collected using observations, interviews and questionnaires. The analysis built on the theory of planned behaviour and conceptions research. Many pupils have a positive attitude towards science but often a more positive attitude towards other subjects. They have duties to their parents but these are not strongly expressed. Their self-efficacy for science follows the same pattern as their attitude; they think they are good in science but not as good as in other subjects. For most pupils it seems as if attitude together with self-efficacy are the strongest determinant for their choice. These determinants are influenced by different factors. Girls and boys perceive science teaching differently but it seems as if the boys are on their way to developing the same critical attitude as the girls have had since long ago. The social background is important as many of the pupils who choose science are from well educated homes but even this group is loosing interest. Good ability is a necessary factor but does not guarantee science will be chosen. Neither has good conceptual understanding a crucial importance but on the other hand there are many pupils who say that they would not choose science as they do not understand science in the way it is taught. Another finding is that many pupils even at Grade 5 have an idea of their future career which later on is the same as their choice for upper secondary. If science shall have a chance in their lives the pupils must have a positive experience of science from the beginning of primary school through all years. Once they have lost their interest it is very difficult to get them back. The competition for their attention is intensive and the older they get the more difficult it will be to catch their interest and allegiance.
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| 5. |
- Asp, Margareta, 1958-
(författare)
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Vila och lärande om vila. En studie på livsvärldsfenomenologisk grund
- 2002
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Avhandlingsarbetets syfte var att utifrån människors levda erfarenheter av vila, utveckla en tentativ teori om vila och om lärande avseende vila. Den kunskapen har utgjort grund för att beskriva hur förutsättningar för lärande avseende vila kan skapas. En modell för lärande avseede vila har utvecklats, i vilken en ömsesidighet mellan innehåll, lärande och förutsättningar för lärande beaktas. Studien genomfördes med en livsvärldsfenomenologisk ansats och med intervju som datainsamlingsmetod. Analysen genomfördes enligt en beskivande fenomenlogisk metodologi, i syfte att beskriva fenomenets generella struktur En generell struktur av fenomenet vila, implicerar en dualitet mellan vila och icke-vila. Essensen i vila utgörs av en harmoni i vilja, känsla och handling Vilan gestaltas i och med att en inre verklighet avseende behov och längtan överensstämmer med den yttre verklighetens beskaffenhet. Till vilans essens relateras innebördselementen: vilorytm i livet, stämningar av skönhet och trevnad, bejakad utan bedömning, frihet från bekymmer och tvång, samvaro med gemensamt intresse, att dröja, lustfylld stimulans och lustfylld utmaning. Essensen i icke- vila är disharmoni i vilja, känsla och handling. Upplevelsen av disharmoni tär på krafterna och blir allt påtagligare ju längre icke-vilan pågår. Att lära sig vila innebär att bli medveten om sitt behov av att ha en livsrytm som ger utrymme för vila, att tillåta sig att leva i en sådan rytm och att finna eller skapa källor där kraft kan hämtas. Modellen för lärande avseende vila består av tre dimensioner: lärande om vila, lärande i vila och lärande genom vila. Lärande om vila kan relateras till idëer om livsvärld, levd kropp, tid och rum, cirkularitet och intentionalitet. Lärande genom vila kan relateras till hälsa och lärande i vila kan relateras till etiska och estetiska aspekter.
