Styrning för lärarautonomi i samverkan mellan akademi och skola

Denna artikel presenterar en studie om hur lärares autonomi möjliggörs och begränsas i två olika samverkansprojekt mellan forskare och lärare. Sådan samverkan sägs riskera att styra lärare snarare än att stärka dem. Den presenterade studien visar dock att autonomi kan utvecklas i styrd samverkan, men också undergrävas vid utebliven styrning. Att samverkansmodeller delvis också är styrningsmodeller behöver således inte vara ett problem. Ledarskap, ägarskap och ansvar krävs i samverkan för lärarautonomi. Forskare och skolledare bör ta ett gemensamt ansvar för att hörsamma lärare och i partnerskap utveckla den samverkanskompetens som behövs för balans mellan autonomi och styrning

Försök till transspråkande undervisning

Today many classrooms in Sweden are multilingual, characterized by a diversity of linguistic, cultural and epistemological resources available for teaching and learning. Handling this diversity puts certain demands on teachers in order to provide all students equal learning opportunities in a context where the language of instruction is Swedish. As a response to this, local school development projects based on multilingualism as a resource have been initiated. This study focuses on two such projects with the aim to deepen the knowledge about how translanguaging teaching practices can be developed. To make visible what characterizes as well as enable and constrain translanguaging teaching practices under development, the theory of practice architectures is used. Three different practices are identified The Multilingual, The Ambivalent multilingual and The Monolingual teaching practice. The practices are formed by differing cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements. Above all, cultural-discursive arrangements such as norms and ideas affect the differences between the three practices. Existing norms and ideas affect how material and economic resources, mostly identic in all three practices, are used. Furthermore, monolinguistic norms seem to form hierarchical relations. Thus, we argue to develop translanguaging practices multilingual norms are important to develop

Trepartssamtal med digitala observationsunderlag – en framgångsfaktor för lärarstudenters deltagande och resonemang

Syftet med studien var att generera kunskap om digitala trepartssamtal för utveckling av lärarstudenters praktiska yrkeskunnande. Vi har undersökt vad som kännetecknar lärarstudenters resonemang om sin undervisning i trepartssamtal. Studien genomfördes under studenters sista period av verksamhets-förlagd utbildning där ett nytt distanskoncept för trepartssamtal prövades. Analysen av 16 samtal, vilka baserades på digitala observationsunderlag, visar att merparten av deltagarna hade granskat och reflekterat över underlagen, att studenten fick stort talutrymme och att några av egen kraft förde utvecklade resonemang om sin undervisning. Tre teman kunde urskiljas: studenter motiverar sina didaktiska val, studenter ger olika handlingsalternativ och studenter identifierar konsekvenser för eleverna. Vi konstaterar att det finns ett samband mellan kvaliteten i studenters resonemang över sin undervisning, delade observationsunderlag samt utrymme i tid mellan observation och handledning. Det implicerar att de flesta observationsunderlag innehöll tillräcklig god kvalitet för att kunna resonera över undervisning som legitima deltagare

Theory of practice architectures to understand possibilities and constraints in principals’ improvement practices

Research Topic: This paper illustrates how we can use theory of practice architectures to understand what becomes meaningful for principals to do in school improvement. We often simplify principals’ possibilities to improve schools, which does not support principals’ improvement practices. Instead, we need to make the complexity in improvement practices visible. Theory and Aim: The study focus principals’ actions in improvement in relation to context. It takes its departure from ten principals’ improvement concerning conditions for enterprise education. The research questions are: 1) what do principals do in a school improvement work and how do their actions change over time, and 2) how do the context form their actions? Methodology: The analysis is based on the theory of practice architectures (Kemmis, et al, 2014). A practice is formed by sayings, doings and relatings that hang together in a project. A project is what a practice is aiming for. Furthermore, cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements shape and constrain the practice. So how a practice turns out is dependent on cultural-discursive, material-economical and socio-political arrangements. By analysing projects in principals’ improvement work, I show what principals are trying to uphold and what dilemmas they are trying to solve in their practice. By analysing the arrangements, I show why some projects overshadow other projects.The participants are a team of eleven upper secondary school principals at the same school. The research object was the arena where the principals met to discuss, reflect on and to create conditions for enterprise education. The empirical material, collected during one year, consisted of field notes from observations of joint principal meetings, transcripts from focus group conversations with the principals about their improvement practices, and of principals’ as well as mine written log notes. Findings: The results show six practices competed on the arena where the principals where supposed to work with the improvement work. Three of them enabled the intended improvement practices. The other three constrained the intended practice. In addition, over time they overshadowed the first three. Cultural-discursive arrangements like abstract ideas of what the principals´ were supposed to created conditions for as well as social-political arrangements like asymmetric relationships between the principals and expectations from the local school board on quick solutions enabled practices that constrained the planned change. What became meaningful for the principals engage in were not the planned improvement practice, but other already existing practices. Relevance to Nordic research: With the theory of practice architecture, it becomes obvious why school improvement from principals point of view is challenging. Analyses based on the theory contributes to the discussion about what kind of arrangements could support principals to motivate, initiate and lead school improvement. It also shows the importance of analyzing every unique context when planning improvement work to be able to understand what needs to be changed to strengthen principals’ improvement practices

