| 1. |
- Elvstrand, Helene, 1971-
(författare)
-
Delaktighet i skolans vardagsarbete
- 2009
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Avhandlingens syfte är att belysa hur delaktighet kan ta sig uttryck i skolans vardagspraktik med fokus på både social och politisk delaktighet. Utgångspunkt för studien är att delaktighet är något som görs mellan aktörerna, dvs. eleverna och pedagogerna i skolan. Förutom att studera hur delaktighet görs lyfts även elevers erfarenhet av delaktighet fram samt vilka möjligheter och hinder som finns för elevers delaktighet i skolans vardag. Studiens resultat bygger på en etnografisk studie med elever som går i år 4-5 i grundskolan. Datamaterialet består av fältanteckningar, intervjuer, teckningar och skriftliga berättelser från eleverna, vilka analyserats med hjälp av Grounded Theory. Studiens resultat visar att delaktighet görs ständigt i skolans vardagsarbete vilket innefattar processer av att få vara med i en gemenskap men också motverkas genom exempelvis exkludering. Från elevernas perspektiv är social delaktighet betydelsefull och en källa till trivsel och välbefinnande i skolan. Elevers möjlighet till politisk delaktighet är begränsad framförallt i relation till vad elever kan ha inflytande över men även utifrån vilka som är delaktiga. Då formen för politisk delaktighet framförallt sker genom att elever inflytandeförhandlar dvs. på olika individualiserade sätt tar sig inflytande, blir följden att vissa elever upplever stor delaktighet medan andra är utestängda från beslutsfattande. Studien visar också att elevers sociala och politiska delaktighet är sammanlänkade då elever som är delaktiga i en kamratgemenskap också har större möjlighet att göra sin röst hörd i klassrummet och utöva politisk delaktighet.
|
|
| 2. |
- Germundsson, Per, 1956-
(författare)
-
Lärare, socialsekreterare och barn som far illa : om sociala representationer och interprofessionell samverkan
- 2011
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of the thesis is, through use of the theory of social representations, to increase knowledge about the meeting between social workers and teachers, as professional groups, during collaboration with regard to the target group, children at risk. The thesis intends to capture the parties’ perceptions of one another and of that about which they are cooperating, as well as to discuss possible consequences of these perceptions in the context of interprofessional collaboration on children at risk. Empirical data was collected through an association study. The informants consisted of 200 teachers and social workers who had participated in various collaborative projects concerning the target group of children at risk. The study shows that the two professional groups have similar representations of children at risk. The social workers’ representations of the teachers are mostly positive, but the teachers are perceived, in many cases, to lack knowledge about social workers and their field of expertise. Teachers’ representations of social workers are colored to a much greater extent by negative associations. The negative image is primarily related to social services as an organization, not to social workers as individuals. In relation to the specific area of interprofessional collaboration on children at risk, the study indicates that the involved parties’ social representations play a significant role in the collaboration process. The research of this thesis has shown that the theory of social representations provides an effective framework for the study of the collaborating professionals’ group perceptions of one another and of children at risk. A preliminary model that seeks to illuminate the role of social representations, trust, and communication in the collaborative process has been presented.
|
|
| 3. |
- Granbom, Ingrid
(författare)
-
"Vi har nästan blivit för bra" : lärares sociala representationer av förskolan som pedagogisk praktik
- 2011
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- En majoritet av svenska barn deltar i förskoleaktiviteter, vilket indikerar att förskolemiljön spelar en viktig roll för de erfarenheter barn får i sin vardag. Förskolans verksamhet baserar sig i hög grad på grundläggande värderingar och idéer beträffande bland annat barnuppfostran, förskolans uppdrag och synen på förskolans roll i samhället. Syftet med den här studien är att beskriva och analysera lärarnas konstruktion av mening och vardagskunskap beträffande förskolan som pedagogisk praktik. Fokus för den empiriska studien är hur delad kunskap om förskolan genereras och artikuleras av lärare som arbetar i förskolan. Den teoretiska ramen tar sin utgångspunkt i teorin om sociala representationer. Studien syftar till att svara på frågor om innehåll och teman i lärarnas samtal samt lyfta fram de kommunikativa resurser som används av deltagarna när de skapar en gemensam förståelse av vardagsarbetet i förskolan. Empirin i föreliggande studie utgörs av diskussioner i fokusgrupper. Sju grupper med sammanlagt 45 deltagare deltog i dessa fokusgruppsintervjuer. Resultatet visar att lärares samtal om förskolans yrkespraktik inkluderar underliggande sociala representationer. Ett antagande som är centralt i studien är att representationerna ligger till grund för hur arbetet organiseras och genomförs. Deltagarna i studien var arbetskamrater och deras diskussioner tog sin utgångspunkt i stimulusmaterial som jag tillhandahöll i syfte att stimulera diskussionen. En analys av data visar att lärarna utvecklar delade kunskapssystem vilket inkluderar olika, sinsemellan motsatta idéer och värderingar av förskolan som pedagogisk praktik. Begreppet relationella kategorier bidrar till att lyfta fram och synliggöra dessa motsatta idéer. De skall dock betraktas med utgångspunkt i ett ömsesidigt beroende och i relation till varandra snarare än särskiljande dikotomier. De relationella kategorierna formar kulturella antaganden utifrån vilka människor tänker och talar. Att tala utifrån en position innebär således att vi tar något för givet. Analysen resulterade i ett flertal relationella kategorier vilka tycks ha inverkan på lärares tal om sin praktik. I studien beskrivs även förankringsprocesser och kommunikativa resurser som deltagarna använder för att skapa gemensam förståelse för vardagsarbetet i förskolan. Resultatet visar att lärarna ger uttryck för två, sinsemellan olika, sociala representationer av förskolan som pedagogisk praktik: Förskolan som en plats för alla och Förskolan som en plats för några. Dessa båda representationer innefattar skilda representationer av barn och barns kompetenser, lärarens yrkesroll samt förskolans roll i samhället. Begreppet cognitive polyphasia bidrar tillatt belysa och beskriva relationen mellan stabil och föränderlig kunskap samt hur det kommer sig att lärarnas sociala representationer av förskolan framstår som ambivalenta och i viss mån t.o.m. motsägelsefulla. Studien bidrar till en fördjupad förståelse för den komplexa och dynamiska kunskap som involverar lärarens konstruktion av mening beträffande förskolan som pedagogisk praktik. Teorin om sociala representationer möjliggör analys och beskrivning av denna komplexitet.
