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| 3. |
- Gu, Limin, 1963-
(författare)
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Becoming a teacher of young children : student teachers' understanding of professional learning and professional identity
- 2008
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper explores how student teachers construct the notion of teacher professional identity in relation to their understanding of their future role as teachers of young children. Qualitative data were collected consisting of 61 open-end questionnaires and 5 personal semi-structured interviews. The major findings show that there is an obvious connection between the student teachers’ prior work experiences and their choice of being teacher of young children. In describing their view on teacher profession and professional learning, the student teachers of primary school early years emphasize learning of subject matter and pedagogical knowledge; while student teachers of pre-school focus on the importance of ethic of care and knowledge of child development, and they prefer to identify themselves as pedagogues rather than as teachers. The results also indicate a common sense of viewing teacher’s work as an important, multiple and challenging profession by both groups of student teachers.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Gu, Limin, et al.
(författare)
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Case Studies on the Use of Technology in TPD (Teacher Professional Development)
- 2012
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Ingår i: US-China Education Review. A. - : David Publishing Company. - 2161-623X .- 1548-6613 .- 1930-1529. ; 2:3, s. 278-290
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, the progress of a three-year cooperative project investigating the current state of TPD (teacher professional development) in Sweden and China in the area of TPD and ICT (information and communication technologies) is summarized. A brief introduction to the field of TPD is given, and thereafter, ICT is related to what in the project is referred to as TETPD (Technology Enhanced Teacher Professional Development). Thereafter, the project as such is given a short presentation, followed by findings regarding policies and initiatives related to TETPD in Sweden and China for investigating the current state of TETPD in each country respectively. The framework for investigating TETPD is presented, and four Chinese and four Swedish cases are compared to some facets showing differences in models for TETPD in the two countries.
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| 6. |
- Gu, Limin
(författare)
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Chinese Daycare in Cultural Change
- 1996
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Ingår i: Tidskrift för lärarutbildning och forskning. - Umeå : Dept. of Education, Umeå Univ.. - 1404-7659. ; 3:4, s. 17-44
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 7. |
- Gu, Limin
(författare)
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Chinese daycare in cultural change
- 1997
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Ingår i: European Conference On Educational Research, 17-19 September, 1997, Sevilla, Spain.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)
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| 8. |
- Gu, Limin
(författare)
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Chinese early childhood education in transition
- 2006
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Ingår i: Wingspan : the Pedamorphosis communiqué. - 0892-2659. ; 16:1, s. 30-41
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article is about changes in Chinese early childhood education in recent years. The content, process and outcomes of reform in early childhood education in China have been affected by the national goals of reform, the social context of early educational institutions, their organizational characteristics, family structure, family policy, the specific professional culture of teaching and learning, as well as the global influence. The previous welfare model of kindergarten, which was regarded as one of the outcomes of a socialist system, is being transformed into a new market competitive model to meet a political demand for the marketisation of society. The curricula of early educational program, teachers� attitudes to children, and their professional activities have been re-shaped according to new ideas about the needs and abilities of children, new conceptions of child development and, not least, the new modernisation �knowledge� that gained ascendancy in China.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Gu, Limin
(författare)
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Comparison of national preschool curricula in China and Sweden
- 2006
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Asia-Pacific Educational Research Association International Conference 2006.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Sweden and China have different histories and traditions in the field of early childhood education. In the secondary part of the 1990s, both counties adopted national curricula for preschool. The purpose of this study is to compare the preschool education of these two countries at policy and ideological level by examining and analyzing the frameworks and content of the national curricula for preschool within their respective social, political, cultural and pedagogical contexts. The special emphasis is on the similarities and differences in the statements on goals, tasks, and pedagogy for early childhood education in the national official documents. The major result shows that both curricular are goal directed policy documents in forms of regulations or guidelines. No methods for preschool work are stated, which leaves much room for the local and individual implementation. Learning and development of the child are stressed. Play is viewed as the important means for learning of preschool children in both curricula. The Swedish curriculum emphasizes on the fundamental democratic value for preschool, and the perspectives and values of children�s learning and development. The preschool model is based on the premise that children learn and develop in all the contexts in which they are involved. The Chinese curriculum stresses both childcare and education, and the main task of preschool is to promote physical, moral and intellectual development of the child in a harmonious way. The content of educational activities that is selected and organized in a planed way is seen as important. The idea of �respecting children� has been promoted.
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| 11. |
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| 12. |
- Gu, Limin
(författare)
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Digital Transformation in Education and Its impact on School Governance : The European and Swedish Experiences and Reflections
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Conference in School Governance: Trends, Challenges and Countermeasures. - Shanghai, China.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper describes and discusses the transformation of school governance in the era of digitalization in education. It focuses on how the production and use of big data at different levels affect policymaking and how big data-based policies have the consequences in education practices within the European education contexts and from the Swedish experiences. The datafication of education through digital technology gives rise to the digital governance of education that increasingly influences the organisation and management of the national education system, which is resulted in the structure shifts in education governance. On the one hand, big data derived from testing and surveys facilitates the comparison and creation of global benchmarks that impacts the governance of education systems to be more centralised at international and national level. And on the other hand, when data and information become more available at the local level, it enables organisational-level decision-making to break down hierarchical structures and become more distributed. Data based steering at different levels then puts considerable pressure on schools through the organised school inspection system, the strategy of self-monitoring, self-evaluation and self-formation that are closely related to managerial accountability or answerability of school governance.
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| 13. |
- Gu, Limin
(författare)
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Educational policy and school governance in the era of digital education : the case of Sweden
- 2022. - 1
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Ingår i: School governance in global contexts. - London and New York : Routledge. - 9781032116129 - 9781032117669 - 9781003221456 ; , s. 37-50
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This chapter aims to describe, illustrate, and discuss the rationale behind Swedish educational policy and the changing school management practices related to digital education. Based on a review of selected Swedish digital education policy documents and research literature, this chapter presents the transformation of digitalization that has taken place in Swedish schools during recent decades, the target formulations in policies, and the characteristics of school governance related to the international trends of adopting comparison of student performance on standard tests such as the PISA, as well as using big data for policy legitimation.
