| 1. |
- Olteanu, Constanta, 1960-
(författare)
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”Vad skulle x kunna vara?” : andragradsekvation och andragradsfunktion som objekt för lärande
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Algebraic equations and functions play an important role in various mathematical topics, including algebra, trigonometry, linear programming and calculus. Accordingly, various documents, such as the most recent Swedish curriculum (Lpf 94) for upper secondary school and the course syllabi in mathematics, specify what the students should learn in Mathematics Course B. They should be able to solve quadratic equations and apply this knowledge in solving problems, explain the properties of a function, as well as be able to set up, interpret and use some nonlinear functions as models for real processes. To implement these recommendations, it is crucial to understand the students’ way of experiencing quadratic equations and functions, and describe the meaning these have for the students in relation to the possibility they have to their experience of them.The aim of this thesis is to analyse, understand and explain the relation between the handled and learned content, which consists of second-degree equations and quadratic functions, in classroom practice. This means that content is the research object and not the teacher’s conceptions or knowledge of, or about this content. This restriction implies that the handled and learned contents are central in this study and will be analysed from different perspectives.The study includes two teachers and 45 students in two different classes. The data consist of video-recordings of lessons, individual sessions, interviews and the teachers’/researcher’s review of the individual sessions. The students’ tests also constituted an important part of the data collection.When analysing the data, concepts relating to variation theory have been used as analytical tools. Data have been analysed in respect of the teachers’ focus on the lesson content, which aspects are ignored and which patterns of dimensions of variations are constituted when the contents are handled by the teachers in the classroom. Also, data have been analysed in respect of the students’ focus when they solve different exercises in a test situation. It can be shown that the meaning of parameters, the unknown quantity in an equation and the function’s argument change several times when the teacher presents the content in the classroom and when the students solve different exercises. It can also be shown that the teachers and the students develop complicated patterns of variation during the lessons and that the ways in which the teachers open up dimensions of variation play an important role in the learning process. The results indicate that there is a convergent variation leading the students to improve their learning. By focusing on some aspects of the objects of learning and create convergent variations, it is possible for the students to understand the difference between various interpretations of these aspects and thereafter focus on the interpretation that fits in a certain context. Furthermore, this variation leads the students to make generalisations in each object of learning (equations and functions) and between these objects of learning. These generalisations remain over time, despite working with new objects of learning. An important result in this study is that the implicit or explicit arguments of a function can make it possible to discern an equation from a function despite the fact that they are constituted by the same algebraic expression.
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| 2. |
- Knutas, Edmund
(författare)
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Mellan retorik och praktik. : En ämnesdidaktisk och läroplansteoretisk studie av svenskämnena och fyra gymnasielärares svenskundervisning efter gymnasiereformen 1994.
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Swedish as a school subject has long been debated in Sweden, and ideas concerning its content, role and function in school and society have varied greatly throughout the years. In 1994, there was an upper secondary school reform which resulted in a partial revision of the Swedish subject, including its introduction within a new course and grading system. The Swedish A and B courses became obligatory for all upper secondary students. Other courses in Swedish became largely optional. This study consists of two levels – a rhetorical and practical level. The rhetorical level deals with understandings and ideas of the Swedish subject and instruction as they are expressed in curricula and course syllabi, as well as with the understandings and ideas expressed by the four teachers in the study. In addition, the external and internal frame factors which underlie this rhetoric are considered. The practical level concerns the four teachers’ concrete Swedish instruction, i.e. the aims and goals, content and working methods which underlie their teaching, as well as the factors which influence, limit and facilitate it. The aim of the study is to attempt to describe, analyse and understand the role and function of the Swedish subject after the upper secondary school reform of 1994. What ideas do the four teachers express regarding the role and function of the Swedish subject in upper secondary school and society after 1994, and how should these ideas and reasons be interpreted and understood from a more comprehensive, general perspective? How do the teachers represent the Swedish subject in their teaching, i.e. how is their knowledge of subject didactics expressed? These are two central questions in the study. A third central question concerns notions of society and the good citizen implied in the chosen views of the Swedish subject. The study has two theoretical starting points: subject didactics and curriculum theory. Shulman’s concepts of pedagogical content knowledge and transformation are central to the subject didactics drawn upon here, while frame factor theory and Bernstein’s concepts of “classification” and “framing” are central to the curriculum-theoretical perspective. The perspective of subject didactics deals with the relation between teacher and content, while the curriculum-theoretical perspective deals with the relation between content, individual and society. This study shows that the teachers’ knowledge of subject didactics is vague. The teachers’ transformation of content in teaching resides to a high degree in an adaptation to the students; the focus is thus not on a transformation and content analysis of the Swedish subject. Further, the teachers have an instrumental approach to the steering documents. A common characteristic among the four teachers, and in Swedish instruction generally, is that a large degree of responsibility is placed on the individual student for their literary and language development. Collective meetings were very infrequent in the teaching of the four teachers in the study. This study discerns four teacher codes which reflect understandings and ideas of school and education, formed by previous and current material and sociocultural conditions and which the individual teacher has encountered, adopted and reshaped into his/her own. These four teacher codes can be described as closeness and hierarchy, tradition and renewal, vision and reality and the individual and the collective. The teacher codes reveal that the four teachers have relatively similar teaching strategies, whereas their teaching aims, goals and content diverge significantly. Viewed from the perspective of curriculum theory, it is evident that the teachers emphasise the individual student over the collective. It is a matter of developing one’s thought and personality and of fostering the students to be individual, active members of society. However, this active member of society does not appear to be aware and critically active, but rather a loyal and obedient member of society.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, Catarina, 1964-
(författare)
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Professional development in formative assessment : effects on teacher classroom practice and student achievement
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The potential of formative assessment, evident in several research reviews, has raised the interest in many countries to invest in reform initiatives to develop its use. However, implementation of formative assessment is not straightforward and there is a lack of knowledge about how to design appropriate professional development. The intervention study presented in this thesis aimed to see if a random selection of teachers, participating in a professional development program with many contact hours and substantial support of an expert, implemented formative assessment in a way that increased their students’ learning in mathematics. It also aimed to examine the reasons for the teachers’ changes in their classroom practice.The twenty-two year 4 teachers attended a professional development program in formative assessment in mathematics. A mixed methods approach used classroom observations, teacher interviews, questionnaire surveys and student mathematics tests to investigate the effects on teacher classroom practice and student achievement.It was found that the teachers trained in formative assessment built on their previous formative classroom practice and added new formative assessment activities into their mathematics classroom practice to a level that had significant impact on student achievement in mathematics (p = .036, d = .66). The teachers developed their formative assessment practice in three dimensions: key processes in teaching and learning, agents in the classroom, and the length of the formative assessment cycle.The reasons for teachers ́ implementation of new formative assessment activities were well explained by the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation. Important aspects of the professional development program were: (1) A formative and process-oriented character; (2) Activities directly useable in classrooms; (3) Experience of using formative assessment activities; (4) Connection between theory and practice; (5) Time; and (6) Knowledgeable support.The thesis shows that it was possible to provide sufficient support to a random selection of teachers for them to develop their formative assessment practice in a way that improved student achievement. However, this thesis also indicates that it can be expected that teachers would need substantial time and support to achieve such developments in their classroom practice.
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| 4. |
- Gustavsson, Laila, 1947-
(författare)
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Att bli bättre lärare : hur undervisningsinnehållets behandling blir till samtalsämne lärare emellan
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis reports results from a study that focuses on teachers’ professional development during an in-service training period. The aim is to analyse and describe how the teachers talk about and handle lesson content. The first question concerns changes in relation to a specific object of learning. The second question concerns how they relate to a theoretical framework and the third question concerns differences in the students’ learning outcome and if it can be understood in relation to the teachers’ development. The variation theory is the theoretical framework that is used for lesson planning as well as when analysing results. The basis of the study is that learning always is the learning of something and that the teachers’ activity as well as the students’ activity constitutes the space of variation that decides what is possible to learn concerning a delimited object of learning, i.e. the enacted object of learning. The object of learning is seen as a capability and it can be defined by its critical features. The constitution of the meaning aimed for the critical features of the object must be discerned. The intentional object of learning describes the teachers’ intention with the lesson, and the lived object of learning is what the students really discerned. The theoretical assumption is that learning always assumes an experienced variation where learning is seen as a change in the learners’ possibility to experience the world in a certain way. You have to have experienced a phenomenon’s variation to understand its meaning, i.e. what we experience is how something differs from something else. The method is Learning study and it can be described as a hybrid of the Japanese Lesson study and Design experiment. A Learning study is theoretically grounded and the primary focus is on an object of learning. The learning study group consisted of three teachers and most often two researchers. Each member had equal status in the group. The object of learning seen from the teachers’ perspective was the variation theory that was gradually introduced by the researchers. The empirical material was generated from audio-taped discussions and from videotaped lessons. The findings should be seen as a contribution to the discussion about teachers’ professional development. The teachers participated in a collective construction of professional knowledge and it can be stated that the teachers had no problem changing their discussions to focus on a specific object of learning when the theoretical framework was used in relation to their own practices. Another finding is that the change in how the teachers handled the object of learning influenced the students’ learning in a positive way although the results were subtle.
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| 5. |
- Gustavsson, Laila, 1947-
(författare)
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Att bli bättre lärare : Hur undervisningsinnehållets behandling blir till samtalsämne lärare emellan
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis reports results from a study that focuses on teachers’ professional development during an in-service training period. The aim is to analyse and describe how the teachers talk about and handle lesson content. The first question concerns changes in relation to a specific object of learning. The second question concerns how they relate to a theoretical framework and the third question concerns differences in the students’ learning outcome and if it can be understood in relation to the teachers’ development. The variation theory is the theoretical framework that is used for lesson planning as well as when analysing results. The basis of the study is that learning always is the learning of something and that the teachers’ activity as well as the students’ activity constitutes the space of variation that decides what is possible to learn concerning a delimited object of learning, i.e. the enacted object of learning. The object of learning is seen as a capability and it can be defined by its critical features. The constitution of the meaning aimed for the critical features of the object must be discerned. The intentional object of learning describes the teachers’ intention with the lesson, and the lived object of learning is what the students really discerned. The theoretical assumption is that learning always assumes an experienced variation where learning is seen as a change in the learners’ possibility to experience the world in a certain way. You have to have experienced a phenomenon’s variation to understand its meaning, i.e. what we experience is how something differs from something else. The method is Learning study and it can be described as a hybrid of the Japanese Lesson study and Design experiment. A Learning study is theoretically grounded and the primary focus is on an object of learning. The learning study group consisted of three teachers and most often two researchers. Each member had equal status in the group. The object of learning seen from the teachers’ perspective was the variation theory that was gradually introduced by the researchers. The empirical material was generated from audio-taped discussions and from videotaped lessons. The findings should be seen as a contribution to the discussion about teachers’ professional development. The teachers participated in a collective construction of pro-fessional knowledge and it can be stated that the teachers had no problem changing their discussions to focus on a specific object of learning when the theoretical framework was used in relation to their own practices. Another finding is that the change in how the teachers handled the object of learning influenced the students’ learning in a positive way although the results were subtle.
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| 6. |
- Ahrenby, Hanna, 1978-
(författare)
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Värdegrundsarbete i bildundervisning : en studie om iscensättning av policy i grundskolans senare år
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall purpose of this thesis is to describe and discuss preconditions for the enactment and the construction of fundamental values in art education in secondary school. The study is based on ethnographic methods, including classroom observations, video recordings and interviews with art teachers and pupils. Three art teachers and 36 pupils in grade eight and nine (age 14-16) have participated in the study. The schools are located in areas of different socio-economic status. Besides interviews, the empirical material consists of observation notes, video and sound recordings, documents and photographs from the observed lessons. In total, 27 lessons were observed and recorded, 20 interviews with teachers and seven interviews with pupils were conducted. The empirical material is analysed with a combination of policy enactment theory (Ball et al. 2012) and concepts form Bernstein (2000, 2003) and Bakhtin (1981, 1986).The analysis reveals that the conditions for policy enactment are created by several factors that interact. It is impossible to designate a single factor to explain why the enacted curriculum turns out the way it does. The contextual dimensions, such as material context, situated context, professional culture and external context (Ball et al. 2012), constitute a complex and unique contextual mix in every school. Together with existing subject traditions and teaching practices in art education, the unique contextual mix creates the conditions for enacting the fundamental values in art education.The art subject carries a tradition of image-making that pushes more theoretical syllabus content,such as image analysis, aside. The situated context influences the professional culture and, therefore,they function as a lens for selecting and translating the curriculum. Regardless of teachers' intentionsto enact the fundamental values in art education, the external context can create obstacles. The goal and result management of school leads to a focus on measurable subject knowledge and drive awayother curriculum parts such as the fundamental values, making it challenging to work with fundamental values in Art education.In conclusion, there are no prerequisites for realising the intentions of the fundamental values as expressed in the curriculum. Despite this, the fundamental values have a given place in Art education. Although, it is not always expressed verbally; instead, it is image-borne.
