| 1. |
- Johansson, Tomas, 1970-
(författare)
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Samarbete mellan gymnasieskolan och näringslivet : en studie av lokala partnerskap i fyra kommuner
- 2004
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The national curriculum and the School Act emphasize the importance of establishing partnerships between schools and local businesses. The formation of partnerships was expected to be facilitated by the decentralization reforms that took place in the beginning of the 1990’s. These reforms gave schools and municipalities greater scope for adjusting education to meet local circumstances. However, central government has not made financial resources available for stimulating the establishment of school-business partnerships, nor does it penalize municipalities that do not set up such partnerships. The questions in focus in this study are: why do partnerships arise, how are they organised and what factors are important in achieving a partnership which can function in practice? Urban regime theory is applied to explain why collaborations occur and policy network theory is used to analyse how they are organised. A further aim of the study is to examine whether the partnerships can be defined as urban regimes. The study was based on case studies of four upper secondary schools in Sweden, each in a different municipality. These municipalities are all industrialized, but the structure of their industrial base varies. Two are dominated by one or a few major companies whereas the others are characterized by the predominance of many small businesses. The study focuses on how three vocational study programmes – industry, electricity and building - collaborate with local businesses. The study shows that the main explanation of why a partnership arises is that both partners believe that they can gain something by collaborating. For schools, the main reason for establishing a partnership with business is a belief that this will make the vocational education programmes more attractive for pupils. Through partnerships, schools can get access not only to practical experience for their pupils, but also help from business with developing the content of courses and some financial contributions. However, the economic benefits are of limited importance compared with the perceived gains in terms of the development of the educational content of the courses. This goes against results from studies in other countries. For business, it is particularly important to be able to influence decisions about the content of local education. By doing so, they hope to ensure that the pupils, after having completed their education, will enter the local labour market with more relevant qualifications. My research shows that several requirements have to be present for a successful partnership to be established. First, there must be a commitment and firm intentions from both partners. Second, size of the businesses involved in the partnerships is important for how they are organized. Larger businesses tend to see the partnership from a more long term perspective. However, it is also possible to organize collaborations with smaller businesses if they can be united under a common organisation. Third, specific actors make a difference in the partnerships. Devoted and interested key actors who are closely associated with the partnership are very important for the continuity of the partnership The study suggests that urban regime theory and policy network theory are useful for understanding why and how partnerships between schools and businesses are established and retained. However, it can not be concluded that these collaborations in themselves are urban regimes at a more local level. This would require that their focus was much more long-term.
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| 2. |
- Eriksson, Linda, 1972-
(författare)
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Elevinflytande i gränslandet mellan didaktik och makt – en studie av undervisningspraktiken i tre grundskolor
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis focuses on student influence in the borderland between didactics and power. Student influence is ambiguous and the mission of student influence can be interpreted in different ways in Swedish compulsory schools. In the school reforms of the 1990s, the intentions of student influence, based on both moral and political as well as theoretical positions were stated. Student influence was seen as a right, as being important for education in democracy, and as a prerequisite for learning. Democracy, knowledge and learning are essentially contested concepts. As a didactic practice student influence cannot be understood as general impact through learning, nor as fully-fledged democracy. The question of the limitations of student influence is described and analysed in the thesis. The aim is to describe and critically analyse student influence as didactic practice. The research questions that have directed the study are: How is student influence expressed in three different schools, where there has been a particular ambition to implement student influence? What prerequisites are given for student influence in the way teaching is organised and carried out?What possibilities and constraints (conditions) appear, from the perspective of didactics and power? A fourth question links together the empirical study with the problem of the limits of student influence: Can a didactic model be designed for student influence as didactic practice, and if so, how? The study was conducted using an abductive approach and strategy, and with a point of departure in critical realism as scientific approach. Three primary schools, with the particular ambition of implementing the mission of student influence, were studied through a multiple case study design. The empirical material was produced using ethnographic methods. The a didactic framework is used for description, whilst a sociological concept of power has contributed to the construction of analytical tools. Using ‘order’ and ‘renegotiation’ as analytic tools, the conditions for student influence on how teaching is organised and carried out, are described. Responsibility and transparency are tested as conditions, in order to answer the question of possibilities and constraints from the perspective of didactics and power. The analysis of teaching practice in the three schools shows that student influence is complex, and that it has to be understood as local bound and situationally. This impacts on the possibility of understanding its limitations. The results show that experiences and interests of students can concern motivating them to work, adapting teaching to different learning styles, or that the teachers pay attention to their expressions to fostering more generally. Furthermore, all models of democracy, and of different approaches to learning and knowledge are visible in the schools. The importance of classroom discussion for student influence needs to be illuminated, and the distinction between didactic considerations, and what could be understood as unwarranted power. The results are discussed in relation to issues of learning theory and curriculum theory, as well as to ideals of democratic education, to understand the limits of student influence. A didactic model, with three conceptual tools that enable repeated questioning of the limits of student influence, is proposed.
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| 3. |
- Memišević, Alma, 1972-
(författare)
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Det undervisande fritidshemmet i lärandets tidevarv : En diskursanalytisk studie med fokus på de naturvetenskapliga och tekniska undervisningspraktikerna
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- School-age educare centres (SAEC) have traditionally been places with room for play and for the realization of children’s interests, initiatives, and needs. In recent years, there have been discursive shifts, where SAEC has moved from a social pedagogical arena towards an educational pedagogical one. This change is the focus of this dissertation’s study, which aims to contribute knowledge about how science and technology are expressed in SAEC teaching.The study is ethnographically inspired, and video observations and field notes, as well as formal and informal interviews have been used as data collection methods. The study has been conducted at three different SAEC with diverse conditions. One is located at a compulsory school for pupils with intellectual disabilities, one is an outdoor SAEC, and one is what could be described as an 'ordinary' SAEC that reflects contemporary conditions of SAEC; a large number of enrolled students, inadequate facilities, and a low proportion of staff with pedagogical training. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) in accordance with Norman Fairclough has been used as a theoretical and methodological framework.The study’s results indicate that there is a desire among SAEC staff to conduct goal-directed teaching, that is, to plan teaching in advance, based on the curriculum’s goals, to carry it out systematically so that all students have access to the teaching, and to base it on students’ interests. The results show the challenges that SAEC staff face in delivering the teaching. These include difficulties in finding time and space for teaching, getting students to want to participate, and getting them interested. Another challenge is the difficulty of implementing SAEC group-oriented approach within SAEC in compulsory school for pupils with intellectual disabilities. SAEC staff mostly rely on traditional teaching methods, mainly developed within the framework of the school. At the same time, the results show other ways of realizing the teaching mission, based on interdisciplinary and situation-based approaches.The results show tensions between tradition and renewal in SAEC practice. In previous research, this field of tension has been referred to as a struggle between an older social pedagogical tradition and a newer educational pedagogical tradition. This tension has arisen from political efforts to build a knowledge society with a strong focus on improving students’ academic performance and has contributed to focusing on SAEC as an attractive arena that has the potential to contribute to the school’s goal fulfilment; this risks blurring the differences and boundaries between school and SAEC, as well as between play and learning.
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