30 barn varje år : om skolans ansvar för barns rätt till (ett värdigt) liv

In Sweden suicide is, alongside traffic accidents, the most common cause of death amongst children. Every year approximately 30 children take their lives, and 2011 nearly 800 children was hospitalized after deliberately having harmed themselves. School is a place where children are forced to spend approximately 30 hours per week during at least nine years. Because of this school is where the state has the biggest opportunity to influence and affect children’s mental health. I therefor in this study explore the extent of the school’s legal and moral responsibility for the pupils’ mental health. Martha Nussbaum’s capability theory constitutes my theoretical approach, but because it doesn’t fully include mental health a part of this study constitutes of a conceptual analysis of mental health to find a definition which is compatible with Nussbaum’s theory. Therefore Per-Anders Tengland’s theory of mental health is a part of my theoretical foundation. I fill the hole in Nussbaum’s theory by adding Tengland’s definition of acceptable mental health to her central capability “health”. In view of this the aim of this study is to shed light on the big number of children who lacks mental health and whose right to life ultimately may be in danger. I conclude that the Swedish state does a god job providing children with the capability of mental health but a lousy one in terms of children’s functioning. I also conclude that for children the goal should be functioning rather than capability

Being close to a cow

The purpose of this thesis is to explore learning in farming environments from a perspective of bodily experience. The aim is to create understanding about the role of bodily experience in learning the craft of farming. I want to shed light on what kind of understandings that being mentally and physically close to animals, things and people involved in farming environments can generate. The study is based on participant observation among eleven high school students in their second year at an Agricultural program in Rättvik, Sweden. The students’ statements, stories and daily practices, combined with my own experiences of being there, both as a visitor and as a participant, form the basis of the result. It shows how shared bodily experience can generate a sense of belonging and togetherness. It shows how bodily experience in farming environments, which are related to what you have chosen to learn, creates feelings of doing something that matters and is meaningful. The teachers and students I met turn their school into a place where practice and bodily experience is allowed to play a vital part in processes of learning. This thesis also illuminate how closeness to animals, people and things involved in learning processes in farming environments can enhance feelings of care, responsibility and understandings of what it is like to be with the world.Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att utforska lärande i lantbruksmiljöer från ett perspektiv av kroppsliga upplevelser. Målet är att skapa förståelse kring betydelsen av kroppsliga upplevelser i lärandeprocesser relaterade till lantbruk. Jag vill belysa vilka typer av förståelser som mental och fysisk närhet till djur, ting och personer involverade i lantbruksmiljöer kan leda till. Studien bygger på deltagande observation bland elva gymnasieelever i årskurs två på ett naturbruksprogram i Rättvik, Sverige. Elevernas uttalanden, berättelser och dagliga praktiker tillsammans med mina egna upplevelser av att vara bland dem, både som besökare och deltagare, utgör studiens resultat. Det visar hur delade kroppsliga upplevelser kan ge upphov till känslor av tillhörighet och gemenskap. Det visar hur kroppsliga upplevelser i lantbruksmiljöer och situationer, som är relaterade till du valt att lära, skapar känslor av att göra något som har betydelse och är meningsfullt. Beskrivningar av detta blir ett sätt att lyfta fram hur de lärare och elever jag mötte gör sin skola till en plats där praktik och kroppsliga upplevelser tillåts spela en viktig roll i processer av lärande. Det visar också hur närhet till djur, personer och ting i lärandeprocesser i lantbruksmiljöer kan stärka känslor av omtanke, ansvar och skapa förståelse för vad det innebär att vara med världen

