| 1. |
- Hudson, Alison, 1952-
(författare)
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New professionals and new technologies in new higher education? : Conceptualising struggles in the field
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores the practices and positionings of two groupings of professionals in UK higher education, ‘educational developers’ and ‘learning technologists’. It investigates the emergence of the groupings, and their professional paths and respective approaches to supporting teaching and learning. It also explores the use of information and communication technology within what is seen as a changing university context. These two ‘new’ professional groupings are most associated with a shift of focus in universities from teaching towards learning, heightened emphasis on the quality of teaching and learning, the increased impact of learning technologies on practice, organisational transformation, and increased numbers of students attending universities, i.e. massification of higher education world-wide. Thus, equivalent exemplars and variations can also be found throughout Europe and in other international settings. The social structure and practices that govern the two groupings have been analysed by means of a wide range of theories, concepts and methods which include Bourdieu’s (1988) concepts of habitus, field, position and capital, Boyer’s (1990) ideas about new scholarship, Palmer’s (1998) conceptualisation of the university teacher and Clark’s (2003) identification of the entrepreneurial university. The work of others, in particular Schön (1967) and Ball (2003), also provides an insight into the powerful relationship between technology, society, education and change. Thus, the thesis explores fields and sub-fields, as social arenas in which capital is accumulated and where struggles for power and resources take place. The study suggests that both groups occupy a highly politicised position, are affected by the shifting value of social, cultural and economic capital in the constantly changing higher education, are subject to struggle regarding ‘position’ and agency and are susceptible to the demands of new power regimes and technological solutions. It suggests that educational development is a scholarly field of study but has also become a technology responsible for translating institutional policy into practice, while learning technologists have been more politically successful and have had a relatively greater impact on academic practice in university settings. Whilst the relationship and division of work between educational developers and learning technologists has been hitherto little understood this study shows the similarities and differences, and boundaries and overlaps in the knowledge, practices, positions, dispositions and allegiances of the two groupings. An argument of the thesis is for a more cohesive approach to educational development in higher education which embraces learning technologies and higher education policy. Furthermore, this thesis suggests that the balance of power and the value placed on social, cultural and economic capital in the knowledge economy of higher education is shifting; from teaching and learning towards change and ‘innovation’ underpinned by new technologies, business imperatives and new forms of management. This shift in the UK has been reinforced by successive periods of reform and restructuring of the university, where both ‘new’ and ‘old’ professionals are subject to social and political pressures initiated by new forms of central governance and a growing bureaucracy of change. A danger for higher education is that the balance is pulled more towards policy technologies and bureaucracy and away from the professional judgement of university academics/teachers.
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| 2. |
- Sjöberg, Gunnar, 1955-
(författare)
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Om det inte är dyskalkyli - vad är det då? : En multimetodstudie av eleven i matematikproblem ur ett longitudinellt perspektiv
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- One of the big problems of the Swedish nine-year compulsory school is the large number of pupils who fail to achieve a satisfactory standard in mathematics. One explanation that has been increasingly considered over the last ten years is that the pupils have dyscalculia. Some research suggests that 6 per cent of compulsory school pupils suffer from this dysfunction, which would in that case make it one of the Swedish school’s greatest teaching problems.The purpose of this thesis is to examine this problem area from two aspects. First of all by examining the concept of dyscalculia by means of a review of the literature from 1992 onwards. The second perspective has as its starting point a case study where the purpose was to give a detailed picture of the pupil with mathematics problems. The latter part of the study was carried out over a six-year period when 200 pupils, 13 of them with particular mathematics problems, were studied in detail.A point of departure for the study was provided by a large database where as much information as possible was collected about pupils from Year 5 of the nine-year compulsory school to Year 2 of the three-year upper secondary school. The pupils were asked to fill in regular questionnaires and classroom observations were made of roughly 100 mathematics lessons, 40 of which were recorded on video. Finally there were in-depth interviews of the 13 pupils on two occasions, the final one being during Year 2 of the upper secondary school.The review of the research showed a series of dubious and indistinct circumstances surrounding the dyscalculia concept, and also ambiguity with regard to the diagnosis of dyscalculia. The conclusion of the review was that the concept of dyscalculia ought at present to be used with great caution, or perhaps not at all. Admittedly the review does not provide grounds for totally dismissing the dyscalculia concept, but as long as it remains impossible to determine the concept unambiguously, and I have not been able to do this in the course of this study, there are no good scientific grounds for using the term dyscalculia in practice.The empirical study shows the complexity of the problem area. Both the causes suggested by the pupils as the origin of the problem and the measures that helped them to obtain their mathematics grades form a complex pattern. The low work input of the pupils during mathematics lessons, an unsettled working environment, large classes, problems of stress and anxiety prior to tests, and obstructive gender patterns are among the causes suggested by the pupils as explanations of the occurrence of the mathematics problems. Good teachers, in other words teachers who can explain, set limits and give encouragement, were a significant factor in reversing the downward trend. Positive experiences of school changes, where the pupil felt that he or she could start again from the beginning, were also mentioned as significant by several pupils. Collaboration with fellow-pupils and the fact that the pupils themselves decided to get to grips with the problems were other important reasons for the change. The prospects of students with specific problems in mathematics nevertheless being able to leave compulsory school with satisfactory grades appear, however, from the results of this study, to be bright. All the pupils left the compulsory school with satisfactory mathematics grades and also completed mathematics studies at upper secondary school, despite major problems in the subject at intermediate school (age 10-13) stage.The study indicates the need for research closer to the actual practical situation and to the importance of emphasizing good examples in practice. As the students themselves emphasize discrete communication between them as significant in the subject of mathematics, this is also an important area for future research.
