| 1. |
- Mickwitz, Larissa, 1969-
(författare)
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En reformerad lärare : Konstruktionen av en professionell och betygssättande lärare i skolpolitik och skolpraktik
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This doctoral thesis investigates the interrelatedness between school policy and practice. In the thesis, the construction of “the teacher” is analysed in school policy documents and teacher interviews. I am particularly interested in the relation between school policy and school practice in light of the two latest curriculum reforms 1994 and 2011 and the teacher accreditation registration reform of 2011. The analysis focuses on two topics: grading and the professional teacher. In fact, an analytic link is made between the emphasis on grading and the discursive construction of the teacher in Swedish education policy. The theoretical framework is positioned within institutional theory within which I combine curriculum theory and the sociological new institutionalism with discourse theory. The analyses of policy documents reveals three types of different discursive constructions of “the teacher”. In the period of deregulation and decentralization, a professional teacher is constructed and the need for an autonomous teacher for school quality is expressed. By the 1990s -2000s an unprofessional grading teacher is constructed. In the period signifying the teacher accreditation and registration reform, a quality assured teacher is constructed. It is a teacher who is formally authorized and in need of continuing evaluation. In the focus groups interviews teachers constructs two types of professionalism. One is in line with the professionalism articulated in the policy texts and is about control and formal regulation and the other is about autonomy. Furthermore, the teachers relate to grading and teachers' ability to act in accordance with their overall teaching assignment. Grading were often constructed opposed to teaching. Demands for documentation, quality reports or the requirement of teacher accreditation is described as institutional practices defined from above. These practices make it difficult for teachers to complete their teaching assignments. The study indicates that teachers' ability to operate in an increasingly regulatory schooling culture has, through the types of requirements for transparency in teachers’ work, resulted in the decline of autonomy in their professional practice.
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| 2. |
- Pananaki, Maria Mersini, 1991-
(författare)
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The Parent–Teacher Encounter : A (mis)match between habitus and doxa
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of the thesis is to study how parents and teachers experience their encounter and how they negotiate their positions in the field of schooling with respect to legitimate knowledge claims about the child and the ideal form of home–school collaboration. The aim is operationalised through the following research questions: 1) How do parents and teachers utilise their social and cultural resources in their encounters? 2) How can certain resources function as forms of capital in relation to different practices in the field? 3) What practices do teachers and parents employ to preserve and/or subvert their relative positions in their encounters? The theoretical framework is grounded in Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice and the main conceptual tools are habitus, capital and doxa. Specifically, the thesis explores how parents and teachers rely on their dispositions to understand their encounter, how parents’ social and cultural resources evolve into forms of capital, and the different practices that parents and teachers employ to negotiate shared beliefs in the field of schooling. The parent–teacher encounter is viewed as a social practice that emerges in the interplay between subjectivity and objectivity. The study employs a qualitative design to examine teachers and parents of children in Swedish compulsory schools in the Stockholm urban area (grades one to nine). The data consists of individual interviews with seven teachers and eleven parents as well as observations in four development conferences. The empirical results show that the teachers talk about parents as a collective and have unified opinions about home–school collaboration. Although their practices mainly stem from a collective habitus, they also employ different collaboration strategies in encounters with parents. The findings on the parents point to differing positions in the social space due to their varying backgrounds in terms of culture, educational level, family structure and the like. Some parents use their social and cultural capital to negotiate with the teachers and claim accommodations whilst others struggle to express themselves in front of the teachers and to understand the dynamics of the Swedish school. The prerequisites for a successful collaboration that parents and teachers negotiate revolve around transparency, trust, mutual respect and engagement in the student.Furthermore, the thesis develops the notion of parental school capital, which is informed by the intersection of four components: educational capital, sociocultural context of upbringing, family dynamics and student’s schooling situation. Based on the analysis, the most powerful combination is high educational capital, upbringing in Sweden, shared responsibilities between parents, and a stable student performance. This combination often leads to the acquisition of certain advantages in the schooling field. The analysis further shows that the school doxa works unproblematically as long as there is a match between parents’ and teachers’ habitus. However, there are instances of mismatch when parents and teachers address problematic situations in an attempt to negotiate their positions and subsequently challenge the doxa.