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| 14. |
- Gu, Limin, 1963-
(författare)
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From national commitment and initiatives to implementation in the classroom : some critical issues on integration of ICT into education in the Swedish context
- 2011
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Ingår i: The University of the Fraser Valley Research Review. - Canada : University of the Fraser Valley. - 1715-9849. ; 4:1, s. 29-40
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since 1994 Sweden has carried out a number of initiatives funded by the government and other actors for integrating ICT into education. Huge amounts of money have been invested in developing infrastructure and raising teachers’ level of ICT knowledge and competence. However, it seems that there is still a gap between the claims for ICT use in education and the current practice of integrating ICT into the classroom. Some recent investigations indicate that a majority of Swedish teachers actually do not use computers in the classroom as much as they are expected to do. Knowledge about the use of ICT in teacher education is reported as being not good enough. This paper intends to describe the status quo of ICT integration in education in the Swedish context and discuss some critical issues on effective ICT practice in schools in relation to the demands on teachers and their professional development, and thus provide some backgrounds for suggesting models of Technology Enhanced Teacher Professional Development.
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| 15. |
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| 16. |
- Gu, Limin, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Hemma blir som skola : elevperspektiv på hemläxor
- 2010
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Ingår i: Locus. - Stockholm : Institutionen för barn- och ungdomsvetenskap vid Stockholms universitet. - 1100-3197. ; :4, s. 50-65
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tidigare forskning har visat att det finns positiva samband mellan föräldrars aktiva engagemang i elevers skolarbete, skolprestationer samt skolbeteende. Inom detta forskningsfält är hemläxor ett område man fokuserar på för att närmare studera föräldrars involvering i sina barns skolgång. Denna studie inriktar sig på att belysa hur elever själva upplever att göra hemläxor och hur de ser på föräldrars involvering och stöd med hemläxor. Det centrala perspektivet i denna studie är att barn ska ses som medskapare och värda att lyssna till i den sociala kontexten som barnet verkar i. Dataunderlaget består av en enkätundersökning och fem gruppintervjuer med elever i år sex från fem kommunala grundskolor i en Norrländsk stad. Resultatet visar på att de flesta elever upplever att deras föräldrar brukar kontrollera och hjälpa till med hemläxor men eleverna saknar motivation till att göra hemläxor, beroende på att uppgifter som ges i hemläxor många gånger saknar utmaningar som utgår från deras individuella förutsättningar. Om skolan ska lyckas med att involvera föräldrar i skolarbete via hemläxor ställs skolan inför en viktig utmaning när det gäller vad, hur och varför hemläxor ges.
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| 17. |
- Gu, Limin
(författare)
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Home-school Communication through a Web-based Learning Management System : Experiences and lessons
- 2018
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Ingår i: The International Conference on Information Communication Technologies in Education (ICICTE 2018) Proceedings. - Chania, Greece. - 9781999654917 ; , s. 198-212
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to explore teachers’ (N=454) experiences and perceptions with regard to the use of a new web-based learning management system (LS) in home-school communication in Swedish schools. The results indicated a great dissatisfaction with its functional features among the teachers, which negatively impacted the attitudes and beliefs towards the usefulness and ease of use of LS for communication. This in turn prevented teachers’ and parents’ use of the LS and caused a general decrease in home-school communication in daily pr actices, especially for those disadvantaged parent.
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| 18. |
- Gu, Limin, et al.
(författare)
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Homework conceptions and practices in Chinese and Swedish schools : A comparative study of educational efforts, quality and equity
- 2013
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Ingår i: Families, Schools and Communities. - 9789898379269 ; , s. 69-70
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents the ideas and design of a joint research project between Umeå University in Sweden and Zhejiang University in China. The overall aim is to carry out a comparative study of homework conceptions and homework practice at lower secondary school in Sweden and China. The project will last for four years, and consists of several sub-studies comprising a combination of data collection in forms of policy analysis, questionnaire based survey and interviews with students, parents and teachers in lower secondary school in both countries, samples from Västerbottens län, Shanghai and Hangzhou. The specific objectives of the project are to investigate and analyze the status quo and characteristics of homework and/or homework load situation in both countries/regions; to identify and analyze the similarities and/or differences in the definitions, conceptions, foci, strategies, policies and perspectives on homework and homework load in different contexts; to investigate and examine models and cases of homework design and management and the best practices; and to promote communication and collaboration among Swedish and Chinese researchers and PhD students. Contextual and constructivist learning approaches are central to understand and analyze homework conceptions and practices. The expected results could provide scientific evidences on and pedagogical applications into fundamental issues concerning educational efforts, quality and equity. Through cross-cultural comparative study, the research project could analyze homework conceptions and practices in different culture and social contexts and find out common factors that contribute to appropriate homework arrangement and management and a set of best practices for guidance and thereby the promotion of students’ learning. Homework investigations and policy measures from both countries could offer valuable lessons and experiences to each other. The project could also promote a long-term cooperation in education and research, and to improve the internationalization process of both universities.
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| 19. |
- Gu, Limin, et al.
