| 1. |
- 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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| 2. |
- 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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| 3. |
- 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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| 4. |
- Eckeskog, Linn, 1984-
(författare)
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Kommunikation i förskolan : förskollärares och barnskötares kommunikation med föräldrar i ett digitaliserat medielandskap
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of this doctoral thesis is to study communication work among personnel in Swedish pre-schools, with a particular focus on mediated communication with parents. The purpose is also to analyse what roles are given to the professionals in this communication, to identify what subject positions are constructed and to identify how boundaries are managed within the communication practices.The primary theoretical framework of the thesis is social constructivism and symbolic interactionism. The pre-school organisation and identities are regarded as in a perpetual state of becoming and changes in the media landscape are viewed as rearranging the preconditions for communication practices. Technical innovations are regarded as social products at both ends. Results build upon observations in five pre-schools, interviews with 32 pre-school employees and multimodal analysis of communication material directed to parents. Additional interviews and document studies were conducted in the form of a case study, in order to gain knowledge of the implementation of a digital learning platform.The study shows that the communication environments differ between pre-schools, e.g. concerning how and which mediums are used. Several obstacles to communication are identified, of which many (but not all) are related to the socioeconomic status of parents. Within the mediated communication, pre-school personnel to some extent position themselves as experts concerning practical and pedagogical questions, whilst parents are positioned as actors in need of guidance. A major function of mediated communication is assigning parents’ responsibilities in relation to the pre-school, along with norms regarding what constitutes the “good” (pre-school) parent. Boundary work in relation to parents is conducted using different modalities, used for hedging but also for establishing professional positions. Digitalisation appears as a negative force when introduced top-down, without regards to the needs, previous practices and preconditions within a particular pre- school; but as a positive force when initiated by the professionals themselves and when responding to particular needs within specific pre-schools. As expectations on digitalisation in pre-schools increase, questions of preconditions and communication skills grow in prominence.Although expectations on pre-school professionals’ communication skills are high, communication with parents is not sufficiently acknowledged as part of the actual work in pre-schools. A sign of (and reasons for) the under prioritisation of communication work is the uneven and arbitrary preconditions for communicating, in the forms of relevant education, time and technical equipment. The lack of resources can be connected to three issues: A working environment issue (discrepancy between expectations and preconditions), a democratic issue (communication being random rather than planned/ considered) and a professional issue (multimodal communication not reflecting the professional identity that informants strive towards).Communication with parents (and surrounding society) needs to be acknowledged as part of the work in pre-school, and the personnel need to be given the necessary skills and conditions for communication, in order to provide equality of ac- cess to the parents, but also to give personnel the possibilities of communicating about and reflecting the pre-school organisation as they know it.
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| 5. |
- 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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| 6. |
- Marklund, Frida, 1980-
(författare)
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Bilder som berättar : om kunskap, makt och traditioner i grundskolans bildundervisning
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study revolves around visual storytelling and focuses on art education in lower secondary school, where visual storytelling is meant to give pupils the opportunity to express their experiences and opinions. The aim of the thesis is to acquire knowledge concerning norms and values that are constructed and reproduced while making storytelling pictures in art education in compulsory school, and how this creates conditions for pupils’ visual storytelling.The study uses an ethnographic method. Two art teachers and 65 pupils in grades 8 and 9 at two different schools participate in the study, and art lessons were observed during the 2016/2017 school year following the work with four art assignments where pupils produced storytelling pictures. A total of 36 lessons were observed. The empirical material consists of observation notes, sound recordings, documents and photographs from the observed lessons, four interviews with teachers, 15 interviews with pupils and 65 pictures produced by the pupils. Using Bernstein’s (2000) theories of the school as a site for reproduction of societal values and pedagogic discourse as a principle that relocates and recontextualises other discourses into school subjects, this study examines the norms and values that underpin the educational practice when working with storytelling in art education. Terms and concepts from pictorial semiotics and narratology are also used for analysing the pictures.The analysis reveals a progressive and invisible pedagogy in the subject. Art is considered to be fun, free, and creative and is positioned as being different compared to so-called theoretical school subjects. Both teachers and pupils reproduce traditional values in the subject, for example, the importance of technical skills and that art can promote personal development and personal expression. These ideas mainly derive from a technical/artisan tradition and art-psychology. Traditional techniques and materials are emphasised, which promotes two-dimensional and handcrafted pictures, as well as a Western art canon. Due to a neoliberal discourse in schools, pupils tend to focus on concrete and measurable learning goals rather than process-oriented or communicative goals which they find more abstract. As for the teachers, the emphasis on traditional techniques, materials and slow processes can be understood as a resistance towards a perceived pressure from the outside and as a way to protect what they believe to be the core of the subject. Picture production is also seen as a prerequisite for personal development. These traditions and values favours aspects of picture production rather than aspects of storytelling. The results show that pupils can refer to a wide range of topics in their pictures. They primarily express experiences on the content level through what is said in the picture rather than how it is told. An emphasis on traditional techniques makes it difficult for pupils to express their experiences of, for example, digital media. Some pupils also have a different understanding than the teachers of what constitutes an experience. They perceive it as something concrete, an everyday event that they have personally experienced, while teachers have a more complex understanding. The teachers regard experiences from visual culture, for example, fiction, to be as valid as real-life experiences. This calls for further problematization of the term.In conclusion, the results are discussed in relation to the structuring of pedagogic discourse at different educational levels, thus deepening our understanding of how classroom practice relates to an overarching ideology concerning education and school.
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| 7. |
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