Norm Critical Projects in Swedish School Librarian Practices

In this article, we explore the practices of school librarians with a specific focus on norm critical pedagogy, a distinctively Scandinavian concept with a basis in critical pedagogies. In Sweden, norm critique is a practice, a pedagogy and a discourse. Our article offers examples of school librarian practices that deal with issues of sexuality and gender conceptualized in their work with LGBTQ+ literature from a norm critical perspective.  We analysed semi-structured interviews with eight librarians in four secondary and upper secondary schools through the lens of the theory of practice architectures (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008). Our findings demonstrate how the norm critical practices of school librarians are enabled and constrained by arrangements within the school site, as well as by management, colleagues and professional learning practices. The projects carried out by school librarians that employ norm critical perspectives are both strengthened and challenged by collaboration with principals and other education professionals at the school site. When teachers challenge the views of librarians, they the latter have to re-think and re-negotiate normative positions. Hence, norm critical thinking is not only taught but also practiced in the everyday work in school libraries.  This article argues that these norm critical perspectives and the librarians’ practices represent important contributions to the democratic assignment of Swedish schools

Vad gör en skicklig lärare? En studie om kollegial handledning som utvecklingspraktik

What ‘make(s)’ a good teacher? A study of peer group mentoring as a practice of professional development. Keywords: teachers’ continuing professional development, peer group mentoring, practice architectures, Foucault, power relations, democratic practices This thesis takes its departure from the on-going debate about teachers’ (collective) ‘continuing professional development’ (CPD). Teachers’ CPD through an imposed nine-step model of peer group mentoring (PGM) is focused on. The study draws on data from a two and a half yearlong interactive project that took place in a teacher team in a Swedish school. The general aim of the thesis is to study a practice of professional development in a teacher team involving peer group mentoring and to find out how and what kind of teachers’ expertise that is constructed. Furthermore, the aim is to examine how the PGM-practice was constrained and enabled and what kind of CPD was made possible. The theoretical and methodological framework is mainly based on practice theory. Practices and practitioners are seen as mutually inter-related. Practice architectures (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008) are used to uncover the relations between the PGM-practice and its historical, material-economic, social-political and cultural-discursive conditions. Furthermore, Foucault’s notion of power was adopted as an analytical tool to examine how power came into play during the mentoring sessions and how the teachers’ discursively con¬structed a ‘good teacher’ and teachers’ expertise. The metho¬do¬logical approach is action research. A main finding of the thesis is that professional and personnel develop¬ment may be imposed through peer group mentoring. Furthermore, democratic processes increased during the PGM-meetings and seemed to have an impact on classroom practice and the practice of parent-teacher meetings. The results show how the PGM–practice and its outcomes are deeply interconnected to global and local historical, material-economic, social-political and cultural-discursive arrangements which constrained and enabled it. When economic cut downs (i.e. material-economic arrangements) began to take effect in the local school, along with a neo-liberal discourse (i.e. cultural-discursive arrangements), democratic processes were challenged and threat¬ened. The focus in the PGM discussions shifted from the teachers’ per¬ceived need for pedagogical knowledge development to talk about students as costs. The constrained nine-step model disciplined some individuals more than others. The teachers disciplined each other through e.g. confessions, corrections and differentiations. In¬consistent discourses about good teaching and teachers’ know-how were constructed and the teachers posi¬tioned themselves and each other as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ teachers. The interactive research approach partly enabled the PGM-practice but at the same time effected the teachers’ posi¬tio¬ning of each other. The interactive research approach disciplined both the teachers and the researcher. Anyhow, power relations be¬came fluent and mutual among the participants. A collegial approach and the ability to carry out reflexive cooperation were both fostered by the model and articulated in the PGM-practice as im¬portant teacher skills

Inclusive Education – What’s the Problem? : Paper presentation del av symposium From Excluding to Including – Collaborative Research and Development Projects in Education for Marginalized Groups.