(författare)
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Homework in a world of diversity
- 2011
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Ingår i: The 39th NFPF/NERA Congress in Jyväskylä, March 9-11, 2011.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)
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| 20. |
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| 21. |
- Gu, Limin
(författare)
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Inclusion, exclusion or segregation : Parents' position in education in Sweden
- 2021
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Sweden, along with the changing governing model in terms of centralization, decentralization, marketization, and privatization of education, as well as the performative turn in education (Lindblad, 2018), the overarching values of the Nordic model, such as social justice, equality, equal opportunities, integration, and democratic participation for all students irrespective of social and cultural background and abilities (Imsen, Blossing, & Moos, 2017; Lundahl, 2016), have been challenged. These challenges have also affected the relationship between home and school, and parents’ position in education. The aim of this presentation is to describe, analyze, and discuss how Swedish parents’ position in education has been constructed in educational policy and practices over time. This presentation addresses parents’ position regarding (a) how their role and responsibilities in education have been defined and argued for in the policy documents and (b) what their real position in education has been. The analysis is based on a review of selected central educational policy documents such as Education acts, the Government Official Reports series (SOU), national curricula from various periods since the 1960s, and relevant research literature in the Swedish education context. Preliminary analysis revealed that the rationales behind the policies are linked to the various phases of Swedish educational reforms. Since the decentralization, marketization, and privatization reforms, more demands have been placed on parents’ responsibility and ability to engage in education by themselves. Ideas about parents’ involvement have shifted more focus to parents’ supporting role in children’s learning outcomes and academic performance regarding the curriculum goals. There is a gap between the rhetoric of school–home partnership and collaboration and the reality of parental involvement and influence. The issues of segregation between different parent groups and parent exclusion due to different socioeconomic and cultural/linguistic conditions have increased.
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| 22. |
- Gu, Limin
(författare)
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Integrating Web-based Learning Management System in Home-school Communication
- 2018
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Ingår i: EDULEARN18 Proceedings. - Palma, Spain : IATED. - 9788409027095 ; , s. 4255-4264
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Well-functioning home-school communication is seen as a fundamental prerequisite for improving parental involvement in school development and in children’s schooling. Traditionally, face-to-face, telephone and email contacts between teachers and parents have been the main pathways for home-school communication. Nowadays, almost all K-12 schools in Sweden have an integrated so-called learning management system (LMS) that enables the systematic management of school administration, teaching and learning, as well as internal and external information and communication. In spring 2015, one municipality in Sweden started to implement a new web-based LMS called Learning Space (LS) in all public schools. To evaluate its implementation process with regard to the teachers’ experiences, an online questionnaire was sent to all grade 1-12 teachers in the municipality. This study is part of the evaluation project. The purpose of this paper is to explore teachers’ (N=454) experiences and perceptions with regard to the use of LS in home-school communication. The utilisation of LMS framework developed by Asiri, Mahmud, Bakar and Ayub (2012) was adopted to identify critical factors for integrating new technology. The results indicated a great dissatisfaction with functional features of LS and the implementation process among the teachers, which negatively impacted the attitudes and beliefs towards the usefulness and ease of use of LS for communication between home and school. This in turn prevented teachers’ and parents’ use of LS, and caused a general decrease in home-school communication in daily practices, especially for those disadvantaged parents, according to the teachers. There is a need to reflect on the implementation process and to improve the system. A successful implementation of technology in education calls for policy commitment, quality features of the technical design, sufficient organisational support, and positive personal attitudes and efforts.
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| 23. |
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| 24. |
- Gu, Limin, 1963-
(författare)
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Modernisation and marketisation : The Chinese kindergarten in the 1990s
- 2000
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This is a study of changes in Chinese kindergarten education in the era of the post-Mao four modernisations. Based on fieldwork carried out in China in 1997, this thesis examined the changes of Chinese kindergarten education at two levels — changes in system (structural change) and changes in educational activities (curriculum and ideological change), especially for the period of the 1990s. Changes are described and discussed in a historical context, in which both changes in policy and in practice are examined.Changes in education are closely linked to the social, political, economic and cultural context. The content, process and outcomes of reform in early childhood education in China have been affected by the national goals of reform, the social context of early educational institutions, their organizational characteristics, family structure, family policy, and the specific professional culture of teaching and learning. Recent structural reforms in early childhood education have been shaped by the foremost task of the nation - economic development. The previous welfare model of kindergarten, which was regarded as one of the outcomes of a socialist system, is being transformed into a new market competitive model to meet a political demand for the marketisation of society. The curricula of early educational program, teachers' attitudes to children, and their professional activities, therefore, have been re-shaped according to new ideas about the needs and abilities of children, new conceptions of child development and, not least, the new modernisation "knowledge" that gained ascendancy in China during the 1990s.
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| 25. |
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| 26. |
- Gu, Limin
(författare)
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Parental involvement through Web-based Learning Management System (LMS) - experiences and lessons
- 2016
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Ingår i: Unequalising World – Equalising School?. - Turku.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Spring 2015, a new web-based Learning Management System “Learning Room (LR)” was implemented in all public schools in one municipality located in the north part of Sweden. To evaluate the implementation process, as well as to investigate teachers’ experiences of application of LR, an online survey questionnaire was sent anonymously to all grade 1-12 teachers in March 2016. The purpose of this paper was to describe and discuss the teachers’ (N=454) experiences and perceptions regarding the use of LR in communicating and interacting with parents. The result indicated that the majority of teachers had negative experiences of some features in the system, which prevented the opportunities for their own and parental use of the system. This had caused the decrease of school-home communications in practices. However, it was too early to make a simple conclusion that the implementation of LR was totally failed. Implementation of a new educational technology is a complex process. A successful implementation of technologies in education calls for policy commitment, quality features of the technical design, sufficient organizational support and positive personal attitudes and efforts.
