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- Risenfors, Signild, 1957-
(author)
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Gymnasieungdomars livstolkande
- 2011
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis describes and analyses views of life and religion, as a component of „view of life‟,among young people in a Swedish upper secondary school that in the words of the youngpeople themselves is „multicultural‟. The concept „view of life‟ is rooted in a Scandinavian research tradition, and is based on a stipulative definition provided by Jeffner (1973), which includes„view of world and man‟, „values and moral‟ and „attitudes towards life‟. Thedefinition is formulated in a society where secularization is an on-going debate. However, in that secularization is contested, religion has re-emerged in a society increasingly characterized by religious pluralism, but also privatization according to religion. Views of life and religion have become political as well as private issues and, in school, are discussed in relation to the „fundamental values‟ and the subject of „Religious Education‟. In such discussionsthe aim is to help students to form an own view of life, just as long as it is consistent with the normative standards of „fundamental values‟.The focus of this thesis is directed to young people‟s articulations. An ethnographic approach has been adopted and the data consists of field notes, letters and interviews (individually and in groups). The fieldwork has taken place in four graduating classes of a single school year. Using analytical concepts from discourse theory the focus of the analysis is on how the youngpeople articulate the three dimensions of „views of life‟, linguistically and physically through narratives, reflections and staging.The most prominent results of the thesis are that, as well as the positioning of religion, views of life are directed towards the self. Articulations about „being yourself‟ appear as a very open concept that can be filled with different content. In accordance with the notion of staging, the young people demonstrate andtest identity with the quest for „authenticity‟ being central. Through high expectations of the „good life‟, vulnerability is also noticed, especially in the anonymous letters.With regard to values and morals a consensus-perspective appears to a greater extent than specific values. Value questions and moral issues dominate in the public arena while ontological and existential questions dominate in the individual letters and interviews. Here the concept „view of life‟is brought into a field between the private and the public and is especially evident in the subject of Religious Education.Although religion is articulated in terms of tolerance and freedom of choice, these concepts are given connotations of a half-hearted attitude and a consensus perspective rather than interest and curiosity for the faith and religious life of „the Other‟.However, if a religious positioning becomes a political issue, the half-hearted setting is challenged. There is also a difference between those having acquired a religious literacy and those who have not.
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| 2. |
- Abraham, Getahun Yacob
(author)
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Education for Democracy? : Life Orientation: Lessons on Leadeship Qualities and Voting in South African Comprehensive Schools
- 2010
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This study takes as its starting point how teachers understand, interpret and teach social development aspects of Life Orientation in South African comprehensive schools. The specific focus is on lessons on leadership qualities and voting for third grade learners in four schools, each dominated by either Black, Coloured, White or mixed groups of learners. Field work with an ethnographic approach and a qualitative strategy was used to gain access to empirical data. Policy and curriculum documents, guidelines and textbooks were used. Classroom observations in four classes and interviews with 14 third grade teachers were conducted. Theoretical concepts of construction, deconstruction and reconstruction are applied. Ulf P Lundgren’s Frame Factor Theory is used to study school organization. Basil Bernstein’s Pedagogical Devices are considered when examining the different levels of pedagogical activities. To be a teacher in South Africa one needs to attend at least two years of teacher education after completing high school. Teachers in the classes studied underwent their teacher education during apartheid years. Due to limited in-service training, they sometimes experience problems of understanding and interpreting the learning area, which they usually tackle by consulting documents, colleagues or school authorities. The learners’ understanding varied based on their family background and type of school they attended. There were enormous differences in material, financial and organisational resources between classes and schools. The resources for teaching leadership qualities and voting were not, however, different between the classes. The lessons were teacher dominated and direct transmission was used as a method. The way teachers facilitated the lesson on leadership qualities and voting varied but all showed some democratic shortcomings. Apart from answering questions, learners were neither invited nor encouraged to participate to further their understanding of the theme. Limited aspects of leadership qualities were discussed, individual leaders’ roles were emphasised and the teachers picked candidates for class leaders in three of the classes. It was also evident that the class environments were not suitable for critical or creative thinking and democratic upbringing. The schools reproduced norms, values, languages and cultures of the different groups. Officially, teachers emphasised the common national South African identity. This emphasis on national identity could disguise the injustice some groups experience in society.
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| 3. |
- Dryler, Helen, 1963-
(author)
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Educational Choice in Sweden : Studies on the Importance of Gender and Social Contexts
- 1998
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis comprises four empirical studies dealing with different aspects of educational choice in Sweden. Two studies focus on the hierarchical outcome, namely level of education. The other two are concerned with the horizontal outcome field of study. Large-scale quantitative data from surveys and registers were used to examine the influence of gender, family of origin, and other social contexts on individuals' educational choice.>P> In paper I, Childhood Conditions and Educational Careers two general questions are addressed: 1) To what extent can differences in childhood conditions account for the fact that children from various social class origins choose academic upper secondary school programmes to such differing degrees? 2) Which changes in educational attainment during this century have resulted from the effects of class background and other childhood conditions? Regarding the first question, the parents' level of education, as an indicator of the teaching and cultural environment in the home, proved to be the most important childhood condition in accounting for class differences. Financial difficulties during childhood were less important in comparison. Regarding the second question the results showed that the influence of the parents' social class and educational level, and the number of siblings (as a partial indicator of financial difficulties) were weaker for younger cohorts (1930-1949 and 1950-1973) than for older ones (1892-1929). However, the effects of several childhood conditions examined had not decreased.Starting in the late sixties Sweden experienced an extensive geographical dispersion of university and college education. Whether these new establishments have had any reducing effect on the social selection into higher education is evaluated in paper II, The Establishment of New Institutes of Higher Education: A Means of Reducing Educational Inequality? The results clearly give a negative answer. The interpretation is that 1) people from different social backgrounds do not differ in their sensitivity to geographical distance to university sites, and 2) the new colleges and universities have not been established in regions with a high proportion of disadvantaged social classes (working classes for example), nor have they managed, on the whole, to increase the number of students from the newly established university and college regions in relation to the rest of the country.Can family background account for intra-gender differences in the heavily gender-typed choice of study field? Paper III, Parental Role Models, Gender, and Educational Choice, describes several relationships on this topic from a socialization perspective where parents are regarded as role models for their children. It was found that the parents' educational as well as occupational sector increased the likelihood of both boys and girls choosing a similar field of study (vocational and academic programmes in upper secondary school), and that both the mother's and the father's occupation and education were important in this respect. This so- called same-sector effect was somewhat stronger for fathers and sons, while no such same-sex influence was confirmed for girls. Further, a "high" social origin ( measured by class and level of education - was positively associated with gender-atypical choices.In paper IV, A Multilevel Approach to Gender-Typical and Gender-Atypical Educational Choices: Do Schools and Classrooms Matter? the questions asked in the third paper were extended to include any influences from social contexts above the level of the family, more specifically, classrooms and schools. Logistic multilevel models were used to show significant school and classroom variations in the choice of study field. However, the contextual characteristics that were used in an attempt to account for these (mainly aggregate variables based on pupil characteristics) left the variances unchanged to the greatest extent. For example, the girl/boy ratio in the classroom does not seem to influence gender-typical or gender-atypical educational choices. One classroom effect showed a systematic influence however: the better classmates performed in mathematics and natural science subjects, the lower the propensity to choose the engineering programme, and further, the better classmates performed in language and social sciences subjects, the less probability that a girl or a boy would choose the humanities/social sciences programme.
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