Ett gott liv

Vi har alla uppfattningar om hur och var ett gott liv kan levas. Att själv kunna välja var man vill bo kan ses som en grundläggande rättighet och ett kriterium för livskvalitet. Idag uttrycker man från politiskt håll att tillgänglighet till samma typ av serviceutbud över hela landet ska leda till ökad jämlikhet och välfärd; förutsättningar för en god och fungerande tillvaro åt alla. Många lever dock på gles- och landsbygder med långa avstånd till såväl offentliga som kommersiella servicefunktioner. Det här kandidatarbetet bygger på samtal om hur det är att leva på landsbygden i Gällivare kommun. Syftet är att ge en bild av hur vardagen kan se ut i kommunens landsbygdsområden. Undersökningen fokuserar på hur invånares handlingsutrymme påverkas av strukturella faktorer som avstånd och kommunikation samtidigt som man förhåller sig aktivt inom de ramar som finns för att möta utmaningar. Jag undersöker också hur människors berättelser om livet i bygden kan spegla hur en meningsfull tillvaro skapas

Activity-promoting outdoor spaces : an evaluation of the municipality of Malmö regarding their work on promoting physical activity in the vision and planning stage

Ett enkelt sätt att röra på sig är att vara utomhus och därför är utemiljöer som bjuder in till fysisk aktivitet, till exempel ett finmaskigt cykelnät, så viktiga. Kommunerna ansvarar för att de här ytorna skapas. Det här kandidatarbetets syfte är därför att framarbeta ett bedömningsunderlag för främjande av fysisk aktivitet i visions- och planeringsskedet och pröva det på en kommun. Kandidatarbetet består av tre delar. Den första är en litteraturundersökning där forskning kring främjande av fysisk aktivitet lästes. Utifrån litteraturen arbetades bedömningsunderlaget, den andra delen, fram. Det är uppdelat i fem kategorier: Tillgänglighet och läsbarhet, Mänsklig skala, Gång- och cykelstråk, Rekreationsområden samt Funktioner och möten. Den tredje delen bestod av att applicera bedömningsunderlaget på Malmö stads översiktsplan, cykelprogram, trafik- och mobilitetsplan samt program för aktiva mötesplatser. Malmö stad valdes för att det är en stor kommun och för att de har ambitiösa mål. Vid analys och utvärdering av Malmö stad uppdagades tydliga och omfattande strategier som antagligen har kopplingar till relevant forskning. Det viktigaste som Malmö stad behandlar är att göra fysisk aktivitet till en självklar del av staden, till exempel genom många multifunktionella aktivitetsytor jämnt fördelade i staden och på gångavstånd. Även att låta gång- och cykelstråk bli stadens stomme på bekostnad av biltrafiken är ett stort steg som Malmö stad tar mot en mer aktivitetsfrämjande stad.A simple way of being physically active enough is being outside and that is why activity-promoting outdoor spaces, for example an intricate bicycle network, are so important. The municipalities are responsible for creating such spaces. That is why the purpose of this Bachelor thesis is to devise an assessment basis for promoting physical activity in the vision and planning stage and test it on a municipality. The Bachelor thesis is divided into three parts. The first part is a literary review of research concerning promotion of physical activity. The assessment basis, the second part, was devised from the literary review and is divided into five categories: Availability and readability, Human scale, Walking and biking paths, Recreational areas and Functions and encounters. The third part is where the assessment basis was used to analyse and evaluate the following documents from the Municipality of Malmö: their Comprehensive Plan, Biking Program, Traffic and Mobility Plan and Program for Active Meeting Places. The municipality was chosen because they are a big municipality and they have ambitious goals. During the analysis and evaluation it became clear that the municipality have comprehensive strategies with probable connections to research. The most important factor that the municipality addresses is that physical activity must become a natural part of the city, for example through having multifunctional activity areas throughout the city and within walking distance. Making walking and biking paths the primary structure of the city at the expense of car traffic is also a big step that Malmö stad takes toward a more activity-promoting city

Paideia and the Search for Freedom in the Educational Formation of the Public of Today

