| 1. |
- Linné, Agneta, Professor em. 1939-
(författare)
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Moralen, barnet eller vetenskapen? : En studie av tradition och förändring i lärarutbildningen
- 1996
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Tradition and change in compulsory school teacher education are studied historically, using the theoretical framework of curriculum theory and theory of cultural reproduction. The concepts of classification and framing are used as analytic devices. The curriculum is analyzed by its principles of selection, organization, methods of instruction and evaluation. The objects of study are pedagogical texts and material frames; also, important actors and struggles in the field of teacher education are identified.The establishment of a State education for elementary school teachers from 1842 onwards is analyzed. Two main periods of change have been discerned - one in the 1860s and one around the turn of the century. Both these changes coincided with considerable alterations in the context of the institution of teacher training. Changes occurred in the relations between community and State networks, power relations of State bureaucracy were altered and new ideas of nature, science, the child and morality broke through. Initially, classification and framing were comparatively weak; step by step they were strengthened as State control grew more forceful. From the 1880s onwards, the dominating character of teacher education was challenged by the new professional organization created by the elementary school teachers. The strong dominance of Church and religion over education was deeply questioned in light of the newly developing sciences like empirical psychology and the natural sciences. Actors from teacher training institutes played important roles in national educational policy and in the field of teacher education. These actors have been engaged in struggles for admission to the field, for the ownership of the arena and for the power over examination - struggles concerning the distinctions of the field itself in relation to other fields.The study has demonstrated how ideas of morality, the child and science in various shapes have dominated the scene of teacher education from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries.
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| 2. |
- Novak, Judit, 1985-
(författare)
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Juridification of Educational Spheres : The Case of Swedish School Inspection
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation argues that the great transformation of education policy and governance that we have witnessed in the last few decades can only be properly understood by taking into account a process of juridification. In and of itself, this is not a novel assertion; what is argued here is that what this entails concretely has been only partially understood. The mounting importance of positive rights in the welfare state as a means of preserving and legitimating the State’s role is underlined, and particular focus is directed to the Swedish Schools Inspectorate (SSI) as an intermediary body between the State and educational institutions. The main argument that this dissertation advances is that the Swedish 2010 Education Act, along with the changes that its enforcement brought to state school inspection, is an instructive expression of the institutionalization of a juridified school system. Central to this argument is the idea that the legitimacy of the postmodern State in the eyes of its citizens can no longer be taken for granted. Juridification can be seen as a strategy of compensatory legitimation. Drawing on earlier research on governance and juridification, respectively, the dissertation sketches out the general thrust for the examination of the relation between the two and, in particular, just what the theoretical perspective of juridification adds to our understanding of the transformation of education policy and practice. We still know rather little about the latter, i.e., about what the functions and implications of a “juridified” mode of education governance may be more precisely. Against the backdrop of three empirical studies, it advances the argument that a good part of the evolutionary process that is here called “the juridification of educational spheres” comprises operations, institutions and actors deeply involved in locally or regionally situated issues and struggles. It further argues that state school inspection processes as such provide some means of intermediation – the means of making ideologies become real and policies come true. The final discussion is conducted in light of the specific case of the SSI, particularly how the actions and decisions involved in the Inspectorate’s enactment of policy actually constitute policy by giving it certain forms and specific content. These considerations take us beyond the sphere of governance and to the heart of what we may think schooling is or ought to be about.
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| 3. |
- Hallsén, Stina, 1979-
(författare)
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Lärarutbildning i skolans tjänst? : En policyanalys av statliga argument för förändring
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Teacher education occupies a position between the school system and higher education. It is expected to both have an impact on the school system and to be influenced by it. Compared to other higher education programs, teacher education has more often been subject to government control and detailed regulation. This thesis deals with the various roles and functions ascribed to teacher education in its complex position within the educational system, and above all its relationship with the school system. The objective of the thesis is to increase knowledge on government policy, with regard to teacher education, and frames within which the policy is developed, that in turn creates the framework for teacher education. The issues outlined above are processed through two sub-studies. The first sub-study deals with these issues in a general and historical perspective. The second sub-study is focused on a specific content (ICT) in initiatives for teacher education reforms. By analyzing arguments put forward in government policy from a curriculum theory perspective the thesis shows that teacher education throughout the whole review period was considered to mainly benefit and serve the school system. However, the significance attached to this service varies. Generally two trails are highlighted. The first involves the teacher education service of delivering the teachers that the school system requires in order to live up to expectations of today. The other definition of working in the service of the school system is to contribute to a future-oriented development of the current school system. In many cases these perspectives are combined but the trend in the period reviewed in this study is that the first definition, to work in the service of the contemporary school system, has been accorded ever greater prominence.