|
|
| 4. |
- Grannäs, Jan, 1967-
(författare)
-
Framtidens demokratiska medborgare : Om ungdomar, medborgarskap och demokratifostran i svensk skola
- 2011
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis attempts to deepen our understanding of the democratic assignment for Swedish schools. The school is a public space that all children and youth are a part of which gives it a prominent opportunity for fostering democratic citizens of the future. The purpose of the study is to increase the knowledge of this assignment, based on the students’ stories of how they experience it. The theoretical framework draws upon a spatial perspective and educational theory inspired by a radical view of democracy. A multiple case study was conducted based on three cases, chosen in order to achieve socioeconomic variation. A mixed method approach has been applied to the study: interviews, observations, documents and quantitative data have been analyzed using a thematic analysis framework. The results show that the democratic assignment of schools is complex and filled with legal, social, ideological, and ethical tensions. For the purpose of creating a school environment that meets the democratic assignment, systematic work and guidelines for school personnel, students, and parents appear to be necessary. The study has clearly shown that the conditions for the democratic assignment may differ markedly between schools and that peer socialization is of great importance for the outcome. The influence and potential of diversity on the democratic assignment of schools is clear. From a curriculum micro perspective, the study has brought attention to how the view of the (non-)competent student is relevant for the democratic assignment, as well as the bases on which this notion of (non-)competence rest. It is suggested that the view of the democratic assignment is extended, from a narrow focus on democratic decision-making processes to a wider focus that also takes into account the ongoing everyday negotiation processes between teachers and students that have impact on what is perceived as political action and democratic arenas.
|
|
| 5. |
- Hansson, Susanne, 1976-
(författare)
-
Den nödvändiga osäkerheten : Elevers perspektiv på respekt i relationer i skolan
- 2012
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis deals with students’ views on respect as an element in their relationships with teachers and peers. The purpose of the thesis is to gain further knowledge of relationships in school by applying concepts of the theory of ethical demand in the analysis of students’ descriptions of respect in their relationships with their teachers and peers.The theoretical basis of the study is the theory of the ethical demand (Løgstrup, 1997) which is supplemented with Thomas Ziehe’s (1986/2003, 1993) theoretical concepts of proximity and distance in relationships. An important point of departure for the study is the meaning of relationships in education. According to Løgstrup, interrelationship is seen as a characteristic feature of human existence, and respect and trust as the natural basis in human relationships.The empirical material consists of 21 group interviews with 69 students aged 14 attending two Swedish schools. The interviews were conducted as semi-structured qualitative interviews aiming to understand the students’ perspective on respect in relationships in school.The results show that respect is described as a reciprocal phenomenon in the students’ relationships. The students’ starting-point was in experiences of disrespect, which indicates that it is difficult to describe respect. The students picture respectful relationships to teachers with a wish of being seen for who they are, e.g. by equal treatment, being listened to and existentially confirmed. The students’ disrespectful relationships to teachers deal with descriptions of teachers’ inability to listen, abuse of power, and teachers’ inability to teach with structure and planning. Respect in peer relations is described as allowing a person to be the way she or he is. Honesty is important in peer relations due to the students’ need to see the other person’s true self in order to get to know him or her, which is their starting point for respectful peer relations. The theoretical interpretation of these results gives an understanding of respect as an essentially human need to reciprocally affirming the life of one another.The overall conclusion is that respect is given a deeper understanding as a human phenomenon in relationships, something that goes beyond the students’ volition. Disrespectful relationships force the students to harbour mistrust and insecurity when interacting with peers and teachers. Respectful relationships in school are seen as necessary for the students’ possibilities to enjoy life.