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| 7. |
- Emilson, Anette, 1964-
(författare)
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Det önskvärda barnet : Fostran uttryckt i vardagliga kommunikationshandlingar mellan lärare och barn i förskolan
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this research is to acquire knowledge about fostering young children, as expressed in everyday interactions between teachers and children in Swedish preschools. The three empirical studies in this doctoral thesis investigated partly specific democratic values such as participation and influence and partly the values that teachers explicitly or implicitly encourage and how these values are communicated to children. The thesis takes a critical approach in order to also acquire knowledge about important fostering aspects that can move hierarchal power structures towards a fostering of values characterized by intersubjectivity. In order to understand the interactions, the concepts of communicative and strategic action (Habermas, 1984) are used, as well as strong and weak classification and framing (Bernstein, 2000). Preschool fostering is also analyzed from a double perspective, with a starting-point in Habermas’ (1984, 1995a) concepts of the system and the life-world. The fieldwork took place with three different groups of toddlers in Swedish preschools. Forty-six children (aged 1 to 3 years) participated, as well as their ten teachers. The data consisted of videotaped observations of teacher and child interactions. The first study investigated how a toddler’s participation can be understood in two kinds of educational activities where the degree of teacher control differs. The results showed how strong classification and framing risk restricting children’s participation and how a weak classification and framing can promote children’s opportunities to participate on their own terms. Important issues for children’s participation were found to be a participant teacher who creates meaningful contexts, where teacher control is about being emotionally present, supportive and responsive. The purpose of the second study was to investigate how very young children can exert an influence in circle-time situations in relation to teacher control. The results showed that the children do, in fact, make choices, mostly based on several fixed alternatives, and that they do take the initiative, sometimes to express an opinion or a right, sometimes to express what they want to do in circle time. It was also found that the influence young children are able to exert varies with the control the teacher exercises. It is evident that strong teacher control is maintained in different ways and that strong control does not necessarily limit children’s influence; it depends on the nature of the control. Children’s influence increases when the teacher’s control over the what and how aspects of communications is weak, and is characterized by closeness to the child’s life-world and a communicative approach. The third study examined the values that teachers explicitly or implicitly encourage and how these values are communicated to children. The analyses resulted in ten specific values embedded in value dimensions of discipline, caring and democracy. These, in turn, can be divided into different social orientations – both collective and individualistic. The values are communicated differently and the what aspect of the communication (the value) is interrelated with the how aspect of the communication; how teachers communicate influences and sometimes changes the communicated value. In order to change power structures in teacher and child interactions, three aspects of importance have been identified: teachers’ closeness to the child’s perspective, their emotional presence and playfulness. Theoretically, the aspects are within the framework of communicative action and contribute to the understanding of what the theory might mean in communication with the youngest children in the educational system.
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| 8. |
- Gustavsson, Susanne
(författare)
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Motstånd och mening : Innebörd i blivande lärares seminariesamtal
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Both historically and in our own time the teacher education has been discussed and changed to match current traditions and intentions. There is an ongoing debate about the scientifi c basis of teacher education and the relation to professional basis. The aim with this study is to develop understanding for student teachers’ introduction to education and profession. The study is carried out against the background of the provisions and assumptions that characterise an academic professional education, and in particular teacher education, such as the relationship between education and the profession, the scientifi c basis and professional basis, the fi eld-based and college-based educational practice. The point of departure is that teacher education cannot be dissociated from the practice and theory of the profession, and in addition that the expression of education must be understood through the student’s experience and interpretation. The overall aim of the study, starting out from the nature and objectives of the academic professional education, is to understand the field of tension expressed in this experience. During the study, dialogues with students were observed at an early stage in their education. These dialogues consisted of four authentic seminars and twenty-three subsequent stimulated recall-inspired interviews with individual students. Content of the dialogues and seminars are student teachers’ experiences from fi eld-based and college-based education. The method of the studyis based on critical hermeneutics with reference to Paul Ricoeur. The result shows the two roles of the student, as participant and as observer. The students also consider themselves as students and at the same time as future teachers. Fields of tension are identifi ed between what is recognisable and a talk of changes; between position and investigation; and between progression and process. Professional teachers do not seem as masters, they are instead objects for criticism. The early experience of the profession does not harmonise with the content of the education. Furthermore, the student appears to lack the tools to examine critically and understand both the content offered in the education and the theory and practice of the profession.
