| 1. |
- Jahnke, Fredrik, 1970-
(author)
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Toleransens altare och undvikandets hänsynsfullhet : Religion och meningsskapande bland svenska grundskoleelever
- 2021
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In contemporary western society, the changing religious diversity brought to the fore a more visible religion. The Swedish school and the Swedish classrooms are no exception. From a perspective of sensemaking and a wide understanding of religion and religious positions this thesis analyses the discourse on religion among pupils (age 9 to 16) in the Swedish elementary school and under what circumstances they do, or do not, talk about religion with each another. This qualitative study includes themes from and contributes to the study of religion, research on children and young people, and particularly to religious education (RE) in Sweden and elsewhere. The results show that the pupils during the interviews showed different and parallel ways of understanding, relate to and way of talking about religion. However, to some degree they seemed to be unwilling to talk about religion with each other, even though they expressed some interest thereof. Two reasons for this were their limited common discourses on religion, and their concern and anxiety to create conflict and to “step on somebody’s toes”. The latter was also combined with their tendency to show tolerance, respect and deference towards each other. Thirdly, due to their partial lack of discourses on religion the pupils had difficulties to position themselves in relation to religion and to understand others. For instance, this came to the fore and was exemplified by the non-Christian Swedish pupils. They seemed to lack categories to speak of themselves in relation to religion and, for instance, answer questions like: “What do you believe in?”.Even though the pupils did not talk much about religion with each other, the result shows that they had several ways of talking about and understanding religion and religious phenomena – for instance based on popular culture. Not all these understandings and discourses on religion where paid attention to in school or in class. Instead, the pupils had to adapt to discourses prevalent in school which narrowed the possible ways of understanding and talking about religion. In line with this, there were several positions in relation to religion – for instance unsure and uncertain positions – in these schools that was not observed. However, these pupils also have the need to express and understand themselves in relation to religion as well as being understood by others. This is a future challenge for RE-research as well as teaching in schools.The results of this study show, lastly, that the experience and desires expressed by the pupils concerning talking about religion differed to a great extent from the use of dialogue in RE-research. Among the pupils it seemed that the conversation about religion was sacrificed on the altars of tolerance, respect and deference. These results were discussed in relation to the concept of safe space, a concept that needs to be elaborated and sharpened further in RE.
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| 2. |
- Gunnarsson, Karin, 1975-
(author)
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Med önskan om kontroll : Figurationer av hälsa i skolors hälsofrämjande arbete
- 2015
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Avhandlingen tar sin utgångspunkt i två sammanvävda tendenser, den ökade förekomsten av psykisk ohälsa bland unga och skolors uppdrag att främja hälsa. Larmen om att ohälsa bland unga ökar har skett i takt med att skolans hälsofrämjande arbete allt starkare efterfrågas. Hur skolans hälsofrämjande arbete på så vis fått en alltmer generell prägel som innefattar hela skolan och alla elever samt vad detta innebär för skolans verksamhet är frågor som diskuteras i denna avhandling. Forskningsfrågorna formuleras såsom hur produceras hälsa som olika figurationer i skolors hälsofrämjande arbete och vad producerar i sin tur dessa figurationer. Figurationer förstås här som samtidigt stabila och temporära figurer eller uttryck. De sätter fokus på göranden som formar hälsa till olika formationer, språkligt och diskursivt men också materiellt och affektivt utifrån ett post-konstruktionistiskt perspektiv (Lykke, 2010). Inom ramen för detta perspektiv sammankopplas teorier och begrepp från Michel Foucault, Donna Haraway, Karen Barad, Bruno Latour och Ann-Marie Mol. Det formar en teoretisk apparatur med möjligheter att undersöka hälsa och skolors hälsofrämjande arbete genom att utmana uppdelningar av ting, texter, kroppar, känslor och diskurser. Här blir inte bara människor utan också materialiteter aktiva aktörer i produktionen av hälsa. Det görs med ett etnografiskt tillvägagångssätt där fenomenet hälsa spåras i två skolpraktiker, skol- och hälsopolitiska policytexter och ett manualbaserat hälsofrämjande program kallat DISA (Depression in Swedish Adolescens).Spårandet följer fyra figurationer av hälsa; hälsa som plats, hälsa som kompetens, hälsa som känslor och hälsa som