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| 27. |
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| 28. |
- Gu, Limin
(författare)
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Practices and perceptions on school-family relationship in Chinese lower secondary school
- 2014
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Ingår i: NERA 42nd Congress, March 5-7, 2014, Lillehammer, Norway. - Lillehammer.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents part of the findings from a research project regarding home-school relationship in Swedish and Chinese lower secondary school. The project aims to explore, compare and analyze how formal and informal cooperation between home and school are conducted in different system contexts, and how students, parents and teachers experience and perceive parental involvement in education and in their children’s schooling. A comparative perspective implies the analysis of varieties and similarities, as well as best practices of home–school partnership in trans-national contexts, which could contribute to cross-cultural generalizability of knowledge in this filed.In this paper, part of the empirical data collected in Chinese schools is described and analyzed, which consists of interviews with class teachers (n=8), school leaders (n=4) and IT administrator (n=1) from three lower secondary schools with diverse school cultures in terms of geographic location, organizational structure and students’ family background. The major finding indicates that despite differences in school culture, formal home-school cooperation is similarly organized in all three schools, and the new information technologies are effectively used in communicating with the parents. Dissimilarities are found regarding the forms and content of informal communication with parents, the relationships between parents and teachers, and the teachers’ expectations and attitudes towards parental involvement. The elite schools, where the majority of parents are well educated, utilize various channels to encourage parents’ participation in school activities. The parents are described as “understanding”, “active”, “engaged” and “supportive” in cooperating with the school. The rural school, where the majority of students come from farmers’ and migrant workers’ families, works rather passively with parental involvement. The parents display a sort of resignation from school business due to limited social capital and lack of cultural and economic capital (Bourdieu, 1993). This study underpins the importance of school social structure for home-school partnership. The concept of institutional habitus (Reay, 1998; Reay, David & Ball, 2001; Reay, David & Ball, 2005) enables us to understand how educational practice in general, and the relationship with the families in particular, are shaped by the school’s specific historical, cultural and economic conditions, and its pedagogical premiss.
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| 29. |
- Gu, Limin, 1963-
(författare)
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Prepare teachers with the competencies needed for home-school cooperation : a literature review
- 2018
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Ingår i: NERA 2018 – 46th CONGRESS, Educational Research: Boundaries, Breaches and Bridges. - Olso. ; , s. 384-384
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Previous research reveals the importance of teachers' attitudes and initiatives in the work of home school collaboration (Erikson, 2009). It is also argued that there are barriers to home-school cooperation due to shortcomings in teachers' invitations to families and strategies for involving parents in education (Hasey, 2005). These indicate a correlation between teachers’ competencies and the outcomes of home-school cooperation. This paper aims to provide a literature review on teachers’ competencies demanded for implementing and improving home-school cooperation, to identify the knowledge gaps in this field, and to discuss the policy and practical implications for teacher preparation. The research questions are: a) What teachers’ competencies are regarded as crucial for cooperating with parents? B) Do teachers have the competencies needed for home-school cooperation? C) How teacher education prepares teachers in accordance with these demands? Twenty three (N=23) educational research articles published during last 10 years (2007-2017) are selected through a systematical search of scholarly peer-reviewed full texts (Eriksson Barajas, Forsberg & Wensström, 2013) on two online databases “Academic Search Elite” and “Education Resources Information Center” (Eric), as well as a thematically higher relevant research journal International Journal about Parents in Education. The articles are analyzed by using qualitative data analysis computer software Nvivo. The analysis of data is based on the conceptual model of “overlapping spheres” of influence of family, school and community by Epstein (2010), and teachers’ collective and individual competencies necessary for parental involvement identified by Westergård (2013). The preliminary results support the assumption of teacher competencesthat imply a wider and systemic view of teacher professionalism on multiple levels –the individual, the school, the local community, and professional networks (OECD, 2009). Within the framework of relational, communication and context competence (Westergård, 2013), teachers’ competencies such as teacher leadership, capacity to change, positive and trust relationships with parents, interpersonal capacity, digital competence, reflectiveness and culturally sensitiveness are highlighted. The results also showa general picture of deficiencies in teachers’ competencies related to cooperation with parents. These results indicate the need of improving teacher education with more attention to the topic and the manner in which this topic is being addressed in the program. Moreover, home-school cooperation should not be isolated subject in teacher training but should be embedded in general conceptions about teaching and learning and teacher identity throughout teacher training program. This literature review is expected to deal with the knowledge gaps within the research field in the Nordic context.
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| 30. |
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| 31. |
- Gu, Limin, et al.
(författare)
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Reflection and professional learning
- 2004
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Ingår i: The conference of Association for Teacher Education in Europe, 2004, 24-27 October, Agrigento, Italy.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)
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| 32. |
- Gu, Limin
(författare)
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School websites as platform for home-school communication and parental involvement?
- 2016
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- General description on research questions, objectives and theoretical framework Parental involvement in education and home-school collaboration have been given increased emphasis during the last decades. Previous research has provided evidence of the positive correlations between parents’ active engagement in their children’s schooling and better outcomes and behavior of their children in school (Cooper et al., 2006; Epstein, 2001; Erikson, 2009; Högdin, 2006; Ravn, 2005). They find that parental involvement has a positive effect in that children take more pleasure in school activities, and that a more positive climate results in the classroom with a high level of interest and approval of work done by the school work. Better academic results are achieved when there are open channels between home and school.In Sweden, like many other countries, parents are regarded as having an important role as resource persons in school as stated in national educational policies (Lpo 94, 1994; Lgr 11, 2011). Since the last decade, the traditional family-school relationship characterized by separated responsibility between school and home, and teacher’s authority in this relationship are emphasized, has been challenged through the shift from a macro democracy to a more micro democracy, in which “partnership”, “user influence”, and “choice” are the main principles for structuring and managing school and family relationship, as well as changing the role of both teachers and parents (Eriksson, 2011, 2012). However, research in this field has mainly stressed parents’ right and opportunity to choose school for their children they prefer and the consequences brought about by this. Studies of how school understands and deals with the new conditions for relationship with family, and what strategies school applied in practice are scarce.Access to meaningful and effective communication between home and school enhances home-school relationship and collaboration as well as parental involvement and influence. The utilization of technologies through the use of Internet for information to and communication with parents is growing rapidly as an additional means for school-home relationship. Nowadays almost all Swedish schools have own websites that serve as prime locations for public advocacy and communications, including for parental use. It will be interested to find out what and how information is presented by local school actors on their websites, which in some way reflects their understanding of and attitudes towards relationship with parents and opportunities for parental influence. Moreover, parents are not a homogenous group, their accessibility to web-based information and communication and their ability to utilize the resources are influenced by their social, cultural and economic circumstances that could be a challenge for home-school relationship in terms of issues such as inclusion and exclusion (David, 2003; Ravn, 2005). The purpose of the study is to explore, describe, and compare the content and design of the schools' websites to identify and analyze how schools inform and communicate with parents and to deal with parental involvement through the use of their websites. The research questions are:- What information is presented on school websites and what is the intended parental use of the information?