Ifous symposium: From Excluding to Including – Collaborative R&amp;D Projects on Education for Marginalized Groups</p

Bolognaprocessen : ett pedagogiskt utvecklingsarbete eller en administrativ implementering?

Under läsåret 2006-2007 har förändringarna i högskoleförordningen (SFS 2006:1053) och Bolognaprocessens inverkan på högre utbildning varit högaktuell på högskolor och universitet runt om i landet. Bakgrunden till förändringarna som trädde i kraft 070101 i högskoleförordningen finns i stor utsträckning i den så kallade Bolognaprocessen, en deklaration mellan 45 länder i Europa som främst syftar till att stärka Europa som en utbildningskontinent, öka anställningsbarhet och främja rörlighet för studenter och anställda. Till de operativa målen hör bland annat att dela in utbildningen i tre nivåer (grund-, avancerad och forskarnivå) och göra nya examensbeskrivningar. Dessutom har ett nytt poängsystem införts där 60 högskolepoäng motsvarar ett års studier, tidigare 1p motsvarar idag alltså 1,5 hp. Ett nytt 7-gradigt betygssystem införs vid flera lärosäten (ECTS) och diskuteras även inom HB. De studenter som i samband med kursstart begär att få betygssättas i detta system har rätt till det. Det som kan anses vara den största och kanske viktigaste förändringen är att man övergår från ett lärar- och kurscentrerat till ett studentcentrerat och målfokuserat synsätt i och med att studentens lärandemål (learning outcomes/förväntade studieresultat) ska uttryckas i alla kurs- och utbildningsplaner. Detta har inneburit att alla kurs- och utbildningsplaner har skrivits (eller ska skrivas) om. Det innebär också, för en del, ett nytt ”tänk”. Framförallt innebär det att lärare måste synliggöra sitt ”tänk” kring målen med kursinnehåll och undervisning, studentens lärande är i fokus

Academic leading - with a focus on student learning

This report provides a summary and analysis of activities and material generated in the seminar series ‘Academic leading – with a focus on student learning’ developed for staff in management positions at the University of Borås (UB), 2017. The aims of the report are (a) to draw attention to some areas of need and concern that arose during discussions in the seminars (reflected in participants’ written responses in seminar activities); and (b) to make recommendations for consideration of the University’s executive team related to identified concerns/areas of need. Seminar discussions highlighted that there are currently many practices (including leading practices) and arrangements within the University that enhance, or support enhancement of, the learning environment. However, discussions also highlighted some constraining university arrangements and challenges faced in fulfilling leading/managing responsibilities that have implications for the learning environment. These include a range of issues from staff workloads to staffing issues and staff relations.  Such issues, it is argued in this report, warrant further discussion/investigation and potentially changes to practices and arrangements in order to sustain and create an environment more conducive to student learning and leading with a focus on student learning.  As well as offering some recommendations in this regard, the report also presents an evaluation of the seminars.

Norm Critical Projects in Swedish School Librarian Practices

In this article, we explore the practices of school librarians with a specific focus on norm critical pedagogy, a distinctively Scandinavian concept with a basis in critical pedagogies. In Sweden, norm critique is a practice, a pedagogy and a discourse. Our article offers examples of school librarian practices that deal with issues of sexuality and gender conceptualized in their work with LGBTQ+ literature from a norm critical perspective. We analysed semi-structured interviews with eight librarians in four secondary and upper secondary schools through the lens of the theory of practice architectures (Kemmis &amp; Grootenboer, 2008). Our findings demonstrate how the norm critical practices of school librarians are enabled and constrained by arrangements within the school site, as well as by management, colleagues and professional learning practices. The projects carried out by school librarians that employ norm critical perspectives are both strengthened and challenged by collaboration with principals and other education professionals at the school site. When teachers challenge the views of librarians, the latter have to re-think and re-negotiate normative positions. Hence, norm critical thinking is not only taught but also practiced in the everyday work in school libraries. This article argues that these norm critical perspectives and the librarians’ practices represent important contributions to the democratic assignment of Swedish schools