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| 4. |
- Jonsson, Olof Gustaf, 1954-
(författare)
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Bilden och texten : En studie av ljusets och seendets pedagogik
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The thesis deals with a reading tradition that can be traced to medieval times, a tradition in which images and text, intertwined, convey the message to the reader. The strength of the coupling between image and text has varied over time. Initially closely interconnected, the connections between image and text were later separated. If text and image represent two diverse ways of organizing human memory, one serial and the other structural, we could say that the first focuses on reproduction and the other on detection. The relation between them is essential for pedagogical action as well as for pedagogical reflection. The aim of this work is to illustrate how this variation in strength changed the pedagogy and prevailing understanding of how images and texts are read. During the emergence of the Swedish elementary school, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a form of education referred to as ‘visual experience-based teaching methods’ (åskådningsundervisning, Anschauungs-Unterricht) was introduced, a philosophy of education that revitalized traditions from the Middle Ages, with a strong coupling between image and text. The idea of using the image as a tool for education developed into the tradition of ‘school posters’ (skolplanscher), which were used in Swedish education up the implementation of the comprehensive school system in 1962. The development of visual argumentation expressed through the use of school posters is analyzed by tracing the development of the school posters in parallel with normative texts, such as curricula documents and protocols from the school inspectors and the Swedish parliament (Riksdag). The introduction of visual experience-based instruction in the Swedish elementary school in the curriculum (normalplan) of 1878 gave rise to a tension between the new method and the earlier tradition of how texts and even letters should be read. The new teaching method related to the senses, especially the visual faculty and the visual memory, and served as a tool to break up a strong literacy tradition. This had repercussions for the entire school system. The consequence of an altered basic content of the concept of reading also involved a transfer of the right of examination from the church to the community. With the implementation of the curriculum of 1919 the content of the visual experienced-based teaching methods was moved to a new subject called ‘local history’ (hembygdskunskap) which strongly reduced the linkage to the teaching of reading. The visual lines of this argumentation after the curriculum of 1919 are primarily structural in nature, expressed by using the perspectives in the image.
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| 5. |
- Morssy Berglund, Maude, 1956-
(författare)
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Mentalitet, pedagogik, historiskt minne : Om utbildningens samtida villkor och processer
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis attempts to highlight the contemporary conditions and processes of education in order to define what kind of education dominates the 21st century School. What mentality and pedagogy are governing the design of the 21st century School? How can the historical perspective help to explain the conditions and processes in contemporary education? This thesis studies these questions by analyzing and interpreting active educational discourses from the beginning of the 21st century. The study is based on critical hermeneutics. The concepts are mentality, inherent pedagogy and historical memory. The material underlying the study consists of 351 news articles about education in the Swedish newspaper Västerbottens-Kuriren. The interpretation process has been carried out at different stages, in order to describe, explain and understand active educational discourses. This interpretation applies three complementary methods - text analysis, hermeneutic interpretation and critical discourse analysis. The findings indicate a mentality containing three main trends – equal togetherness, independent learning and independent freedom of choice, which arises from an inherent pedagogy containing two main trends - competence-developing and a performance-enhancing process. The contemporary mentality and pedagogy are emerging in the gap between Piaget´s and Skinner's educational ethos. At a shorter historical perspective, mentalities in the 1990s bear major structural similarities to the mentalities formed in the 21st century. In parallel, inherent pedagogy in the 1990s shares less structural similarities to the pedagogy formed in the 21st century. At a longer historical perspective, one will notice major structural similarities between the 18th century and the 21st century. What distinguishes one period from another is that the 18th century was a class society with teachers who had low ambitions, whereas the 21st century is a democratic society with teachers who have high ambitions. What unites the periods is that both the 18th and the 21st centuries witnessed great spatial and economic change. They are centuries of coercion and competition as well as centuries of freedom. In addition, they share the qualities of distance and control, and they both treat children as adults. Finally both centuries face unfinished policies with contradictory trends. From a media perspective, the debates from the 1990s and the editorials and facts from the 21st century news articles bear no similarities in terms of ideological positions on education.