- How and to what extent the school websites provide the parents with the opportunities for two-way communications and possibilities of actual parental influences?- How schools relate to different parental groups in terms of cultural and educational backgrounds regarding accessibility and usability?The framework containing six important factors with regards to parental involvement (i.e. parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision-making and collaborating with community) developed by Epstein (2009) is used as theoretical basis to examine and analyze school web settings and their strategies for working with school-home relationship.Methods/methodology To explore how school websites are conducted and used to inform and communicate with parents, websites of 12 schools from four municipalities are selected to be analyzed during autumn 2015 and spring 2016. The municipalities are geographically located in north, south, east and west of Sweden respectively. Three K-9 schools, in which two are public schools and one is independent school, are strategically selected from each municipality regarding representative contextual factors such as school size, proportion of students with foreign background, as well as parents’ educational levels (Database Siris, Skolverket, 2014).Because each school website consists of dozens to hundreds pages, to analyze all pages was not possible and not necessary neither. At the first step, I studied the main site of each school as a whole and considered the relevance of information and communication for parental use, which is the focus of the study. At the second step, the relevant pages (sub-pages) were selected and saved by using a free software program “Local Website Archive Lite”. The changing content of a webpage could be problematic for data collection in terms of stability of the data, this program enables to download and save the websites to the local hard drive for later reading, coding and analysis. In the analysis process, content analysis approach was applied to study and gain insights into website-establishers’/owners’ intensions and preferences as well as into political, social and communicational trends and patterns generated by them (Schreier, 2012). Content analysis enables the analysis to be structured through coding in relation to the research questions and to make replicable and valid inferences from data to their context (Bryman, 2012; Krippendorff, 1980). In this study, the step model of category development suggested by Mayring (2000) was adapted. Four determinants (variables) of the content and design of websites were measured in relation to parental use: transparency/information, interactivity, accessibility and usability (Parajuli, 2007). At later step of the analysis process, the theoretical framework was integrated to gain an understanding of the empirical data and through this to capture and/or change perceptions on the study objectives (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) Expected outcomes/results This is an ongoing study because the analysis process has not been completed yet. The results presented below is rather preliminary.There are quite large differences between schools' websites in terms of the scope and type of information and the graphical design features. Some schools give the opportunity to click through to a lot of sub-pages with more detailed information and explanations, while other schools have very sparse information, often with a few lines of text. Another impression from the primary analysis is that many schools prefer to provide parents with more information about how schools work with the students' health, mood and their social development (e. g. lunch menu and intern working group for student health) than information and knowledge related to school academic work (e. g. lesson schedules, syllabuses, the descriptions of pedagogy, as well as mother tongue instructions and homework etc.). It seems that the schools’ expectations and trust for parental involvement in schooling is limited in the social aspects of student development rather than pedagogical issues regarding teaching and learning.About half of schools provide information about the parents' council or other types of parental organization. Only few schools have web media such as feedback/commends feature, chat room or other two-way communication and interactive channels. This might be an evidence of the obstacles for real parents' influence on education and opportunity for parental involvement in decision-making.Some schools use multimedia functions with mix of texts, audio, pictures and videos, while other schools mainly use texts on their homepages. Only few schools provide options for other languages, while most of schools use only Swedish on their websites. These features could be related to the accessibility and availability of parents with immigrant backgrounds who have difficulty with the Swedish language – the issue of inclusion and exclusion.
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| 33. |
- Gu, Limin, et al.
(författare)
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Swedish Lower Secondary School Teachers’ Perceptions and Experiences Regarding Homework
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Universal Journal of Educational Research. - : Horizon Research Publishing. - 2332-3205 .- 2332-3213. ; 3:4, s. 296-305
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigates homework in Swedish lower secondary schools: teachers’ perceptions and experiences about it and their understanding of its potentials and challenges for students’ learning and development. Data collected through an online survey (N = 201) mixed standardized questions and open questions. Descriptive statistics and qualitative interpretive principles fueled data processing and analysis. The main result indicated that most teachers assign homework and believe it will benefit students’ learning when it addresses consolidating and reinforcing knowledge already taught and increases skills through repetition. They regard appropriation and variation of homework and feedback as important to homework activities and effects. The teachers experience uneven attitudes to and outcomes of homework among students. Most schools organize homework assistance activities to smooth out this unevenness and to improve homework completion and quality. The findings highlight the educational implications of critical reflections on the design of homework and the quality of homework assignments.
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| 34. |
- Gu, Limin, et al.
(författare)
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Teachers’ perceptions and attitudes towards homework in Swedish lower secondary school
- 2013
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Ingår i: NERA 41st Congress, 7-9 March 2013, Reykjavik, Iceland. - Reykjavik : University of Iceland.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- During the last few years, there has been dramatic increase in the number of private companies in Sweden, who provide support for students’ homework. It seems that there is a need to turn to organizations and resources outside school to help students accomplishing their schoolwork. Debate on what has caused this and what impacts this may bring about has been highlighted. However, we seldom hear teachers’ voice in the debate and there is an absence of reflections and research aiming at examining and problematizing the existed homework practice in Swedish schools. This paper intends to explore teachers’ perceptions on the purpose of homework and their understanding and attitudes to critical conditions and factors that should be taken into account in design and management of homework. Constructivist learning approach is central to understand and analyze an active and contextual learning process associated with homework. Data was collected through a Web-based survey in form of questionnaire, which contained seven themes and 28 items. 212 lower secondary school teachers from nine municipalities participated in this study. Nine in-depth personal interviews with teachers were conducted as a complement. Descriptive statistics and qualitative interpretive principle were applied in data processing and analysis. The main result indicates that the pedagogical goal of homework is valued higher than its social functions. Teachers prefer to use homework to confirm knowledge and skills that students have learnt in school. As to homework assignment, while motivation, repetition and feedback were those terms frequently mentioned by teachers, the importance of variation, appropriation, individual diversity and conditions, and collaborative learning was given less emphasis. In a more critical sense, homework has become a kind of routine in school practice lacking of a long-term pedagogical framework for design and management. In order to reach the educational goal of homework within the frame of curriculum, teachers are facing challenges to reflect over what, why and how homework can improve students’ learning and development.