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| 3. |
- Denman, Brian Dougherty, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Agility analytics, alternative assessments, and the personalised assessment Tool (PAT
- 2023
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Ingår i: <em>Oceania Comparative and International Education Society,</em> University of Samoa. - Apia, Samoa.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Agility analytics is relatively new in learning sciences. It pertains to evidencing actionableand insightful knowledge about a student's ability and capability that may not be readilyunderstood by conventional, traditional assessment exercises. By means ofdisaggregating agility analytics into evolutionary stages: descriptive, diagnostic,predictive, and prescriptive (Morrow 2021), this study aims to uncover dimensions oflearning analytics that differentiate between course development functionality specificto learning outcomes and the utility of alternative assessments to benchmark, track, andscaffold academic achievement. The complexity of agility analytics draws into questionabout whether fundamental changes in how to educate students is examined using casestudy examples of a pilot study using the Personalised Assessment Tool for coursedevelopment in three countries (Australia, China, and Sweden) from 2016-2023. Thisstudy concludes by creating a possible framework for researching agility analytics inuniversity settings, which includes possibilities for both student and staff development.
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| 4. |
- Denman, Brian Dougherty, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Comparing Equity and Quality Education in the Asia Pacific
- 2023
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Ingår i: International Handbook on Education Development in Asia-Pacific. - Singapore : Springer. - 9789811623271
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Multilateral interventions, based on evidence from large-scale surveys, tend to promote the idea that quality and equity can be combined and that globalization enables a more universalized, standardized approach to achieving this. However, in countries where educational supply fails to meet demand, there continues to be a polarization between policies for educational equity and those promoting individualized rights to a quality education.The justification of this book chapter reflects paradigmatic approaches to equity and quality in comparative literature to ascertain positional frames of reference in order to improve the way in which equity and quality might be viewed and acted upon. The first literature review consists of comparative education articles that incorporate both equity and quality as descriptors in English-medium texts. The second review consists of chapters in this section not only to help summarize each, respectively, but to analyze them using a modified version of McTaggart and Kemmis’ practice architectures in order to highlight the psychological and sociological dimensions from outsider/insider perspectives. The aim is to provide direction in terms of the complexity between equity and quality education on the one hand and the identification of new trends from various approaches and lenses on the other. This book chapter reviews the assumption that perspectives of equity and quality education can be informed by the visualization of evidence and the comparability of contexts through textual, documentary analysis.
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| 5. |
- Hellstén, Meeri, Professor , International and Comparative, 1962-
(författare)
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International and comparative insights on HETL : collaborative faculty development dimensions
- 2023
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- A value base in the field of higher education pedagogy is known for combining the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) seamlessly with everyday diverse academic engagements. This aligns with the European policy directives (2022) on maintaining good quality curricular delivery to provide student equity and educational access in an increasingly volatile social institution. Such policies however, do not clearly align with what is observed (i.e. in the academic capacity) to cater for diverse student needs. Regardless of educational good-will, many didactic practices remain ill-defined and unknown, particularly in terms of benchmarking and assessment of student achievements across the curricular spectrum. Academic developers have raised concerns on the need for a concerted transnational effort in cultivating learning and teaching environments grounded in transformational inclusive knowledge principles and which are responsive to different student needs. This presentation opens an opportunity for setting the stage for knowledge co-creation within emerging inclusive communities of HETL within Europe. It defines common conceptions of equity and quality in higher education, then broadens current discourse on the axiology of inclusion in a comparative European dimension. The focus is on comparing exemplars of collective responsibility in humanising good student-centred teaching and the value-based logic of transparency about imagined learning alternatives. Reflections are drawn from an ongoing EU Erasmus Plus (2021-2024) funded consortium study involving transformation of the European discourse on inclusivity across higher education institutions. The paper concludes with raising questions about inclusivity and the axiological dimensions of values, identities, and a discourse of transformation in higher education.
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| 6. |
- Hellstén, Meeri, Professor , International and Comparative, 1962-
(författare)
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On the Academic Value of Comparing Curriculum Reform, Renewal and Regeneration : co-creating green internationalization in higher education
- 2024
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This presentation discusses the value of good (university) education for the building of possible futures for all. It rests on the premise that the quality of education holds transformative potential for sustaining the academic content and structure, and cultivates a knowledge base for graduates so that they may act on the needs of future society. Trajectories for change may depend on forms of curriculum, and hinge upon the human values of academic exchange. One such value base might derive from a combining of quality with equity in developing faculty as a resource for educational reform, renewal and regeneration.In this paper, faculty development comes into focus from the perspective of doctoral supervision for knowledge regeneration. In terms of developing human relationality in higher education, the paper appreciates that doctoral supervision is possibly one of the most involving aspects of both teaching and learning of value bases in academia. This presentation provides some observational reflections on how a relationally co-created doctoral supervision exchange might take shape and inform new academic value bases. Observations and samples critical academic incidents were gathered during 2017-2023 through an international research exchange program between two CIE communities.As such the paper examines future potential for a regeneration of comparative and international curriculum, across two world continents in the geographical south and north, Australia and the Nordics. It draws on the educational implications at the mid-life point of the UN-SDG agenda, and questions what values are comparable, for example, in light of ‘green internationalization’ of higher education in the possible futures beyond 2030? Some critical examples are provided as based on a funded five-year partnership within the international and comparative education research exchange between the two continents.The discussion involves the audience as a community of comparative scholars, in a reflective discussion on the reform, renewal and regeneration of potential for possible futures evolving beyond Agenda 2030.