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| 6. |
- Törnsén, Monika, 1952-
(författare)
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Successful Principal Leadership: : Prerequisites, Processes and Outcomes
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis' main theme is successful principal leadership in secondary schools within the Swedish education system. Successful principal leadership is examined from three perspectives: What are the processes of a successful principal? Do the leadership processes relate to successful academic and social outcomes of schools? What are the prerequisites for successful principal leadership? The Frame Factor Model and the three concepts of prerequisites, processes and outcomes constitute an overarching framework. The prerequisites are categorized as internal prerequisites (the particular characteristics of individual principals) and external prerequisites operating within the Swedish educational environment. The successful principal processes are viewed as pedagogical leadership processes, on one hand as providing prerequisites for teaching and learning and, on the other hand as leading the core processes of teaching and learning. The definitions build on the empirical data, on the Swedish national curriculum and demands for pedagogical leadership, and on international findings on what successful principals do. The outcomes of successful principal leadership are here defined as the academic and the social outcomes of schools. The research undertaken is part of the research project 'Structure, Culture, Leadership - Prerequisites for Successful Schools?' The empirical data for this thesis are gathered in twenty-six Swedish secondary schools whereof five are regarded successful schools based on both academic and social outcomes. The findings, reported on in four articles, derive from interviews and questionnaires to principals and teachers. The principals in the main identify prerequisites of importance that are within their own realm of influence, such as themselves, teachers and school district level. They consider a limited area of responsibility and support from district level specialists as providing possibilities for their success. The principals accept the national governance of schools and principals via the national curriculum. The principals in the five successful schools however take a higher degree of responsibility for setting direction towards national goals, for processes inside schools and for school outcomes than do principals in less successful schools.They as pedagogical leaders attend to a higher degree both to providing prerequisites for teaching and learning and to leading the core processes of teaching and learning than do principals in less successful schools. In schools with a successful implementation of social goals, which shows as successful social outcomes, the principals, according to teachers, overall take responsibility for their national objectives and obligations to a higher degree than principals in schools with a less successful implementation of social goals. The implementation of social goals is of importance not only from an outcome perspective but also from a process perspective. It requires collaborative interpretation which can promote principal-staff professional relations and ultimately student learning. The identified overall differences between principals' leadership processes and processes in the twenty-six schools raise questions around consequences for equivalence in education.
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| 7. |
- Bäckström, Pontus, 1983-
(författare)
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Kamrateffekter i skolundervisning – En ramfaktorteoretisk analys
- 2020
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the educational literature on peer effects, attention has been brought to the fact that the mechanisms creating peer effects are still to a large extent hidden in obscurity. The hypothesis in this study is that the Frame Factor Theory can be used to explain these mechanisms.At heart of the theory is the concept of “time needed” for students to learn a certain curricula unit. The relations between class-aggregated time needed and the actual time available, steers and hinders the actions possible for the teacher. Further, the theory predicts that the timing and pacing of the teachers’ instruction is governed by a “steering criterion group” (SCG), namely the pupils in the 10th-25th percentile of the aptitude distribution in class. The class composition hereby set the possibilities and limitations for instruction, creating peer effects on individual outcomes.To test if the theory can be applied to the issue of peer effects, the study employs multilevel structural equation modelling (M-SEM) on Swedish TIMSS 2015-data (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study; students N=3761, teachers N=179). Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the SEM-framework, latent variables are specified according to the theory, such as “limitations of instruction” from TIMSS survey items. The results indicate a good model fit to data of the measurement model.The SEM-model verify a strong relation between the mean level of the SCG and the latent variable of limitations on instruction, a variable which in turn has a great impact on individual students’ test results.Thus, the analysis indicates a confirmation of the predictions derived from the frame factor theory and reveals that one of the important mechanisms creating peer effects in student outcomes is the effect the class composition has upon the teachers’ instruction in class.