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| 35. |
- Gu, Limin, et al.
(författare)
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Teachers’ perspective on homework in Swedish elementary school
- 2012
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Homework has long been applied and routinized within the Swedish school, although there are no demands or guidelines stated in the national curricula. In this field, there is an absence of reflections and research on if and in what way the existed homework practice in Swedish schools improves children’s learning. This paper examines the complexity of homework issue out of teachers’perspectives aiming at understanding the pedagogical application and social implications of homework supported by the contextual and constructive learning approaches. The specific empirical questions are:1) How do teachers perceive the purposes of homework?2) What are the pedagogical assumptions that support the design and management ofhomework assignment?3) What are teachers’ expectations and view on parents' support in homework, and what kinds ofstrategies do they use in order to promote parents’ involvement in homework to improvepupils’ learning?The empirical data consisted of an online questionnaire responded by 101 teachers in elementary schools from a municipality located in the northern part of Sweden, complemented with six in-depth interviews with individual teachers from the same sample group. Result revealed that teachers classified the importance of confirming knowledge and skills of children through homework higher than the improvement and development of other social aspects associated with homework. Motivation, individual diversity and condition, appropriation, repetition and feedback were those terms frequently mentioned by teachers related to questions concerning homework assignment. Teachers had high expectation on parents’ engagement and support in homework but they also reported that it was difficult to be realized in practice due to parents’ limited knowledge, competence and time, as well as other obstacles such as lack of communication concerning homework between teachers and parents. The findings from this study provided some crucial information useful for school leaders and personal in developing homework strategies and practice. Homework needs to be planed, discussed and reflected more extensively among teacher groups in school in order to enhance teaching and learning. Parents and pupils should have more opportunity to be involved in and to influence homework assignment to realize and increase the academic and social benefits with homework.
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| 36. |
- Gu, Limin, et al.
(författare)
-
Teachers reflective learning through action research
- 2005
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Ingår i: 1st International Conference on School Effectiveness and School Improvement in China. Shengyang, 23-25 September 2005.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Teachers´ professional development is crucial to bring about educational effectiveness and school improvement. In the New Century teachers must be able to work effectively within context of change, paradox and instability. However, the current policy approaches to teacher education in Sweden are far from this demand of developing teachers as critical professional experts. In this article, we exam the use of the ideas of action research in carrying out a course within an in-service teacher training program for master degree at Mid Sweden University, in which teachers� inquiry into their own practice and their reflective learning were stressed. Fourteen teachers who took this course participated in this study. The data we collected into this study includes questionnaires, the writing reports of teachers� action research, the curriculum documents of programme, and conversations with the focus group. Using the constructive frameworks of professional knowledge, teacher professionalism, action research, reflective practice in analysing the data, we find that teachers become more aware and sensitive to questions and ideas concerning educational and pedagogical issues, as well as develop knowledge and a heightened sense of their own professional work through this kind of reflective practice. We argue that carrying out in-service training programmes based on ideas of action research can make teacher education more relevant to the demands for teachers� learning and their professional development, support the tendency of an inclusive approach in schools, and thus promote educational effectiveness and school improvement.
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| 37. |
- Gu, Limin, et al.
(författare)
-
Teachers’ reflective learning through action research
- 2005
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Ingår i: The 1st International Conference on School Effectiveness and School Improvement in China, Shenyang Normal University, 2005, 23-25 September, Shenyang, China.
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)
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| 38. |
- Gu, Limin
(författare)
-
Teachers’ view of parents’ involvement in homework
- 2015
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Ingår i: ERNAPE arctic 2015. - : European Research Network About Parents in Education and UiT The Arctic University of Norway. ; , s. 35-36
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Research on parental involvement in homework and its effects have recently been addressed. Some studies support a significantly positivecorrelation between parents’ involvement in the homework process and students’ homework experiences, attitudes, behaviors and outcomes (Dumont et al, 2012; Patall, Cooper & Robinson, 2008; Pomerantz, Moorman & Litwack 2007; Pomerantz, Ng & Wang , 2006; Van Voorhis, 2003, 2011a, 2011b). Other research illustrates the negative impact of parental involvement such as family stress and conflict, as well as unequal schooling with increased gaps among students based on their family backgrounds in terms of class, gender, ethnicity, and parents’ educational level differences(Forsberg, 2007; Symeou, 2013; Van Voorhis; 2011a). In Sweden, parental involvement in homework has been an overlooked research topic. The purpose of this study is to explore and gain understanding of the Swedish teachers' views and experiences regarding parental involvement in homework.The research questions are: 1) How do teachers perceive parental involvement in homework practice? 2) What are teachers’ expectations for parents' role and responsibility in relation to homework? 3) What are teachers' views on the benefits and challenges regarding parental homework involvement? Data were collected through an online survey answered by 201 lower secondary school teachers (N = 201) and nine semi-structured teacher interviews (N = 9). The results reveal that although the majority of teachers have higher expectations for parental involvement and support in homework, they realize that it is difficult to be implemented in reality. Lack of time, knowledge, and competence to help students with their homework, and the emerging family conflicts caused by parental authoritative governance and interference are assumed as the main reasons. Teachers appreciate more parents’ mental and structural support than academic support. The findings highlight the need for re-conceptualization of parental homework involvement to understand the multi-dimensions of “involvement”. It also calls for teachers' reflection on homework design aiming to facilitate and enable parents to be positively engaged in homework.
