\u27We have our lessons in Teams\u27. Strategies chosen in Swedish schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and consequences for students in upper secondary education

In Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic, compulsory schools were generally kept open but upper secondary schools closed and turned instead to distance education for a time during the spring term 2020. This article investigates the strategies chosen in Swedish schools, with special focus on the consequences of these decisions for students in upper secondary education. The study, built on interviews with a group of 15- to 19-year-old youths, contributes through a student perspective on learning from home during remote education. The article analyzes the strategy in the Swedish education sector during the pandemic and describes how a group of upper secondary students perceived the shift to digital and remote teaching during the pandemic with regard to the availability of the digital infrastructure and to studying under the new conditions of distance and remote education. Possible lessons to learn from the pandemic in Sweden could be that students are technically better prepared to work with computers, but less prepared to work independently. (DIPF/Orig.

School absenteeism among students in Germany, Japan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom:

School absenteeism is a challenge in many countries. Still, there are few comparisons between countries, which is partly due to a lack of shared definitions of concepts. This article makes use of PISA data to compare self-reported student absenteeism in Germany, Japan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (UK). Three data sets are used, from 2012, 2015, and 2018. The self-reported absenteeism, which is referred to as truancy in the PISA studies, was measured as having skipped a whole school day at least once in the two full weeks before students completed the PISA student questionnaire. The results show great variation between the studied countries, from 24.4% in the UK in 2015 to 1.5% in Japan in 2012. The percentage of students who reported having skipped school is much higher in the UK than in the other three countries. The differences between the countries concerning the percentage of students reporting having been absent from school are significant for all years, except between Sweden and Germany in 2015. Germany and the UK have a similar pattern in development, with the highest percentages in 2015, while Sweden and Japan have small (albeit not significant) increases from 2012 to 2018. The UK is the only country where the changes between 2012 and 2015 as well as between 2015 and 2018 were significant. It is not possible to see any obvious patterns between the countries that might be linked to differences related to their welfare regimes, education systems, or values. To find such patterns, it may be necessary either to include more countries in a study or to conduct more in-depth studies on each country

Kritische Stimmen zum japanischen Bildungswesen. […] [Sammelrezension]

Sammelrezension von: 1. Yoneyama Shoko: The Japanese High School: Silence and Resistance. London, New York: Routledge 1999 (Nissan Institute / Routledge Japanese Studies), 287 S.; 2. Okano Kaori and Tsuchiya Motonori: Education in Contemporary Japan: Inequality and Diversity. Cambridge, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press 1999 (Contemporary Japanese Society), 272 S

Improving pedagogical practices through gender inclusion. Examples from university programmes for teachers in preschools and extended education

Working with gender equality in teacher education embraces a wide range of policies and practices. Against the backdrop of relevant research on gender in preschools, universities and teacher education, the study provides an outlook of the praxis on selected Swedish university programmes for preschool teacher education and teachers in extended education. The study is inspired by educational ethnography and applies quantitative and qualitative text analyses of programme and course documents. The article describes how gender perspectives can be systematically incorporated into university teaching through curriculum design and constructive aligned teaching. The author discusses whether the described pedagogical practices and gender inclusion in higher education have the potential to promote (preschool) teacher students\u27 systematic acquisition of values, knowledge and skills as a precondition for improving sustainable pedagogical practices. The article also touches on the relevance of the results for the field of extended education and academic training for pedagogues and teachers who work in non-formal educational settings. (DIPF/Orig.

Global Demands – Local Practices : Working towards Including Gender Equality in Teacher Education in Finland and Sweden

Gender equality is a global aim that has been presented in numerous documents. However, teacher educa-tion programs in many countries still lack sustainable strategies for working towards gender equality in education. Working successfully in this area may promote more sustainable practices in schools to reach gender-fair societies. The Nordic countries are known for pro-active gender policies and they provide in-teresting cases for investigating achievements and struggles in the field. The purpose of this article is, from an international comparative perspective, to explore the rationales and practices when working with issues of gender equality in Finnish and Swedish teacher education and to reflect on related concepts. We describe, analyse and compare local practices, theoretical frameworks and challenges by revisiting gender and teacher education research and equality projects from the 1980s up to today. The comparative methodology chosen facilitates understanding examples from two neighbouring countries, illustrating different ways to develop policies and strategies. Local actors not only follow global claims to work with gender and equality in teacher education but also play an active role and contribute to these discourses. Our study suggests that gender equality cannot be achieved overnight; appropriate strategies need to be negotiated constantly in specific national and institutional contexts at universities and teacher education institutions.Peer reviewe

Gender and Education : Perspectives on Schooling in Japan and Comparisons from the Philippines

This volume applies a gender-sensitive perspective on Japan, discussing issues such as national identity, the changing appeal of role models, legacies of a misogynous past, gendered education policies, female imaging in the media, or working women's networks. The transnational dimension of this perspective is highlighted by comparisons drawn between Japan and other countries of the region such as Philippines and South Korea. Authors attend to concepts of gender and gendered identities as well as to actors within gendered spaces of society.Show more Show les

‘As an educator you have to fix many things on your own’ : A study of teachers’ perspectives on organizing inclusion in various welfare contexts.

Although the school and welfare systems in Japan, Germany, and Sweden are organized differently, public school teachers from each of these countries express common concerns about the possibilities and challenges of organizing inclusive educational settings in general school contexts. These results come from a comparative study based on focus group interviews with teachers in these three countries. The teachers discuss the possibilities and challenges of multiprofessional collaboration in their respective school systems. Rather than analysing differences between the systems, this chapter focuses on common needs from a teacher’s perspective. The purpose of this chapter is to describe possible dilemmas occurring in relation to the inclusion paradigm of schools in different national school systems. This chapter illustrates how taking teachers’ perspectives into account is an important precondition for developing inclusive practices in school settings. Children meet the welfare system through the teachers; with their central position in schools, teachers have the potential to facilitate the meeting between the individual and the social institutions. Accessibility of services and communication that functions well with and between different professional groups is crucial when organizing support structures. The chapter takes as its point of departure discourses on inclusion as part of a human rights agenda