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Möten som formar : interaktionsmönster på förskola mellan pedagoger o...
Månsson, Annika : Institutionen för pedagogik, Lärarhögskolan, Malmö Studia psychologica et paedagogica. Series altera;147 (2000) Med sammanfattning på engelska.	DOCTORAL THESIS

Det är ju ett annat jobb : Förskollärare, grundskollärare och lärarst...
Persson, Sven; Tallberg Broman, Ingegerd Journal article in Pedagogisk forskning i Sverige;4 Årg 7 : Institutionen för pedagogik och didaktik, Göteborgs universitet (2002)	ARTICLE

English abstract:

In this article the task of the teaching profession in relation to the role of the family, both at present and in historical terms, is discussed. Considerable changes in the tasks teachers are given have occurred within recent years. Schools have been given increasing responsibility not only for education but also for the upbringing of children. This has confronted teachers with a variety of new tasks and problems. Giving teachers much of the responsibility that parents traditionally had for the bringing up of children can be viewed against the background of a critical attitude which the pluralistic society of today has shown toward the role of parents and of the family. In the social and educational professions as these have developed, criticisms of parents and of their manner of bringing up their children have been voiced repeatedly (Donzelot 1997, Johansson 1993). This has been accompanied by an increasing professionalism in the care of children. Criticisms of the parental role have paved the way for an increase in the tasks the schools are given. Schools are expected to create a holistic context and a sense of citizenship based on the values generally accepted in society. This is seen as calling for more comprehensive work on the part of teachers. As a result, teachers are faced with difficult and complex problems today. The postmodern pluralism of childhood, with the many different forms it can take, calls into question the demands for homogeneity, stability and normality that institutionalised ideologies make. This confrontation between schools as they presently exist and postmodern conceptions of childhood leads to a questioning of the goal of creating normality (Hargreaves 1994). The basic aim of the project in which we are engaged is to analyze how the responsibility for reproducing the goals and content of society is divided up at present, and has been divided up earlier, between the home and the school. The results of two investigations are presented: - In the one study, elementary school and preschool teachers from schools in two areas of differing socioeconomic level described in open-ended interviews their thoughts regarding their professional task, as well as children generally, childhood and the role of parents. That study had a clear perspective of change. Those interviewed have also been asked to report their views on the changes that had occurred in the teaching task and in the content of their profession. - The other investigation was a questionnaire study of teacher-training students in either their first or their final semester of training. The questions involved were based on statements the teachers who had taken part in the interview investigation had made. The statements made in the interview by the teachers from schools in the two areas of differing socioeconomic level, regarding their tasks being much broader than they had been earlier, were very much alike. It thus seems to be factors other than those of the character of the area involved that affect how changes in the role of teachers are experienced. It appeared that the flexibility of the women teachers was taken advantage of. The new expectations placed on teachers were seen to involve a redefinition of the teaching profession that those interviewed were unwilling to accept. As they expressed it the content of their work was being transformed from working with children to working increasingly with groups of adults and they explained of there being no adequate rationale for the changes that had occurred. They considered that the demands placed on them failed to correspond to certain deeply rooted conceptions of their profession, representing a clear threat to their professional identity, creating a sense of insecurity in their day-by-day work. They also regarded it as being a change for the worse in their professional status through its degrading their position from their being educators to their providing children help and support on an individual basis (Johansson & Pramling 2000). Those teaching at both the preschool and the primary school level provided a negative account of childhood and parenting today, describing children as being less empathetic and less concentrated today than earlier. The preschool teachers in particular felt that children had difficulties in playing with each other, whilst the elementary school teachers emphasised marked difficulties children had in following norms. The preschool and the elementary school teachers from the ecnomically less privileged area agreed closely with each other in describing children as being unconcentrated, being inept in their use of language, showing a lack of empathy and having difficulties in playing with each other. Although the elementary school and preschool teachers from schools in the economically prosperous area likewise considered childhood to be particularly problematical today, their major criticisms differed from the views just reported. They described children as having an overly scheduled and planned existence, one that differed from what they considered to be a happy childhood situation. They considered children to have too structured an existence and to be overly exposed to stress. The teachers as a whole felt that the conditions with which parents are faced today have changed. Parents do not have the same possibilities for bringing up their children as earlier and have partly given up the responsibilities in this respect that they once took. This result was independent of the socioeconomic status of the parents. At the same time, two differing conceptions of the problems with which parents are faced were evident. Parents from the more well-to-do area were considered to be subjected to a high degree of stress, to have very strong demands placed on them, and to work so much that they were unable to spend sufficient time with their children. Parents from the more economically depressed area were