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| 39. |
- Gu, Limin, et al.
(författare)
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Technology Enhanced Teacher Professional Development in Sweden — policies,literature and recent initiatives
- 2009
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Ingår i: Distance Education Journal. - 1672-0008. ; :4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Information communication technology (ICT) has been bringing increasingly greater changes in education such as educational system, policies, programs, curricula, resources, teaching methods, and other aspects related to education, among which teacher education is one important area. "Technology Enhanced Teacher Professional Development (TETPD) in Sweden and China" is a three years’ research project funded by The Swedish Research Links. The purpose of the project is to study TETPD in Sweden and China, aiming at exploring status quo of TETPD in both countries, especially teachers′ attitudes, experiences, and understanding of technology-enhanced learning and teaching, and identifying TETPD models and the common factors that contribute to successful TETPD. This paper is based on the findings from the first stage of the project by Swedish researchers, which focuses on policies, literature and recent initiatives on TETPD in Sweden.
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| 40. |
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| 41. |
- Gu, Limin, et al.
(författare)
-
The Leadership of Banzhuren in Chinese School : based on the sample survey in Changzhou City of China
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Journal of Education and Human Development. - : American Research Institute for Policy Development. - 2334-296X .- 2334-2978. ; 4:4, s. 102-114
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The leadership quality of teachers is highlighted by researchers both in China and internationally. Banzhuren, a very particular category of teacher in Chinese schools, is the leader of teachers and the key person responsible for developing the whole community of students by classrooming. In Chinese schools, the leadership quality of banzhuren is also highly demanded. This study aims to explore and describe the characteristics of leadership of banzhurens in Chinese schools by investigating and comparing teachers’ and students’ experiences and perceptions regarding the banzhuren’s work. Empirical data were collected using teacher and student surveys in the form of a questionnaire in 10 schools in Changzhou city. The results indicate that the majority of banzhurens have a direct and positive influence on students’ everyday lives and good relationships with other adults. However, communication between the banzhuren and students and training of student leaders need to be improved. Banzhurens’ leadership and their work are integrated and comprehensive. The leadership of the banzhuren is a long-term construction that calls for strategies to develop and cultivate banzhuren leadership.
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| 42. |
- Gu, Limin, et al.
(författare)
-
Understanding Swedish Educational Policy Developments in the Field of Digital Education
- 2021
-
Ingår i: What Works in Nordic School Policies?. - Cham : Springer. - 9783030666286 - 9783030666316 - 9783030666293 ; , s. 213-233
-
Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This chapter describes and analyzes Swedish educational policy related to technology and digital education over the past decades with a focus on how the relation between learning and information technology, as well as digitalization and its impact on other aspects of school development and management have been argued for and how it has been proposed to influence school practice. The analysis is based on a review of eight selected educational policy documents that relate to the framework of phases of Swedish educational reforms suggested by Sundberg. The result reveals that although there are some overlaps and recurring themes in the politics over time, connections between the rationale behind the political arguments and the reform timeframes are obvious. During its early years, digital education adopted a clear centralized and top-down strategy with extensive government investments without taking into account the local needs and conditions. Later, in line with decentralization and marketization of education, the performance turn, and the adoption of accountability as a governing model, more demands have been placed on local responsibility and self-regulating regarding digitalization in school. At the same time, research-based evidence and international comparison have been used as a basis to justify further development of digital education.
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| 43. |
- Gu, Limin
(författare)
-
Using school websites for home : school communication and parental involvement?
- 2017
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Ingår i: Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy. - : Taylor & Francis. - 2002-0317. ; 3:2, s. 133-143
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper reports a small-scale study on the websites of 12 K-9 schools from four municipalities in Sweden. The purpose of the study is to explore, describe, and compare what and how information relevant for parental use is presented by local schools on their websites, which reflect the schools’ perceptions, intentions and strategies of communicating and cooperating with families. Epstein’s six key components regarding parental involvement are used as a theoretical framework in order to examine and analyse the content of school website settings. To evaluate the website design features, the website evaluation metrics suggested by Parajuli are adapted and applied. The results indicate that information on school websites for parental use is generally limited. It seems that schools’ expectations for parental involvement in education are based mainly on the social aspects of student development, rather than on pedagogical issues. In general, the websites of independent schools are more attractive than most public schools’ websites in terms of information richness and freshness, variations and friendliness. There is a need to develop websites that are more accessible for parents with immigrant backgrounds and non-Swedish speakers.
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| 44. |
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| 45. |
- Håkansson Lindqvist, Marcia, 1962-
(författare)
-
Conditions for Technology Enhanced Learning and Educational Change : a case study of a 1:1 initiative
- 2015
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The uptake and use of digital technologies continues to increase in schools throughout the world. In many schools the uptake and use of digital technologies takes place in One-to-One (1:1) initiatives in which teachers and students have their own laptops. In this thesis the uptake and use of digital technologies is studied from the student, teacher and school leader perspectives in order to through this gain knowledge regarding the conditions for Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) and educational change in K-12 schools. In the Unos Umeå research project the uptake and use of digital technologies in two schools, an upper secondary school and a compulsory school, was studied. A research design involving a case study approach (Yin, 2003, 2009) was used to study a 1:1 initiative. The methods of data collection were surveys, interviews and classroom observations. To explore, identify and describe conditions for TEL and educational change the data collected were used to map the initial expectations regarding the uptake and use of digital technologies from the start of the initiative as well as to follow the development of teaching and learning activities related to the uptake and use of digital technologies in the 1:1 classroom over a period of two years. The Ecology of Resources Model (Luckin, 2010) was used as a theoretical framework including the use of the concept of filters. Regarding the conditions for TEL, the results show that the uptake and use of digital technologies provides possibilities for new forms of teaching and learning in the 1:1 classroom. Students reported increased motivation, engagement and variation in schoolwork. Teachers described new forms of teaching as well as possibilities for collaboration, sharing of materials and continued professional development. For school leaders possibilities were found in collaboration, administrative support and follow-up of students and teachers, creating a unified vision of the work with digital technologies, and collaboration and sharing within the schools as an ecology of resources. The challenges seen from the student, teacher and school leader perspectives were related to use, technical support and optionality. If the possibilities are to be achieved, there is a need for continued professional development for teachers and school leaders. Further, clear directives through policy will be of importance. In the short term, the practical implications of the uptake and use of digital technologies, specifically in 1:1 initiatives, seem to be strongly connected to sustainability in schools. In the long term, if sustainable conditions for TEL and educational change in the 1:1 classroom can be created and upheld, the practical implications may for example be teachers’ improved skills to integrate a thought-through student use of laptops in their teaching practices and an increase in equality of digital competence between students, between schools and between classrooms in the same school.