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| 7. |
- Katsampoxaki-Hodgetts, Kallia, et al.
(författare)
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Developing Academics’ Pedagogical Acuity by Agentic Engagement and Reflection of Faculty Development Processes
- 2023
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we argue for the need to shift towards more sustainable Faculty Development (FD) processes so that academics can become self-regulated, autonomous learners themselves and develop competences that allow them to design efficacious Inclusive Student-centred Pedagogy (ISCP) lessons in their context. Drawing on Hockings (2001), we define ISCP in Higher Education as proactive and intentional teaching and learning activities, course design, curricula and assessment that foster equity during carefully designed learner-centred opportunities for student engagement, self-awareness, self-regulation, and learner autonomy for all stakeholders in higher education; hence, ISCP does not label certain groups of students or individuals who may have additional needs but it attempts to meet all student needs proactively taking into account potential needs of all stakeholders without labelling (Katsampoxaki-Hodgetts, 2022). The Covid pandemic created many challenges that higher education (HE) has to address (EU Commission Directorate, 2021) including the rapid digitalisation of education and the expression of often muted or suppressed academic voices. The digital transformation of education enhanced our awareness that some face-to-face teaching models may not be appropriate as certain groups of students may be under-privileged. In this new landscape, academics ought to revise their teaching and their curricula, listening at the same time to voices that may have been unassumed, like those of students. Incorporating needs, plans and ambitions of all students, regardless of identity, ISCP can address such discrepancy in a context where everyone’s voice can be heard through all available means and students are viewed as equal partners (Cook-Sather, 2016). This need for educational change is highlighted and promoted throughout the EU through University alliances i.e. Circle.U or CIVIS and European Agencies promoting Inclusion i.e. EASIE. Academics’ role needs to adapt to becoming more responsible for cultivating an inclusive and equity-driven learning environment where all students can succeed academically (Whittaker & Montgomery, 2014) and improving i-SCP teaching practices & faculty development (FD) interventions in Higher Education become imperative (Katsampoxaki-Hodgetts, 2022). Following top-down policy directives and despite faculty member resistance, faculty development (FD) modes entail organising formal learning cycles (with or without micro-credentials) including teacher-fronted training sessions, lectures, seminars and/or learning-centred / hands-on workshops. Recent FD developments opt for modes that employ informal discussions among or between peers, peer coaching discussion prior to or after completion of peer-observation protocols and self-regulation tasks that require alignment of all syllabus components with ISC pedagogies. Action research combined with reflective diaries and/or teacher portfolios also serve as a very promising FD model. However, there is a yawning gap between teaching practices and policies as little attention has been given to academics’ pedagogical acuity following target faculty development (FD) modes. With this shift in mind and by systematically recording academics reflections and evaluations of existing formal, informal, typical and atypical formal development modes, COALITION partners aim to map emerging needs in terms of academics pedagogical acuity as well as overall readiness to embrace inclusive and student centred pedagogies inclusive student-centred pedagogies (ISCP) by placing emphasis on the need to implement adequate schemes for pedagogical development that empower academics to teach in ISCP programmes with confidence. Six universities from six European countries are involved in this joint venture. This study (2023) initially examined academics (n=180) and students’ (n=180) perceptions in terms of how ISCP is facilitated and implemented in their Higher Education Context taking into account institutional situatedness and personal standpoints. The survey instrument consisted of 46 statements that obtained descriptive data using a a 5-point Likert scale where 1 = strongly agree, 2 = agree, 3 = neutral, 4 = disagree, and 5 = strongly disagree. This tool was employed to map expected Faculty member ISCP competences and faculty development needs taking into account various teaching, learning and assessment modes. This was followed up a semi structured interview whose thematic analysis gave rise to academics’ agentic engagement potential and expectations of typical and atypical faculty development modes. Participation in the study was voluntary and the protocol was approved by the institutional review board for the protection of human subjects. Based on the initial data and mapping of academics ISCP competences, we designed and provided a wide range of formal and informal faculty development approaches (incl. reflexive and communicative interaction tools). In an attempt to evaluate how substantive each FD approach was in terms of ‘doing’ ISCP we complemented each academic’s action with an evaluation questionnaire that gave reflexive opportunities and focused on processes (Kläy et al., 2015). The same evaluation questionnaires were used after each FD activity as purposive spaces, frameworks (Mitchell et al., 2015) and structured opportunities for reflective communicative interaction as a self-regulation tool. Drawing upon insights from critical reflexivity (Wilmes et al. 2018) and collaborative autoethnography as a qualitative methodology and a theoretical approach