Changing teacher education in Sweden: Using meta-ethnographic analysis to understand and describe policymaking and educational changes

This article derives from policy ethnographic research on teacher-education change in Sweden concerning the development of a unified profession with a common professional-knowledge base. This was a social democratic government policy for teacher education from the 1950s up until 2007, when the newly elected right wing government turned away from unification and toward re-traditionalisation. Based on a meta-ethnographic analysis of the policy ethnographies the article illustrates resistance toward unification and raises critical questions concerning the intellectual foundations and integrity of reform processes. Attempts are also made to locate the disclosures in relation to international research

Education recoded: policy mobilities in the international 'learning to code' agenda

Education policy increasingly takes place across borders and sectors, involving a variety of both human and nonhuman actors. This comparative policy paper traces the 'policy mobilities,' 'fast policy' processes and distributed 'policy assemblages' that have led to the introduction of new computer programming practices into schools and curricula in England, Sweden and Australia. Across the three contexts, government advisors and ministers, venture capital firms, think tanks and philanthropic foundations, non-profit organizations and commercial companies alike have promoted computer programming in schools according to a variety of purposes, aspirations, and commitments. This paper maps and traces the evolution of the organizational networks in each country in order to provide a comparative analysis of computing in schools as an exemplar of accelerated, transnationalizing policy mobility. The analysis demonstrates how computing in schools policy has been assembled through considerable effort to create alignments between diverse actors, the production and circulation of material objects, significant cross-border movement of ideas, people and devices, and the creation of strategic partnerships between government centres and commercial vendors. Computing in schools exemplifies how modern education policy and governance is accomplished through sprawling assemblages of actors, events, materials, money and technologies that move across social, governmental and geographical boundaries

Networked together: designing participatory research in on-line ethnography

Abstract. This book contains the conference proceedings of the third edition of Rethinking Educational Ethnography: Researching on-line communities and interactions Conference hold in Napoli from 6th to 7th of June 2013. In 2013, the third edition of the Conference has invited ethnographers in different fields of research (not only in education), and those involved in ethnographic investigations in diverse disciplines (anthropology, sociology, etc.) to present and discuss contributions on the challenges of participatory research design in digital ethnography

Reproducing Traditional Discourses of Teaching and Learning Mathematics: Studies of Mathematics and ICT in Teaching and Teacher Education

This thesis is primarily concerned with the effects of education for future teachers in the context of the Swedish teacher training (Government Bill 1999/2000:135 2000). It belongs to a theoretical tradition in which the education system is viewed as a key factor in cultural production and reproduction in educational practices through symbolic control (Apple 2009; Ball 2006; Bernstein 2000, 2003). Symbolic control defines how forms of social interaction affect what is possible to think, say and do in different situations. The thesis is focused specifically on student mathematics teachers learning to become teachers of mathematics. It has a particular focus on the materials used in this, the meanings given to these materials and the identities produced through the possible embodiment of these meanings. The use of different educational technologies, including in particular ICT, has been of special interest. It aims therefore to understand both how mathematical discourses are produced and reproduced in teacher education and how this colours student teachers’ views on mathematics and their professional identity (Bernstein 2000, 2003; Valero 2007). The main outcomes of my thesis are that through the way that mathematics is taught and learned, mathematics teacher education in practice reproduces traditional ways of teaching and learning. This in that mathematics instruction is built around a ritualized practice based on the ability to solve exercises related to an examined-textbook-based content. ICT use in this context is not transformative. Rather it seems as if teaching and learning with digital technology operate as a relay in the reproduction of traditional forms of education practice. This is contrary to the intentions to renew and revitalise mathematics education and the thesis thus suggests that there is a need to scrutinize the way new technology is formulated in official discourses and appropriated in educational work. Two other things are also noteworthy in the thesis findings. The first is an increased emphasis on formal subject content through recent policy developments. This re-emphasis reaffirms the value of authoritative subject studies content as the central and most important component in the professional knowledge base. On the basis of the finding from the thesis the logic of the reform may be questioned. Also important is the ICT discourse that is constituted in wider society by selected agents. In this discourse digital technology often in many ways defines (post)modern society and the position it and education have as a driving force toward economic competitiveness. An alternative, more reflexive and critical approach where questions about technology uses in education are emphasized is suggested as necessary