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| 9. |
- Hedberg, Berith
(författare)
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Decision Making and Communication : Aspects of Nursing Competence
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of this thesis is to understand the conditions and prerequisites of nurses’ decision making on nursing measures and their communication in multiparty talk, activities nurses manage in their work. By analysing both environmental elements in nursing practice and how experienced nurses manage decision-making processes, the intention has been to understand how nurses’ competence occurs and is expressed in nursing practice. A specific problem concerns the attention given to the patients’ right to participate in co-operative care planning meetings when decisions are made about their further care and how the conditions for patient involvement and influence become visible in multiparty talk. In the theoretical framework, it is argued that competence generally speaking concerns the individual’s potential capacity for action in relation to a certain task, situation and context. The expectations as regards nursing competence at work are expressed in work regulations and recommendations; however, the content of nursing education and practice constitutes powerful institutional frames, influencing how nurses are able to perform their tasks. The individual’s cognitive ability, the context-specific and collaborative knowledge, can be seen as additionally elements of nursing competence. The thesis is based on two different datasets which have generated four sub-studies. Studies I and II focus on the nurses’ decision-making process and the influence of the simultaneous presence of environmental elements. The empirical data consist of 30 hours of participant observation and inter-views with 6 experienced nurses at three different wards. Studies III and IV concern nurses involve-ment in a dynamic communicative process with co-workers, patients and, at times, their relatives including data from audio-recordings of 14 co-operative care planning sessions concerning stroke survivors. Throughout the four studies, a gap is visible between nurses’ decision making and communication in practice and the expectations of how nurses should manage these activities related to work regulations and the goals formulated in the nursing educational programs. How nurses make their decisions depends on their competence, the complexity of the task and how much they involve themselves in talk with others. The medical perspective dominates when nurses give priority to what should and can be done in nursing activities. As regards patients’ participation in co-operative care planning meetings, the professionals dominate the discourse space. The nurses never openly invited the patients to elicit their own perspective of their illness or care planning. The nurses mostly suggest-ed opinions or asked the patients to confirm these opinions. There is, however a hidden power agenda when patients and relatives try to reach a desired decision. The same phenomenon may occur when patients are in alliances with health care professionals. The above-mentioned issues are discussed in the light of nursing competence and the need for nurses to discuss what it means to be a nurse in relation to institutional frames of power relationships. If the official regulations and recommendations are to be satisfied, there is an urgent need for increased collaboration between nurses, the health care system and the nursing education programs.
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| 10. |
- Hellström Muhli, Ulla
(författare)
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Att överbrygga perspektiv : En studie av behovsbedömningssamtal inom äldreinriktat socialt arbete
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of the study was to describe and analyse institutional practice in need assessment dialogues. The questions were: How are the dialogues structured? How is the professional dialogue content combined with: the institutional, traditional and personal perspectives? How are communicative problems solved?Mapping, assessing and deciding on social welfare or other aid measures for elderly people is one part of the concretisation of the elderly care policy in the encounter with the individual citizen. This concretisation is not just a simple transfer of political goals but, rather, contains implications for elderly care institutions as a whole, for elderly oriented social work and for processing. Examples of such implications are demands on knowledge growth in elderly oriented social work and demands on professional practice. The institutional actors, the case officers, serve an important purpose for the elderly in the encounter with elderly care. The need assessment dialogue between case officers and elderly persons is thus seen as a communicative activity or practice through which they (re)produce elderly care. It is this that the study attempts to give shape to.The project has its theoretical underpinning in social constructionism and in dialogism, which explain people’s everyday actions and interaction and how people make their knowledge and assumptions comprehensible. The social constructionist theory also explains how social institutions are created and maintained in people’s interaction in institutional talk.Data have been collected in the form of video recordings of 16 need assessment meetings and consist of about 12 hours of recorded need assessment dialogues. Content analyses of interactive courses of events in need assessment dialogues have been performed.The results show that phases constitute the structure of the dialogues and make them comprehensible. The phases serve different functions in the need assessment dialogues. The phase structure can be seen as a sub activity, which has specific aims and solves different tasks that are central to the case officer’s work. The phase structure consists of: opening, framing, mapping of needs, information and counselling, the turning-point in the dialogue and conclusion. A prominent feature of the study is the relationship between institutional order and professional practice. This relationship is the basis of different dilemmas in the encounter with the client. The key task facing the case officer is to bridge these dilemmas by means of different strategies. The case officer’s professional task in need assessments is not only to assess care requirements but also to make the institutional prerequisites of the aid measures comprehensible to the client and to transform care requirements into institutional abstractions. The knowledge contribution consists of an understanding of the complexity of the dialogue and how meaning and perspectives in the dialogue are produced interactively in different ways. An important knowledge contribution is the importance of communication in elderly oriented social work. This is a key factor in establishing a working relationship between the client and the case officer. It is also a key factor in the case officer’s professional practice.
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