Innovative leaning environments : a case study of entrepreneurial learning in the Swedish primary school

• There is an increasing pressure for educational systems and schools to actively engage in a series of global changes and adjust to a growing knowledge-intensive society. Internationally, there is talk about certain “21st century competences” in order to equip the pupils for the challenges of the future. While the new reforms and policy initiatives were being introduced, the gap between theory and practice has become increasingly evident (something which is also called the great disconnect). The need for the contextual micro-cases in order to identify and analyse conditions and results of change is evident.In the current Swedish case-study, the teaching’s and learning’s core processes have been in focus. Based on case studies of entrepreneurial learning, which in many contexts is highlighted as a key competence for the future, we have analyzed how this innovative approach has been designed, implemented and resulted in changes concerning new learner identities, new pedagogical approaches (in terms of scheduling, grouping, interaction between substances, assessment of learning) and new content focus (entrepreneurial competences) in a Swedish primary school years 6 – 9. The research has been based on a variety of methods in  form of document analysis, interview with the headmaster, project managers and teachers, focus group interviews with students and classroom observations. ILE's framework "Learning Principles" of what characterises an effective learning environment have, on both empirical data collection and its analysis, served as an analytical framework.The results of the analyses point to a series of lessons learned on how to design, implement and maintain innovative learning environments. It concerns, for example, including different groups of students and supporting various successful learning identities, so as to balance the necessary subject knowledge with more generic skills / competencies and to organize a formative assessment that can follow and support such skills. The case study also takes up and demonstrates the role of the teacher's active leadership in the actual development of innovative learning environments. Lastly, the current study addresses what we have identified as key challenges in order to bring about changes by means of analysis of the empirical case.

Nyckelord

Education policy

innovation

learning environments

pedagogy

Pedagogics and Educational Sciences

Pedagogik och Utbildningsvetenskap

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

rap (ämneskategori)