könad kropp. Genom dessa figurationer återkommer komponenterna kontroll och förändring. Hälsa produceras i relation till kontroll och förändring som en förmåga att kontrollera och förändra såväl egna tankar och känslor som omgivning. Spårandet av hälsa har skett i och genom praktiker som syftar till förändring, en förbättrad hälsa, men som genom en önskan om kontroll framförallt producerar stabiliserande och faslåsande effekter. Hälsa, känslor och lärande blir genom spårningen ytterligare sammanvävda aspekter vilket i avhandlingen förstås som en hälsofiering av skola där ett hälsofrämjande arbete ska vara del av hela skolan och riktas mot alla elever. Samtidigt spåras hur materiella, diskursiva och affektiva aktörer är delaktiga i händelser som inte går att förutse, bestämma eller kontrollera. Det formades händelser där texter, rum, manualer, spiraler, lappar, soffor och kroppar blev aktiva genom att koppla samman, beröra och producera hälsa. På så vis framträdde hur önskan om kontroll både är tillfällig och imaginär. Avslutningsvis konstrueras och diskuteras begreppet tekno-biopedagogik och hur det kan göra det möjligt att undersöka hur pedagogiska praktiker tillsammans med kroppar och materialiteter formar biopolitiska processer. Därutöver artikuleras en figuration av hälsa som omsorg med en utvidgad teoretisk diskussion om vad den skulle kunna innebära, dels sammankopplat med skolors hälsofrämjande arbete, dels sammankopplat med en forskningspraktik.
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| 3. |
- H. Britton, Thérèse, 1966-
(author)
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Att möta det levda : Möjligheter och hinder för förståelse av levd religion i en studiebesöksorienterad religionskunskapsundervisning
- 2019
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The general aim of this study is to develop knowledge about how field visit-oriented religious teaching can contribute to students’ understanding of lived religion, in terms of inner diversity, religious practice and experiential dimensions. Previous research about Religious education (RE) shows that the Swedish non-confessional school subject “Religion” mainly deals with history, dogmas and concepts. Few students are concerned with the subject-matter itself in RE. "Secular" students talk about religion as something old-fashioned that concerns "the others". On the other hand, students who identify themselves religiously do not recognize what is being taught in school about their own tradition, since they miss perspectives concerning religion as part of everyday life, i.e., lived religion. A growing interest in individuals’ lived religion has also been identified in the field of religious studies. These circumstances related to field of RE serve as motivational ground for the present doctoral thesis.This thesis investigates designed RE-teaching in lower secondary school (year nine). The teaching design draws on findings reported in the licentiate thesis (Britton 2014). Three theoretical approaches are used and integrated in a theoretical framework. The approaches applied to define and operationalize students’ understanding of lived religion are selected parts of Michail Bachtin's (1997) dialogue theory, Robert Jackson's (2002) interpretive approach of Religious education, and Meredith McGuire's (2008) religion sociology theories about lived religion.The empirical data were produced from selected parts of an enacted teaching design about Buddhism, including a field visit to a Tibetan-Buddhist congregation. The data consist of grade nine students' oral and written utterances from a lesson sequence, including lesson recordings, student journals, lesson exercises, assignments, group discussions and an examination. In addition, follow-up interviews were conducted with students, the teacher and the temple representative. Data were analysed using the integrated theoretical-analytical framework, in order to provide knowledge about what opportunities and obstacles in religious teaching that contribute to students’ understandings of lived religion.Three main results emerged. First, students' personal perspectives and values of religion in general, and of the religious tradition studied (Buddhism) in particular, are important parts of students' understanding of lived religion. From students’ responses, some perspectives that interfered with their understanding of lived (Buddhist) religion were identified: student understandings that touch upon the links between individual freedom and religion; the relation between belief and religious practice and experiences; and ‘Western Buddhism’ in relation to Buddhism outside the West. Second, three didactical tools were constructed, aiming to develop RE teaching to further facilitate students’ understanding of lived religion: individual perspective, a diversity model and self-reflection. Didactical questions about representation, safe space and self-reflexivity came up. Third, there is support for arguing that lived religion as a perspective in the Swedish school subject of religion can be a goal as well as means to create a more inclusive religious education.
