Contemporary and Traditional : the identity of the Swedish folk high school as expressed in its vocational orientation

In this thesis the vocational orientation of the courses offered - as an expression of the folk high school's self-identity- is analysed. The point of departure was that what the folk high school do, is a way to show what it wants to be and, therefore, reflects what it is. Focus is on how the folk high school meets with contemporary tasks and demands in different areas of society. The research objects are, the folk high school as type of school (a total of 147 schools) and a sample of ten individual schools with different ownership. The study is about what the offered courses reveal about the folk high school's reflections and conclusions as regards its future activities in relation to its history and contemporary society. The theoretical framework of the thesis is built on the sociologist Anthony Giddens 'Theory of Structuration' and the concepts of structure and agency. Reflections about the surrounding world and the contributions the schools' want to make in society is assumed to result in a more or less conscious strategy for the future, the folk high school's course politics as it is expressed in action. The identity has been interpreted in vocational roles as they appear in course contents. The word 'vocation' is used in almost the same sense as Giddens defines 'work'. Self-identity was analysed from three different kinds of texts and with one question for each. In the first perspective focus is on official investigations and political decisions, in the period 1970-2000. What role in society is imposed upon the folk high school in contemporary educational policies? In the second perspective all courses offered at all folk high schools in 1972 and 2000 are studied, in order to present a picture of the overall pattern of vocational orientation. In the third perspective the course politics of the ten selected folk high schools are investigated, from the start of the respective schools, and in relation to what each school thinks it 'is'- with different owners and in its particular geographical situation. One overriding conclusion is that the characteristics that make the identity of the folk high school seem unclear and paradoxical are the very same that constitute the self-identity of the folk high school as being complex and multifaceted. The self-identity seems paradoxical when the vocational orientation presents itself as both preserving traditions and answering to today's needs. In other words, the school 'does what it has always done' (is conservative) and at the same time 'captures new needs and tasks' (is flexible). The folk high school's role and uniqueness in what they actually do can be understood as what I have called 'contemporaneous civic functionaries'. Their profiles emerge when flexibility is based on history. I want to designate 'existential rationality' to the motivating mechanism that seems to at the same time force changes and lean on own experiences. Expressing contemporary self-identity is grounded in the individual tradition as motivationbased values, cultural and geographic conditions

Matematiklyftet : Lärares formativa bedömningspraktik

Syftet med studien var att öka förståelsen för lärares erfarenheter av Matematiklyftet och hur lärare upplever att deras formativa bedömningspraktik påverkats av fortbildningen. Frågeställningarna handlar om hur mycket tid och stöd de fick, de olika aktiviteterna som ingick och om fortbildningen förändrat deras undervisning och bedömning i matematik. Studien har främst utgått från formativ bedömning och till viss del det sociokulturella perspektivet där lärandet sker i interaktion mellan människor. Den metod som använts är kvalitativa intervjuer som spelats in, transkriberats och analyserats. Resultatet visar att samtliga lärare var nöjda med tiden de fick för träffarna och inläsning av material men det som de inte var helt nöjda med var att tiden inte räckte till att arbeta kollegialt mellan träffarna samt att några efterlyste mer delaktighet av sina rektorer. Alla upplevde det positivt att få sitta tillsammans och diskutera läsa, planera och senare utvärdera olika genomförda aktiviteter. Att få sitta i lugn och ro för att diskutera ett enda ämne uppskattades också av alla lärare i studien. Alla intervjuade lärare säger också att de har förändrat sitt arbetssätt till att bli mer formativt.En av slutsatserna som kan dras ur denna studie är att lärarna med denna fortbildningsinsats verkar ha förändrat sitt arbetssätt till att bli mer kollegialt och formativt

ICT - an ally and an alien The role of ICT in Swedish popular adult education organisations

This article is focused on Swedish folk high schools and study associations as organisational settings (and not explicitly at teaching efforts and educational activities). It concerns results from a research project about introducing and implementing information and communication technology (ICT) in these value based organisations. Our research has mainly been conducted through interviews with people engaged on different organisational levels. In this article empirical results are analysed in relation to actor-network theory (ANT). Human and non-human actors are linked together in a web of relationships referred to as an actor-network. Interaction among actors, contradictory roles of ICT and relations to essential values in these organisations are discussed

Regulation of mitogen-induced lymphocyte DNA synthesis by human interferon of different origins

Human fibroblast and leukocyte interferons were found to suppress lymphocyte mitogenesis induced by optimal doses of phytohemagglutinin and concanavalin A. In certain situations (low doses of mitogen and/or low doses of interferon), however, interferon significantly enhanced mitogenesis. In experiments using varying concentrations of interferon, dose-response curves with different slopes were obtained for fibroblast and leukocyte interferons. The effect of interferon was apparently exerted during early stages of the lymphocyte cell cycle. There was no inhibitory effect of interferon if the lymphocytes were washed with medium before being exposed to mitogen. Interferon increased the binding of radiolabeled mitogens to cells. The results suggest that the immunological effects of interferon are consequences of actions on lymphoid cells. Fibroblast and leukocyte interferons seem to have different modes of action, or to bind differently to target cells. Possible mechanisms for the suppressive and enhancing effects of interferons on lymphoid cells are discussed

Interferon production in glia and glioma cell lines

Interferon (IF) was produced in glia and glioma cell lines in titers comparable to those produced by human fibroblasts. It was inducible by both Sendai virus and polyriboinosinic:polyribocytidylic acid. "Superinduction" resulted in up to 500-fold-higher titers of IF. The IF appeared to be of the fibroblast type, as revealed by experiments using heat treatment, assay of antiviral activity in heterologous cell lines, and neutralization with specific antisera. Since large amounts of IF may easily be produced with glioma cell lines, such cells may be suitable for mass production of IF