|
|
| 6. |
- Olsson, Åsa, 1962-
(författare)
-
Barns levda medborgarskap : en studie av barns vardagskunskaper om olycksrisker och säkerhet
- 2013
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Child safety is a well investigated field of research, as is the field of children’s citizenship. This study explores the intersection between these two areas. The aim of the study is to explore children’s lived citizenship from their everyday knowledge about injury risks and safety. The idea of "lived citizenship" refers to how children understand and negotiate rights and responsibilities, and to how they actually practice their citizenship in their daily lives. In the study, a concept of citizenship is used, defining it as composed of the following dimensions: rights, responsibilities, participation, identity, membership, equal status, respect, and recognition.In the study children in grades 2, 5 and 8 participated in focus group interviews. The results of the study suggest that, although the children had good awareness of risk and safety, they regarded risk as something largely positive, connecting it with opportunities for challenges and exciting adventures. School rules and also traffic rules were frequently called into question by the children, even though they were very well aware of the potential physical or legal consequences. The rules at the children’s sports clubs, in contrast, were not challenged.Talk of injury risks and safety may be understood as individual and collective identity work. When children told stories about injuries and accidents, they were also telling stories about themselves, who they were, and where they belonged. Being adventurous and daring gave status in the groups for both girls and boys. Drawing on the results an “action zone,” as an analytical concept is suggested. The action zone is about the physical and symbolic dynamic space where children can move and act independently. Some features of the action zone are proposed in terms of boundaries, boundary guards, (rules, norms and authorities), negotiation, boundary crossing, identity, self-management and situated agency. I argue that the concept puts focus on children’s lived citizenship as a whole and that the physical aspect of citizenship is emphasized.
|
|
| 7. |
- Wagnsson, Stefan, 1969-
(författare)
-
Föreningsidrott som socialisationsmiljö : En studie av idrottens betydelse för barns och ungdomars psykosociala utveckling
- 2009
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall purpose of this study was to examine organized youth sports in Sweden and the possible influences over time (2 years) on some of the intended socialisation effects in terms of children’s and adolescent’s self-esteem, perceived physical and social competence, self reported pro- and antisocial behaviours, self reported psychosomatic health, and use of alcohol and tobacco. In an attempt to capture some of the complex social interactions in sports, which undoubtedly leads to different socialisation experiences, an additional purpose of this study was to examine possible relations between children and adolescent athletes’ dispositional goal orientations (task and ego), perceived motivational climate in sports, perceived sport-specific competence, perceived prosocial coaching and presumptive psychosocial effect variables. This study’s theoretical framework was primarily based on previous works by Bronfenbrenner (1979, 1992, 1995, 2001), Bronfenbrenner and Morris (1998), Nicholls (1984, 1989) and Patriksson (1995). The design of the study was a three-occasion longitudinal multiple cohort design including elements of retrospective questions. Data was collected from pupils residing in schools situated in Western and Middle parts of Sweden. The sample was based on a randomly stratified sampling procedure and comprised of 1378 pupils in total (10-18 years) distributed in primary school, lower secondary school and upper secondary school. The answering rate was high (T1=85%; T2=80%; T3=80%), but wave non-response made it necessary to impute missing data values. In total 1212 respondents were included in the final analyses. The main results showed that sport socialisation effects on youth’s prosocial development in general were rather small, with some minor exception for perceived physical competence and smoking tobacco. Consequently the results challenge the public notion that participating in organized sport “builds character.” Results related to the specific sport environment, though showed that organized sports have the potential to act as a more positive socialisation arena. It is proposed that creating a mainly task-oriented motivational climate, and helping the individual to foster a balance between task- and ego-oriented goal orientations, will increase the probability that young athletes will perceive higher levels of competence. This will, in turn, enhance the chance that participation in organized sports will have a positive effect on youths’ psychosocial development.
|
|
| 8. |
|
|
| 9. |
- Engdahl, Karin, 1958-
(författare)
-
Förskolegården : En pedagogisk miljö för barns möten, delaktighet och inflytande
- 2014
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is the result of a study that considers children’s encounters with others; participation and influence in a pedagogical outdoor environment in three different preschool playgrounds. More specifically, a study is under-taken of how children’s encounters are shaped in the pedagogically adapted outdoor environment of the preschool with the focus on how children’s par-ticipation and influence finds expression in the preschool playground’s dif-ferent facilities. The physical environment is seen as meaningful and the focus is on which affordances arise in the physical environment related to facility. The study’s theoretical approach is based mainly on G. H. Mead’s social psychological theory and the meeting with the other which is com-bined with theories that call attention to the significance of the facility. An ethnographic method has been applied. By way of two years’ field studies, with a total of 78 days spent in the three different environments, data has been collected through observations and photography and by listening to, and talking with, children and preschool teachers. To participate in the chil-dren’s everyday life has been a precondition for understanding children’s different encounters and meeting places in the preschool playgrounds. On the basis of the analysed results, the study shows that all three preschool playgrounds had pedagogical outdoor environments which were designed so that the majority of the facilities gave a variety of offerings, something that contributed to different children being able to relate to, and find, their own affordances in different facilities. The results of the study also show that the majority of preschool children in the studied activities were socially compe-tent and good negotiators. Thereby, they were shown to have good precondi-tions for participating and exercising influence in the day-to-day outdoor activities. At the same time, the study results demonstrate that the children’s agency and interaction at all three preschool playgrounds are determined on the basis of the level of recognition they received in their encounter with other children and in the encounter with teachers.