Rektorers praktiker i möte med utvecklingsarbete. Möjligheter och hinder för planerad förändring

This thesis focuses on how principals’ practices in improvement work are formed and how these practices affect principals’ possibilities to work with planned change. The study takes its departure from ten Upper Secondary School principals’ improvement work concerning enterprise education. The study has an action research approach and was carried out between June 2009 and September 2010. The aim of the study is to generate knowledge about principals’ practices in improvement work and of action research as a strategy for principals in planned change in relation to these practices. The theoretical framework is based on practice theories (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008; Schatzki, 2002). According to these theories, a practice is formed in a project that shows what the practice is aiming for by practitioners’ sayings, doings and relatings. Furthermore, Kemmis and Grootenboer (2008) claim that practices are shaped by arrangements outside the practitioners; cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements. Findings show that what becomes meaningful for principals to engage in is not formed only by the aim of the planned improvement work, but also by already existing practices competing for space and by arrangements constraining principals’ possibilities to work with planned change. Many practices and projects were competing on the arena where the improvement work was planned to proceed. Some of the projects, ‘leading the improvement work’, ‘understanding what enterprise education is about’ and ‘making changes for enterprise education’ promoted the planned change. Others, projects like ‘organizing the daily work’, ‘avoiding dispute with teachers’ and ‘pretending to succeed’, constrained the planned change. Furthermore, cultural-discursive arrangements like abstract ideas of what the principals were supposed to create conditions for, as well as social-political arrangements like asymmetric relationships between the principals, and expectations from the local school board for quick solutions, enabled practices that constrained the planned change. Practices and arrangements like those in the study made it difficult for the principals to engage in action research as a strategy for change. Based on the results, principals’ possibilities to work with planned change are discussed in relation to the matter of context, dialogue as an improvement strategy, the aim for the improvement work and demands for quick solutions. The thesis contributes with knowledge about planned change and it contributes to the discussion about what kind of arrangements could support principals to initiate and lead school improvement. It also shows the importance of practice analyses in school improvement processes

Theory of practice architectures to understand possibilities and constraints in principals’ improvement practices

Research Topic: This paper illustrates how we can use theory of practice architectures to understand what becomes meaningful for principals to do in school improvement. We often simplify principals’ possibilities to improve schools, which does not support principals’ improvement practices. Instead, we need to make the complexity in improvement practices visible. Theory and Aim: The study focus principals’ actions in improvement in relation to context. It takes its departure from ten principals’ improvement concerning conditions for enterprise education. The research questions are: 1) what do principals do in a school improvement work and how do their actions change over time, and 2) how do the context form their actions? Methodology: The analysis is based on the theory of practice architectures (Kemmis, et al, 2014). A practice is formed by sayings, doings and relatings that hang together in a project. A project is what a practice is aiming for. Furthermore, cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements shape and constrain the practice. So how a practice turns out is dependent on cultural-discursive, material-economical and socio-political arrangements. By analysing projects in principals’ improvement work, I show what principals are trying to uphold and what dilemmas they are trying to solve in their practice. By analysing the arrangements, I show why some projects overshadow other projects.The participants are a team of eleven upper secondary school principals at the same school. The research object was the arena where the principals met to discuss, reflect on and to create conditions for enterprise education. The empirical material, collected during one year, consisted of field notes from observations of joint principal meetings, transcripts from focus group conversations with the principals about their improvement practices, and of principals’ as well as mine written log notes. Findings: The results show six practices competed on the arena where the principals where supposed to work with the improvement work. Three of them enabled the intended improvement practices. The other three constrained the intended practice. In addition, over time they overshadowed the first three. Cultural-discursive arrangements like abstract ideas of what the principals´ were supposed to created conditions for as well as social-political arrangements like asymmetric relationships between the principals and expectations from the local school board on quick solutions enabled practices that constrained the planned change. What became meaningful for the principals engage in were not the planned improvement practice, but other already existing practices. Relevance to Nordic research: With the theory of practice architecture, it becomes obvious why school improvement from principals point of view is challenging. Analyses based on the theory contributes to the discussion about what kind of arrangements could support principals to motivate, initiate and lead school improvement. It also shows the importance of analyzing every unique context when planning improvement work to be able to understand what needs to be changed to strengthen principals’ improvement practices