How do different modalities of pedagogical practices within teacher education shape student teachers? An empirical study of secondary mathematics teacher education

This paper aims to show how ethnography is used to explore the pedagogical practice in teacher education, how it is structured, transmitted and acquired. It has two foci, which gives the paper a dual purpose: to identify and describe (even theoretically) a key substantive issue and to reflect on the use of ethnography in this. The empirical material is drawn from an ethnographic study where a group of students were followed 20 weeks during a mathematic course. The material discussed here, represents 20 hours of participants observations from lectures in mathematics, and 8 conversional interviews with students. The paper uses Bernstein’s concepts of code and the modalities of pedagogic transmission and acquisition, and his typology of vertical and horizontal discourse, to show how a strong classified and framed practice block student teachers from developing vertical knowledge structure in mathematics. The mathematic knowledge that students are subjected to takes more the form of a horizontal discourse and that is problematic for their professional development in that a horizontal discourses reduce student access to important forms of knowledge by which they can challenge tradition and consciously change their practice (Bernstein, 2000, 2003)

The contemporary faith in educational technology – a critical perspective

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the discussion about the contradictions between the optimistic faith in improving education through the implementation of technology and the actual realities of educational use of technology. This is done through a summary and overview of the results of three different studies in the field of educational technology that started in 2005 and that is still on going. The aim of these studies has been to contribute to development of a critical perspective on educational technology and thereby contribute to knowledge development about education of today

How do different modalities of pedagogical practices within teacher education shape student teachers? An empirical study of secondary mathematics teacher education

This paper aims to show how ethnography is used to explore the pedagogical practice in teacher education, how it is structured, transmitted and acquired. It has two foci, which gives the paper a dual purpose: to identify and describe (even theoretically) a key substantive issue and to reflect on the use of ethnography in this. The empirical material is drawn from an ethnographic study where a group of students were followed 20 weeks during a mathematic course. The material discussed here, represents 20 hours of participants observations from lectures in mathematics, and 8 conversional interviews with students. The paper uses Bernstein’s concepts of code and the modalities of pedagogic transmission and acquisition, and his typology of vertical and horizontal discourse, to show how a strong classified and framed practice block student teachers from developing vertical knowledge structure in mathematics. The mathematic knowledge that students are subjected to takes more the form of a horizontal discourse and that is problematic for their professional development in that a horizontal discourses reduce student access to important forms of knowledge by which they can challenge tradition and consciously change their practice (Bernstein, 2000, 2003)

ICT enabled innovation in technology rich schools?

This article takes its point of departure from the main findings from research into four upper secondary schools that have implemented digital technology through one-to-one laptop initiatives. Various data sources have been used in order to identify and understand how teaching and learning are organised and the reasons why and how digital technologies are used in educational settings. This is a response to a demand for more knowledge regarding the ways in which desirable changes of education can be realised and the potential role of educational technology this process. The conclusion drawn is that fundamental transformations in education are less concerned with technology and have more to do with changing structures and discourses regarding teaching, learning and education

One Laptop on Each Desk : Teaching Methods in Technology Rich Classrooms.

This article takes its point of departure from the main findings from research in four upper secondary schools in a 1:1 initiative (one laptop per student) and reports on a deeper analysis of four classrooms that are part of the empirical study. This study aims to investigate how teaching and learning in technology-rich classrooms are structured and thus contribute to the development of knowledge about the impact of technology on the structuring of teaching and learning in educational practices.Bernstein’s theoretical concept of the pedagogic discourse is used to make visible how the main incentive for teaching methods is the evaluation system that recontextualises traditional discourses about teaching and learning. The conclusion is that fundamental transformations of education is less about technology and more about the changing of the structures and discourses concerningteaching, learning and education