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| 46. |
- Häll, Lars O., 1981-
(författare)
-
Developing educational computer-assisted simulations : Exploring a new approach to researching learning in collaborative health care simulation contexts
- 2013
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Health care education is developing and simulations, in different guises, are gaining increasing attention as a means of overcoming tensions between instructional models and educational objectives. The role of simulations is, however, yet to be fully defined and will be dependent on the actual impact simulations on educational practice. Research need to better understand this impact and contribute to developing simulation practices. There is, therefore, a strong need for research that can balance scientific stringency and practical utility. This presents a challenge in a field that is biased in favor of laboratory experiments where theoretical accounts are also rare. This thesis explores a new theoretical and methodological approach, as a means of meeting this challenge. It draws upon Rose Luckin's Ecology of Resources framework for redesigning learning contexts (2010) and it attempts to explore relations between learning context, learner interactions, and learning outcomes, in order to identify opportunities for the development of educational simulation practice. In researching different types of health care simulations in their own right, arguments have been made that it is necessary to strive for smaller and more useful generalizations. In response to this challenge, this thesis delineates one type of simulation context: collaborative educational computer-assisted simulation (ECAS) in health care education. After reviewing previous research on related topics, a model of this type of context has been developed. Based on this general model, the particular subfield of collaborative radiology in ECAS has been analyzed and researched. Four articles on this topic present empirical contributions that address different relations between context, learner interactions, and learning outcomes in collaborative radiology in ECAS. The first one explores how moving from a static tool to an ECAS changes what learners talk about, how they talk about it, and how they develop during training. The second one explores in more detail relations between the features of ECAS, the content of learner interactions, and the impact on learning. The third one explores how context design impacts peer interaction, and the fourth compares more and less successful groups in order to identify needs and opportunities for development of the learning context. The empirical data are used to discuss relations between learning context, learner interactions, and learning outcomes, and how collaborative scripts may be potentially useful in the development of collaborative ECAS in health care education. Such scripts could support for instance explicit dialogue about relations between context-dependent doing and subject-specific principles, thorough engagement with simulation feedback and inclusion of all simulations participants. A new path for health care simulation research is suggested, including a move beyond laboratory experiments towards dealing with the messiness of actual educational practice, a move beyond universal generalizations towards smaller-scale context considerate and more practically useful generalizations.
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| 47. |
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| 48. |
- Ivarson-Jansson, Ewa, et al.
(författare)
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Teachers' learning
- 2006
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Ingår i: Asia-Pacific Educational Research Association International Conference 2006.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 49. |
- Kristan, Matej, et al.
(författare)
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The Ninth Visual Object Tracking VOT2021 Challenge Results
- 2021
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Ingår i: 2021 IEEE/CVF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTER VISION WORKSHOPS (ICCVW 2021). - : IEEE COMPUTER SOC. - 9781665401913 ; , s. 2711-2738
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Visual Object Tracking challenge VOT2021 is the ninth annual tracker benchmarking activity organized by the VOT initiative. Results of 71 trackers are presented; many are state-of-the-art trackers published at major computer vision conferences or in journals in recent years. The VOT2021 challenge was composed of four sub-challenges focusing on different tracking domains: (i) VOT-ST2021 challenge focused on short-term tracking in RGB, (ii) VOT-RT2021 challenge focused on "real-time" short-term tracking in RGB, (iii) VOT-LT2021 focused on long-term tracking, namely coping with target disappearance and reappearance and (iv) VOT-RGBD2021 challenge focused on long-term tracking in RGB and depth imagery. The VOT-ST2021 dataset was refreshed, while VOT-RGBD2021 introduces a training dataset and sequestered dataset for winner identification. The source code for most of the trackers, the datasets, the evaluation kit and the results along with the source code for most trackers are publicly available at the challenge website(1).
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| 50. |
- Kristoffersson, Margaretha, et al.
(författare)
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Home-School Collaboration in Sweden and China
- 2013
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Ingår i: US-China Education Review B. - : David Publishing Company. - 2161-6248. ; 3:3, s. 188-201
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article is a working paper presenting a network building cooperative project between Umeå University inSweden and Zhejiang University in China. The project focuses on parents’ involvement and home-schoolcollaboration in Sweden and China and has an ambition to entail a set of empirical objectives: (1) to map andcompare the systems, policies, curricula, and resources dealing with home-school collaboration in Sweden andChina at the national level; (2) to identify and analyze the similarities and differences in the definitions, foci,models, practices, and perspectives on home-school collaboration in the two countries at the local level; and (3) toidentify and seek out good examples and models from both countries for communication and interaction amongteachers, parents, and students. Following an introduction to the project design where a comparative case-studyapproach is presented, this article reviews policies and researches concerning home-school collaboration inSwedish and Chinese contexts. Cases from both countries are selected, described, and discussed. Relative issues forfurther study are suggested.
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