considered to likewise neglect their children, although in a different way - many of them having social problems and letting their children fend for themselves to a large extent. It was felt that the conditions for the upbringing of children in the home had declined. Teachers felt they were increasingly involved in the children's and the families' private lives and that their responsibilities toward children had increased. There appeared to be no comparable increase in the involvement of parents in matters of the preschool and elementary school education of their children. In summary, one can say that the preschool teachers and primary school teachers from schools in both socioeconomic areas were engaged in compensatory efforts to reconstruct for their pupils more of what they regarded as being ideal childhood conditions, involving children being provided with a calm and relaxed environment, having more free time, having more outdoor activities, developing a greater degree of fantasy and greater empathy, being better able to play with each other, being more active physically and having greater respect both for adults and for other children. What was regarded as the most important task of the elementary school and the preschool was to provide children with a sense of self-confidence, joy and a desire to learn. The teacher's task was seen as being a difficult one if this was combined, in these times of reductions in educational resources, with the need of conducting psychologically problematical discussions both with children and with their parents. Regarding the questionnaire results, a particular concern of the teacher trainees for the problems of both children and their parents and their belief that giving children a sense of security was the foremost function of the pre-school and the elementary school alike could be noted. Among those preparing to be preschool teachers, those in their last semester of training showed a more critical attitude towards children and their parents than those in their first semester of training. No such differences were noted, however, among those preparing to be elementary school teachers, although there were differences between the first and last semester groups in the problems they emphasized and in their conceptions regarding the teaching profession and the school as an institution. We plan to relate the various patterns we discovered to questions of the content of teacher training. How do those involved in teacher training view the broadened tasks that teachers are faced by today? How is the extended responsibility for children on the part of teachers dealt with in teacher training? Are the relations of teachers to the families of the children discussed in a critical way? What position is taken toward the rights of parents to influence the schools? Teacher training has been criticized for its failure to emphasize either the importance of caring for the emotional needs of the individual child or the important role that many socioemotional relations teachers develop play (Gannerud 1999). It is often felt that during teacher training too little attention is directed at these highly important aspects of teacher work. Regardless of the socioeconomic context in which their teaching took place, the teachers who were interviewed told of the teaching profession having changed in the direction of greater emphasis being placed on social dimensions and of the teacher's task being broadened. Despite this increase in the teachers' social responsibilities, both in preschools and elementary schools, this matter appeared not to have been dealt with either in their socialization to the role of being a teacher or in their teacher training. They described a conflict between professional ideologies they had come to accept, both during their teacher training and on the basis of traditions propagated generally in their profession, and the demands and expectations placed on them by the changed tasks they were confronted by, one which led to a sense of uncertainty in their professional identity. The conceptions they had of what a happy childhood involves collided with how they experienced the childhood of those children with whom they had contact in their teaching. The statements of the teachers in our interviews concern a teaching profession caught up in change. The professional identity of teachers is being challenged. It is also difficult for teachers to set limits to the tasks with which they are faced. Many of the statements the teachers made can be considered to represent strategies for defining their profession, directing criticism at the family being one way of dealing with the challenges involved and of defining their task. Strong protests against being confronted with tasks of a more social character, involving the need of giving the individual children particular support and understanding, can be noted. Criticism of this sort was particularly strong on the part of the elementary school teachers, who considered the changes involved to constitute a lowering of their professional status. A sense of security was a central concept we noted in the material, a concept clearly integrated into the institutional and professional ideology of both the preschool and the elementary school teachers, who obviously considered that providing children with it was a major goal of their work. The tendency to think in these terms could be examined in relation to gender, to class or to ethnicity. Both those involved in teaching and those preparing for it are predominately women, who are given a social, collective and normative task. Providing a sense of security can be regarded as an antidote to a sense of disorder and to the development of an increasingly pluralistic society caught up in a process of rapid change. Endeavoring to achieve a sense of security can also be viewed as a typical Swedish or Nordic cultural trait, one that is strongly emphasized by both teachers and parents (Gullestad 1997, Iwarsson Jansson 2001, Kvalbein 1998, Nikolova 2001). One can note, finally, that discussions of problems in a personal and thoroughgoing way with both children and their parents, as well as considering the most important goal of education to be that of providing children a sense of security through use of educational methods that are very much individually oriented, represent a sociopedagogical approach that is partly new. It is one that requires a considerable degree of rethinking on the part of many educators.

