1. |
- Fejes, Andreas, 1977-, et al.
(author)
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Adult education and learning : a pluralistic research field?
- 2019. - 1
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In: Mapping out the research field of adult education and learning. - Cham : Springer. - 9783030109455 - 9783030109462 ; , s. 119-137
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- What the field of adult education research is and how it can be described has been a debated issue over the decades. Several scholars argue that the field today is heterogeneous, borrowing theories and methods from a range of disciplines. In this chapter, we take such statements as a starting point for empirical analysis. In what ways could it be argued that the field is pluralistic rather than monolithic; heterogeneous rather than homogenous? Drawing on bibliographic data of the top cited articles in three main adult education journals between 2005 and 2012, we illustrate how the citation patterns have tendencies of homogeneity when it comes to the geographical country of authorship, since the USA, UK, Australia and Canada dominate, as well as the research methods adopted, since qualitative approaches have near total dominance. Furthermore, there is a tendency to adopt similar theoretical approaches, since sociocultural perspectives, critical pedagogy and post-structuralism represent more than half of the articles in our sample. At the same time, the results of our analysis indicate signs of scholarly pluralism, for instance, in terms of authorship, since both early career researchers and established researchers are represented among the top cited publications. We conclude the chapter by arguing that empirical analysis of publication and citation patterns is important to further the development of reflexivity within the field, not least for early career researchers, who might benefit from knowledge about what has been recognized among peers as worth citing in recent times.
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2. |
- Fejes, Andreas, 1977-, et al.
(author)
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English as language of teaching and research
- 2020. - 1
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In: The SAGE Encyclopedia of Higher Education. - : Sage Publications. - 9781473942912 - 9781529714395 ; , s. 449-451
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- It has often been claimed that English has emerged as the lingua franca of teaching and research at universi- ties across the globe. This entry provides an overview of language use within higher education internationally, with a particular view to highlighting conditions within the human sciences—that is, the social sciences and the humanities. The entry centres on English as the medium of research, understood primarily as publishing, and English medium instruction (EMI). It begins by providing a brief historical overview.
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3. |
- Fejes, Andreas, 1977-, et al.
(author)
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Introduction : Mapping the Research Field on Adult Education and Learning
- 2019. - 1
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In: Mapping out the Research Field on Adult Education and Learning. - Cham : Springer. - 9783030109455 - 9783030109462 ; , s. 3-13
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- If the framing and composition of research fields are never fully fixed or saturated (Abbott 1995; Gieryn 1983), this is a particularly salient feature of the research field that deals with the education and learning of adults. Not only is the research question of adult education and learning approached from a multitude of academic disciplines – such as sociology, psychology and education – the very concepts that are used to denote this field have also undergone important changes. Such conceptual changes are visible, for instance, in the recent development whereby the model of adult education and Bildung came to be partly replaced by the notion of lifelong learning. In Europe, lifelong learning gained prominence in the policy area with the year of Lifelong Learning in 1996 and then the Memorandum on Lifelong Learning, published by the European Commission (2001), which positions lifelong learning as a central policy concept in the realisation of the Commission’s strategies. As a policy preoccupation, lifelong learning supersedes concepts of adult education (Lindeman 1926) and lifelong education (Faure 1972). The shift from focusing on education to speaking about learning is important to address in research, because it marks out a new way of conceptualising the education and learning of adults in terms of the why, the how, the what, the when and the where questions. These policy changes can also be identified within research and, particularly, in how the research field on the education and learning of adults is defined and delimited (see Chaps. 2 and 3). Thus, while it is clear that the research field of adult education and learning undergoes changes over time and is quite diverse in terms of the current choice of theories, research objects, methodologies and so on, little is known empirically about its current “state of affairs” and how it can be mapped out and characterised scientifically.
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4. |
- Fejes, Andreas, 1977-, et al.
