Sex education can be described as an important part of health education in school and one way of strengthening health education could be a collaboration between different professionals in the school team. The aim of this study was to describe teachers' and school nurses' experiences and perspectives with regard to sex education among students aged 11-12 years and to explore potential influencing factors. We employed a qualitative design, and the teachers and school nurses were interviewed individually. A thematic analysis was conducted on the interviews and the results showed that the classroom was considered to be the teacher's arena. Tradition and attitudes between professionals could be obstacles that affect collaboration between teachers and nurses and the study showed that there remains much to be done before collaboration at the same level between the groups can be established.

Purpose: The aim of this essay and its contribution to research is to identify the opportunities, pitfalls, and dilemmas that can arise when inclusive education is organized with regard to students with ASC. In order to create more understanding of the situation for students with ASC in schools, the study focus on school leadership.

Sub-studies: The essay consists of two studies. In the first study (1) the aim was to identify, describe, and analyze different research approaches to inclusive education and social participation for students with ASC, by performing a systematic research review. In the second study (2) principals of Swedish schools were interviewed, data collection was divided into three sets of interviews based on and using two models as tools in the analysis process. The models are the Index of Inclusion (Ainscow & Booth 2002) and three key concepts for inclusive school leadership (European Agency of Special Needs and Inclusive Education 2018; Óskarsdottir et al. 2020).

Theory: A dialectical approach (Clark, Dyson & Millward 1995; 1998) or the dilemma perspective (Nilholm 2003) have been used as a theoretical lens. This approach aims to provide a dynamic and abductive reasoning for the overall analysis in the essay, since inclusive education appears to create dilemmas when societal cultures and norms, bureaucracy, and structures meet. The analysis demonstrates that inclusive processes appear as dilemma-creating at different levels in the system and addresses democracy in terms of social justice.

Method: Crystallization is a term that relates to the practice of using multiple data sources and results, research approaches and lenses (Ellingson 2008; Tracy 2010), which leads to a more complex understanding being opened up in the overall analysis.

Knowledge contribution: Inclusion is mainly interpreted as the students’ experience of being socially accepted and having access to academic education and the curriculum. Principals’ feeling of loneliness in relation to their superiors—they need to fight for their students and their staff against decisionmakers higher up in the education system hierarchy. At the same time, it is noted that principals have agreat deal of freedom in their practice, but the issue of communication needs to be raised and support for principals is important. A discussion is needed about whose perspective is the prevailing one in decisionmaking processes in schools and in the school system.

Limitations: The data collection of the second study (2) took place via virtual meetings due to the pandemic. Virtual meetings are limited by the lack of being able to observe the interviewee's body language and nonverbal communication, as well as a small sample of respondents. These limitations affect the essay in general and thus to some extent reduce the possibility of generalizing the results.

Practical implications: This essay can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the inclusion concept in relation to students with ASC. It can potentially initiate forums for further discussions on the working conditions of principals in relation to their responsibilities and the expectations placed upon them. In addition, to conduct a continuous discussion about the importance of authenticity and accountability for all professionals in the school and its stakeholders. Development and improvement of structures that facilitate the inclusion of the student voice in decision-making processes are also seen as important.

In the present thesis, four studies are included within the scientific discipline of pedagogy and collaborative professional development research field—the thesis is based on a practice-based research approach. This thesis addresses identified problems in previous research and large-scale studies such as the OECD study Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) and school leaders’ and teachers’ attitudes. Furthermore, the need to design teaching that is content-inclusive and accessible to all students. The study’s overall question is: What factors of importance for promoting content-inclusive teaching emerge in the studies? Since the thesis aims to contribute with knowledge of how collaborative professional efforts can support teachers’ understanding of developing inclusive teaching in the classroom regarding the accessibility of teaching content for all students, the theoretical perspective is motivated by a cultural-historical perspective as an overall theoretical framework. Within the cultural-historical perspective, situated learning and communities of practice (CoP) are in the foreground. The framework of variation theory has been chosen to analyse which teaching content the students are offered to distinguish. The articles used both specific subject content to show how conditions for inclusive teaching can contribute to increased availability of the content knowledge and more comprehensive studies of how teachers’ collaborative competence can contribute to increased accessibility. Finally, teachers’ perspectives and experiences are in the foreground. The design of the four studies is based on a mixed-methods approach. That means the design of the thesis used qualitative and quantitative methods, both individually and in combination, in the different studies. Since two-year time perspective, it is defined as a longitudinal process. The synthesis describes the factors necessary for promoting content inclusion that has been highlighted in the dissertation studies. Three factors have been identified in the dissertation’s results of significance for how collaborative professional efforts can support teachers’ understanding of developing inclusive teaching in the classroom regarding the teaching content’s accessibility for all students: 1. Development of CoP with a focus on content-inclusive teaching 2. Collaborative professional development that challenges teachers’ views on inclusive teaching 3. Analysis of intentional and enacted teaching to identify what is inclusive Within the framework of the studies the dissertation consists of, the results show that the cyclical classroom models, Lesson and Learning study, have contributed to the teachers gaining an in-depth understanding of which aspects have been particularly successful in developing their teaching design. The studies show factors that are important for promoting content-inclusive teachings, such as when the entire teaching team takes collective responsibility for content-focused teaching and is given time for collaborative professional development. Another factor is that teachers are given the opportunity to develop their ability to analyse how teaching can be planned and implemented to identify what contributes to inclusive teaching, where the content and learning situation is put in the foreground. This change has meant a higher focus on the availability of teaching content to all students, compared to a previous focus on individual students’ need for special support. The present dissertation results can be seen as a contribution to practicebased professional development research where researchers’ and teachers’ joint competence is the basis for systematically and structurally approaching the object of learning, thereby reducing the gap between theory and practice.