|
|
| 10. |
- Engström, Karin, 1949-
(författare)
-
Delaktighet under tvång : om ungdomars erfarenheter i barn- och ungdomspsykiatrisk slutenvård
- 2008
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Participation under coercion. On young people’s experiences in child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient care. The aim of the dissertation is to study young people’s experiences of participation under coercion in child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient care and to discuss these in relationship to the potential senses of participation and the conditions applying to encounters in care. It takes as its theoretical point of departure Gadamer’s texts on medical encounters, von Wright’s texts on participation as an intersubjective phenomenon that is related to the creation of meaning and Buber’s texts on interhuman encounters. The dissertation is based on two empirical studies. The first consisted of interviews with 21 young people in the 14-18 age group who were patients in child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient care; ten of them involuntarily, eleven voluntarily admitted. The interviews dealt with the following areas: coercion, participation, meaning and encounters in care. The second study involved an analysis of the ambitions of the health care system with regard to participation and encounters with patients as expressed in the legal regulations applying to the health and medical services and the guidelines on professional ethics for different categories of staff. Analysis of the empirical material was based on a hermeneutic approach. The young people’s experiences of their care revealed that they rarely have any knowledge of the legal conditions that apply or about their rights, irrespective of whether they are voluntary or committed patients. One recurrent experience is lack of clarity about the reason for the treatment and what it is intended to do. Despite these shortcomings in their participation, some of the young people view their treatment as important and at times even lifesaving. Analysis of the ambitions of the health care system shows that the focus in the current regulations is placed on the self-determination and autonomy of the patients. There is rarely any description of the importance of a dialogue or of collaboration with the patient. Analysis of the material as a whole reveals that three senses can be attributed to participation in the care situation studied: participation as a right, participation as involvement and participation as meaning. The dissertation discusses how participation in these three senses can find expression in encounters between young people and staff. If participation is to be possible, a relation and an interhuman encounter is required which is characterised by truth, frankness and lack of pretence. This shows how important it is for young people undergoing coercive treatment to be able to meet individuals who can see and acknowledge them as subjects with an entitlement to participate. This can offer possibilities for the creation of meaning in treatment that has not always been sought but which can still be experienced as meaningful.
|
|
| 11. |
- Franzén, Karin
(författare)
-
”Is i magen och ett varmt hjärta” : Konstruktionen av skolledarskap i ett könsperspektiv
- 2006
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to investigate the discursive construction of school leadership in a gender perspective and the meanings attached to school leadership. Theoretically, I draw on discourse analysis, and feminist poststructuralist theories have been my source of inspiration. Discourse, subjectivity, subject positions and power are key concepts applied to the analysis of the data. Four male and four female school leaders representing eight primary and secondary schools were interviewed. Furthermore, interviews were carried out with two teachers at each of these schools: in total nine female and seven male teachers were interviewed.The leaders and teachers talk about leadership in relation to four different arenas, which I have labelled the teachers’, the children’s, the parents’ and the societal arena respectively. Three main positions have been identified for the school leaders: (1) the supporter, (2) the manager and (3) the pedagogical leader. Most of the statements deal with the relation to the teachers, whereas the parents’ arena is not much talked about.As for gender, both male and female school leaders construct themselves as leaders in rather similar ways. Both men and women activate the three positions in similar ways. Women do not repeat the supporter position more often than men, and men do not position themselves as managers more frequently than women. This indicates that traditional gender discourses do not govern the school leaders’ talk about school leadership. For the position of pedagogical leader, some gender differences have been distinguished. The men position themselves as pedagogical leaders, whose mission it is to take the lead in pedagogical issues, whilst the women talk about the importance of evaluating and reflecting on their pedagogical leadership. Gender discourses seem to affect the way teachers construct school leadership, as male leaders who act as supporters are sometimes positioned as deviant. Instead, especially female teachers expect their male leader to act as a manager. Furthermore, the female teachers construct female school leaders as supporters to a higher extent than the male teachers.