(author)
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The politics of publications and citations : a cross country comparison
- 2019. - 1
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In: Mapping out the research field of adult education and learning. - Cham : Springer. - 9783030109455 - 9783030109462 ; , s. 99-115
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Research funding, promotions, and career trajectories are currently increasingly dependent on the emerging economy of publications and citations across the globe. Such an economy encourages scholars to publish in international journals that are indexed in databases such as Scopus and Web of Science. These developments place an increased emphasis on the question of who is allowed to publish in the journals listed there and whose research counts as valuable. Based on bibliographic data this chapter firstly focus on the politics of indexation, i.e. what is being indexed in the main database Web of Science in terms of country of origin of journals and in terms of publication language. Secondly, we focus on the politics of scholars gatekeeping, i.e. what is the institutional affiliation of the editors and editorial board members in some key adult education journals, and thirdly, who is publishing in these adult education journals and who is being picked up and cited. Our results show, e.g., how four Anglophone countries dominate the field in relation to both published articles and the share of most cited articles and where the publication pattern of these authors are national and regional rather than international. Anglophone countries also dominate in terms of indexation, as well as scholars gatekeeping.
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5. |
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Folkhögskolan 150 år : Folkbildning & Forskning Årsbok 2018
- 2018
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Editorial collection (other academic/artistic)abstract
- År 2018 har svensk folkhögskola verkat i 150 år. Föreningen för Folkbildningsforskningbeslutade därför att ägna Årsboken 2018 helt åt folkhögskolans modernahistoria. Inför folkhögskolans 100-årsjubileum 1968 gav Svenska folkhögskolanslärarförening ut fyra band om Svensk folkhögskola 100 år.Publikationerna som samlades i dessa fyra böcker har alltsedan dess varit referenslitteraturför alla som intresserat sig för utbildningsformen. Mot den bakgrundenvar det viktigt att uppdatera och komplettera våra kunskaper omfolkhögskolornas utveckling de senaste 50 åren 1968 – 2018.Vår ambition har varit att boken så långt som möjligt ska spegla folkhögskolansmångfald. Boken består av 18 bidrag som skrivits av sammantaget 28författare. Olika perspektiv och angreppsätt bryts här mot varandra; forskningsbaseradetexter som syftar till att förstå och förklara folkhögskolans förändringarvarvas med texter som bygger på mångåriga erfarenheteter i folkhögskolepraktiken.Skrivarten varierar också, från basfakta i beskrivande texter, analyserav statistik och forskningsresultat till personligt hållna berättelser och tolkningar.Författarna ansvarar själva för innehållet i sina texter.Boken bygger på fyra övergripande teman: Folkhögskolans moderna historia1968 – 2018, Frihet och styrning, Pedagogisk tradition och förändring samtPerspektiv på folkhögskolan i samtiden. Boken inleds med en sammanfattningav de första hundra åren (1868 – 1968) av den svenska folkhögskolans historia.
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6. |
- Fürst, Henrik, et al.
(author)
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Kulturell bildning i folkhögskolans regi : Deltagare och lärare på estetiska profilkurser
- 2018
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Some of the most prominent educational institutions within art and culture in Sweden are the folk high schools. Of the 154 folk high schools across the country, most offer aesthetic programs at the post-compulsory educational level, specializing in music, fine art, handicrafts, performing arts or creative writing. The number of students engaged in aesthetic programs has almost doubled over the last twenty years, from approximately 4 000 individuals in autumn 1997, to more than 7 000 autumn 2016. Despite the increasing popularity, nation-wide reach and great variety of courses, there are few systematic studies and evaluations of the role of these programs within the ”cultural ecosystem” in Sweden.In this evaluation report, we outline the ways in which the courses at the folk high schools relate to the overall educational system and labour market, how they are active in cultivating artistic abilities and talent and provide employment possibilities for hundreds of teachers who themselves also may act as cultural workers. Through qualitative and quantitative research methods, we study the social composition and vocational orientation of the aesthetic teachers as well as the educational trajectories of the participants and their transitions from education to work.The first part of the report provides an in-depth account of the participants’ backgrounds, school choices as well as the recruitment and selection processes of the schools. We find that the participants originate from families with