The article is based on a questionnaire answered at the beginning of two R&D programmes (“Multivocal teaching and co-assessment in preschool” in January 2016 and “Multivocal didactic modelling: Collaborative research regarding teaching and co-assessment in Swedish preschools” in July 2018). The programmes aimed to describe and produce further knowledge about what may characterise teaching in preschool. When the programmes began, participating preschool teachers and principals completed a questionnaire in which one question was specifically oriented towards what might characterise teaching in music. The aim of the article is to contribute knowledge about what may characterise teaching in music in preschool from a didactic perspective. The empirical material consists of a total of 374 completed questionnaires. A didactically oriented abductive analysis was performed. Five conclusions can be drawn.  1) A weak grounding in music theory and/or musical methodology reveals a shortcoming in the preschool teacher’s use of research as a basis for teaching. 2) Music is perceived as a means rather than a goal, which may in the long term weaken music as content. 3) Words such as “experience” and “challenges” occur so infrequently as to suggest that children don´t get challenged in music education. 4) The subject of music as form and “doing” is a strong trace, perhaps at the expense of artistic and scientific aspects. 5)  Digital possibilities are downplayed, possibly resulting in the children missing out on, for example, the creation of music that can be reproduced and the introduction of musical instruments that are generally not available in preschools. The results of this study encourage reflection on alternative ways of teaching music in preschool, which includes music teaching driven by a child´s right to music for the sake of music and based on research and music didactic, with a focus on the art and science of music. 

Background Physical education (PE) teachers in practically all countries are expected to help their students develop movement capability. To achieve this objective, teachers need certain knowledge and competencies. The question of how PE teachers should develop their capacities to achieve this task has received only limited research attention. Aim The broad objective of this paper is to contribute to the literature on how PE teachers can develop knowledge and competencies in the area of movement capability related to students' learning. The specific aim is to identify aspects of the design of instruction in physical education that enhance teachers' actor-oriented transfer of movement pedagogy knowledge, during a collaborative professional development intervention. Method The study is an analysis of three conducted learning studies in PE at upper secondary schools in Sweden. The studies involved seven PE teachers from two different schools. Our empirical material consists of (a) notes from team meetings (n = 14), (b) lesson plans (n = 9), (c) video-recorded and transcribed lessons (n = 9), and (d) results of students' learning outcomes (n = 9). Findings PE teachers' analysis of their own teaching sequences in teams supported their actor-oriented transfer of movement pedagogy knowledge, which developed their abilities to further elaborate their instruction in new teaching situations. Moreover, teachers gained insights into how to further develop the quality of instructional design as expansions of earlier experiences. Lastly, a relationship between PE teachers' actor-oriented transfer and students' increased learning of movements was found. Conclusion Our conclusion is that collaborative professional development for PE teachers, which supports actor-oriented transfer, should be offered to enhance teachers' movement pedagogy knowledge.

The context of my research is public preschool in Sweden, which is voluntary before the age of 6, and the interaction between children and preschool teachers. I pay specific interest to how content is established when children and preschool teachers interact with a focus on the relation between “play” and “teaching” (e.g. Bingham & Sidorkin, 2004; Saevi, 2015). In recent years, teaching, as a concept has strengthened in relation to early childhood education, teaching is enabled through the Education Act of 2011 and part of the curriculum since 2018 (SFS 2010:800). Play in a Swedish preschool context can be understood as a free[1] activity for children while teaching as an activity could be understood as the opposite.

Inspired by the concept of scholé (Masschelein & Simons, 2013) I started to explore and think about the possibility of a transfer of the word free from play to teaching with a potential as being a free zone in public preschool. How and what could teaching be understood as, within a public preschool context, what happens if we apply free next to teaching, As if (Vaihinger, 1925/2009) it were play? 

I turn to Arendt (1961) for an understanding of the concept of ‘free’ in relation to play since ‘free’ play entails a high value in relation to childrens agency- in free play- children can choose- in the context of public preschool in Sweden. By using Vaihinger `s philosophy of As if, I explore teaching As if it were free next to play, with a possibility to choose.  