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| 7. |
- Andersson, Birgit, 1953-
(författare)
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Nya fritidspedagoger - i spänningsfältet mellan tradition och nya styrformer
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this study is to increase the knowledge and understanding of how leisure-time pedagogues´ professional identity is changed as a consequence of altered governance and resulting new tasks. More specifically the study is oriented towards understanding how external demands for quality accounts, assessments and documentation in leisure-time centers and schools, affect leisure-time pedagogues´ practice of their profession and professional identity, and how the leisure-time pedagogues relate to these demands. The empirical data are generated through interviews with 23 leisure-time pedagogues, 8 school leaders, document analyses, and a survey among 105 leisure-time pedagogues. The analysis draws on profession theories perspective and concepts like knowledge base, jurisdiction and discretion to understand what is central in the leisure-time pedagogues’ profession and in what direction the profession is developing: de-professionalization, professionalization or re-configuration. Bourdieu´s sociological theories with concepts of field, capital and habitus are also used for understanding of the leisure-time pedagogues´ positions, actions, and explicit relations to other professional groups. The results indicate dilemmas that the leisure-time pedagogues face related to far-going decentralisation, introduction of new public management, reduced resources, and closer links between leisure-time centres and schools. Working with traditional methods creates problems and it becomes hard to balance the work between leisure-time centre and school. The thesis shows that leisure-time pedagogues constantly conduct independent individual assessments that are mainly hidden. This has not been pointed out before but is linked to the leisure-time pedagogues´ professional identity. Assessment as an accounting task has on the other hand been added in connection with the transfer to the educational sector and altered forms of governance. Leisure-time pedagogues are both ambivalent and critical to these demands for transparency and accountability. Even though the leisure-time pedagogues are subjected to increased control and expected to work more with assessments in different forms, and are forced to reduce their professional work in leisure-time centres, we cannot entirely talk about de-professionalization. Also features of professionalization and signs of reconfiguration of the profession are visible. The thesis illustrates that the profession of leisure-time pedagogue is being reshaped and that the leisure-time pedagogues’ professional identity can be understood in different ways. The thesis also illustrates how a core of traditional knowledge base stands out as central for most of the professionals in the various professional identities that are found. The differences that are found are related to the local governance of schools’ organisation; to what extent the leisure-time pedagogues’ work is placed in the compulsory school day; and how strong the leisure-time pedagogues’ collective base is in the school unit.
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| 8. |
- Arnesson, Daniel, 1982-
(författare)
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PISA i skolan : hur lärare, rektorer och skolchefer förhåller sig till internationella kunskapsmätningar
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis addresses the local reception and use in Sweden of the major international large scale assessments (ILSAs) of student performance: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS). The aim is to describe and analyze how Swedish teachers, principals and school directors interpret and possibly use ILSAs in their professional practice. ILSA is treated here as a new idea or a new social technology defining what constitutes good (or bad) education. The theoretical framework combines a top-down perspective provided by Rogers’ (2003) Diffusion of Innovation theory, and a complementary, more critical Policy Enactment approach (Ball et al. 2012), stressing the import-ance of context and local actors’ perspectives. Empirically, the thesis is based on 40 semi-structured interviews carried out in the 2011-2012 school year with teachers, principals and municipal school directors in five municipalities and 12 compulsory schools, selected to cover diverse municipalities, schools, and respondents.The respondents perceive ILSAs as valid evaluations of the Swedish school system. Most think it is important to compare results of different nations, although ILSA is not expected to cover the whole curriculum. Most interviewees are aware that Swedish ILSA results have been declining for years and perceive an urgent need to reverse this trend. However, few of the directors, principals or teachers believe that Swedish schools are in a deep crisis, as described in Swedish media. The participants frequently regard schools as primary determinants of ILSA results, and few blame family, socio-economic, cultural and contextual factors for the Swedish decline in ILSA rankings. There are significant differences between the three occupational groups in their reception and use of ILSA. Municipal school directors who are very well-informed emphasize the influence of ILSA on their local development efforts. Principals and teachers say that ILSAs have had modest direct effects on their work, but they argue that poor Swedish results in international assessments have had indirect effects, for instance by prompting the introduction of a new national curriculum.
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| 9. |
- Bergström, Peter, 1975-
(författare)
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Designing for the unknown : Didactical design for process-based assessment in technology-rich learning environments
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is based on a study of the development of education through theinnovative use of process-based assessment in technology-rich learningenvironments in teacher and nurse education. The study of process-basedassessment addresses the aim of creating a better understanding of the shiftin emphasis from teaching to learning with regard to theory and practice.The research questions address the use of process-based assessment, andhow the social relationships and issues of content can be understood intechnology-rich learning environments. A methodological approachinvolving design-based research was found to be especially applicable. Thestudy was designed in three iterative didactical design cycles for processbasedassessment in which the first and third cycles were analysed. Theempirical material comprises qualitative semi-structured interviews withteachers and students and questionnaires with students. The empiricalmaterial was analysed through inductive thematic analysis. The theoreticalanalyses in the comprising articles are mainly based on Bernstein’stheoretical framework for studying social relationships through concepts ofsymbolic power and control. For understanding change, with regard to theshift in emphasis from teaching to learning, the analysis is taken to a metalevelby applying Bernstein’s concept of pedagogical device.The results outline the shift in emphasis from teaching to learning fromboth a theoretical and practice perspective. Theoretically, the shift inemphasis from teaching to learning is based upon a shift in symbolic powerand control for teachers. In practice, the shift of symbolic power and controlbetween the teacher, student and content outline considerable overlapsbetween teacher-student, teacher-content and student-content. The overlapshighlight the empirical contribution in this thesis through the concept of“process” that is understood as a negotiation between teacher-student,teacher-content and student-content. The weakening symbolic powerrelationship made a multi-dimensional analysis of the teacher-studentcontentrelationship possible. Theoretically, the shift of symbolic poweroutlines a process of recontextualisation of a new discourse for teaching,learning and assessment. The multi-dimensional analysis highlights thetheoretical contributions to understanding the concept of discourse fromBernstein’s perspective through which the content and context create thediscourse. For practice, process-based assessment frames the notion ofdesigning for the unknown. Designing for the unknown is considered as aframework based upon a set of rules through which teachers and studentsadapt to a problematising approach in teaching, learning and assessment
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| 10. |
- Björk, Åsa, 1973-
(författare)
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Drama, hat och vänskap : om ungdomars interaktioner i sociala medier
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Departing from narratives of young people, the aim of this thesis is to deepen the knowledge about the meaning of their social interactions in social media.In this qualitative study, young people’s interactions when they use social media are studied in a Swedish context. The study constitutes an important contribution since it makes young people’s voices heard. It is based on semi-structured interviews with 32 young people aged 13-15.The results show that young people do not use the term bullying when they define a situation that is of a negative nature. They use other terms such as hate and drama to define a situation they perceive to be negative, both in situations when they themselves are involved and in situations when they are among the audience. It depends on how they define the situation. Explanations for why drama, hate and negative actions occur can be understood based on on-going relation-building work and an effort to fit into a certain peer culture. The results also indicate that it is important to receive attention from significant others. In interaction with others, social skills are developed to navigate drama, hate, friendship, negative actions and relation-building efforts in social media.Social norms, gender norms and negotiating identities come to expression when the young people discuss self-presentations in pictures.Explanations as to why they choose to publish a certain kind of picture can be linked with complex relationship and identity construction processes where the young peoples position themselves and others in the struggle to doing gender and a desire to participate in a certain peer culture.
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| 11. |
- Bohman, Karin, 1983-
(författare)
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What is music education? : discursive construction and legitimisation of theory and practice in a Swedish upper secondary school
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall purpose of this thesis is to describe and discuss the discursive constructions and legitimisations of Music and Music theory in Swedish upper secondary school context. Thereby, this thesis is part of the construction and debate concerning theory vs practice in Music education. The study is based on classroom observations and interviews with teachers and students. The study is conducted during two consecutive autumn semesters, where the first autumn observations are conducted in the Music subject Ensemble, and the second semester in the Music theory subject Aural skills and music theory as well as Ensemble. The results and analysis show that Music and Music theory are predominantly differently constructed, through the discourses permeating the courses within the subjects. Ensemble, as a Music subject, is constructed through musical practice, and only activities that are not directly related to playing – as an activity – need legitimisation, whereas Music theory as a subject appear as continuously legitimised through its connotations to the Music subject. The Ensemble course is constructed as the nucleus around which other parts of the education pivots, including courses in Music theory. Through the analysis of events, event series, regularities and condition of possibility (Foucault, 1970), present thesis demonstrates that expressions of resistance and challenge for the regulatory discourses within the two subjects endure. However, discourse flexes and bends though continue to permeate the regular events and thus also the condition of possibility. External context and professional culture (Ball et al., 2012), is viewed as entailing discursive rooms and views that construct both theory and practice. External context, such as genres of music outside of ensemble education, and the teachers’ professional cultures as musicians permeates the discursive construction of the ensemble subject as well as teacher identity. In conclusion, Music and Music theory as subjects in upper secondary education, as they appear in the context of this study, can hence be viewed as two points on a balance-board, where the weight of discursive power vii shifts from one side to the other dependent on within which discursive (class)room they are taught.
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| 12. |
- Borg, Farhana, 1967-
(författare)
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Caring for people and the planet : preschool children’s knowledge and practices of sustainability
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Children across the globe today are continuously being exposed to and affected by various kinds of real-world complexities and challenges; however, research on their knowledge and practices in terms of sustainability is limited, in particular with regards to how preschool- and home-related factors are associated with their learning for sustainability. Since 1998, different types of eco-certification have been awarded by the Swedish National Agency for Education and Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation to promote education for sustainability (EfS) in all areas of education and learning. Despite certificates having been granted in Sweden since 1998, no studies have been conducted at the national level to investigate whether eco-certification has any role to play in children’s learning for environmental and sustainability issues. This knowledge is important to develop pedagogical activities to engage young children meaningfully in learning for sustainability at preschool. This study was undertaken so as to address this research gap in a Swedish context.The overall aim of this study was to enhance the existing knowledge about preschool children’s learning for sustainability in Sweden. The objectives of this study have been to investigate and compare the knowledge and self-reported practices of sustainability among children attending eco-certified and non-eco-certified preschools, respectively, and to explore the extent to which preschool- and home-related factors are associated with children’s knowledge and practices of sustainability. Further, this study explored children’s perceived sources of such knowledge. The term ‘knowledge’ in this text refers to the descriptions of children’s ideas and thoughts. Similarly, eco-certified preschool refers to a school that work explicitly with EfS.The study was designed from a "child’s perspective": this means that it was designed by adults to understand children’s perceptions and actions. Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory and Bruner’s (1961) iconic (image-based) modes of representation were applied in various stages of the study. A conceptual framework was developed within the three-interlocking-circles model of sustainability that illustrates how environmental, social and economic dimensions are interconnected. The concept of sustainability was operationalized in four themes: economic equality, resource sharing, recycling and transport use.With the use of illustrations and semi-structured questions, final-year preschool children (n=53), aged five to six years, and the directors (n=7) at six eco-certified and six non-eco-certified preschools were interviewed, while guardians (n=89) and teachers (n=74) filled out questionnaires. Qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed using content analysis and Orthogonal Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA), respectively. The quality and complexity of children’s responses were assessed and classified using the SOLO Taxonomy (Biggs & Collis, 1982).The results showed that by the time the children completed preschool, many had acquired some knowledge about how to use money, about the sorting of different recyclable items at home and at preschool, and about the impact of different modes of transport on the environment and people’s lives. They also had ideas about the lives of other children in the world and what it can mean to share resources with other people. There was a positive relationship between children’s declarative (understanding) and functional (practice) knowledge of sustainability issues and the involvement of teachers and guardians in sustainability-related discussions and activities. No statistically significant differences between eco-certified and non-eco-certified preschools in terms of children’s declarative and functional knowledge were found. Parents were reported to be the main sources of children’s knowledge along with the children themselves, teachers and media.The findings offer support for integrating environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability into the daily pedagogical activities of preschools and for giving children opportunities to participate in discussions and practical activities that concern their lives. Further studies are needed to investigate the extent to which different educational activities contribute to developing children’s understanding and behavior when it comes to a sustainable society.