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| 3. |
- Hällgren, Camilla, 1973-
(författare)
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Researching and developing Swedkid : A Swedish case study at the intersection of the web, racism and education
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis seeks to provide an insight into three phenomena: the condition of racism in Sweden, the complexity of identity, and the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in classroom settings. It also offers an analysis of how such phenomena combined in the development of a specific educational resource, the Swedkid project (2001-3) which aimed to develop an anti-racist website (www.swedkid.nu) for students and teachers in Swedish schools. A case study approach was used for the analysis in the thesis, in which the Swedkid project was viewed as an instance of web-based, anti-racist educational resource development. This instance (or case) provided a prism of opportunity for learning about ‘race’, ethnicity and the role of ICT in the classroom. The case study embraces a number of sub-studies (Papers I-V and Appendix 1) which explore independently and in combination, how the website was developed and received, the Swedish national context, intercultural and anti-racist work in education, racist experiences of young people, and ICT as part of anti-racist work in the classroom. Three sets of findings (or themes) emerged from the study: namely, the existence of racism in Sweden, that young people’s conception of identity is complex and that the Swedkid website constitutes a significant anti-racist intervention. The overall aims of the research were to: - utilise the Swedkid project as a learning opportunity - explore the Swedish context for the project - investigate and develop an understanding of racism and ethnicity in Sweden generally and in education in particular - investigate experiences of racism among young people, and - explore how ICT can support anti-racist work in classroom settings Three research questions were also posed in the research: - How can ‘race’, ethnicity and experiences of racism be understood in Sweden generally, in education and among young people? - How can ICT support anti-racist work in classroom settings? - How useful were the approaches taken and the methods used in the project? A variety of methods of data gathering were used which include systematic literature searches, interviews, questionnaires, classroom observations plus a project logbook. Three theoretical clusters were particularly helpful in the analysis; relating to globalisation, racism and new technology (e.g. Castells, Jansson, Pred, Essed, Ladson-Billings, Delgado & Stefancic, Aviram & Tami). The research suggests an uneven picture in Sweden generally, and among Swedish young people in particular. While there have been some conscious and planned strategies to eliminate racism and discrimination, and high ambitions and good intentions from policy-makers and teachers in terms of recognising inequalities of schooling and counteracting racism, there is also a continuing picture of hostility, difficulty, denial and insecurity within education and more generally. The study also illuminates the complexity of identity and knowledge transfer, between locally-situated individuals and the different levels of global, European, national and local. It is suggested that the formation of identity is a process which involves viewing someone as ‘the other’ and can be transferred into a racist discourse and as such, used as a basis for legitimizing exclusion. However, responses to the Swedkid website suggest that engagement with other, wider identities (in this case, the characters on the website) can provide the possibility of intervention in stereotypical perceptions and expansion of notions of identity. It is also suggested that the Swedkid website can be used successfully in supporting anti-racist work in classroom settings, although dependent on the skills and commitment of the teacher. The advantages of using ICT for Swedkid lie in the possibility of visualisation and simulation, hence, it provides virtual experience of complex phenomena. The website can thus work as a springboard into informed rather than common-sense or everyday discourses of racism/anti-racism, with virtuality enhancing the classroom work of the teacher. Overall, studies presented in this thesis illustrate how a combination of ICT and anti-racism can offer opportunities for challenging commonsense views of racism and ethnicity, provide counter-stories as evidence that racism exists, and thus offer alternative perceptions and viewpoints on this topic in education and elsewhere.