|
|
| 12. |
- Nilsson, Sofia, 1975-
(författare)
-
Civil and Military Leadership Processes in Situations of Extreme Environmental Demands
- 2011
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of the studies included in this thesis has been to develop the knowledge about civil and military leadership processes and the conditions for these in situations characterized by extreme environmental demands. The main part of the thesis is based upon empirical data gathered through semi-structured qualitative interviews with Swedish civil and military leaders. The studies, published in four articles, focused leadership during situations characterized by extreme environmental demands. The fourth article aimed at validating the theoretical model that was developed in study one. The thesis has pursued an integrated view in seeking to understand leadership and environment interactions during the conduct of international humanitarian aid and military peacekeeping operations. Hence it has been a matter of considering the individual leader in relation to the organisational and the external environment in order to study human adaption to meet the challenges and demands of disasters and conflicts. The results show that leadership during international humanitarian aid and military peacekeeping operations is a highly complex and demanding task. Premises for the processes involve a great number of environmental factors. In order to restore system balance within a larger system, there has to be congruence between individual appraisal of the organizational and the external environment to achieve successful task completion. Inconsistency among the environmental factors influencing leadership processes may evoke adaptional struggles characterized by both positive and negative stress responses that may affect performance and task completion. Reappraisal processes are shown to involve continuous assimilation processes of, and accommodation processes to, the environment, illustrating the shifting balances between environmental forces, organizational pressures, and individual initiative. The findings on stress responses are in line with earlier research, demonstrating that stress reactions exhibit great similarities regardless of hierarchical level while also indicating a double-edged pattern concerning the overall development of stress reactions. However, it does seems that hierarchical differences exist with regard to moral stress, while moral stress appears to lack the double-edged pattern since no positive reactions are reported even at moderate levels of stress impact. Taken together, future civil and military leaders need education in complex person-environment interactions in order to get a holistic picture of the underlying mechanisms, thus promoting the development of their adaptive capabilities. It is suggested that this thesis can be regarded as a context-specific contribution to complex system theory by providing insight into the organizational and external environmental factors/demands that influence civil and military leadership.
|
|
| 13. |
- Skånfors, Lovisa, 1978-
(författare)
-
Barns sociala vardagsliv i förskolan
- 2013
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overarching aim of the studies in this dissertation is to contribute knowledge about children’s shared social knowledge in their preschool peer cultures, regarding both content and how it is established and maintained.An ethnographic approach has been used to study the shared activities of children, aged 3-5, in the preschool. During 1 ½ years, one preschool setting was visited on a regular basis. One hundred hours of observation have been made and documented through video camera recordings and field notes. The theory of children’s peer cultures (Corsaro, 2005), positioning theory (Harré & Langenhove, 1999a) and social representation theory (Moscovici, 2001) have been used as theoretical tools in the analyses.The empirical results are presented in four articles (articles I-IV) and are all illustrations of the children’s shared social knowledge. The findings are that children’s shared social knowledge involves two main aspects of knowledge about relations; how to establish and maintain relations vis-à-vis various tokens or social resources (articles III and IV), and how to create distance to relations (articles I and II). Another find is that there seems to be a tension between the children’s social knowledge and the social norms explicitly formulated in the studied preschool context.
|
|
| 14. |
- Thelander, Nina, 1962-
(författare)
-
We are all the same, but... : Kenyan and Swedish school children's views on children's rights
- 2009
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis presents a study on how school children in Kenya and Sweden express their views on children’s rights, in particular rights related to participation, non-discrimination, and education. The overall purpose was to explore the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, its claim to be universal and its relevance for children in various school and life contexts. Group interviews were conducted with 58 children, aged 12-15 years, from four schools, two schools from each country. The interviews were introduced with an exercise of nine articles from the UN Convention which the groups were asked to discuss and rank from the most to the least important. The aim of the exercise was to make the UN articles known to the children and to open up for a conversation about rights. The theoretical framing for the study is anchored in the tradition of sociology of childhood. Analyses of empirical data were based on the cultural politics of childhood, and the concepts vulnerability and separability. Accordingly, children are viewed as sharing the common experience of being children, but also as experiencing diverse everyday lives. They are regarded as social agents, whose voices carry perspectives important to be listened to. They are also looked upon as able to form and express their views and knowledge in relation to local economical, social and political conditions. The results showed that the children talked about themes and situations that were both common and diverse. They talked more about children’s needs than about children’s rights. Needs for ‘extended’ protection were particularly expressed, i.e. the importance of stable relationships with parents and other adults and peers. The study also showed that when issues on relationships with adults, participation and decision making were discussed, the children expressed experiences of being viewed as subordinated in a way that could be referred to as their inherent and structural vulnerability. A third important result showed that values and norms related to non-discrimination were largely produced and reproduced in peer-cultures. Finally, the children connected education to economical growth, for individuals as well as for societies. The overall conclusion from the study is that children view the UN Convention as a problem solver for children in exposed situations rather than as a document for their everyday life. From a child perspective, rights hold relational qualities, manifested in relationships with adults and peers. Furthermore, the study underlines that the young right holder is a ‘both-and’ child: both global and local, both being and becoming, and both dependent and independent.