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| 13. |
- Bygdeson-Larsson, Kerstin, 1949-
(författare)
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"Vi började se barnen och deras samspel på ett nytt sätt " : Utveckling av samspelsdimensionen i förskolan med hjälp av Pedagogisk processreflektion
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of the Educational Process Reflection (EPR) studies has been to develop a better understanding concerning interaction between adults and children and the conditions for children’s peer play and interaction within the pre-school arena. The ultimate goal of the present study is to explore how practitioners through the use of EPR may develop the dimension of social interaction between practitioners and children and between children, in order to consciously create a more healthy and inclusive experience for all children and especially for children at risk. The study is based on a hermeneutic and a socio cultural perspective and a combination of activity theory and object relation theory. The methodology draws on activity theory and Yrjö Engeström’s (1987) development work research and specifically a more elaborated version of learning activity termed Educational Process Reflection, which is a model for professional development created in the previous EPR-studies presented in Bygdeson-Larsson (2005a; b; 2006). It builds on practitioners´ observations of peer play interactions and practitioners retold experiences of interaction with the children. The model consists of an oscillation between EPR-sessions and pre-school practice. The results of the study are presented in a narrative way and show how changes in pre-school grow out of collaborative reflection combined with new theoretical perspectives. The practitioners´ competence or professionalism concerning the interactive dimension was improved and individual children at risk got new and better conditions for being included in positive peer play and interaction experiences. The pre-school turned out to become a resilient environment for children in peer play and interactive difficulties. The main results illuminate and give an understanding of how practitioners´ ways of working with children in peer play problems or special needs turned out to become more resilient and how children got better possibilities to be included in positive ways. It also enhances the understanding of how the processes in peer play situations changed for the better for other children and how the whole climate in the pre-school also seemed to change and become more inclusive. Overall the results of this study bring about an enhanced understanding of the complexity of the pre-school seen as an activity system and the need for new tools concerning interactive processes. This study implicates that pre-school practitioners own investigation and reflection of interactive processes in pre-school is essential, and may well be used before applying a categorising or diagnostic approach concerning children in special needs. This study has implications for professional development, researcher-practitioner co-operation and consultative activities concerning pre-schools and children. The present study implies that all these activities have an advantage of taking the dynamics of the pre-school as an activity system into account before focusing on practitioners or children as individuals.
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| 14. |
- Dunkels, Elza, 1960-
(författare)
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Bridging the distance : children’s strategies on the internet
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis deals with the following questions: What do children find negative on the Internet? What counter strategies do they use? How have they developed these strategies? The method used is one-to-one online interviews and the analyses are qualitative in nature. The sample is children in grade 6 of the Swedish compulsory school, aged between 11 and 13. 104 children, 52 girls and 52 boys, from different parts of Sweden were interviewed.The media debate seems to display consensus regarding what threats the Internet poses to young people. The conclusion of this thesis is, however, that children’s views of the Internet in many ways differ from the media related adult view. The children of this study do not express a great deal of anxiety about the negative sides of the Internet. They are aware of, and can describe many downsides but these are not present in their everyday use of the Internet. Digging deeper it turns out that many children have in fact well-developed counter strategies. However, these strategies are not conscious in the sense that the children discuss them. Instead, they seem integrated in their online environment. The counter strategies have been developed by the children alone or together with peers. In some, but remarkably few, cases adults have been giving tips or teaching the children strategies. Nevertheless, the study does not paint a picture of naïve children, unable to see actual threats, but of responsible young citizens who are aware of the threats that exist in their online setting – sometimes from personal experience – and have developed methods to avoid such threats.
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| 15. |
- Edberg, Lorentz, 1959-
(författare)
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Skolmusikalen : om möten, makt och musik i två skolmusikalprojekt i årskurs nio
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The two school musical theatre projects in this case study were carried out in 2011-2012 in Year 9 at two Swedish secondary schools, Annebäckskolan and Bäråskolan, as a part of the subject “Elevens val” (Student’s Elective). The purpose of the study was to analyse how pedagogy, power and control appeared in the projects, based on the following research questions: How can the influence of the local community and leisure discourses on education be understood through the two school musical theatre projects? What pedagogical codes appear in the projects and how do they relate to time and space? What power relations are produced and why? The study was conducted through participatory observations and interviews and dialogues with participating students and teachers. The analysis had a hermeneutical approach, and the theoretical starting points were Basil Bernstein's theory and concepts, such as recontextualisation, code, classification, framing, and singular, regional and generic discourses. These theories were supplemented by a space perspective based on David Harvey and his concept of the absolute, relative and relational space. The study showed that educational traditions and relations with the local community were of importance for the production of the school musical theatre discourses. The Annebäck project was characterised by teaching in relation to the pop and rock music and theatre discourse of the municipal youth centre and a local aerobics and dance discourse. These relations provided the prerequisites for a school musical theatre project with an integrated code, open to most of the students in Year 9. The Bärå project had a collection code and was characterised by teaching related to the school’s music class, as well as to the municipal music school discourse and a local theatre and dance discourse. These relations provided the prerequisites for a project mainly open to students in the school’s music class, or to students who had chosen theatre or dance as an elective subject. The activities of the Annebäck project strengthened social cooperation between the municipal youth centre and the secondary school, while the Bärå project, as a result of its collaboration with aesthetic institutions in the local community where most of the musical students were already enrolled, broadened the school's music profile. Both projects strengthened the existing orientation of the two schools’ activities, thus contributing to and reinforcing the focus and the ideas on which they were based.
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| 16. |
- Edström, Charlotta, 1974-
(författare)
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Samma, lika, alla är unika : En analys av jämställdhet i förskolepolitik och praktik
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to describe, critically analyse and provide information about gender equality in Swedish preschools, in relation to policy and practice. The main focus is on pedagogues’ gender equality work with children. The study includes a comparison between state gender equality policy in Scottish and Swedish preschools. The theoretical starting point for the analysis is a policy and gender perspective. Based on Bacchis’ (1999) and Marshalls’ (1997) work suggesting that gender equality policy issues and problems are socially constructed, a contrasting analytical framework is devised and used in the analysis. The main emphasis in the analysis of gender equality constructions is on underlying assumptions, competing constructions and “areas of silence”, relating to what is missing from a gender perspective. There is also some consideration of the agreement between constructions and concrete measures. The time-period studied was from the end of the 1960s onwards; emphasis was placed on the last fifteen years. The main empirical data consists of: Swedish and Scottish state official policy documents and interviews with Scottish researchers; Swedish local authority official documents and interviews with local authority officials from four municipalities; and interviews with pedagogues from three work-teams in three preschools. This information is complemented with documentation about the preschools’ gender equality work. In state preschool policy, pedagogues are depicted both as part of the solution to the gender equality problem but also part of the problem because there are “too few men”. Local authorities consider that pedagogues need more knowledge about gender equality. The pedagogues themselves make a distinction between the past, when their treatment of children was founded on gender-based stereotypes, and the present, in which they are aware but need to keep up the work. In both Swedish preschool policy and practice, gender equality has mainly focused on treating girls and boys similarly, based on assumptions that this is desirable; and this is still the approach. This similarity discourse has been quite constant in Swedish state policy since the 1960s. One exception, however, was the attention to biological differences which gained influence in the mid 1990s in policies mainly relating to compulsory schooling. Gender equality is, with respect to both policy and practice, largely constructed as a pedagogical preschool issue. Discussions about wider society mainly concern the public sphere and the labour market, whilst the private sphere is seldom considered. Children are mainly positioned as “girls” or “boys” and as recipients of pedagogues’ gender equality measures. In general, little consideration is given to hierarchies and variations among groups of girls or boys, or about intersections between gender and other socially constructed categories. Intersections were most clearly visible in practice, especially in one preschool studied; they concern gender equality, age and space. Issues concerning power and gender order are usually missing, and there seems to be a clear influence of gender role theories. Even though there is clear current emphasis on increased similarities, there is a tension concerning whether gender equality is about treating everybody exactly the same, treating everybody in quite similar ways or treating children as unique individuals. This also involves a tension relating to whether gender equality concerns girls and boys as individuals, or as groups, or both. The study demonstrated that the emphasis on gender equality is stronger in the constructions than in concrete measures. In practice, work-teams’ discussions about gender equality were more nuanced than the somewhat compensatory methods that these practitioners applied during their work with the children.
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| 17. |
- Egelström, Monica
(författare)
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Samma lärare – olika praktiker? : en studie av literacy och meningsskapande i grundskolans tidiga ämnesundervisning
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis focuses on school subjects as arenas for students' literacy development and meaning making. How instructional practices are formed create different preconditions for students' opportunities of literacy development and meaning making. The following questions have been explored: 1) How is instruction in mathematics and history organized and structured as preconditions for literacy practices?, 2) What instructional practices for literacy development and meaning making can be found in the school subjects mathematics and history?, and 3) How can existing instruction be used to formulate a zone of proximal development for educational practices in relation to students' literacy development and meaning making?Four teachers and their instruction in mathematics and history in 5th grade (students typically 11 years old) were followed. Classroom observations and teacher interviews were used as methods for data collection. Teacher interviews were carried out before, during, and after observational periods. The study draws on theories of literacy as situated practices (Barton & Hamilton, 2000; Street, 1984). For the analysis activity theory (Engeström, 2015; Leontiev, 1986) was used to create understandings of the two school subjects as human activity systems. To identify literacy practices within these systems autonomous and ideological models of literacy (Street, 1984) were used together with models of important resources (Freebody & Luke, 1990) and discourses (Ivanič, 2004) of literacy.The results indicate that school subjects can be understood as different activity systems. Mathematics and history instruction were directed at different objects, in relation to content but also in how the object was perceived by the teachers as subjects. The activity system and its object had consequences for the role of the teacher subject in the system, but also for student roles. Different objects were also linked to differences in how the class was considered as community of work and how division of labor was formed in this community. Differences in the activity systems seemed to be related to differences in literacy practices. The activity systems were at least partly related to different models of literacy and which resources and discourses of literacy were presented to students. Different communities of work implied different opportunities to use joint work as a tool for meaning making. Likewise, actions seemed differently linked as chains of literacy events in the two activity systems. Important, though, in both subjects a tertiary contradiction could be identified, which indicate a zone of proximal development for both subjects in relation to students' literacy development and meaning making.
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| 18. |
- Ekström, Kenneth, 1956-
(författare)
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Förskolans pedagogiska praktik : Ett verksamhetsperspektiv
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Since 1960s, preschools have been important parts both of Swedish welfare and of labour market policies. The preschool thus constitutes a very important site for rearing and educating young children. Reforms of the Swedish preschool in the 1990s concerning both accessibility and quality were introduced at a time when the economy of the municipalities dramatically deteriorated because of reductions in State subsidies. The strained economy of the State and the municipalities, has resulted, among other things, in a growing number of children in preschool groups and pressure to change organization and pedagogical content. These changes took place in a time of decentralization where the responsibility for organization of preschools was given to the municipalities. Changes in economy, organization and curriculum form the background for this study. The purpose of the study is to examine and understand how preschool working teams shape and realize the pedagogical practice and how working conditions affect this process. The approach of the study is interpretative, where the interpretative perspective is mainly represented by activity theory and theories of cultural reproduction. Three aspects of the actions are observed: the object of the actions, the instruments mediating the actions and the content of mediating actions. Bernstein’s concepts classification and framing are used as tools in analysing the empirical data. The interpretative, empirical study is based on qualitative data collected mainly by observations and interviews. Three preschools are chosen for the study. The preschools in the study are located in two municipalities in the north of Sweden, representing three different environments. All preschools receive children one to five years old. The personnel consist of preschool teachers and childminders working in teams. Eleven of them where interviewed. The study shows that daily routines both shape and restrict practices in preschools. The work is mainly focused on care giving, where the children are supposed to adapt to and subordinate themselves to the norms and to the existing routines. The children’s influence varies between organized activities, where they have little influence, and play time, where they can choose what to do. It also varies between the preschools, where the preschool with children from more affluent families have more freedom than children from the multicultural, lower-income environment do. The work is collectively oriented toward training adaptation, but also, to a certain extent, training for autonomy and responsibility taking. Organization of learning activities often takes the form of transmitting information. The informants regard themselves as caregivers with the main purpose to mediate security and create conditions for the children to develop socially. The changes in conditions emanating from political decisions have brought new working tasks to the preschools and have reduced the level of resources at the same time as the demands made are experienced as being harder. This creates frustration and tends to result in lower levels of ambition.
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| 19. |
- Engdahl, Karin, 1958-
(författare)
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Förskolegården : En pedagogisk miljö för barns möten, delaktighet och inflytande
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is the result of a study that considers children’s encounters with others; participation and influence in a pedagogical outdoor environment in three different preschool playgrounds. More specifically, a study is under-taken of how children’s encounters are shaped in the pedagogically adapted outdoor environment of the preschool with the focus on how children’s par-ticipation and influence finds expression in the preschool playground’s dif-ferent facilities. The physical environment is seen as meaningful and the focus is on which affordances arise in the physical environment related to facility. The study’s theoretical approach is based mainly on G. H. Mead’s social psychological theory and the meeting with the other which is com-bined with theories that call attention to the significance of the facility. An ethnographic method has been applied. By way of two years’ field studies, with a total of 78 days spent in the three different environments, data has been collected through observations and photography and by listening to, and talking with, children and preschool teachers. To participate in the chil-dren’s everyday life has been a precondition for understanding children’s different encounters and meeting places in the preschool playgrounds. On the basis of the analysed results, the study shows that all three preschool playgrounds had pedagogical outdoor environments which were designed so that the majority of the facilities gave a variety of offerings, something that contributed to different children being able to relate to, and find, their own affordances in different facilities. The results of the study also show that the majority of preschool children in the studied activities were socially compe-tent and good negotiators. Thereby, they were shown to have good precondi-tions for participating and exercising influence in the day-to-day outdoor activities. At the same time, the study results demonstrate that the children’s agency and interaction at all three preschool playgrounds are determined on the basis of the level of recognition they received in their encounter with other children and in the encounter with teachers.