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| 4. |
- Niemi, Kristian, 1981-
(author)
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Religion in Indian schools : Exploring national systems of religious education through 'mirroring'
- 2020
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- India is a secular state. For this reason, it has been claimed that there is no room for religion in its schools — in other words, no religious education [RE] — despite India being an extremely multicultural society. This compilation thesis begins by examining the aforementioned claim. On the level of educational policy, there might indeed be little religious content. However, the present study shows that the closer to school practice one looks, the more content about religion or even content in religion can be found. Empirical material backing up this claim includes text analysis of policies, curricula, and textbooks as well as ethnological material consisting of interviews and observations from schools in India.An inherent possibility of research in the humanities is that it might qualitatively change the researcher’s perspective. In this case, an unexpected result of researching ‘RE’ in India was new insights into the researcher’s context of origin. The manner of attaining new perspectives on the context of origin in a contrastive analysis of two very different contexts is developed into a methodology of mirroring. The purpose of mirroring is not to compare as such, but rather to explore the researcher’s own context through reflexive introspection in the light of a contrastive. Characteristic traits of Swedish RE are explored using the methodology, and in the mirror, it appears that ‘religion’ in Sweden is understood through a Lutheran framework, which also affects what ‘secular’ means in the context. Vice versa, education about religion in India is coloured by its history and demography. ‘Religion’ and ‘secular’ are not in fact universal terms but are understood differently in different contexts. This is something often overlooked in comparative work on religious education.Although the thesis does not offer suggestions on how religious education ought to be organised in any given place, it does discuss possible advantages and disadvantages of the way religion is handled in schools in Sweden and India, respectively.
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| 5. |
- Risenfors, Signild, 1957-
(author)
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Gymnasieungdomars livstolkande
- 2011
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis describes and analyses views of life and religion, as a component of „view of life‟,among young people in a Swedish upper secondary school that in the words of the youngpeople themselves is „multicultural‟. The concept „view of life‟ is rooted in a Scandinavian research tradition, and is based on a stipulative definition provided by Jeffner (1973), which includes„view of world and man‟, „values and moral‟ and „attitudes towards life‟. Thedefinition is formulated in a society where secularization is an on-going debate. However, in that secularization is contested, religion has re-emerged in a society increasingly characterized by religious pluralism, but also privatization according to religion. Views of life and religion have become political as well as private issues and, in school, are discussed in relation to the „fundamental values‟ and the subject of „Religious Education‟. In such discussionsthe aim is to help students to form an own view of life, just as long as it is consistent with the normative standards of „fundamental values‟.The focus of this thesis is directed to young people‟s articulations. An ethnographic approach has been adopted and the data consists of field notes, letters and interviews (individually and in groups). The fieldwork has taken place in four graduating classes of a single school year. Using analytical concepts from discourse theory the focus of the analysis is on how the youngpeople articulate the three dimensions of „views of life‟, linguistically and physically through narratives, reflections and staging.The most prominent results of the thesis are that, as well as the positioning of religion, views of life are directed towards the self. Articulations about „being yourself‟ appear as a very open concept that can be filled with different content. In accordance with the notion of staging, the young people demonstrate andtest identity with the quest for „authenticity‟ being central. Through high expectations of the „good life‟, vulnerability is also noticed, especially in the anonymous letters.With regard to values and morals a consensus-perspective appears to a greater extent than specific values. Value questions and moral issues dominate in the public arena while ontological and existential questions dominate in the individual letters and interviews. Here the concept „view of life‟is brought into a field between the private and the public and is especially evident in the subject of Religious Education.Although religion is articulated in terms of tolerance and freedom of choice, these concepts are given connotations of a half-hearted attitude and a consensus perspective rather than interest and curiosity for the faith and religious life of „the Other‟.However, if a religious positioning becomes a political issue, the half-hearted setting is challenged. There is also a difference between those having acquired a religious literacy and those who have not.