|
|
| 15. |
- Wester, Maria, 1960-
(författare)
-
"Hålla ordning, men inte överordning" : Köns- och maktperspektiv på uppförandenormer i svenska klassrumskulturer
- 2008
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this study is to describe and analyse norms of behaviour in rhetoric and practice in Swedish classroom cultures with the aid of theories of gender and power. The study is based on observations of and interviews with pupils and teachers in three ninth form classes. On the basis of the six themes of the thesis, common norms of behaviour are on the whole discernible. The relation between rhetoric and practice may be summarised in the following way: the pupils and teachers express a desire for order and clear rules that are followed. If the rules are not followed, the pupils demand consistent and motivated consequences. The study shows, however, the everyday life at school does not work in this way but that there is some discrepancy between practice and rhetoric. The values stated in the curriculum, for example respect, solidarity and taking responsibility, are expressed in both the pupils’ and the teachers’ rhetoric. The values are used to describe a certain action or to motivate the norms of behaviour that are described as desirable.
|
|
| 16. |
- Berthén, Diana, 1956-
(författare)
-
Förberedelse för särskildhet : Särskolans pedagogiska arbete i ett verksamhetsteoretiskt perspektiv
- 2007
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Preparing for segregation. Educational work within the Swedish special school - an activity theoretical approachThis study aims at illuminating what is special about Särskolan’s pedagogical work. In Sweden schooling for children who are regarded intellectually disabled is organised in a special school, Särskolan, established during the late 1800s. Today Särskolan is organised in two forms, a training school and a compulsory särskola. The pedagogical work in Särskolan is commonly referred to as special and unique. However, what this special is has not previously been explored.The study is conducted within the tradition of cultural-historical activity theory. According to this tradition, personality, development and change is understood and explained in relation to various activity systems in which the individual is involved. Each activity is regarded as a historically developed, complex system of motive-driven, goal-orientated human actions that aim at finding solutions to a societal need. These theoretical assumptions have informed the design of the study of Särskolan as a historically developed activity.The study was carried out during the school year 2002–2003 in one training school classroom (grade 2–5) and one compulsory särskola classroom (K–4). Class-room observations and staff interviews were used for data production. The core of the analyses concerned what the teachers were trying to achieve. According to the theoretical assumption, the motive is expected to appear in the object of the activity, therefore the overall analysis focused on the object of the activity of teaching.One major result was that the teachers in the training school pursued preparations for daily life while in the compulsory särskola the pupils were prepared for teaching. With an activity theoretical approach to learning, the study further shows that the possibilities for pupils to learn – e.g. sign language in the training school or literacy in the compulsory särskola – were limited.The overall conclusion is that the special with the Särskola is that up-bringing and preparation dominate the activity. The emphasis on preparation seem to be related to the teachers’ conceptions of the pupils as being in need of a special kind of knowledge before they can be taught the knowledge referred to in the syllabuses.
|
|
| 17. |
- Ericsson, Gunilla, 1952-
(författare)
-
Ledares aktionslärande : Att styra och följa lärandeprocesser i arbetslivet
- 2007
-
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- AbstractThis study reports a project within which leaders in a local government administration develop their skills about and in action learning. The main focus is on the conditions that are needed in an action learning process. The aim is to analyse the working process, how the leaders make use of their own experiences from daily working life and put them into questions and actions, and finally, to question and analyse my own leading process as an action researcher.During nearly two years, the leaders taking part in the study and myself have been involved in a complex, social process where experiences from daily working life have put questions into actions and investigations.Results show that the leaders, through the working process, learned how to investigate, collect information and analyse data. Time and process were found to be key concepts in their action learning. Uncertainty characterised the leaders´ initially work while the enthusiasm and more initiative from their side appeared as the work proceeded. Through the process they had to deal and struggle with their staff’s notions about working conditions as well as their own leadership. Demands on responsibility for their own actions were mixed with a permitting atmosphere holding both laughing and testing of new ideas. Another result shows tensions within this learning process, on one hand, between the leaders who wanted to keep their agreed understanding and, on the other, my intentions to challenge their understandings. The variation and changing in interaction patterns over time between me and the leaders seem to be crucial to make this project the leaders´ own working process. My leadership changed from initially instructing, to coaching and finally to take a back seat. A main conclusion from the study is that designing adult education in a learning perspective, deals with working methods as well as content.Keywords: action learning, leadership, interaction, process, experiential learning, adult education
|
|
| 18. |
- Henriksson, Carina
(författare)
-
Living Away from Blessings : School Failure as Lived Experience
- 2004
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation seeks to unveil and describe students’ experiences of school failure. Traditionally, research in the field has tended to approach school failure from a societal perspective, often construing school failure as a drop-out problem. Consequently, adults have been authorized to define how the notion of school failure is to be understood, and have usually attributed it to inadequate grades, and/or cognitive shortcomings on the part of the students. Moreover, scientific and governmental reports regularly provide us with statistics concerning drop-out rates. What these statistics do not tell us, however, is how the students themselves define and experience school failure. Parallel to the drop-out research, classroom research has traditionally focused on the teacher-student interaction, mainly from a “teacher-thinking” perspective. This dissertation offers an alternative understanding of the notion of school failure: it examines students’ lived experiences of school failure in the classroom. Former students in an individual program and inmates in juvenile institutions shared their lived experiences of a school failure. The students were asked to write down their recollections of a specific moment when they felt that they had failed in school. In addition to the written experiential accounts, the students’ experiences were explored further in interviews. The lived-experience descriptions show that the students view school failure as having little to do with cognitive inadequacy; rather, they understand school failure as a behavioral deficiency on their part. Thus, the center of attention is not on the student-learning perspective, but the student-teacher relationship. The phenomenological, thematic analyses show that the experience of school failure is a complex phenomenon that reaches far beyond grades and dropping out. The temporal, spatial, and relational dimensions of experiencing school failure include feelings of disappointment, non-recognition, loneliness, boredom, shame, marginalization, stigmatization, inferiority, and worthlessness. A subsidiary aim of the dissertation is to contribute to the development of the phenomenological research method “phenomenology of practice.” The method, developed by Max van Manen and inspired by the scholars of the Utrecht school, integrates phenomenology, hermeneutics, and semiotics. The “phenomenology of practice” approach, which aims to disclose taken-for-granted attitudes, and has proved beneficial for exploring practical, pedagogical issues, such as experiences of school failure.