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| 20. |
- Engvall, Sara, 1984-
(författare)
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Opening the black box of mathematics teachers’ professional growth : a study of the process of teacher learning
- 2019
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There is a lot of research done on professional development programs for teachers, especially with a focus on different characteristics of the program and whether it makes teachers change their teaching practice to such an extent that it enhances student achievement. However, there is not much research done on the learning process. As long as we do not open the black box of teacher learning it is difficult to say anything about what characteristics in a professional development program actually are important for teachers to learn, develop and grow as professionals.The aim of the thesis is to better understand the process of teacher learning while participating in aprofessional development program. The focus is on different aspects of the process of teacher professional growth, as well as on external factors that have an impact on the process of learning. The participants are secondary school teachers that participated in a professional development program in formative assessment. The data have been collected during and after the professional development program took place. Different types of data have been used in this thesis; teacher interviews, classroom observations and questionnaires, and have been collected over a time period of two and a half years. In two of the included papers the studies focus on four mathematics teachers, and the learning process is explored from two different perspectives: how the professional growth can develop, and how their testing of formative assessment activities relates to their understanding of formative assessment. In one of the papers all secondary school teachers are included and a comparison in expectancy of being able to use high quality formative assessment after the professional development program between the mathematics teachers and the other teachers were conducted. In the fourth paper focus is on all mathematics teachers in the study and their motivation are investigated over a time period of two years.The four papers take different perspectives to explore the professional growth for teachers while participating in a professional development program in formative assessment. The results show the complexity of teacher learning and indicate that large-scale implementations risk being inefficient and not reach the intended goals.
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| 21. |
- Erixon Arreman, Inger
(författare)
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Att rubba föreställningar och bryta traditioner : Forskningsutveckling, makt och förändring i svensk lärarutbildning
- 2005
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of this study is to understand the impact of Swedish education policy-making on teacher education post-1945. The study explores the relationship between national structures and changes affecting teacher education, its relationship to research, and in particular, implications of policies for teacher educators at Umeå University in northern Sweden. A combination of top-down and bottom-up research approaches was used and included analysis of policy documents, research literature and micro-level perspectives. This included interviews with 57 teacher educators and senior managers, who had been or remained responsible for teacher education programmes. The research draws on a variety of theoretical frameworks, which aid the exploration of the relationship between various parts of teacher education and higher education more generally. In so doing, relationships of power, discourse and gender are seen as particularly important, as are the sociological perspectives of Bourdieu, Bernstein, Foucault and Connell among others. Prosopography was used as a methodological approach, by which biographical details were collected and analysed in order to illuminate the social relations of the field of teacher education. The study showed that in Sweden, research for teacher education was a major issue in post-war education policy in connection to reforms of the school-system, and widening access to research. ‘Practical Pedagogy’ was specifically created as a sub-discipline of Pedagogik (Educational Studies), and established in the 1950s and 1960s at the new teacher colleges. The relationship between educational research and teacher education remained weak, however, and traditional research structures were largely maintained despite reform intentions. Also, reform of higher education and inclusion of teacher education in the university system in 1977 paradoxically meant that teacher education, given its new university status, lost its research subject and avenue into research. The weak relationship between research and teacher education was thereafter repeatedly taken up in state committees until the late 1990s. Simultaneously, from the early 1990s onwards, various discourses on the importance of professionalism in teacher education emerged. Internationally, from the 1990s the separation of structures for research and teacher education also became a topic of growing concern. In Sweden, the clear discrepancy between rhetoric and practice eventually resulted in a parliamentary decision in 2000 to create a nationally valid research structure for teacher education, which was to be implemented in 2001. Umeå University was the first university in the country to establish a Faculty (Board) of Teacher Education, which enabled the introduction of new research structures and a cross-disciplinary research approach related to teacher education and teachers’ work. The study suggests that discourses of research development (for vocational subject areas such as teacher education), and new classifications are likely to meet with resistance from a number of directions and established university hierarchies. However, it is argued that ‘discursive breaks’ can open up a questioning about the right to discourse and ‘truth’ about knowledge and research and the conditions whereby changes can be put into place. The study also suggests that men and women have different perceptions of research in teacher education; male staff tended to rely on practice-based experience, while female staff saw research as a means of expanding their knowledge base. The prosopography indicates that social class distinguishes the field of teacher education from other university disciplines, with its generally lower social backgrounds of students and proportionately more women as staff and students. Teacher education also has generally low status within the university, which is both the cause and consequence of reduced access to research development and funding. Finally the study shows that the struggles of teacher education over knowledge and power, constitute a multilayered process involving a variety of actors at different levels. In the case of Umeå, this meant that teacher education was eventually able to claim the right to establish new and different research paradigms, for its own benefit.
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| 22. |
- Forsell, Tobias, 1974-
(författare)
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”Man är ju typ elev, fast på avstånd” : problematisk skolfrånvaro ur elevers, föräldrars och skolpersonals perspektiv
- 2020
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Aim: The aim of the thesis is to increase the knowledge of problematic school absenteeism by focusing on factors and processes contributing to this phenomenon in compulsory school, but also to identify what helps turningabsenteeism into increased school attendance. The thesis uses Kearney’s (2008a) definition of problematic school absenteeism: absences that adversely affect the student’s social and cognitive development, and mental wellbeing.Method: The thesis investigates problematic school absenteeism on the basis of in-depth interviews with 15 students aged between 16 and 25, 15 parents, and 11 school staff with long experience of working with students in this situation, thereby providing rich information on the complex phenomenon under study. The resulting narratives have been analysed using thematic content analysis.Theoretical framework: Drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s (1977, 1979a, 1986a) ecological systems theory of human development, the analytical framework is used to unveil the dynamic interaction between the student and his/herenvironment. In addition, the concept of alienation (Bronfenbrenner, 1986a; Hascher & Hadjar, 2018) is used to facilitate a deeper understanding of potentially important generator of unfavourable conditions in school, which byextension may have negative effects on the students’ ability to attend school.Major findings: Problematic school absenteeism in compulsory school is resulting from a range of factors at different levels interacting over a longer period of time. There is a need to distinguish between underlying, eliciting and maintaining factors. Shorter spells of truancy and absence related to illness may be early warning signs. Feelings of being different and lonely, harassment by peers, and difficulties to live up to the demands in school are commonly described as factors pushing the student away from school. Absence from school for a longer period of time in turn results in problems such as anxiety, depression, reduced social contacts and lagging behind in school-work that maintain and increase the difficulties to go back to school. The students, above all those with extensive and long-term absenteeism, usually need changes in the school environment if their attendance rates are to improve. Such ecological changes may be a question of teaching in an alternative learning environment, a change of school, or that significant others enter the student’s life and contribute to a manageable study situation. Such a conclusion is in contrast to research that one-sidedly points to measures aimed at changing the student’s patterns of thought and behaviour.
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| 23. |
- Granberg, Carina, 1966-
(författare)
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ICT and learning in teacher education : The social construction of pedagogical ICT discourse and design
- 2011
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background In recent decades, system-wide policies and substantial resources have been directed towards enhancing the use of ICT in learning contexts. This development can be observed at international and national levels. However, reports have indicated a ’slow uptake’ of the use of ICT for pedagogical purposes among compulsory schools and teacher education institutions. Although the teacher education at Umeå University follows this pattern, there have been several initiatives in using ICT for learning in the teacher education programmes. The aim of this study is to scrutinise the process in which ICT-supported methods for learning have been introduced, used and disseminated throughout teacher education. Methods Three ICT-supported methods for teaching and learning were chosen for this study: digital individual development planning (IUP), blogs and e-portfolios. To capture teachers’ and students’ experiences of introducing the pedagogical use of ICT, 115 interviews were conducted and four questionnaires were administered over a four-year period (2006-2010). Course documents and observations of blogs and e-portfolios supplied additional data. Hermeneutics was chosen as the methodological approach. Thematic content analysis was carried out in the first three part-studies, and theoretical frameworks suited for the identified themes were chosen for the analyses. Since pedagogical discourses appeared to be important, discourse analysis was used in the fourth part-study. A final meta analysis has been carried out and is presented later in this thesis. Results In Umeå, as in other countries, teacher education has been slow to adopt ICT for learning. Still, the use of ICT for learning has increased over time. ICT-supported methods such as IUP, blogs and e-portfolios have found their way into the context through a recontextualisation process in which ICT discourses and designs are socially constructed. However, the recontextualisation process could merely be found within sub-fields, such as teacher teams and project groups, since in the main-field (i.e. teacher education) traditional ways of teaching and learning have been internalised. These traditions hold symbolic capital, and teachers who have the means to do so will act according to their habitus and defend the traditions. The recontextualisation process will therefore be kept within the sub-fields, and the dissemination will be limited. Furthermore, the sub-fields are rather isolated from one another, and therefore pedagogical ICT discourses and designs are created in varied ways. However, none of them could be regarded as internalised, and the social construction of pedagogical ICT discourse and design has to be considered to be still ‘under construction’.
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| 24. |
- Granstedt, Lena, 1956-
(författare)
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Synsätt, teman och strategier : några perspektiv på mångkulturella frågor i skolan i ett praktiknära projekt
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The chief aim of my thesis is to study and analyse how the multiculturalism of schools is reflected in research and reports in Sweden and in the way in which teachers talk about multicultural issues at school. Part of the work is done in the form of reflecting talks with two groups of teachers in two different schools on issues and situations taken from their own everyday experience. The talks are conducted over two years. One partial aim is therefore to study whether this working method can help teachers to develop their strategies with regard to multicultural issues at school. I describe how the talks develop over two years in an ethnically heterogeneous group of teachers in one of the schools, some areas related to multicultural issues in the school that the teachers find problematic, and how the talks to some extent influence the teachers’ choice of strategies in the school’s practice. Part of the work is an analysis of a talk from each group of teachers and their conceptions of “the immigrant pupil” and her/his parents are focused on. The analytical tool of interpretive repertoires is used to visualise patterns of common points of departure and values in the talks. Also part of the work is an analysis of how research and reports reflect the discourse on multicultural issues from 1980 to 2005. I emphasise some themes and how these change over time. Through the study, parts of the content of the discourse about the multicultural Swedish education are made visible. The discourse contains expressions of a focus on shortcomings and problems that are regarded as linked to pupils, parents and to some extent to teachers with foreign backgrounds. The discourse also contains expressions of seeing differences, chiefly between groups of pupils with foreign and ethnic Swedish backgrounds respectively. By focusing on differences and shortcomings a boundary is at the same time set up between “us” and “them”. The composition of teachers in Swedish schools is relatively homogeneous as regards ethnicity. When, in addition, it is many times teachers that have the responsibility and power to define what are seen as problems and to find solutions in schools’ practice, the problems and solutions are often defined from a majority perspective. It is also from a majority perspective that decisions are made about to what extent, to what degree and in what way minority perspectives should be represented in these contexts. It is a matter of who has the power to define themselves and the others and the others’ shortcomings.