relatively high educational merits. This pattern is particularly salient for the participants who specialize in music, creative writing, and the performing arts. The inherited educational resources tend to be more concentrated among the participants’ mothers rather than their fathers, a development that has been accentuated over the last two decades.The participants report three main reasons for their choice of studying at folk high schools. They cite making a break from their previous lives (orienta-tion to the past), being in a specific situation or particular place (orientation to the present), or as a means of getting somewhere else (orientation towards the future).During the period 2005–2010, over 30 percent of the participants came to these programs after completing an upper secondary school program specialized in aesthetics. Approximately 30 percent of these cohorts had studied social sciences or natural sciences and 20 percent had studied more vocationally oriented programs at upper secondary school. One surprising finding was that as many as 27 percent of the folk high school participants, within this time period, had studied courses and programs at university level before embarking on folk high school studies, primarily in the fields of the arts and humanities. The institutional links between folk high schools and enrolment in higher education was generally very strong. For example, after graduating from a folk high school aesthetic program, 60 percent of the participants enrolled in higher education within a twelve-year period, primarily to study the arts and humanities, but also social sciences, education and various teachertraining programs.The second part of the report examines the experiences of the participants of studying at the schools and the experiences of the teachers of these programs. By means of a large-scale questionnaire, we analysed the social and demographic characteristics of the teachers in the aesthetic profile courses. Among the teachers who responded to the questionnaire, we found that an overwhelming majority grew up in Sweden (94 percent), or other European countries (5 percent), while teachers with backgrounds from non-European countries were extremely few (< 1 percent). From an urban-rural perspective, the survey results showed that half of the teachers grew up in smaller villages and towns, a quarter in rural areas, and a quarter from what they classified as larger towns or cities. The teacher collective, that was engaged in the aesthetic subjects, frequently had extensive educational merits, primarily within their respective subject areas within the arts, but also from various educational courses and didactics. Part-time work as adult education teachers enabled many of them to combine being teachers with doing their own artistic projects. This double vocational positioning, as artist and teacher, is investigated and explored further in the report. The dual vocational position and commitment is perceived by the teachers as a means to maintaining their aesthetic competence and the stylistic skills and forms of expression required to teach at this level.The final part of the report focuses on the participants’ anticipated and actual trajectories after their time at the folk high schools. The anticipated educational routes are primarily portrayed through interviews about participants’ plans for the future. The actual trajectories are outlined through descriptive statistics on the former participants’ subsequent educational enrolments and establishment in the labour market. Given the extent to which they continue within higher education (59 percent of participants), it is not surprising that the time it takes for them to secure employment and to become fully established in the labour market is extensive. However, if their establishment status in the labour market is measured 5 to 10 years following the completion of their folk high school studies in the arts and humanities, their position in the labour market is similar to comparable groups in the population at large. Based on the main source of income ten years after examination, very few participants receive unemployment benefits or are living on social welfare.In summary, the report shows that the folk high school could be perceived as an important art college at the post-compulsory educational level. It is argued that these folk high schools are a crucial resource for accomplishing the goals outlined in Sweden’s national cultural policy. A large proportion of the teachers in these aesthetic profiles are themselves working as artists. As such, the folk high schools also help sustain a labour market for Swedish cultural workers. When enrolled at these folk high schools, the participants learn to both create and appreciate cultural work, enabling them to understand, value and contribute to artistic and cultural life. Accordingly, we propose that policies on adult education and culture ought to relate to each other in a clearer way, since these two policy areas are shown to overlap. Based on current policy goals, we suggest ways in which to shape a more inclusive recruitment structure to the aesthetic courses.
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7. |
- Fürst, Henrik, 1985-, et al.