|
|
| 19. |
- Sandberg, Gunilla, 1954-
(författare)
-
På väg in i skolan : Om villkor för olika barns delaktighet och skriftspråkslärande
- 2012
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The start of school is an important period in life. For some children, it is critical and affects their first time in school. It might have great importance for their learning and well-being. The aim of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of how different children face the school, based on the conditions that have been set for participation and learning, with special regard to literacy. Attention will be given to the start of school as an important transition in life, literacy activities, and special support in preschool-class and first grade. Both children and teacher perspectives are considered.The theoretical framework is a dynamic and interactional perspective. This ethnographic study is inspired by the hermeneutic tradition. The empirical material has been collected through a case study at two schools, where two different groups of children have been observed from the latter part of preschool-class up until first grade. Furthermore, qualitative interviews have been held with special pedagogues at nine schools.The results show that the strive of teachers in preschool-class to create social security and ensuring close-knit group seem to have an impact on children during their entrance into school. Children appear well-prepared and comfortable in the school environment of first grade. Nevertheless, an organization that requires two transitions is inherently problematic, given the change in activities, roles and relations for children within one year.In terms of didactics, preschool-class and first-year class are weakly linked. There is no clear association between the reading and writing activities in the two forms of school, and there is no arena for teachers to develop a common ground for the didactic effort, a borderland. This can have consequences in terms of halting or interrupting children’s learning process. A well-developed special-pedagogical work strategy and careful surveying is made of children’s learning processes. But, with the cautious attitude shown, the support of individual children is not put into process until the spring of their first school year or later. The issues of when and how special support should be offered are tied to different dilemmas.
|
|
| 20. |
- Styf, Maria, 1974-
(författare)
-
Pedagogisk ledning för en pedagogisk verksamhet? : Om den kommunala förskolans ledningsstruktur
- 2012
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is a total coverage survey of the municipal preschool management structure. In the late 90's the preschool in Sweden became the first step in the overall educational system. It became a pedagogical activity similar to school with respect to form and content. Although the focus was on education, political voices reclaimed the unique nature of preschool i.e. educare. It became a preschool in transition between its own tradition and modernization. The idea is that the educational management structure should support a pedagogical leadership that directs the pedagogical activity towards preschool objectives. The local authority sets the structure for management in pre-school; a municipality that in itself is an institution with its own goals and objectives. These objectives can place the municipalities in the cross pressure between their own objectives and the ones for preschool. The question in this respect is; How is the management structure formed and why? Is it a structure formed with the intention of creating educational management for the local preschool or are there other factors that guide the design? A framework based on the historical background of the preschools and theoretical terms such as steering, leading, management, pedagogical leadership, educational activity, etc. was constructed. Results are based on an online questionnaire survey. 180 municipalities out of 290 answered the questionnaire, which gives a response rate at 62 %. The response rate is evenly distributed across municipal categories, categories that the municipalities were aggregated into, formed by The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions. The categories were handled as survey units, to support a part of the analysis and to allow a comparison between the municipalities by municipality size, both demographic and geographic. The material was analysed using the SPSS statistical program and compiled and reported with descriptive statistics. Descriptive statistics were used to demonstrate the material's characteristics and the central tendency. The results show that the municipalities’ structure of management is varied. Different municipal categories do not change this varied picture of the management landscape significantly. Although the management structure varies regarding how many levels with formal titles and which positions and functions they should have, there is a consistency in which title that the formal leader for the preschool have. The municipalities primarily utilisea principalship with mixed responsibility for both preschool and school. In light of these results, do municipalities mould a structure for the educational management for the pedagogical activities in preschool? Yes and no: the municipalities do not form a structure for preschool alone. Results show that the municipalities' main purpose is not to create a line of management specifically for the preschool. The municipalities form a management structure for educational purposes dealing with an educational activity from preschool to elementary school. The new Education Act (2010:800), is a step toward distinguishing preschool leadership from school leadership and turns the leadership of preschools into a title solely for the position and function of preschool educational activities.