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| 25. |
- Gustafson, Niklas
(författare)
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Lärare i en ny tid : Om grundskollärares förhandlingar av professionella identiteter
- 2010
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Den svenska grundskolan har under de två senaste årtiondena genomgått omfattande reform- och förändringsprocesser. Från en strukturell nivå har dessa drivit fram en ny tid med ett i grunden förändrat uppdrag för skolan och dess lärare. I denna avhandling antas emellertid att lärare som aktörer kan forma förändringar och strukturer. Avhandlingen har författats inom ramen för ett flerårigt interaktivt forskningsprojekt med lärare från tre grundskolor. Utifrån skapad data i projektet om hur nya och förändrade grupper och arbetsgrupper i lärares arbete leder till ett vidgat uppdrag, fokuserar studien lärarnas förhandlingar av professionella identiteter kring arbetets helhet. Etienne Wengers (1998) sociala teori om identitet, med rubriken ”Communities of Practice”, används för att fördjupa förståelsen av data. Det övergripande syftet med avhandlingen är att inom ramen för ett interaktivt forskningsprojekt beskriva och analysera hur lärare förhandlar professionella identiteter i grundskolan. Ett delsyfte är att beskriva och analysera lärarnas lärande och kunskapsutveckling i projektet. Den centrala forskningsfrågan är: Hur och kring vad förhandlar lärarna professionella identiteter i olika praktikgemenskaper? Genom att använda den interaktiva forskningsansatsen har en strävan varit att utveckla demokratiska dialog- och lärandeprocesser med de deltagande lärarna. En ambition är att öka kunskaperna om lärare som medforskare i forskningsprojekt och som forskande lärare i arbetet i skolan. Det interaktiva projektets mötesplatser var informella samtal, lärande dialoger, enskilda intervjuer och fokusgrupper. Studiens resultat visar att lärarna förhandlar professionella identiteter i ett rör(l)igt expanderande multimedlemskap i praktikgemenskaper. Som mäklare av information och kunskaper mellan och inom praktikgemenskaper i skolan, och utifrån olika identitetspositioner, förhandlar lärarna överlappande identiteter. Medlemskap i gemenskaper för enbart vuxna får allt större utrymme i relation till lärararbetets helhet. Studiens huvudsakliga slutsats är att lärare i den nya tiden förhandlar identiteter i ett spänningsförhållande mellan fragmentisering respektive sammanvävning av arbetets komplexa helhet genom sitt multimedlemskap i praktikgemenskaper. I avhandlingen föreslås komplexitetsmedvetenhet vara grundläggande, och att en sådan insikt kan förbättras av lärarna genom att utveckla sig själva som mäklare och sina förtingliganden av gränsobjekt inom ett komplext multimedlemskap. Analys av data visar att lärarna i det interaktiva projektet haft möjligheter att vidareutveckla kompetenser för förhandlingar av identiteter som forskande lärare i arbetet i skolan. Data från projektet analyseras dessutom i ett sammanhang av globaliserade och mångskiftande strukturella samhällsförändringar såsom decentraliseringar, ekonomiska omvandlingar, kulturella standardiseringar, det individualiserade kunskapssamhället samt det reflekterande samhället. En slutsats är att lärarna tycks operera inom ett alltmer globaliserat lärararbete och vara på väg mot identiteter som globaliserade lärare.
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| 26. |
- Hallenius, Mikael, 1971-
(författare)
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Clio räddar världen : En annalys av argumentationen för historieämnets ställning i det svenska skolsystemet i Historielärarnas Förenings Årsskrift, 1942-2004
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to analyse and discuss the argumentation for theplace of History in the Swedish school system from the perspective ofeducation philosophy. The material that has been investigated is theYearbook of the Association of History Teachers (HLFÅ). In connectionto this, two questions have been asked: (1) What sort of argumentationhas there been in HLFÅ on the place of History in the Swedish schoolsystem from the time the Yearbook started to be published in 1942 until2004 when the Swedish parliament decided that the subject should beobligatory for all pupils in gymnasiet (senior high school)? (2) In whatway has education philosophy been taken into consideration in the argumentationon the place of History in HLFÅ between 1942 and 2004? Thebackground to these questions is partly that during the whole of the1900s it has been far from obvious what place History should have in theupper levels of the Swedish school system. Also, I have partly found itfruitful to study HLFÅ from the perspective of education philosophy.In chapter 1, we give a deeper presentation of HLFÅ. After that followsan overview of research into the teaching and learning of History (Historydidactics). The chapter ends with the three leitmotifs based on this research.I identify as leitmotifs areas that are identified clearly and repeatedlyin History didactics and that are seen as relevant to structure myanalysis of HLFÅ. The three leitmotifs are: (1) the relation between Historyand academia, (2) the social potential of History, (3) the use of Historyin the service of peace. These have structured the presentation in thetwo analysis chapters of the thesis (chapters 4 and 5).Chapter 2 discusses the thesis methodology, theoretical perspective andquestions. The methodology is an analysis of argumentation based onhermeneutics. The theoretical perspectives used in the study are educationphilosophies. My use of the theory builds on my reading of TheodorBrameld and Tomas Englund. The four education philosophies used toanalyse the argumentation are: (1) progressivism, (2) essentialism, (3)perennialism, (4) reconstructivism. In chapter 3, the background to thestudy is presented. The areas that are focused on are the changes in theSwedish school system during the 1900s, the subject of History in figures,and glimpses from the public debate on history in general and thesubject of History in Sweden. In chapter 4, we cover the period from1942-1970, and in chapter 5 we cover in a similar way the period from1971-2004. Both chapters begin with a chronological overview of theargumentation in the articles. After that, the material is analysed wherethe presentation is structured based on the three leitmotifs which arediscussed from an education philosophy perspective.Chapter 6 is a summarizing discussion. There we make it clear that progressivismis almost completely absent from the argumentation aroundthe place of History in Swedish schools in HLFÅ. Instead, the studyshows that it is a combination of essentialism and perennialism that dominatesthe way of maintaining the merits of History. Regarding reconstructivism,it is stated that it is subordinate to essentialism and perennialism.The study ends with suggestions for further research. Since theargumentation has consistently made the claim that History can givepeople a feeling of safety in their surroundings, understand their place inlife and create peace in the world, it is suggested that further analysisshould be made of similar material from the perspective of civil religion.A point of departure in this research is that secular societies partly takeover, and partly re-work, the rites and cosmologies of religious institutions,in order to create solidarity in modern societies. My hypothesis isthat this perspective would strengthen the thought that there are civilreligious practices on Swedish soil in connection with the educationworld.
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| 27. |
- Halwani, Manar, 1981-
(författare)
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Engagement, directed motivational currents, and second language learning : adult immigrant perspectives
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The dissertation answers calls for the integration of motivation and engagement theory and research among highly educated adult-migrant language learners. Specifically, the purpose of this dissertation is to propose a model to describe the interactions between the motivation construct Directed Motivational Currents (DMCs) and the engagement construct Engagement with Language (EWL). The site of this dissertation is Sweden and hence the language learners of this dissertation were learning Swedish to enter the Swedish employment market. This thesis is a qualitative study with a social-dynamic approach to DMCs and EWL, and second language learning is viewed as a highly interactive process. The dissertation consists of three studies. Each study is based in a different formal language learning setting with the following groups of participants: (1) voluntary migrants with university degrees; (2) voluntary and forced migrant medical doctors, and (3) forced migrant schoolteachers. Semi-structured interviews, observation, and questionnaires were used to collect data to describe DMCs and EWL in concert. The findings of the thesis are that the lenses of DMCs and EWL can be combined to reveal more detail about highly educated adult-migrant language learners learning than earlier models. The findings also suggested ways in which the DMCs and EWL constructs interact, and that these are influenced by learners’ visions of their current and future selves, and by effective profession-oriented language teaching. Based on the analysis of the data from the three studies a novel model, Engagement in Directed Motivational Currents (EDMCs), is posited. This novel model captures the multidirectional interaction between DMCs and EWL, and how DMCs are nurtured by cognitive, affective and social engagement, and EWL is energized by motivational structure and goal, and emotionality. The posited model has relevance for second language pedagogy beyond highly educated migrant adult language learning contexts, and for future research in the area of long-term motivation and EWL in relation to second language learning.
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| 28. |
- Halwani, Manar, 1981-
(författare)
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Engagement, directed motivational currents, and second language learning : adult immigrant perspectives
- 2023
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The dissertation answers calls for the integration of motivation and engagement theory and research among highly educated adult-migrant language learners. Specifically, the purpose of this dissertation is to propose a model to describe the interactions between the motivation constructDirected Motivational Currents (DMCs) and the engagement construct Engagement with language (EWL). The site of this dissertation is Sweden and hence the language learners of this dissertation were learning Swedish to enter the Swedish employment market. This thesis is a qualitative study with a social-dynamic approach to DMCs and EWL, and second language learning is viewed as a highly interactive process. The dissertation consists of three studies. Each study is based in a different formal language learning setting with the following groups of participants: (1) voluntary migrants with university degrees; (2) voluntary and forced migrant medical doctors, and (3) forced migrant schoolteachers. Semi-structured interviews, observations, and questionnaires were used to collect data to describe DMCs and EWL in concert. The findings of the thesis are that the lenses of DMCs and EWL can be combined to reveal more detail about highly educated adult-migrant language learners' learning than earlier models. The findings also suggested ways in which the DMCs and EWL constructs interact, and that these are influenced by learners’ visions of their current and future selves, and by effective profession-oriented language teaching. Based on the analysis of the data from the three studies a novel model, Engagement inDirected Motivational Currents (EDMCs), is posited. This novel model captures the multidirectional interaction between DMCs and EWL, and how DMCs are nurtured by cognitive, affective, and social engagement, and EWL is energized by motivational structure and goal, and emotionality. The posited model has relevance for second language pedagogy beyond highly educated migrant adult language learning contexts, and for future research in the area of long-term motivation and EWL in relation to second language learning.
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| 29. |
- Hansson, Kristina, 1956-
(författare)
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Skola och medier : Aktiviteter och styrning i en kommuns utvecklingssträvanden
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Over time, the state has undertaken various reforms to govern the development of education. The issue of using new media may be seen as such an example. A change in the use of media in education imposes great challenges on both municipalities and teachers. This thesis aims to visualise and discuss governance in the contradictions that arise in practical activities aimed at integrating new media in school teaching, based on three actors’ perspectives, namely the dilemmas of the teacher, the media pedagogue and the media developer. The study is based on systemic thinking about governance and I employ both activity theory and the concept of governmentality to visualise and discuss the governance.The study is conducted in the form of a case study. The case consists of a municipality where, based on the curriculum’s mission, teachers have tried to find ways to integrate new media into their teaching. My own connection to the case consists of having been a driving and governing force in the work as a teacher, media pedagogue and media developer. The case was chosen because the municipality’s work on the national level and via the media has been held up as a good example.The empirical part consists of both my own life narrative and studies of different documents, texts, images, films and sound recordings that show how governmentalities are formed and take shape on the micro, macro and meso levels. I use a methodological prism, a combination of different analytical perspectives, discourse, activity, narratives and governmentality.The results reveal that the driving actors are innovatively handling the systemic contradictions that arise in the work of carrying out the curriculum’s mission. The governance of the activities is based on a trust rationality. The more the use of new media is spread in the municipality’s schools, the more contradictory it becomes for the middle level’s actors. The trust rationality has been superseded by a distrust rationality, creating a growing gap between the administration and the activities.
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| 30. |
- Hedlin, Maria
(författare)
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Konstruktionen av kön i skolpolitiska texter 1948 - 1994, med särskilt fokus på naturvetenskap och teknik
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- More girls into science and technology have been a repeated goal in Swedish school politics for some decades. It has been called the gender equality issue. However, neither the ideas associated with science education nor the ideas associated with gender are obvious.The aim of the thesis is to analyse different views of gender, science and technology in Swedish educational policy, as they appear over time in the preparatory documents of the curricula of the nine year comprehensive compulsory school. The purpose is thus to understand the recurrent theme of “girls and science and technology”. The study is a text analysis and the empirical material consists of commission reports, government proposals, motions and minutes of the ensuing parliamentary debates.In the earliest documents girls and boys were described as opposites and their differences were emphasised. However these ideas were not unchallenged. Gender differences were toned down, variations within the genders were emphasised, and it was pointed out that boys and girls are not uniform groups. It was argued that calling areas and tasks female and male are conventions that can be broken. Proposals were made implying a breaking up of the strict boundary between girls’ and boys’ respective spheres of activity. Later a lot of the old ideas were recurring although society had changed. However clear attempts to break the gender borders were also repeated. In this ambition technology was central. From the early 1960s a girl choosing technology stands out as a symbol of a pupil making a gender-crossing choice.
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| 31. |
- Hentschel, Linn, 1980-
(författare)
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Sångsituationer : en fenomenologisk studie av sång i musikämnet under grundskolans senare år
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores how the phenomena of ”singing situations” are made visible through pupils and music teachers' experiences of music education in a Swedish school, through an existential philosofical gender perspective. A basic point of departure in the thesis is that singing development is possible to evolve for all humans, similar to the latest curriculum for the music subject in elementary school in Sweden. The thesis can be positioned within four research areas: gender research in Swedish school, vocal- and voice research, gender related music education research and gender related music education research on singing. The latter research area constitutes the area in which the present dissertation is closest positioned to. Several researchers whose research is positioned in the area of gender related music education research expresses the need for more research similar to their own contributions. Within the study, five field visits have been conducted over two years involving seventyone students and five music teachers. The study includes observations and interviews, as well as sound recording and notes, and has focused solely on singing situations - situations in which singing appears in the participants' experiences in different ways. It was of research interest to meet pupils with experience of voice changes during puberty, as the majority of previous research presents the voice change as an experience that primarily or only boys experience. A very limited minority of research investigates how girls experience the voice change during puberty. The empirical data has been analyzed through seven phenomenological steps. The overall results show that all students sing and that many enjoy singing in school, with exception for one girl. The teachers' basic starting point in their teaching is to treat singing ability as possible to develop for all students. According to the teachers' basic view of singing ability as transcendence, the result shows that different gendered normative and structural aspects surround the pupils and teachers. The results also show how these aspects impacts pupils choices in the singing situations, and that some students are given greater opportunities to transcend in their vocal learning than others. The results are discussed through themes that arise within the results, mainly: subjective and intersubjective experience through singing, habitual singing, norms of restraint and imitation, girls' and boys' singing situations, views on the singing body as factuality or freedom in relation to gender, as well as the creation of alternative rooms in singing situations.