Understanding what it means to be a Montessori teacher : teachers ref...
Malm, Birgitte : School of Education, Malmö University Malmö Studies in Educational Sciences;5 Avhandlingar från Lärarutbildningen vid Malmö högskola;5 (2003)	DOCTORAL THESIS

English abstract:	The overall aim of this study has been to come to a better understanding of what it means to be a Montessori teacher, by getting a group of Montessori teachers to reflect on their lives and work. Data exploration has comprised journals, interviews, written reflections and collaborative con-textual analysis. Analysis of the teachers? occupational life histories and the findings as a whole have been used to shed light on: ?Values and specific aspects of the philosophy of Montessori edu-cation that primarily attract teachers to this profession. ?Ways in which teachers? conceptions of their professional roles reflect their own personal values, beliefs and convictions. ?Teachers? views regarding the role of Montessori education to-day and in the future. Eight female Montessori primary school teachers participated in the study. Findings reveal that the strengths of the Montessori method lie in its focus on philosophical awareness, the holistic approach and a genuine ethic of care. Montessori?s fundamental educational principles are also in alignment with the current Curriculum for Compulsory Schools (Lpo 94). On the other hand, difficulties are experienced due to conflicting tradi-tional/contemporary interpretations of Montessori theory and practice and a general lack of collaboration among Montessori teachers. Open discussion and a sharing of ideas and experiences would help Montessori teachers come to terms with how to apply fundamental principles in new ways without the fear of losing an educational ?identity?. The Montessori teachers in this study reflect this attitude. Tendencies toward continu-ity/meaningful change in education depend to a great extent on the ways in which teachers are able to critically reflect about how they think and what they do. Taking seriously what teachers have to say is in fact essen-tial in order to understand the forces that, among other things, govern and sway teachers? inner as well as outer motivations, something of relevance and concern to all involved in teaching and educational processes.
Swedish abstract:	Det övergripande syftet med föreliggande studie är att utveckla en bättre förståelse om vad det innebär att vara montessorilärare. Utgångspunkten är lärarnas egna liv och verksamhetsberättelser. Insamling av data har skett genom loggböcker, intervjuer, skriftliga reflektioner och diskussioner. Analys av lärarnas livsberättelser i samband med övriga data har granskats för att belysa grundläggande värderingar, lärarrollen och fram-tida perspektiv. Åtta kvinnliga montessorilärare deltog i studien. Det visar sig att Montessorimetodens styrka ligger i en välutvecklad filosofisk medveten-het, ett holistiskt perspektiv och en genuin känsla av omsorg. Montesso-ris grundläggande principer stämmer väl överens med den nu gällande läroplanen (Lpo 94). Svårigheter är motstridiga tolkningar av montessoris teori och praktik och en allmän brist på samarbete mellan lärare. En mer öppen diskussion och ett delgivande av idéer och erfarenheter bland montessorilärare borde leda till att grundläggande principer kan applice-ras på nya och innovativa sätt, utan att montessoris ?identitet? går förlo-rad. Detta synsätt delas av montessorilärarna i denna studie. Tendenser mot att hålla fast vid det gamla eller att bidra till menings-full förändring beror till stor del på lärarnas förmågor att kritiskt granska den egna verksamheten. Genom att ta lärares röster på allvar kan en dju-pare förståelse uppnås för krafter, som styr lärarnas motiv och handling-ar. Det metodologiska angreppssättet är av relevans för alla som är in-tresserad av lärande och utbildning.

Den svenska skolan och det mångkulturella - en paradox?
Ljungberg, Caroline : IMER, Malmö högskola / Tema Etnicitet, Linköpings universitet Malmö Studies in International Migration and Ethnic Relations;nr 4 Linköping Studies in Art and Science;nr 359 (2005) För att köpa publikationen kontakta Jan Nilsson, e-post: jan.nilsson@mah.se tfn: 040-6657294	DOCTORAL THESIS

English abstract:

The preoccupation of the study revolves around relations between everyday life in Swedish schools and the multicultural context of Swedish society. Based on fieldwork, media debates, analysis of policy documents, discussions with teachers as well as teacher’s educators, and interviews with principals working in the elementary schools of Malmö, the dissertation explores three analytical arenas; schools as (re)producers of values and norms, the multicultural school and finally the locations of schools in time and space. The aim of the discussion concerning relations between the functions of education in modern societies, and migration related issues and aspects of multiculturalism, is to highlight paradoxes in the role of schools. The policy documents specify certain goals of education, which are paradoxically caught between the ideals of a traditional understanding of modernity and consequences of migration and globalisation. Schools and education in general, have a pivotal role in Swedish society, not merely as mediators of knowledge, but also as (re)producers of systems of values and norms. These values and norms constitute what is acceptable in society. The scope for ’otherness’ is restricted, but also negotiable and changeable. Values and norms in the context of schools are often considered to be self-evident and are therefore not up for discussions or debates in everyday work of teachers and principals. Some of these values are so well integrated in a ’common sense’, that they become invisible and unconscious. The ambition of the dissertation is to make them visible – to formulate and analyse them – to make a further discussion possible. The study concludes that the concept of critical multiculturalism could be useable for highlighting ideological aspects and paradoxes of the school in Sweden today. The role of education should be discussed in the light of relations between individuals and groups in society, and with self-understanding as well as, self-criticism as key aspects.

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Självmord i teorin : en analys av olika forskares tolkning av självmord
Axelsson, Thom; Brusman, Mats : Linköpings univ. Enheten för historia Socialhistoria i Linköping;11 (2000)	BOOK

Teachers' lives and work in a cultural and historical context. Reflec...
Malm, Birgitte (2002) Paper presented at the World Education Fellowship 41st International Conference, Sun City, South Africa, 22-27 April 2001.	conference PAPER

Som man frågar får man svar: Att formulera en fråga
Axelsson, Thom Book chapter in Från målbeskrivning till kunskapskontroll : Linköpings universitet CUL-rapporter 8; (2003)	BOOK CHAPTER

Individual developmental and educational plans for young children
Vallberg Roth, Ann-Christine; de Jong, Marjanna; Månsson, Annika (2003) NFPF konferens - nordisk förening vid pedagogisk forskning; 6-9/3 2003 in Copenhagen	conference PAPER