|
|
| 21. |
- Söderström, Åsa
(författare)
-
”Att göra sina uppgifter, vara tyst och lämna in i tid” : Om elevansvar i det högmoderna samhället
- 2006
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyse pupils’ and teachers’ views on pupils’ responsibility for their schoolwork and how this relates to a more comprehensive ideology of school and today’s high modern society. The analysis is inspired by Anthony Giddens’ structuration theory and the concepts of discursive consciousness, practical consciousness, rules, routines and resources.At school level pupils’ and teachers’ views of pupils’ responsibility is shown in their practical and discursive consciousness. To capture this consciousness, observations were made during fifteen lessons in school year 9 (15-16 years of age). These lessons - “study times” - were introduced to increase freedom of choice, flexibility and responsibility. Sixty-eight pupils and twenty-two teachers were interviewed. The ideology expressed in pupils’ and teachers’ views on pupils’ responsibility was related to the official school ideology expressed in the national curriculum. Finally, an analysis was carried out inspired by Anthony Giddens’ and Ulrich Beck´s concepts used in their descriptions of the high modern society, individualism and value-relativism.The results showed a discursive consensus between teachers and pupils concerning their views pupils’ responsibility for their schoolwork. The meaning of responsibility was taken for granted and implied doing the school tasks and to complete them in time. Both teachers and pupils expressed that many pupils’ have difficulties in taking this responsibility. A discrepancy between the pupils’ discursive and practical consciousness was found.Rules and routines were created by the teachers to control the freedom of space offered during the “study times”. The pupils legitimated the teachers’ controlling function but in practice they offer resistance against the demand for responsibility.The overall analysis identified three issues that are important for further discussions in research and educational practice. Responsibility and learning: Responsibility was observed as a part of a “culture of doing” separated from learning as such. Also, responsibility was linked to individual work. The freedom offered during the “study times” was used by both pupils, and teachers, to build relationships. This means that relationships were not created through work but rather despite it. Responsibility and the view of the pupils’: In pupils’ and teachers’ view of responsibility pupils were easy going, ruled by lust and/or responsible but not always according to the conditions stipulated by the school. The pupils were offered a freedom to choose but they were also held responsible for the consequences. While they could make the choice not to work, this would influence the evaluation of the achievements, and in reality make it a “non-choice”. The freedom was limited and conditioned. Responsibility as a democratic principle: The connection between responsibility and pupil participation expressed in the national curriculum was not to be found in pupils’ and teachers’ views of responsibility. While the pupils were offered participation in relation to which assignments to choose to work with during the “study times”. They were not invited to shape the rules and the routines for the schoolwork or to have influence on the contents of the work or the working environment. The pupils’ did not ask for more participation, but rather feared it would lead to chaos. The separation between participation and responsibility indicated in the study is suggested to weaken the idea of responsibility as one of the democratic principles.In conclusion: The view of pupils’ responsibility for their schoolwork was built upon an individualistic ideology. known from Giddens and Becks description of high modernity. In contrast to their description, however my results show no signs of value-relativism
|
|
| 22. |
- Thornberg, Robert, 1968-
(författare)
-
Värdepedagogik i skolans vardag : Interaktivt regelarbete mellan lärare och elever
- 2006
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this study is to explore values education as it takes place in everyday interactions between teachers and students. Focus has been on rule practice between teachers and students, which has been interpreted during the research process as the most salient phenomenon in the practice of values education. The study is based on fieldwork in two schools. Two kindergarten-classes, two classes in grade 2, and two classes in grade 5 – in sum, 141 students and 13 teachers – participated. The analysis was accomplished by means of procedures influenced by Grounded Theory.According to the results, teachers’ practice of values education is primarily manifested in everyday teacher-student–interactive rule practice, which refers to all aspects of everyday activity by which participants construct, maintain, mediate, and negotiate rules for and in everyday interaction. A significant part of values education is unplanned and reactive, embedded in everyday life of school with a focus on students’ behaviour, and mostly or partly unconscious. The analysis of the rules in the two schools resulted in five rule categories: relational rules, structuring rules, protecting rules, ersonal rules, and etiquette rules. The meaning of the rule system is to construct order in school and to foster the students in a moral sense by mediating a construction of the desirable student: the benevolent fellow-buddy and the wellbehaved student. According to the findings, four main intervention strategies are used by the teachers within the everyday rule practice: assertion, explanation, negotiation, and preparation. Students meaningmaking of rules vary across the rule-categories. Furthermore, the meanings students make of the rules affect how they value the rules. Relational rules are seen as the most important rules. Many protecting rules and structuring rules are also valued as important. In contrast to these rules, tiquette rules are valued as least important or unnecessary, which, at least in part, could be explained by the students’ problem in making meaning of these rules. To perceive a reasonable and trustworthy meaning behind a rule seems to be a significant part in students’ rule acceptance. Furthermore, students reflect on and judge their school rules and their teachers’ performance in rule practice. Perceptions of injustice, inconsistencies, nonsense, or deceptiveness in relation to rules or teacher behaviour, evoke critique among students, even if students seldom or never articulate their arguments in front of the teachers. The results are discussed in relation to other research and theories such as social constructivism, domain theory, and symbolic interactionism.
|
|