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| 32. |
- Hofverberg, Anders, 1985-
(författare)
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Motivation, students, and the classroom environment : exploring the role of Swedish students’ achievement goals in chemistry
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overarching aim of this thesis is to deepen the knowledge about students’ achievement goals in chemistry and how they relate to students’ epistemic beliefs (beliefs about knowledge) and to their perceptions of classroom goal structures (instructional practices that emphasize certain achievement goals). Achievement goals are defined as the purpose behind students’ engagement in achievement behavior. They are important components in students’ motivation and influence students’ success and well-being in school. This thesis primarily focuses on two types of achievement goals: mastery and performance goals. Students with mastery goals define success in relation to prior performances and the task at hand and they strive to develop their competence. Students with performance goals define success in relation to others and they strive to demonstrate their relative competence. To study students’ achievement goals, questionnaire data and responses on a chemistry test were collected from Swedish and German students in Grades 5-11 and analyzed through statistical methods.The results show that it was possible to statistically differentiate between two different performance goals (striving to outperform others and avoid being outperformed by others) in the German data, but not in the Swedish. This challenges the universality of achievement goal models. Regarding the relationship between achievement goals and epistemic beliefs, the results indicated that sophisticated epistemic beliefs correlated with mastery goals and naïve beliefs correlated with performance goals. These relationships varied over time, especially in the transition from lower to upper secondary school, which therefore is an interesting time point to study further. The interaction between achievement goals and classroom goal structures was studied by using them as joint predictors of students’ autonomous motivation and performance on the chemistry test. The most important predictor for high autonomous motivation and high test scores was strong mastery goals. This effect was enhanced when students also perceived strong mastery structures in the classroom. Conversely, mastery goals were less beneficial if students pursued performance goals simultaneously. There were also differences in the interactions between achievement goals and goal structures over school years. Together, the results imply that teachers should support students’ mastery goals through striving to create classroom environments with strong mastery structures.In conclusion, this thesis highlights the complexity of achievement goals and their relations to other aspects of the educational context. This shows the need for future research to take, for example, the universality of achievement goal models and the importance of interaction effects into consideration.
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| 33. |
- Holmgren, Anders, 1959-
(författare)
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Klassrummets relationsetik : Det pedagogiska mötet som etiskt fenomen
- 2006
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The main purpose of the present study is to explore how the ethical relationship between teacher and student in the classroom can be described and understood from the approach of the French philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas. I also examine the theoretical concepts that can be derived from Lévinas’ ideas in order to be able to interpret the manner in which this ethical relationship manifests itself in the classroom. The empirical data was generated through observation of the kind often found in ethnographical studies like microanalyses using a variety of digital techniques. I also made use of direct observation and stimulated recall interviews in close connection with the classroom events. The study was carried out at two Swedish schools and the focus was placed on classroom practice and ethical communication in the classroom. Facial expressions, eye contact, gestures and other non-verbal communication was of great interest. Through microanalysis of classroom interaction I have attempted to uncover what exists under the surface of the classroom communication in more detail. According to Lévinas, ethics is understood as a relation of the infinitive responsibility to the Other person. In a pedagogical context, we may speak of the ”first meeting” face-to-face before any categorization of the other individual is formulated. The key concepts are Saying (in relation to the Said), the Other, the Face, asymmetrical relationships and alterity. In their encounter with the empirical data collected, the concepts have been freighted with edagogical significance. These original ethical thoughts of Lévinas, much of which challenge what has previously been taken for granted, can provide new insight into educational work. This investigation has provided other insights into the ethical dimension of education, especially as the teacher-student relationship is concerned. The close connection between vulnerability and interdependence in the teacher-student relationship, and communication as self-exposure, are important findings that can help teachers and pedagogues to understand the ethical dimension of the educational encounter with the student. Throughout the study, a relational ethical perspective has been developed as an alternative interpretative tool for analyzing and reflecting upon the teacher-student relationship.
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| 34. |
- Holmgren, Karoline, 1970-
(författare)
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Mål, matematik och mening : om identitet i mötet med gymnasieskolans yrkesprogram
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Obtaining a final diploma is an important prerequisite for young people to avoid unemployment and exclusion. Therefore, it is worrying that every year a large group of vocational students in Sweden complete their education without obtaining a final diploma. A national survey shows that the biggest obstacle to achieving a final diploma is the compulsory mathematics course.The aim of this thesis is therefore to contribute knowledge about vocational students’ encounters with upper secondary school, with a particular focus on the mathematics course and students’ ability to achieve the goals. Central to the thesis is students’ identity formation in the environment that the upper secondary school’s vocational education entails. The thesis presents two studies that build on each other: The first study examines school staff’s descriptions of what may affects vocational students’ goal fulfillment in mathematics to provide a broad and comprehensive picture from several different school actors (teachers, student health and principals). Based on the results the second study examines vocational students’ own stories with a special focus on students’ identity formation, analyzing their narratives based on four dimensions; personal-, social-, subject- and professional dimension.Overall, the results of the two studies show that other aspects than just subject-didactic factors seem to play an important role in vocational students’ goal fulfillment in mathematics. The identity formation invocational students’ encounters with upper secondary school seems to be one such aspect: Mathematics failures during former school, the importance of vocational students’ sense of belonging together as well as discourses in school and society about vocational education, vocational students, and the subject of mathematics, have a significant impact on students’ identity formation. Being a student in upper secondary vocational education encompasses a web of relationships and connections between personal identity, social identity, subject identity, and professional identity, which means that learning as well as development takes place in all these four dimensions. Therefore, social and emotional processes as well as vocational students’ identity formation should not be forgotten in the discussion about how vocational students’ goal fulfillment in mathematics can be improved. Conclusions that can be drawn are that if school difficulties arise, i.e. that vocational students are at risk of not reaching the goals, supportive efforts should focus on all four dimensions of vocational student identity.
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| 35. |
- 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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| 36. |
- Håkansson, Anita, 1949-
(författare)
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Lärares pedagogiska arbete inom den kommunala vuxenutbildningen
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this thesis is to find out the central, essential, and important issues concerning teaching adult students within the municipal adult education system in Sweden. In accordance with the used method, Grounded Theory, the research question runs as follows: What is the main concern of adult educators and how do they deal with it? Formal and informal conversations with and between adult educators, classroom observations and events occurring outside the classrooms were used as data. A constant comparative analysis of empirical data, supported by literature and results from previous research ended up in an empirical grounded theory. The main concern of the adult educators is the high degree of absence and the many dropouts among the students. To avoid this, a majority of the educators perform motivational work through pedagogical and social actions and try to find a balance between teaching and caring. A majority of the adult students, though, have needs that are of a socio-emotional kind; a caring dimension seems to prevail. So, the educational assignment becomes secondary to the social one, but the acts of caring are both of final and instrumental value. By teaching and caring, the adult educators try to help their students to lead a good life either at the moment or in the future, and to experience Quality of Life, the latter have to be motivated to attend school regularly. According to the andragogical principles, adults are responsible and motivated to learn by nature. However, this study shows that there is a distance between the ideal adult student and the actual one and that adult educators have to take on both the responsibility and motivational work. An informal theory, generated out of a basic set of values and an experienced-based knowledge that is vital to adult education, is thus put into educational practice.
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| 37. |
- 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
-
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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| 38. |
- Jeansson, Åsa, 1966-
(författare)
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Vad, hur och varför i slöjdämnet : textillärares uppfattningar om innehåll och undervisning i relation till kursplanen
- 2017
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The thesis deals with questions of how the purpose and content in the Swedish school subject Sloyd can be understood in the present, some years after a new curriculum came into effect in 2011. Through sloyd teachers’ stories of their knowledge and the historical traces that have left a mark on their teaching, such as older syllabuses and mediated experiences, the intention is to examine the pedagogical thinking that forms the classroom’s activities. The overall purpose is to develop knowledge of what shapes the design of sloyd, based on how the subject is expressed in the syllabus and in teachers' understandings of teaching and the subject. Based on previous knowledge and interviews, a hermeneutic research process has been designed and developed over time. Seventeen semi-structured interviews with textiles teachers where conducted, recorded and transcribed for the study. The hermeneutic interpretation process involved repeatedly reading and listening, and the material was coded using the digital analysis tool ATLAS.ti. Through repeated reading of the codes, three overarching themes were found: Textiles teachers' perceptions of Sloyd’s purpose and content, Textiles teachers’ teaching, and Manual and intellectual work in unity. The perspective of curriculum theory using a frame factor model is intended to highlight how Sloyd manifests itself at different levels of interpretation, which may impact how sloyd takes shape in the classroom. For a functional perspective on the study's data, didactic theory is used with a focus on subject didactics. The transformation phase is central to the shaping of Sloyd, where teachers’ beliefs and perceptions about the subject will influence their interpretation of the syllabus. Shulman's model of pedagogical thinking and action linked to pedagogical content knowledge, PCK, form the basis for the analysis together with theoretical perspectives on teachers’ pedagogical thinking as Kansanen and Hansén describes it. In summary, two levels of pedagogical thinking are distinguished by analysis. Firstly, based on those teachers who transform and implement teaching in sloyd based on an interpretation that follows the syllabus closely, and secondly, based on those who proceed from an interpretation that is closer to sloyd’s field of knowledge, based on handicraft. This results in two subject conceptions relating to sloyd. Teachers can ascribe to one of these, or move between them in the different phases of pedagogical planning and reflection. The conclusions also include an understanding of why the knowledge requirements in the syllabus largely relate to the students expressing themselves in words regarding their learning and their choices during the process. The curriculum is results-oriented and the knowledge that is evaluated must therefore be measurable and comparable, and be made possible to learn through the subject content. It can also be interpreted as an approximation of a practical knowledge culture to a theoretical knowledge culture, and therefore a legitimation of a practical subject in the school context that elementary school constitutes.
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| 39. |
- Jonsson, Carin, 1950-
(författare)
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Läsningens och skrivandets bilder : en analys av villkor och möjligheter för barns läs- och skrivutveckling
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The child who starts school soon becomes aware that it is important to learn to read and write. When it is educated in written literacy, pictures are used in reading textbooks and other school materials. The child is also asked to draw and talk about pictures in other contexts. Against this background, the aim of the study is to investigate the importance of pictures for children’s learning to read and write. The aim includes a description and analysis of the existing reading and writing discourse. The study problemises relational aspects of school practice, research and teacher education. This problemisation visualises a need for both a change and a development of the field of reading and writing. The thesis starts with a knowledge survey of the field of reading and writing. The survey provides the basis of a text study in which 11 Swedish theses, published between 1996 and 2003, are discussed and related to report materials published by The Swedish National Agency for School Improvement and the Board of Education. The text study is followed by an analysis of pictures, where the empirical material consists both of pictures taken from reading textbooks and reading diagnoses and pictures produced by children. The total result shows that there is consensus about the importance of different methods being applied through balanced reading programmes. At the same time it seems as if the field includes two discourses, a reading and a writing discourse. The dominant reading discourse is characterised by a strong emphasis on the teacher’s competence in terms of being able to see, create progression, arrange in order, settle up and correct for the purpose of providing good preconditions for learning. Pictures are given here a clearly subordinate role. As for the writing discourse, there is a clear shift from the teacher to the child as a meaning carrying and meaning creating subject. To some extent pictures are then recognised as a complementary form of mediation in connection with writing. In the reading discourse it is clear that pictures are traditionally used as illustrations of texts for the purpose of proficiency training. In that case pictures are given a complex role. On the one hand they are criticised for being ambiguous. This ambiguity can lead the child away from effective decoding. On the other hand it is presupposed, paradoxically enough, that there is a one-to-one relationship between picture and text. In contrast, children themselves seem to be able to apply a well-integrated use of picture and text where the intention is superordinate to the convention. The picture-text relation is then expansive: through the child’s involvement the interplay between words and pictures is functional and creates meaning. The thesis shows that a widened text concept, and consideration for the forms of production and presentation that characterise our culture, may yield knowledge contributing to developing the field of reading and writing. In order for this development to be possible, a complementary description of what characterises the respective discourse is required. In this description the concepts of communication and language, society and context and understanding and action function as an active intertriad for handling the teaching of reading and writing not as two separate fields but as a broadened, and at the same genuinely inclusive, field of knowledge.