(author)
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The Value of Art Education : Cultural Engagements at the Swedish Folk High Schools
- 2023
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Book (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This book shows the continuing importance of art education. Art education attracts students who see multiple meanings and justifications for the worth of that education. Their engagement in art education is not limited to the uncertain prospects for jobs or routes into employment in the arts. Fürst and Nylander approach art education through a rich array of empirical examples derived from Swedish folk high school programs in music, visual arts, and creative writing. Based on an analytical framework of pragmatic sociology, the book allows the reader to understand the competences and critical capacities held by students and teachers. The book challenges the dominant public perception of art education and broadens our understanding of what it is good for. The Value of Art Education is essential reading for those defending the status of this vital sector of education, offering a deeper understanding of why people engage, what they gain, and the social importance of the arts.
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8. |
- Fürst, Henrik, et al.
(author)
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The worth of art education : Students’ justifications of a contestable educational choice
- 2020
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In: Acta Sociologica. - : Sage Publications. - 0001-6993 .- 1502-3869. ; 63:4, s. 422-435
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- How is art education valued in society? In Swedish public discourse the value of educational trajectories is often equated with their usefulness for employability. With competitive winner-takes-all labour markets for artists, art education is largely perceived as a worthless credential and form of education. But what kinds of worth does art education have among students themselves? This article draws on the approach of pragmatic sociology and individual and group interviews with 62 Swedish folk high school participants within the arts, to understand the meanings participants assign to post-compulsory education within the aesthetic realm. The students’ accounts belong to three broad themes, where art education is described as: (a) being a ‘stepping stone’ to becoming an artist, (b) allowing them to have ‘unique’ experiences while being in a particular state of creativity or (c) offering them a chance to regain health and general well-being after a difficult period. These results are discussed in relation to the relative institutional autonomy the folk high school possesses in the Swedish education system, as well as the possibilities of challenging the hegemonic ideas of ‘learning for earning’ that largely reject non-instrumental regimes of self-discovery and artistic creativity.
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9. |
- Holmqvist, Diana, 1984-
(author)
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Adult Education at Auction : On Tendering-Based Procurement and Valuation in Swedish Municipal Adult Education
- 2022
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Our understanding of adult education’s purpose and value is linked to how we think ‘good’ education should be organised and provided. This thesis explores the interplay between organisation and values by looking at how conceptualisations and valuations of adult education are affected when private providers become involved in public education.For this purpose, the study draws on the example of Swedish municipal adult education (MAE). On the one hand, Swedish adult education is organised to compensate for structural inequalities and mitigate barriers to participation in education for citizens. On the other hand, private providers are allowed to make profits from their involvement in public education. Sweden’s combined commitment to universal welfare and the market make this a particularly interesting case to examine. Mainly contracted through tendering-based procurement, for-profit companies (and to a lesser extent non-public organisations) now service almost half of all MAE course participants. The thesis explores how municipalities construct the value and purpose of MAE when placing orders with private providers, and how teachers working in MAE reflect upon the purpose and value of MAE.Drawing on empirical data from both procurements and interviews, the study shows that municipalities use tendering-based procurement to shape the public-private partnership and promote different values. On a national level, this creates a heterogenous landscape of adult education provision and valuations. Furthermore, the study shows that there are tensions between MAE teachers’ professional self-conceptualisations and the realities put forth by policy or constructed in the procurement process. Analysing how teachers navigate these tensions, the study shows that teachers work to resist reformation, while they also become complicit in enforcing values promoted through policy and procurement.
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10. |
- Holmqvist, Diana, 1984-, et al.
(author)
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Auctioning out education : On exogenous privatisation through public procurement
- 2021
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In: European Educational Research Journal. - : SAGE Publications. - 1474-9041. ; 20:1, s. 102-117
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Privatisation of public education is becoming more and more common across the world. As much current research presupposes causal links between the degree of privatisation and issues of competition and student?s free choice, we see a need for research on other ways of organising the presence of private providers in public education. In this article, we study how two Swedish municipalities use public procurement to contract private providers and organise adult education. Interestingly, we find that competition is more heavily at play in the municipality that outsources half of its adult education, than in the municipality that outsources all adult education. We view these findings as vital for understanding how education is being outsourced to private providers and for furthering the discussion on the consequences of the ongoing privatisation of education.
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