In this paper, I explore the ancient Greek concept of paideia to contribute to an ongoing revitalisation of educational theory that positions freedom as central to the educational process. I also analyse the current crisis in public life in Europe as a consequence of neglect or inability to incorporate educational theory in the formation of school systems embracing democratic ways of life. I mainly explore the concept of teaching as a radical idea of allowing anyone be the bearer of culture and society and not just an exclusive group of people. I identify three types of abstractions distancing current orders of democracy from concerning the entire population. I also offer an educational strategy to break with these abstractions to be able to take on ‘a divine life’ in the present

The ethical-political potentiality of the educational present: aristocratic principle versus democratic principle

This paper will explore a Sophist tradition of educational thought, which is concerned with the world and not a sphere of ideas as distinct from the world, and to suggest some central distinctions and concepts following from such tradition today. The distinctions which are discussed are between; upbringing, schooling and education; aristocratic versus democratic principle of education; aristocratic versus democratic conception of nature; and, culture as static versus culture as praxis. Equality is highlighted in the paper as a central concept for democracy as well as education and are discussed through Jacques Rancière. The distinctions established will also make clear what is at stake if we consider educational thought as conditional for democracy and a liveable life for anyone. The contrast between the aristocratic principle and the democratic principle for education will centre on conceptions of violence and nonviolence, in accordance with Judith Butler and Franco "Bifo" Berardi's analyses. In a final paragraph the paper discusses how equality play out in relation to teaching, and the discussion is extended by exploring Judith Butler's conception of 'grievability'. The paper concludes by suggesting that education is the ethical-political potentiality of a new beginning within the present order of things, and therefore the very praxis of change of this order, and therefore what makes paideia possible in the first place.Este artículo explorará una tradición sofista de pensamiento educativo, que se ocupa del mundo y no de una esfera de ideas distinta del mundo, y sugerirá algunas distinciones y conceptos centrales que se derivan de dicha tradición en la actualidad. Las distinciones que se discuten son entre: crianza, escolarización y educación; principio de educación aristocrático versus democrático; concepción aristocrática versus democrática de la naturaleza; y cultura como estática versus cultura como praxis. La igualdad se destaca en el documento como un concepto central para la democracia y la educación, y se discute a través de Jacques Rancière. Las distinciones establecidas también dejarán claro lo que está en juego si consideramos el pensamiento educativo como condición para la democracia y para una vida digna para todos. El contraste entre el principio aristocrático y el principio democrático de la educación se centrará en las concepciones de violencia y no-violencia, de acuerdo con los análisis de Judith Butler y Franco "Bifo" Berardi. En un párrafo final, el documento analiza cómo se desarrolla la igualdad en relación con la enseñanza, y la discusión se amplía explorando la concepción de Judith Butler de "grievability". El artículo concluye sugiriendo que la educación es el potencial ético-político de un nuevo comienzo dentro del actual orden de cosas y, por tanto, es la praxis misma del cambio, siendo así también lo que hace posible la paideia en primer lugar

Are we living the end of democracy? a defence of the “free” time of the university and school in an era of authoritarian capitalism

In this article I address education beyond individualism, elitism and instrumentalism and instead understand education as central for a democratic way of life. I discuss the role of education in the making of democratic forms of life in the university, in the school as well as in other contexts outside institutions. I argue for the importance of defending the “free time” of the university and school against a “time of production” as a defining characteristic of university and school. I will show how a time of production undermine the very possibility of education, and which therefore also tends to negate pluralist democracy

Time to Teach?

In order to make clear the very different ways in which time, as well as the relation between student and teacher takes shape and form with-in education this paper explore two archetypes of teaching: Socratic teaching and Sophist teaching. Here I analyse the distinctly different ways in which power and the organisation of the social sphere take place within each. Socratic teaching is shown to rely on a notion of time as reproduction, which involves reproducing the power structure of a certain social order of inequality. By contrast, Sophist teaching relies on a notion of time as the instantiation of change and equality in the present. The paper concludes with pinpointing that what is at stake in teaching is the possibility of a liveable life for all (Sophist) rather than only for some (Socratic)