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| 8. |
- Folke-Fichtelius, Maria, 1952-
(författare)
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Förskolans formande : Statlig reglering 1944–2008
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Preschool is a central part of Swedish family life. The manner in which the state regulates preschool through laws, ordinances, and various kinds of written objectives has an impact on many people in the Swedish society. The thesis examines the development of preschool state regulation from the 1940s until 2008. The starting point of the study is a draft for a new Education Act, put forward in 2003, which proposed that preschool should be integrated into the school system as a new form of school. The purpose of the study is to generate knowledge about the state regulation of Swedish preschool, and how it has contributed to the shaping of preschool as a societal institution. Questions considered in the analysis are how regulation delimits preschool as a social category, what role this regulation assigns preschool in relation to other actors and societal institutions involved in early childhood education and care, and what principles this regulation is based on. The study has evolved within the research tradition of curriculum theory as developed in studies in educational politics. The analysis is carried out as a text analysis, where the concepts of boundary work, official classification and activity system serve as important analytical tools. Texts produced within the formal chain of decision and legislation: directives for committees, government white papers, ministerial task forces, bills, legislative texts etc., form the empirical foundation for the study. The analysis shows that economic as well as legal and ideological governing instruments are used in the shaping of the framework of preschool. These frameworks are indicated in the form of different boundary markers that delimit preschool as a specific category and arrange it in relation to other categories. The boundaries indicated by these boundary markers have been subject to extensive discussion during the formulation process. Through this boundary work, preschool has been constructed as a full time preschool, commissioned to provide both education and care. The boundaries of this commission are in some respects indistinct and contain several overlapping elements with regards to family, social services and school. At the same time, preschool holds a fixed core with more distinct boundaries, in the form of a part time public preschool delimited by time and age and regulated by far-reaching legislation regarding the rights of children to attend. Owing to this construction, preschool may balance several different and partly contradictory demands placed on it by other institutions and by different interest groups, while at the same time maintaining a core of identity of its own. In that sense, preschool may be described as a boundary object. Thus, when it is suggested that preschool should constitute a form of school and be placed in the more formal regulation structures of the school system, the balance of this construction is challenged.
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| 9. |
- Forssell, Anna, 1958-
(författare)
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Skolan som politiskt narrativ : En studie av den skolpolitiska debatten i Sveriges riksdag 1991 - 2002
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How do politician talk about the role of school in society, in an era of changing demands and challenges represented by the knowledge society and globalization? The material underlying the study consists of protocols from the Swedish parliament during a decade characterized by many reforms and with both a conservative government and a social democratic. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the contemporary debate on school policy in the Swedish Parliament between 1991 and 2002. My research questions are: Which are the dominating narratives about schooling that emerge in the debate? What are the influences from contemporary policies and from educational research? What kind of rhetorical resources underpin the arguments in the plenary debate and are there any shifts, inconsistencies and contradictions that can be heard in the debates? Inspired by Margaret Somers four dimensions of narratives: ontological narrative, public narrative, metanarrative and conceptual narrative and I am using them to interpret different aspects of school as a political narrative. Methodologically, I worked initially with a content analysis gradually moving to narrative analysis. The educational debates held during the three terms in office are characterised by different political initiatives and different kind of issues. I construct a number of dominating narratives with different plots, problems, solutions and promises of a better future for both the school and the nation. Key concepts seems to “float” depending on who uses them and in what context they are used. Important parts in the narratives are the rhetorical resources that politicians are using to get legitimacy and credibility. Perceptions of schools presented in the debate, may be seen as stories about what is desirable and possible, but also what is unwanted, threatening the progress of school and society. I have highlighted four public narratives in these debates and they are: A School for All, School on the Market, School in the Knowledge Society and A School in Crisis.
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| 10. |
- Heikkilä, Mia, 1975-
(författare)
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Kommunikativa resurser för lärande : Barns gester, blickar och tal i tre skolmiljöer
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of this research has been to study how schools create possibilities for children to learn. Possibilities to communicate and to interact are seen as closely linked to a process of learn-ing in line with contemporary thinking of learning (Kress, 2003; Säljö, 2000; Selander, 2005). The theoretical starting point has been to consider use of modes in communication a means for participating in social activities in school activities (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001; Kress, 2003; Kress & Jewitt, 2003). Participation is a central notion in the study of multimodality, where focus is at children communication through the use of modes.The empirical material consists of ethnographic video recordings made in three Swedish ur-ban school settings from 2000 through 2003. The children were five, six and seven year olds during the study. Detailed transcripts and analysis of the use of the three modes speech, gesture and gaze were made of fifteen activities.The analyses focus on how the use of modes can be seen as means for taking different posi-tions of participation in activities. The fifteen sequences are presented in five different themes. The themes include; silence at school, the place of the body at school, how the physical object ‘rubber’ is a sign of competence of ‘right and wrong’, how negotiation appears in school settings as a way of doing gender, and finally, an analysis of how a changed social function of a content transforms positions of participation. The themes generally discuss how school ideologies are shown in communication.By showing how children use modes in different situations and for different social reasons to participate in school activities, the analyses also show how a social setting and physical objects contribute to what positions are chosen, and when. The variations of the use of modes in the different school settings can be seen as signs of a changed principal for categorization, and thereby, how is further more argued, how that connects to children’s learning.
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