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- Holmberg, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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Logics of “Good teaching” : Exploring Mathematics Education in Primary School in Sweden
- 2016
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Ingår i: Athens Journal of Education. - Athens : Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER). - 2241-7958. ; 3:3, s. 225-240
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The public and academic debate about mathematics education has been intensified during the last decade. In relation to this it is important to investigate what ideas concerning mathematics education that are expressed by teachers and students. The aim of this article is to study how teachers and students in primary school talk about the math book and to emphasize, discuss and problematize emerging discourses. The article is part of a larger project about mathematical education. Data consists of group conversations with 120 students and 8 teachers in two elementary schools in Sweden. The math project was supported by the National Agency for Education 2010-2012. All together 17 hours of video and audio documentation were produced. The theoretical framework is built on poststructuralist and social constructionist theory and two approaches to discourse analysis are applied; the micro oriented discursive psychology as formulated by Potter, and discourse theory as formulated by Laclau and Mouffe. Findings show three prominent discourses emerging from the empirical data: School mathematics, Balance and Mathematical ontology. Related to earlier research in mathematics education this article represent a shift of interpretation as it highlights how teachers and students themselves are talking about and describing what is desirable and not. The results are then discussed with respect to quality in mathematics education.
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| 2. |
- Holmberg, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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The Math Book as an Ideological Dilemma in Elementary School?
- 2014
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Ingår i: ATINER's Conference Paper Series EMS2014-1193. - Athens, Greece : Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER). ; , s. 1-15, s. 28-28
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The public and academic debate about mathematical education has been intensified during the last decade. In relation to this it is important to investigate what ideas concerning mathematical education that are expressed by teachers and students. The aim of this article is to study repertoires and discourses related to mathematics education articulated by teachers and students in elementary school. The article is part of a larger project about mathematical education. Data consists of group conversations with 120 students and 8 teachers in two elementary schools in Sweden. The math project was supported by the National Agency for Education 2010-2012. All together 17 hours of video and audio documentation were produced. The theoretical framework is built on poststructuralist and social constructionist theory and two approaches to discourse analysis are applied; the micro oriented discursive psychology and discourse theory as formulated by Laclau and Mouffe. Findings show that the math book is central in the construction of the “good” mathematical education and can be seen as an ideological dilemma. On the one hand, the book becomes a symbol for security and support and is articulated as something associated with traditional and abstract mathematical education. The book becomes the home of mathematics, with power effects in the classroom activities. The book decides who is smart and who is not; it decides who needs help and when to wait for help. On the other hand, the ‘good’ mathematic education is excluding the math book. It is practical and built on students’ participation and delight at the same time as it is structured around the norms of the book. The results are discussed in relation to quality in mathematical education.
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| 3. |
- Kjellman, Cecilia, 1958-, et al.
(författare)
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Supportive tools for resilient, open minded and non-violent grassroot work in schools - Sweden
- 2013
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Ingår i: Violence prevention and resilience promotion in schools. - Freiburg, Germany : FEL Verlag.
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The results of an erlier project "Implementation and evaluation of quality criteria concerning the professional support for violent children and adolescents" indicate that professionals in the context school (e.g. teachers) show an increased need of acquiring a wider range of options for dealing with phenomena related to violence in their schools. Within this project, a comprehensive conception which consider both the need for prevention and the need for intervention. The Main objecti was prevention of violence or violent behavior in schools by promoting pupils’ resilience and life skills. With focussing on the strengths of the children and adolescents a contribution to counteract social processes of exclusion and stigmatization which also use to occur in the organizational framework of the “institution school”. The project coaching the “institution school” in dealing with the great variety of the phenomenon of violence. In the Swedish part of the project used the method of research circles with teachers and other school staff, interviews with principals, interviews and questionairs with pupils, toolbox, mapping.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Ranagården, Lisbeth, 1947-
(författare)
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Lärares lärande om elever - en sociologisk studie om yrkespraktik
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This is a study of how professional teachers’ learning about students takes place in relation to changed requirements and new organisational preconditions. Based on an approach from the theory of professions with inspiration by Lipsky’s concept of street level bureaucrats, it examines which strategies or methods teachers develop in order to cope with the changes. Important points of departure for the study are theories of organisation, professions and knowledge. The three phases that are considered to distinguish professional work – diagnosis, inference, treatment – organise the disposition of the work. The study is empirically based on interviews with primary school teachers, recorded development conversations, and teachers’ written documentation for the latter. The teachers’ own accounts of their learning process, as well as how they interpret what is experienced, form an interpretive and analytical foundation together with analysis of the development conversations. Teachers’ meetings with students usually occur with the entire class as a collective, which makes the teaching profession special. Other professionals normally meet their clients individually. At the same time, teachers are expected to individualise the instruction. The study shows how the organisation creates obstacles by intensifying the teachers’ work. This diminishes the leeway for teachers to work professionally. A recurrent problem for the teachers’ teaching is therefore lack of time. They have to find standardised forms such as the categorising of students. The analyses demonstrate that there is great uncertainty about the measures’ effects, and that teachers do not have enough knowledge. One develops new knowledge by trial and error, and the study points to a need for the teachers’ teaching in and through its practice to be given room to develop. In this context the study discusses teachers’ professional language as a hindrance to professional development. As the study also shows, leeway for conversations is a prerequisite for learning about students. This in turn influences the possibilities of creating good relations. The study discusses teachers’ interest in relation-building from a power perspective and as an important tool for successful instruction. But teachers lack tools for handling certain students who challenge the teaching role, and the analysis reveals deficiencies in both the organisation in the profession. According to the study’s results, teachers do not have support for coping with the changes that were made in the schools. Especially the profession’s social dimensions prove to be a weakness for newly educated teachers, who need continued learning in professional practice, but more experienced teachers also lack tools for being able to individualise the instruction. While the causes are numerous, the bottom line is a scarcity of resources – in terms of time, institutional measures for solving problems, and knowledge about how the problems should be solved.
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