Educational policy to improve mathematics instruction at scale: conceptualizing contextual factors

Theories for conceptualizing educational policies aimed at improving classroom instruction at scale are under development in the educational sciences. In using such theories, it is essential to note the specific educational context. In this article, we conceptualize the role of contextual factors when operationalizing Cobb and Jackson (2012) [Journal of the Learning Sciences] in the Swedish context. Drawing on data and results from a large-scale project carried out during 2012–2017 and studies of Swedish educational contexts, we conceptualize contextual factors for large-scale projects. Besides rather obvious explicit contextual factors such as ongoing policies and practices, we elaborate on how the underlying, more implicit contextual factors of (1) the positioning of teachers within the educational system, (2) the positioning of teachers within the classroom, and (3) traditions of visible and invisible pedagogy affected the establishment of policy in the Swedish context. Insight into these factors deepens earlier frameworks of context, and helps not only to operationalize the policy within the context but also to make explicit hidden features of a cultural context that are important to influence if the aim of the educational policy is to reorganize school practices.publishedVersio

Learning to talk chemistry: 14-15-year-old students' experiences of group discussions

This study is based on an action research project, aiming at developing teaching methods in chemistry towards dialogic teaching. We investigate the use and impact of small group discussions and explore the students’ experiences of the group discussions concerning participation, learning, understanding, and interest in chemistry. Data was collected in an 8thgrade class of 17 students in 2018-2019 in Finland. Most of the students experienced that the group discussions helped them improve their understanding of chemistry. The students emphasized the importance of everybody participating and concentrating on the given task for the discussion to feel meaningful.  Some students reported that their interest in the subject also grew when their understanding of chemistry increased.

Investigating Finnish teacher guides as a resource for mathematics teaching

The most commonly used Finnish mathematics teacher guides (Grades 1-6) are investigated so as to determine what kind of resource they constitute for teachers in planning and enacting mathematics teaching and what kind of mathematics classroom they promote. The structure and the main contents of the guides were found to be quite homogeneous. The nature of communication was mostly descriptive, but the separate activities suggested for each lesson were quite explicitly described. Suggested activities, such as mental calculation tasks and homework assignment, were typically motivated by non-specific rationales, and many activities seemed to be taken for granted in the Finnish mathematics classroom culture. The results add both to knowledge about how to analyse teacher guides and to knowledge about Finnish educational features.Peer reviewe

A cross-cultural study of teachers’ relation to curriculum materials

A number of studies show the complex relation between a teacher and curriculum materials influencing teachers’ actions in a mathematics classroom. This study investigates teachers’ relation to mathematics curriculum materials in three different cultural-educational contexts, namely in Sweden and in Finnish- and Swedish-speaking parts of Finland. The results are based on a survey among teachers (N = 603) who work in compulsory schools in these three contexts. The results support the previous findings, which show that curriculum materials are experienced by teachers as a guarantee of good quality in mathematics education, but, at the same time, as a burden. Some notable differences were found between teachers with various experiences in different contexts. The findings are discussed in terms of pedagogical design capacity and the specific character of the three contexts.Peer reviewe

Finnish primary teachers' interaction with curriculum materials - digitalisation as an augmenting element

Peer reviewe

Challenging traditional classroom practices : Swedish teachers’ interplay with Finnish curriculum materials

In the current paper, we present an analysis of a case study in which we have followed Swedish primary teachers who voluntarily began using translated Finnish curriculum materials, i.e. a textbook and teacher guide, in order to reform their mathematics teaching. The multifaceted data, consisting of questionnaires, interviews, protocols from collegial meetings and classroom observations, were gathered during the period 2010-2014. The analysis of the interplay within this cross-cultural setting reveals the special characteristics and the challenges existing in practice. Both the experienced and inexperienced teachers offloaded a great deal of their agency to the materials in order to become familiar with the ideas they mediated. Yet, the lack of a clear rationale behind the organization of the materials, as well as the suggested activities connected to taken-for-granted features of the Finnish teaching tradition, made fruitful interaction problematic. The changes teachers made in their classroom practice were tightly connected to the support offered in the materials, without which the teachers abandoned their new classroom patterns. Based on the results of this study, we suggest a number of general aspects that we regard as important to consider when implementing curriculum materials developed within another cultural-educational context.Peer reviewe

Analysing the nature of potentially constructed mathematics classrooms in Finnish teacher guides – the case of Finland

Given that curriculum materials serve as cultural artefacts, this study addresses the need for more research on curriculum materials in different contexts. Most studies concerning curriculum materials have been conducted in US and, therefore little is known about the nature of materials in other cultural-educational contexts. The aim of this paper is to identify the underlying cultural norms of potentially constructed classrooms, by analysing recurrent activities in the most commonly used Finnish teacher guides at primary-school level. We identified three norms embedded in them: (1) creating opportunities for learning through a variety of activities and communication; (2) keeping the class gathered around a specific mathematical topic; and (3) concurrent active involvement of teachers and students. The results add to knowledge about both teacher guides and the Finnish educational context. Moreover, it adds to the growing body of methodologies, as our analytical approach is novel in the context of textual analysis.publishedVersio

Examining Elementary Teachers’ Use of Digital Instructional Resources : A Cross-Cultural Study

Peer reviewe

A cross-cultural study of curriculum systems : mathematics curriculum reform in the U.S., Finland, Sweden, and Flanders

This paper relates to the mathematics curriculum systems of the United States, Finland, Sweden, and Flanders (Belgium). These four regions are in the midst of curriculum reform, which provides interesting grounds for cross-cultural comparison. Our analysis builds on a framework that focuseson curriculum policy, design and enactment in each of these regions and draws on interview data with teachers in all four regions, sample cases of curriculum use, context descriptions, and available descriptions of mathematics education in these four regions. This leads to a more nuanced understanding of the particular curriculum systems through which reform manifests, and sheds light on a challenging balance concerning a curriculum reform that is both coherent across a region and supported by teachers.Peer reviewe

A Cross-Cultural Study on Teachers’ Use of Print and Digital Resources in Sweden, Finland, the USA, and Flanders : Some Methodological Challenges

Cross-cultural studies have inherent challenges as researchers from different cultural backgrounds attempt to make sense of similar-seeming material in unfamiliar contexts and communicate seemingly-obvious aspects of their own culture to outsiders (Clarke, 2013; Osborn, 2004). This contribution explores some of the methodological challenges in a cross-cultural study on teachers’ use of print and digital resources in four regions: Sweden, Finland, the USA, and Flanders (Belgium). All but one of the seven team members are insiders to one of the four contexts and to different extents outsiders to the other contexts. In order to benefit from insider-outsider perspectives, we designed five tools to develop alignment of insider and outsider lenses. We describe these tools in this contribution.Peer reviewe