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| 40. |
- Jonsson Widén, Anna, 1967-
(författare)
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Bildundervisning i möte med samtidskonst : bildlärares professionella utveckling i olika skolformer
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to describe and review the visual art teaching profession from a wider cultural perspective. This can lead to a better understanding of how teachers in 2000s Sweden manage change and relate to their task. This is a starting point for the formation of question areas that are of concern: the importance of their own specific interests in various visual art media for the development of their professional knowledge; what conditions different types of schools provide for the development of the subject and the strategies visual art teachers (in the study) use to develop their teaching on the theme of contemporary art. The theoretical framework is based on a socio-cultural perspective. Analysis combine cultural semiotic and frame factor models. Institutional art theory focuses on art’s audience and the art institutions which are central to contemporary art manifestations. The thesis is based on two case studies conducted by three separate teacher-training days at Bildmuseet in Umeå. 14 Visual Art teachers from four different types of schools: compulsory school, years 7-9, upper secondary school, folk high school and volountary art school (Swe. kulturskola) participated in the study. The investigations has generated data produced through interviews, observation, self-reports and images. Contemporary Art is involved in society's constant change and mix of new medias. The changes concernes the visual art educational field. The opportunities different school contexts provides for education, has an impact on how knowledge is transformed. Conformity, solid structures, formes of assessment and low legitimacy shape resistance. Teaching in visual art is highly based on teachers' own choices. A fragmented knowledge-culture with focus on manual or digital mediations leads to different knowledge-selection. This study highlights resistances that affect applying contemporary art on its own terms. Contemporary art’s starting points and new perspectives represent other paradigms than traditional art classifications. This sigifies tension between the artworld and the educational field. To reducie the tension, a dialogue and interaction between the fields on equal terms is recommended. The study identifies a lack of procedures and resources for formal continuing professional development. There is a need of developing the collective body of knowledge, covering both the theoretical and practical knowledge in the visual art teacher culture.
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| 41. |
- Kling Sackerud, Lili-Ann, 1952-
(författare)
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Elevers möjligheter att ta ansvar för sitt lärande i matematik : En skolstudie i postmodern tid
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation examines the ‘individual perspective’ of the Swedish school system’s policy documents by studying compulsory schooling’s stated aim of developing students’ ability and opportunities to assume responsibility for, be actively involved in and influence their own learning. Its main objective is to investigate the opportunities of compulsory school students to assume responsibility for their learning with regard to mathematics. In order to understand these opportunities, I have initially investigated how the school system in general and instruction in mathematics, in particular, are organised and carried out. I have also examined what forms student responsibility for, influence on and participation in their learning take in the context of instruction in mathematics. This study also intends to highlight questions related to understanding the social circumstances that affect students’ opportunities for assuming responsibility for their learning. The empirical material used for this study was collected via interviews and observations. The study was conducted as a case study using students from early schoolyear classes to the ninth school year at a Swedish compulsory school, with the purpose of analysing education in mathematics throughout the course of the compulsory schoolyear one to nine education. In considering the question of how responsibility, influence and participation is presented in the Swedish school system, it was also important to study the way students, teachers and school heads express and implement the idea of students assuming responsibility for their education both in general and more specifically with regard to their learning in mathematics. An important theoretical starting point for the study has been the phenomenological lifeworld concept. The concept has contributed to the study’s design and has provided the tools with which to examine student circumstances in an individual perspective. The adoption of a design theory perspective has also been important, especially in carrying out and analysing classroom-based observations. The most common methods and forms of work used in the classroom involved individual work using a mathematics textbook. The textbook itself proved to greatly determine the course and nature of instruction in mathematics, with the teacher’s role being one of assisting and supporting the students to progress through the book. The study also reveals obvious changes taking place in schools at present – from having previously focused on group-based, collective activities, the trend is moving increasingly toward more individual forms of work, e.g. that which is labelled ‘individual study’. The challenges faced by mathematics education in compulsory schools relate to the school’s position vis-à-vis the individual in relation to the group; how the exchange of experience between teachers can be made possible both within and across year levels in compulsory schools; and how mathematics education can reduce its dependence on textbooks and perhaps thereby strengthen the didactic roles and duties of teachers.
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| 42. |
- Kristmansson, Per, 1970-
(författare)
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Gymnasial lärlingsutbildning på Handels- och administrationsprogrammet : En studie av lärlingsutbildningens förutsättningar och utvecklingen av yrkeskunnande
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is about the workplace-based part of the 2008-11 pilot project of upper secondary apprenticeship education (USAE) in the Business and Administration programme. The aim is to develop knowledge on the ways in which USAE is realised in the Business and Administration programme, and how students in this programme develop professional skills. A further aim is to shed light on the nature of professional skills in the retail industry in a historical as well as a contemporary perspective. The development of professional skills, and the conditions created for that process to take place is the particular focus of the thesis. Lave & Wenger´s (1991) theory of legitimate peripheral participation (LPP), Billetts (1996, 2002, 2006) theory of a workplace curriculum and Engeström´s (1987) activity theory are used for the analyses in the study. Data production was conducted mainly through interviews, observations, gathering of documents and participation in trilateral talks. Development and structural changes that have taken place on several levels in the retail sector have resulted in many professional skills becoming embedded in information technology. This, in combination with the current division of labour, means that apprentice students may have difficulties in reaching the more advanced tasks. The prevailing view among the general public on the retail industry as a low-status sector can also be traced back to its history. The steering documents did not appear to have any decisive significance for the content of the education. Instead, what may be termed the workplace curriculum, control the knowledge content that is made accessible. The conclusion must be, therefore, that the professional skills that apprentices can develop are narrow and specific for the workplace. The apprentices gain access to basic tasks related to the daily work at the workplace, but rarely have the opportunity to take part in the more advanced work-tasks. USAE students in the Business and Administration programme also experience difficulties in achieving deeper and so-called theoretical or abstract skills. This implies that instead of this more challenging work they are assigned tasks that are quantifiable and can be checked mechanically in matrices and checklists. The study shows that in the assessment work, professional skills have been downgraded and are considered as little more than social and interactive competence and employability. A crucial conclusion is that USAE does not constitute one unified activity system with a common underlying motive, but should rather be considered as two separate activity systems (school and workplace) with distinct cultural differences.
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| 43. |
- Kuuse, Anna-Karin, 1962-
(författare)
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”Liksom ett annat uppdrag” : iscensättning av social rättvisa i musikundervisningens retorik och praktik
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to identify, describe, and problematize constructions of social justice in Swedish music education. The thesis has an ethnographic design, and presents four empirical studies. The studies, in the shape of four scientific articles, emblematise musical practices in community schools of music and art, as well as in elementary schools. The conceptual framework of the concept of social justice precipitates a focus on the prime object of study, El Sistema. Music education as organised by El Sistema explicitly communicates social aims, and the programme operates in both Swedish community schools of music and art, and in elementary schools. All together, the empirical data consist of marketing material (films and written documents), observational field-notes and sound recordings from one semester’s fieldwork in a children’s music educational group (ages 7-9), as well as sound-recorded focus group interviews with music teachers from both community schools of music and art and elementary schools. Article I shows how different conceptions of music, children, emotions, and social transformation are constructed to legitimate El Sistema in the Swedish community schools of music and art. Here, the objects of study are films and written texts published on El Sistema’s Swedish website. Article II elaborates how musical agency is performed by participating children in relation to conceptions of music education and social justice constructed in the educational practice. Articles III and IV elaborate teachers’ negotiations and constructions of teacher roles and the educational task in relation to conceptions of social justice. Within a comprehensive social constructionist perspective, participants’ opportunities for action and negotiation, in practice, are perceived as determined by societal, institutional and local preconditions, and by overarching and established conceptions that are typical for certain eras. With this theoretical point of departure, both local and societal conceptions of the musical subject, its objectives, means, and aims, as well as conceptions about accessibility, equality, democracy and social justice, are constantly negotiated. Thus, apparently natural and established ideas can be problematized. Based on all studies’ results, relations between established conceptions, structural preconditions, and social relations are scrutinised from the way they influence performances of the music educational practice. The final discussion encompasses consequences for teachers’ ability to reflect, as well as children’s and young peoples’ meaning making through musical actions. The thesis’ critical perspective aims at evoking new questions, and generating new knowledge concerning the preconditions and the content of institutionally financed music education.
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| 44. |
- Kärnebro, Katarina, 1975-
(författare)
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Plugga stenhårt eller vara rolig? : Normer om språk, kön och skolarbete i identitetsskapande språkpraktiker på fordonsprogrammet
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between language, identity construction and learning in the context of the Vehicle programme, a vocational program in Swedish upper secondary schools. The study focuses on language practices and the norms of language, gender and school work that are negotiated in conversations between pupils and between pupils and teachers. The language practices are considered as talk-in-interaction, and identity construction and learning are understood as processes in socially situated activities. The Vehicle programme has its basis in mechanics with links to the vehicle and transport trades, and can be identified as a male-coded program in several respects. The pupils participating in this study were both boys and girls attending a school situated in the North of Sweden. The study was conducted through an ethnographic approach, employing plural methods including observation, field notes, audio-recordings of conversations, and interviews with pupils in focus groups and individually. Recorded conversations were analysed using tools from conversation analysis. The analysis is based on Judith Butler’s theory of gender as performance, Raewyn Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity, and Penelope Eckert’s theory of the heterosexual market. A socio-cultural theory of learning describing communities of practice, by Lave and Wenger, which has also been applied to linguistics by Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, forms the basis of the theoretical framework.The analyses of conversations show that the language practices were confrontational, direct and humorous; characteristics that have strong connections to notions of a masculine conversational style. The pupils were not as aware of interactional patterns as they were of the words they used. Thereby the norms in the community of practice, which were based on notions of masculinity and heterosexuality, were not noticed, and worked as undercurrents in the interaction. The girls participated in the language practices in the same ways as the boys, but contrary to the boys, the girls interpreted the language practices as effects of other things than gender, for example as signs of being independent or daring. They also experienced that adjusting to the expectations of normative middle-class femininity was more oppressive than adjusting to the norms that were negotiated within the community of practice. The conversation analyses also show some of the complexity in teachers’ work and their role as mediators of norms and values. Peer reactions to individual pupil turns in the classroom conversations were of more importance for the development of the conversations than teacher responses. Thus there was usually a homogenization of the expressed perspectives. Norms of heterosexuality were constantly reconstructed in interaction within the community of practice and they controlled the pupils’ understanding of what was perceived as normal or deviant behaviour. Thereby the pupils constrained each other’s school performances in the core subjects and reconstructed a difference between being theoretical and practical, a process that was partly supported by the school as an institution. Generally, the pupils in the community of practice had to balance their identity constructions in relation to the peer group, teacher expectations, and their own ambitions, for which reason learning turned out to be more than just a process of acquiring knowledge.
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| 45. |
- Leffler, Eva, 1956-
(författare)
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Företagsamma elever : Diskurser kring entreprenörskap och företagsamhet i skolan
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to study and problematize the concepts of entrepreneurship and enterprise in Swed-ish compulsory schools. The studies presented in this thesis focus both on scientific publications and official documents that deal with entrepreneurship and enterprise in compulsory schools and on school projects that have been carried out in years 4 to 6 in the county of Västerbotten. The main questions of the study are: • How did the discourse on entrepreneurship and enterprise in school arise? • What do concepts of entrepreneurship and enterprise mean in Swedish nine-year compulsory schools? • How is discursive practice concerning Entrepreneurship and Enterprise in schools expressed? Michel Foucault’s theories of discourse, power and discipline have been used as analytical tools, together with gender theories. Characteristic for the research on entrepreneurship is that it is multidisciplinary. There are difficulties, both nationally and internationally, to explicitly define the concept of ”entrepreneur”. The entrepreneur is described as an individual with abilities to take action, initiative and risks but also as being creative, innovative and cooperative. These are characteristics that both society and school can make use of. Unemployment among young people and changing needs in society are reasons why the concept “enter-prise” is present on most of the agendas of the OECD countries today. Society requires individuals who can take responsibility and initiative and who are creative. Training in and about entrepreneurship has devel-oped and therefore it has been possible to stress its relevance for the entire educational system. Training for entrepreneurship is directed towards economics, i e a discourse about enterprise while training about entre-preneurship turns against training in general by relating to up-bringing and human inner qualities. A dis-course in enterprise has been formed, whose aim is to develop pupils into responsible, creative, active, cooperative and enterprising members of society. This is where a new discourse is created and it is a dis-course in enterprise and schools. Even so, the road into school is via economics because the main aim of entrepreneurship is economic growth and increased employment rate. Throughout the different texts about entrepreneurship and enterprise in school there is a tendency to use dichotomies. In this case it concerns what is the right or the wrong way of teaching. Enterprise teaching, as it is used in entrepreneurship and enterprise in schools, is considered the right and true way of teaching, while the practice in schools is de-scribed as the opposite. A struggle between two discourses appears; the struggle between the entrepreneurial school discourse and the official school discourse, the latter with its origin in the national curriculum from 1994, Lpo 94. At the end of the 1990s a number of school projects were initiated, both nationally and inter-nationally, aiming at stimulating pupils’ enterprising skills. In the county of Västerbotten school projects were initiated under the overarching project PRIO1, Priority Enterprise County of Västerbotten and in-cluded students of all ages. The schools could choose either an entrepreneurial or an enterprising approach to their projects. The enterprise approach was more invisible, less concrete and more difficult to evaluate and measure. The work with entrepreneurship and enterprise in school in the investigated schools show that well-established and current discourses in the schools were transferred to the ”new” discourse. Instead of transferring the “new aspects” that the project was expected to contribute to the current discourse, the ”old” and already well-known aspects were transferred to the new discourse. Consequently, the projects themselves did not result in a comprehensive change of the discourse in practice.