Leading for learning in higher education - challenges and possibilities

Leading for learning in higher education – challenges and possibilities Lill Langelotz and Kathleen Mahon, University of Borås, Sweden Few people would deny that universities are becoming increasingly complex educational environments due to significant changes in the nature of academic work and to changing societal expectations. University leaders face challenges and opportunities amidst this complexity, especially regarding responsibilities associated with student learning. The capacity of leaders and managers to respond is arguably affected by the arrangements and practices embedded within their own universities. Understanding these challenges and opportunities, and how current arrangements and practices contribute to or limit them, is central for finding sustainable ways of meeting educational responsibilities and supporting leading for student learning. This paper explores one Swedish university’s effort to enhance academic leading, and to understand the salient site-based arrangements and practices affecting leading for learning. These goals underpinned a series of four seminars on ‘Academic leading – with a focus on student learning’ developed for all staff in management positions (including administration). The seminars were inquiry-focused, generating participant artefacts (e.g., diagrams, PowerPoint presentations) that were used to inform seminar discussions. This material was also analysed as part of an ongoing practitioner inquiry aimed at understanding and addressing site-based challenges for academic leading. Both the seminars and analysis were theoretically framed by the ‘theory of practice architectures’[1]. Initial results show a need for explicitly focussing on the learning environment in everyday activities, and for clear articulation of goals and visions on both institutional and departmental levels. They also point to the importance of opportunities (i.e., time) for staff to reflect in organised ways on their practice and engage in professional learning activities and strategic development, as well as the need for further interrogation of activities that take up time that could otherwise be spent on developing good pedagogical work (e.g., administrative tasks). From a social-political perspective, the results emphasise the need for building trusting, productive staff relations within and between departments, faculties, and administration teams. The paper raises the question, on the basis of the analysis, of how we can more effectively and sustainably support leading for learning given the challenges and complexities of academic environments, by creating new practice architectures and/or by reorienting existing ones that constrain leading and professional learning in unhelpful ways. [1] Kemmis, S., Wilkinson, J., Edwards-Groves, C., Hardy, I., Grootenboer, P., &amp; Bristol, L. (2014). Changing practices, changing education. Singapore: Springer

Utvärdering av barnmorskeutbildning på distans

Sedan 2004 har barnmorskeutbildningen vid Institutionen för vårdvetenskap, VHB, på Högskolan i Borås bedrivits i form av en modifierad distansutbildning. Med det avses att kurserna dels består av träffar/föreläsningar på campus, dels av kommunikation och information via en Internetbaserad lärplattform .Utbildningen kritiserades för bristande kvalitet i såväl innehåll som upplägg vid Högskoleverkets, (HSV) kvalitetsgranskning 2007. HSV menade bland annat i sin kritik att studenterna blir isolerade på grund av utbildningsformen. Även sambandet mellan utbildning och aktuell forskning samt examinations-formerna ifrågasattes. På grund av den allvarliga kritiken fann VHB ett behov av att evaluera utbildningen och Centrum för lärande och undervisning, CLU, fick i uppdrag att genomföra en utvärdering av studenternas uppfattningar. En enkätundersökning genomfördes därför under våren 2008. Syftet med utvärderingen var att söka ta reda på studenternas uppfattningar om barnmorskeutbildningens kvalitet och genomförande. De frågeställningar som legat till grund är:-Hur har studenterna upplevt barnmorskeutbildningen vad gällerflexibel form?-Hur bedömer de studenter som idag är verksamma inom respektive område att barnmorskeutbildningen motsvarade kraven som ställs i arbetslivet?Resultatet visar att studenternas attityd till barnmorskeutbildningen generellt är neutral eller positiv.Studenterna bedömer att de kunskaper de förvärvat genom utbildningen motsvarar arbetslivets krav väSammanfattningsvis visar resultatet att HSV:s kritik mot utbildningsformen inte finner stöd i studenternas uppfattningar