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| 4. |
- Lundström, Agneta
(författare)
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Lärare och konflikthantering : en undersökande studie ur ett könsperspektiv
- 2008
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation explores ten teachers' approaches to managing conflicts with/between pupils. The relevance of gender is analysed according to the strategies and representations chosen by the teachers. The methods used for data collection include 'rounds', role-plays and ongoing reflexivity, mainly in single-sex groups. Three main strategies were identified in managing conflicts with/between pupils: challenging, confirming and physically touching. The strategy of challenging reveals that teachers have high expectations of how competent pupils ought to be. It is no longer enough to be competent and independent as a pupil (in Sweden); he or she is also expected to have an integrated ethic of caring. Values such as an ethic of caring are conventionally associated with femininity, and are usually invisible and/or low status; though they have now become the dominant norm for both female and male teachers. The strategy of confirming is used to give support to the pupil but there is a risk of confirming one individual "too much" which can lead to relational problems with other pupils. Physical touching as a strategy relates to dilemmas arising from gendered expectations of physicality in teacher-pupil interaction. Overall, difficulties were found in getting male teachers to discuss and 'role-play' conflicts with girls, which did not arise with female teachers concerning conflicts with boys. Also criticized were the demands on teachers' workloads as a result of their social responsibility for pupils' welfare, and also lack of institutional support. When the teachers had time to reflect together on their experiences, they seemed willing to criticize norms and representations. Four phases in the mode of talking were identified: (1) the telling of an experience; (2) interpretation of experience as a form of difference, either as deviance or according to gender; (3) narration of experience that contradicts the above dichotomy of difference; and (4) ongoing reflexivity resulting in motivation to change strategy or strengthen former strategies based on a wider awareness of work context.
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| 5. |
- Nyström, Eva, 1958-
(författare)
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Talking and taking positions : An encounter between action rsearch and the gendered and racialised discourses of school science
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis concerns processes of power relations in and about the science classroom. It draws on action research involving science and mathematics teachers in the Swedish upper secondary school (for students between 16 and 19 years). For the analysis, feminist post-structuralism, gender, and discourse theories (e.g. Butler and Foucault) are combined with critical action research methodology (e.g. Carr and Kemmis) and discourse analysis (e.g. Wetherell and Hall). The aim of the study is to make visible processes of inequality and to investigate how these are constructed in ‘talk’ or discourse about teaching and learning. The study grew out of teachers’ actions/small-scale projects in their own classrooms and so the study also investigates if and how action research can contribute to making visible, challenging and changing unequal practices and discourses of dominance. The first part of the thesis deals with this process and the analysis suggests that post-structural critiques of language and discourse are helpful in enabling actions to challenge inequities in the science classroom that currently exist. Five different articles constitute the second part of the thesis, two of which explore and survey research literature and argue for a need for more studies which investigate critically how science is shaped by specific social, cultural and historical contexts. Additionally, it is argued that it is important to focus not only on measuring differences among students but also on investigating how difference is constructed and how inequities can be challenged. The experiences and bodily feelings of what ‘race’ can do to gender (and vice versa) in a specific situation are recounted and examined in the third article which also invites different positions and complexity into the research field. The next two articles investigate how power and knowledge are produced, resisted and challenged in teacher and student talk within the action research project. The analysis draws on different discourses in contemporary Swedish society; for example a science discourse which produces school science (and its teachers and students) as high status, a gender equality discourse, a gender difference discourse, and an immigrant discourse which produces ‘immigrant students’ as problematic. Analysis of teacher talk reveals, for example, that long-established hierarchies and taken-for-granted values of school subjects in relation to gender reproduce advantage for some teachers but not for others, that teachers participate in the gendering of science subjects, and that changes in the teaching of science are resisted. Also students are located inside and outside the discourses they draw on, which qualifies or disqualifies them as ‘proper’ science students. Different borders are highlighted to show how students attach meaning to gender, social class, and ethnicity in different situations. Sometimes borders are produced inside bodies (the notion of the gendered brain, for example) and sometimes between cultures or according to family background. Resistance to dominant discourses is also visible in students’ talk and the ways in which teachers and students reproduce borders and exclusion in the science classroom through their practices. The analysis points out the need to initiate new research which can deconstruct among others, discourses of femininity and masculinity, the ‘immigrant student’ and school science.
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