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| 6. |
- Widholm, Tomas, 1964-
(author)
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Läromedel i praktiken : Läromedelsbruk i religionskunskap på gymnasiet
- 2020
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Syftet med avhandlingen är att undersöka läromedelsbruk i religionskunskap på den svenska gymnasieskolan. Studien argumenterar för en vid förståelse av vad som kan betraktas vara läromedel.Resultaten visar att lärare använder en mångfald av läromedel. Förutom läroboken används olika typer av texter. Som en konsekvens av att både lärare och elever har egna datorer anslutna till internet används webbresurser i undervisningen. Dokumentärfilmer är den typ av film som används mest. Representanter från religiösa organisationer deltar vid vissa tillfällen i undervisningen. Den typ av läromedel som används mest är dock sådana som lärare producerar själva, exempelvis PowerPointpresentationer.I studien undersöks olika lektionsaktiviteter och resultaten visar en variation i läromedelsbruket beroende av ämnesinnehåll. Användning av representanter som fysiska personer eller personer som uppträder i läromedel är exempelvis utmärkande för undervisning om världsreligioner.Betydelsen av olika ramfaktorer har studerats. Tidsbrist innebär att lärare avstår från att visa spelfilm i sin helhet eller tidskrävande aktiviteter. Många av de läromedel som används medför inga direkta kostnader, vilket indikerar att betydelsen av begränsade ekonomiska resurser inte ska underskattas. Av allra störst betydelse är tillgången till digital utrustning, som möjliggör användning av stor mångfald av läromedel.Läromedel kan väljas för att möta negativa attityder bland elever till religionskunskap och för några lärare är det av stor betydelse. Hänsyn tas även till elevers problem med läsning och båda dessa faktorer styr bort från användning av läroboken.Resultaten visar även att lärares läromedelspreferenser har stor betydelse för läromedelsbruket. Även när lärare påverkas av liknande ramfaktorer och möter samma utmaningar, finns ett friutrymme att välja olika läromedel.
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| 7. |
- Gunnarsson, Gunnar J., 1950-
(author)
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”I don’t believe the meaning of life is all that profound” : A study of Icelandic teenagers’ life interpretation and values
- 2008
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- What do teenagers recount about themselves and their interpretation of life and values, and what characterises individual teenagers’ perceptions and statements? What is the relation between teenagers’ life interpretation and values and social circumstances? What challenges to school religious education do the teenagers’ perceptions and statements represent? These questions are central to the study Icelandic Teenagers’ Life Interpretation and Values.The purpose of the study was to investigate some central elements in teenagers’ life interpretation so as to discuss the results in terms of social circumstances in Iceland and of school religious education. The background is that Icelandic society, having been relatively homogeneous, has changed during the past few years with increased plurality.The material the study was based on consists of interviews with Icelandic teenagers. In four articles included in the thesis different parts of the material collected are interpreted using a hermeneutic approach. The main result showed that the teenagers were in a field of tension between homogeneity and plurality on the one hand and security and insecurity on the other. The main trends in the material indicate a common reference framework at the same time as plurality emerges in the teenager’s verbal expressions; and while most spoke of their happiness and security, there was also awareness of the risk and threat that can transform the situation.The material exhibited greater variation within each school than between schools. This suggests the effect of plurality on the younger generation in Iceland. Given this variation among individuals it is urgent to find an approach to religious education that takes greater account of the different pupils’ backgrounds, personal experience and existential questions.
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| 8. |
- Sandahl, Johan, 1974-
(author)
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Medborgarbildning i gymnasiet : Ämneskunnande och medborgarbildning i gymnasieskolans samhälls- och historieundervisning
- 2015
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The school subjects of history and social science are expected to contribute with historical and social scientific knowledge, skills and abilities: that is, subject knowledge. The subject knowledge that students achieve during their schooling is not only meant for future studies, but is also expected to inform a life as democratic citizens. However, the curriculum and syllabus have not always been explicit about this aim, and the relationship between subject knowledge and citizenship education is only vaguely explained. This thesis investigates this relationship within the context of history and social science education in Swedish upper secondary school. The educational dimensions of Biesta – socialisation, qualification and subjectification – are used as an approach to this investigation.The aim of the study is to explore, analyse and discuss the role of history and social science teaching for students’ citizenship education. This is done by investigating curricula, teaching and educational discourses and by using both empirical methods and content analysis. The thesis is a compilation of five articles, all exploring subject knowledge and its connection to students’ citizenship education. The first two articles investigate possible second-order concepts in social science education, which are described and discussed using theories and concepts from history didactics. The findings in these articles work as a basis for further study in following articles, where the subject knowledge and its connections to citizenship education are explored in more depth. Taken together, the articles present a rich picture of the complex reality of teaching and provide a basis for understanding better how teachers, students and curricula express subject knowledge and how this is related, or not, to citizen education.The contribution of the thesis is a more developed theoretical and conceptual understanding of history and social science education, especially through concepts that can be used in practical teaching in order to strengthen and develop citizenship education.
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