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| 46. |
- Lindfors, Maria, 1981-
(författare)
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"Kunskap är vad du vet, och vet du inte kan du alltid googla!" : elevers epistemic beliefs i naturvetenskaplig undervisningskontext
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- One important goal of science education is to help students develop an adequate understanding of what science is and how it is done. An understanding of science includes epistemic beliefs, that is, individuals’ beliefs about the nature of knowledge, how knowledge is constructed, and how knowledge can be justified. The epistemic beliefs are hypothesized to exist on a continuum ranging from naïve to sophisticated. Students’ epistemic beliefs and their epistemic cognition have been shown to influence various facets of learning. The overarching purpose of this thesis is to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of the role played by epistemic beliefs within the context of science education. The thesis intended to answer the following three general questions within a scientific context: 1) What prerequisites for drawing conclusions about epistemic beliefs are given based on the choice of questionnaire as a measurement method, including its design and content? 2) What is the relation between students’ epistemic beliefs and other phenomena that are important in learning situations? 3) What is the relation between students’ epistemic beliefs and their epistemic practices?The studies used both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine students’ epistemic beliefs and epistemic practices. Data sources included questionnaires, video and screen observations, and semi-structured interviews. Participants in the studies were students in Grade 5-11 in Sweden and Germany. A series of four papers address the purpose of the thesis and respond to the three general questions. The first paper investigate relations between students’ epistemic beliefs and perceived classroom characteristics and whether differences could be found between the two countries. The second paper investigate the relative importance of epistemic beliefs dimensions for predicting achievement goals in Grade 5 through 11, in both a cross-sectional and a longitudinal study. The third paper explore the relationships between students’ scientific epistemic beliefs, their problemsolving process, and the quality of solutions produced by students. Finally, the fourth paper describe students’ epistemic practices of problem solving in science and their sense making in the moment, to deepen the understanding of the process of the students’ epistemic cognition. In relation to the first question, results indicate that the chosen measurement method for epistemic beliefs generates certain prerequisites for how epistemic beliefs can be understood and characterized. This in turn may have consequences when epistemic beliefs are studied in relation to, for example, other phenomena and epistemic practices. With regard to the second question, findings show that there are many relationships between epistemic beliefs and other phenomena, but also that they are in many cases context and/or situation dependent. Regarding the third question, the results point out that the relationship between students’ epistemic beliefs and their epistemic practices should be understood by how the students show, through words and actions, that they understand what the situation requires. Thus, there is no universal relationship between sophisticated epistemic beliefs and successful epistemic practices. It can be concluded that students’ epistemic beliefs do not exist in a vacuum without interacting with other phenomena, but that they depend on the surrounding context or situation in different ways. More studies that take into account different types of situations are required. This would in turn most likely also contribute to a better understanding of how students’ epistemic beliefs, epistemic cognition, and epistemic practices develop in relation to the surrounding teaching context.
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| 47. |
- Lindqvist, Anna, 1966-
(författare)
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Dans i skolan : om genus, kropp och uttryck
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is a continuation of my licentiate thesis from 2007 “Dansens plats i skolan. Tradition, utveckling och lärande i Skellefteå kommun” [‘The place of dance in schools. Tradition, development and learning and teaching in the Municipality of Skellefteå’]. The overarching aim of the thesis is to interpret and understand dance as a form of expression and phenomenon in schools, which comprises dance teaching, learning in dance, and dance teachers’ attitudes, experiences and ideas. Dance teachers’ experiences and conceptions of dance teaching are at the centre of this thesis. The aim is to interpret and understand dance teachers’ attitude to gender as well as dance as an area of knowledge from dance teachers’ perspective. In the thesis the following will be answered: How do dance teachers describe their experiences and conceptions of gender in the dance teaching of preschools and schools? What is dance teaching in schools from dance teachers’ perspective? The empirical material is principally based on a questionnaire study implemented in the spring of 2008 and answered by 154 dance teachers but also on observations of dance teaching in schools from 2006. The thesis takes a hermeneutic approach. Gender theories and phenomenological theories have been of major importance for the understanding of the result. The thesis deals with central concepts such as ‘gender structures’, ‘masculinities’, ‘relations’, ‘the lived body’, ‘the lifeworld’ and ‘transcendence’. Dance teachers perceive marked differences between girls and boys in three respects. There are fewer boys than girls that are favourably disposed to dance, that clearly try to imitate the dance teacher’s movements and that give full expression to lyrical, peaceful exercises. There is a connection here to dance as a femininely coded subject, homophobic conceptions and the distinction between masculine and feminine movements. As regards wealth of ideas in improvisation exercises, a majority of dance teachers think that there is no difference between boys and girls. Nearly all dance teachers think that they work with the same types of movements for boys and girls, while at the same time they conceive of sex and gender in different ways. This study shows many experiences of dance where gender does not play any role but also that dance in schools may imply a gender-stereotyped attitude. There is also a common view among dance teachers of what dance teaching is. Dance has an existential dimension where the lived body is emphasized. In the thesis the so-called “boy problem” is questioned, since boys’ verbal deprecation is not visible in the dance teaching itself.
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| 48. |
- Lofors-Nyblom, Lottie, 1950-
(författare)
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Elevskap och elevskapande : Om formandet av skolans elever
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis examines two aspects of the shaping of school pupils and has its theoretical base in Foucault's concepts of governmentality and conduct of conduct. The initial study deals with the construction of the ideal pupil in two curricula texts from 1969 and 1994. The second focuses on how pupils are constructed and construct themselves in the school context. The method of inquiry is text analysis and group interviews. The curricula study describes pupils' desired competencies in curricula texts today and forty years ago. The study notes that during the last four decades the honest, helpful, patient and considerate subject has been replaced by a responsible, reflective, active and critical subject. A subject with dichotomous competencies is elaborated to show the antithesis to the democratic pupil/member of society. The discussion deals with how the desired competencies may effect schoolwork and the interaction between teachers and pupils, and vice versa. The second study deals with what a group of pupil talk about, how they do it and who is allowed to talk when. The subject matter is how nine-year-old pupils argue with each other about coming off well in school or failing as a pupil. The results indicate that relations with peers is central for nine-year-old pupils during the school day, and that traditional school work - such as reading and writing, maths and so on - is not something the pupils pay particularly much attention to. The pupils must learn to master a number of implicit rules about the conduct of a school girl or a school boy. Most pupils learn the prevailing criteria without difficulty, but those who fail in this matter are in one way or another excluded from other children's activities. To position oneself and others is a basic part of the interaction with others and is always in progress. Positioning in this sense is not to be mixed up with social positions and status in more traditional terms. You position yourself and the other as soon as you catch sight of each other by asking yourself: Who am I and who is he/she? This question is strictly tied to here and now in a special context, and continues as long as any kind of interaction exists between two or more people. The children have different techniques for positioning themselves and each other, and use them more or less frequently. Some pupils are more competitive than others and express a more hierarchic idea in their relations to other pupils. Other boys and girls seem to have very little interest in such competition and manage to position themselves without comparing or competing.
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| 49. |
- Lundgren, Berit, 1951-
(författare)
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Skolan i livet - livet i skolan : Några illitterata invandrarkvinnor lär sig tala, läsa och skriva på svenska som andraspråk
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Many immigrants in Sweden have not had the chance to learn to read and write, for various reasons. In Sweden, literacy is a prerequisite to being able to function in the cultural community, and for many immigrants this is the first time that they experience their inability to read and write as a handicap or see themselves as “illiterate”. The aim of this study is to use a socio-cultural, second language and gender approach to describe, analyse and understand how a number of adult, illiterate, immigrant women experience their situation when they are expected to simultaneously learn to speak, read and write Swedish. The study focuses on two literacy groups in two Swedish municipalities. In one of the groups I act as both teacher and researcher. The thesis is a case study of the learning process of five illiterate immigrant women in Sweden. The results are based on interviews, carried out with the help of an interpreter, and observation of teaching and texts ritten by the students. The study is based on the assumption that human learning is an activity that takes place in a cultural community in a social context. When learning a language, the language is simultaneously the tool that facilitates social communication and the object of the learning process. The study shows that cultural communities influence the women in different ways. Gender structures are firmly planted in a patriarchal value system, which means that women are seen as inferior to men, and women are expected to “meet the demands of others”. The women have no time to study at home, as their household duties are prioritised. However, there are subtle indications that there is a wish to change the situation in accordance with Swedish values and norms. This can be seen in the Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) lessons. As they have little contact with Swedes, school is the only arena in which they have a chance to use Swedish. They are positive towards teaching and school as an institution. Here they are able to develop an alternative identity. The study also shows that teaching in the literacy groups is to a great extent based on a technical approach, in which the teacher tries to elicit a correct answer from the students. Social interaction involving contemplation and negotiation is either not included or not prioritised. the women’s experience and knowledge is not made use of. There are,however, occasions when collaborative discussions take place between the teacher and students. On these occasions an exchange of experiences takes place. Learning is based on the students’ own experiences and thoughts. Linguistic concepts gain meaning in the collaborative discussion. Initially the concepts may be unclear, but the group works on them together, adapting and adjusting them until they finally make sense. Finally, I conclude that women immigrants bring their own socio-cultural values and experience to the school situation, which affects their learning process to varying degrees. Furthermore, immigrant women need more time at school, as it is the only arena in which they can spend time on studying and personal development. another conclusion is that the school must become a learning community that recognises the immigrants’ cultures, makes use of the students’ experience and allows the students to participate in collaborative discussions, so that they can develop their ability to speak, read and write Swedish.
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| 50. |
- Lundström, Ulf, 1954-
(författare)
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Gymnasielärare - perspektiv på lärares arbete och yrkesutveckling vid millennieskiftet
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to contribute to knowledge about how the work and profession of upper secondary school teachers is understood and shaped by the teachers in the beginning of the 21st century, and to relate that understanding of work and professional development to the strivings of the teachers’ trade unions and the state. With the implementation of an innovation as a starting point, the teachers’ narratives also described their work in a broader sense. Connections and contradictions between those descriptions of everyday work are analysed in relation to central ideas in research and state and trade union policy. The empirical data were mainly generated through interviews and studies of state- and teachers’ trade union policy documents. Twenty-three teachers at four upper secondary schools were interviewed twice, with a one year interval. Five school leaders were also interviewed. A minor questionnaire added data concerning professional development. 102 documents published by the State and the teachers’ trade unions between 1964 and 2004 were analysed using critical discourse analysis.The analysis is eclectic, drawing on perspectives and conceptions from theories on professions, organisations, school development and the frame factor theory. The overall approach of the study is practice related research and includes an intention to draw attention to connections between micro and macro levels.The analyses of the teachers’ narratives on implementation indicate that they were able to do the job despite unsatisfactory conditions thanks to high work morale and extensive experience. The infrastructure provided by the frame factors was weak or working at cross purposes. The school-wide support for development was stronger at one of the four schools.The teachers’ formal freedom of action was substantial. In practice it was restricted by frame factors and the fact that the potential freedom was not fully used. Thus, the actual autonomy was more limited than it appeared to be. The school culture included elements of balkanised and contrived collegiality. Many tasks were delegated to the interdisciplinary work teams, but the teams did not seem to live up to expectations. Primarily, they lacked time and an appropriate group composition. There was a clash between the interdisciplinary work teams and the teachers’ need to co-operate within subject work teams. The teachers did not regard interdisciplinary work teams as useful for school or professional development.Supportive conditions for long-term, shared learning and dialogue between researchers and practitioners were largely lacking. Visions such as learning organisations were far removed from the everyday life in the schools. Changes in organisational structures at the schools have partly been counterproductive.The far-reaching restructuring of the Swedish upper secondary schools implemented from the end of the 1980s and during the 1990s was in line with international reform trends. It also had specific national characteristics. The concept professional teachers was introduced in some Government bills around 1990. The teachers’ trade unions adopted the concept and it became increasingly significant in trade union policy during the 1990s. At the turn of the millennium it was a dominant idea in their documents.During the 1990s several influential discourses became established as shared views between the State, trade unions and some researchers, e.g. what I have called change and professional discourses. They were rarely problematized in state and teachers’ trade union policy documents. The two agreements between the teachers’ trade unions and the employers, in 1995 and 2000, constituted another component of what has been termed a system-shift in the Swedish school system. They influenced the teachers’ working conditions and implied new strategies for the trade unions. The professional, change and management discourses salient in the documents were brought into schools with insufficient opportunities for the teachers to develop a deep meaning of the discourses.The study emphasizes the importance of practice oriented studies, related to wider contexts, in order to provide insights into teachers’ work and professional development. It also brings nuances to, and problematizes theoretical conceptions and discourses in the field.Key-words: teaching profession, upper secondary teachers, change, school reform, professional development, school development, frame factors, school governance, school policy, trade union
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