that allows researchers to “transcend narrations of the past” (Chang, Wambura Ngunjiri, Hernandezm, 2013:19), we encouraged participants to work toward interpretation of the self, relative to situated social and cultural contexts (Lave and Wenger, 1998). The view promotes a concept of non-dominating and reflexive ‘strong objectivity’ (Rosendahl et al., 2015) that derives its strength from a rigorous appreciation of social situatedness, informed by a standpoint perspective that involves both expert and non-expert actors in co-producing knowledge as equal partners. The reflexivity is a powerful analytic instrument that acts on researchers’ consciousness revealing his/her actions and emotions by reflecting upon the decisions as ‘a self-referential analytic exercise’ which ‘aligns methodological rigour with a critically disciplined subjectivity, decentering not only the sedimentations of the analyst but (reflexively) those of the field itself’ (Macbeth 2001: 38–39). Framed through an evidencing value lens (Bamber & Stefani, 2016), the theoretical framework, the methodology, the tools used by six partner European Universities are presented so as to shed light to academics’ needs and competences with regards to ISCP and follow up interventions designed. In this light, we aim to provide a more learner centred FD approach with academics as learners, through a “methodological approach that foregrounds plurality and contestation, orienting research frameworks towards inclusiveness, tensions, unpredictability and complexity” (Khoo et al., 2019: 182). By focusing on evidencing outcomes in terms of changes behaviours and outcomes, we aim to demonstrate the impact in faculty development (Bambi and Stefani, 2016; van der Rijst et al., 2022) Our approach highlights the need to shift from teacher-centred training modes in faculty development schemes and explore learning centred FD modes where academics are provided with opportunities for reflection and self-regulation taking into account situated practice and context.
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| 8. |
- Reierstam, Helena, 1972-
(författare)
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Assessment in Multilingual Schools : A comparative mixed method study of teachers’ assessment beliefs and practices among language learners - CLIL and migrant students
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis presents the results from two research projects on teachers’ assessment beliefs and practices in multilingual education. Study I involved teachers of biology, history or English as a foreign language (EFL) in Swedish upper secondary Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) schools, grades 10-12, where English is used as the medium of instruction. In Study II teachers from schools with newly-arrived migrant students (NAS) grades 7 to 12 in the natural and social sciences participated. In both contexts, students are learning the language of instruction at the same time as they are expected to develop subject area knowledge why issues in relation to the role of language in assessment come to the fore. The aim is to contribute to the knowledge of an underexplored research area on subject matter assessment in multilingual schools and draw attention to the consequences varying language policies and pedagogies may have on fairness in access opportunities and validity in assessment outcomes.In this thesis teachers’ language beliefs and practices as expressed in interviews, questionnaires and assessment samples were compared and analyzed in relation to the cognitive and linguistic requirements of language functions in syllabi and the assessment tasks. Whereas Study I was mainly qualitative in nature, involving 12 teachers, a mixed method approach was adopted in Study II where 196 teachers participated in a survey and 13 in follow-up interviews. The responses in the survey were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Thematic content analysis was used for the interview data, the assessment samples and open-ended survey questions.The findings from the two studies indicate that although teachers state that language is not part of the assessment, they maintain that students need to use language to show proof of critical thinking and more advanced analytical skills. All teachers regardless of discipline shared the weight attached to covering course content as expressed in syllabi which points at a shared accountability culture. One of the main concerns expressed by the teachers is how to construct assignments where language does not represent a hindrance to show content knowledge. Teachers in both studies claimed to focus mainly on subject concepts, not general academic language, and the assessment beliefs and practices seemed to be closely related to the character of the subject. The non-parametric tests of association revealed that teachers with a dual language and subject content certification displayed significantly higher results in relation to all activities involving a visible language pedagogy, e.g. looking at useful sentence structures and providing model texts. Oral follow-up was used by all teachers to remedy poor written results. Although the use of the students’ strongest language is advocated in guidelines for the instruction of NAS, most teachers in Study II referred to a monolingual Swedish language norm. In a society where the educational discourse has become characterized by diversity, inequality and segregation, these two studies underline the need for a shared language policy and pedagogy across subjects and school contexts. They also suggest that an organization and teacher profession with an explicit responsibility for academic language is needed to provide equal access to subject content and validity and comparability in assessment in multilingual schools.
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