-[1] The question stems from the idea “children are free” in relation to play (e.g.Huizinga, 1949)

This study investigated how modeling in chemistry affect second language learners’ descriptions of polymeric concepts. The aim was to investigate how chemistry discussions mediated by representations, contribute to second language students’ development in the language of chemistry. The study took place in three multilingual upper secondary classes. Participating students were (n = 16) second language learners and (n = 14) first language learners. There were in total eight different first languages represented. Data comprised polymeric concept descriptions, audio recordings, and photos taken during modeling. The concept descriptions were analyzed by an inductive content analysis which was then used for a deductive analysis of the modeling-activity. The results show that 65% of second language learners concept descriptions showed an increased clarity, and 45% showed increased use of chemical concepts after the modeling-activity. This study highlights how students in a multilingual context develop their language of chemistry by discussing chemistry scaffolded by representations. The results show that second language learners in a multilingual context benefited from the modeling-activity. As such, the study acknowledges that modeling contexts can be used in teacher education, both in-service and pre-service, to highlight the importance of the role of representations when teaching in the multilingual context.

Barnkonventionen har blivit svensk lag, men i det svenska skolsystemet finns flera värdemässiga krockar inbyggda. Ett exempel är föräldrars rätt att välja skola, vilket har bidragit till skolsegregationen och minskat barnens rätt att få möta en mångfald människor som skiljer sig från deras familjer (red.).

Workplace bullying is a severe problem that affects individuals, organizations, and society. Although there is a growing research interest in bystanders of workplace bullying, the rationale underlying bystanders' behavior in healthcare settings requires further investigation. The aim of the current study is to explore factors that influence the behavior of bystanders to workplace bullying in the healthcare sector. Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with 32 staff members in the healthcare sector in Sweden. Data were collected between March 2019 and September 2020 and were analyzed with thematic analysis. The participants experienced that bystanders of bullying, both colleagues and managers, were in many situations acting in a passive way. Organizational factors such as dysfunctional organizational culture and deficiencies in management affected how actively the bystanders could intervene. Additionally, a fear of negative consequences, lack of awareness of what was going on, bullying behavior being excused, and the bystander not being a member of the dominant group were social factors contributing to bystanders' passive behavior. For bystander intervention to be successful, the organization must consider bullying as a serious issue, take action, and show support for both the target and the bystander.

Due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, teacher educators had to change the delivery mode of their teaching to online environments. In this article, we explore the changes and challenges to teacher educators' professional practices during emergency remote teaching. Since teacher educators act as both teachers, peers and role models to their students, their professional practices involve the teaching of how to be a professional body, i.e. a 'teacher body'. Central to professional practices are interactions consisting of both speech and bodily actions. In interviews, teacher educators express how their professional practices of teaching has been changed and challenged in relation to how they communicate with their students and how they can support them in their learning. Due to the restrictions in body language and gaze in emergency remote teaching, teacher educators do not recognise their professional body. Moreover, because of the destabilisation of their 'teacher body', the teacher educators find it difficult to sufficiently convey to their students what it is to be a teacher.

Introduction: Research has indicated that Physical Education (PE) is often characterized by teacher-centred teaching (e.g. Byra 2006; Tinning 2010), where the pupils follow instruction and perform pre-established movements (Karlefors and Larsson 2018). Pupils are expected to listen, do as they are told, and follow rules (Fitzpatrick and Russell 2015; Quennerstedt 2013). PE teaching has been described as an act of control (Quennerstedt 2013), and teachers face the dilemma of letting go of control and still having enough control to make sure that the lesson smoothly moves forward (Alfrey and O'Connor 2020). However, when the pupils are given more power and the teacher applies student-centred teaching, the pupils get to come up with ideas and make decisions (e.g. Byra 2006; Garrett and Wrench 2018; Mattsson and Larsson 2021). This is significant because it can develop PE and contribute to meaning making among pupils and their experiences of movement. This article aims to analyse the use of exploratory circus assignments in PE teaching and to discuss this in relation to current school norms. Biesta's (The Beautiful Risk of Education [Paradigm Publishers 2014]) concept of risk, which means not knowing the outcome, is used. The article problematizes pupils' own ideas and suggestions in relation to prevailing norms in school. What happens when pupils participate in teaching based on exploratory circus assignments? Exploration, playfulness, and expression were focused, and the lessons were characterized by the absence of primary focus on competitiveness as a counterweight to traditional PE content. Methods: A research teacher (a university teacher with experience teaching school PE and circus) conducted 10 lessons together with 20 pupils (aged 10) and their PE teacher using exploratory circus assignments. Data was collected through participant observation, video observation, and field diary. The data analysis generated three themes, Following instruction, Limited exploration, and Shared power, that were reviewed in relation to the theoretical framework. Results: The results show that the research teacher and the PE teacher resisted embracing risk in PE due to the prevailing norms and what Biesta (2014) describes as the practice of schooling. They focused on keeping the pupils in order rather than being flexible and open to unknown outcomes. The exploratory circus assignments involved risk to different extents, and the research teacher's tendency to embrace risk increased over time. Her letting go of control enabled her to embrace risk. It did not mean a total relinquishment of control, but rather not having exclusive control over the decision-making and meaning-making processes. When she shared the power with the pupils, new and other movements could be explored. The results show that pupils' actions can be more educative than what teachers initially consider. Conclusion: Teachers need to relinquish control to conduct teaching which embraces risk. Doing so enables them to share power with the pupils, which allows pupils to explore and discover different ways of moving and using the material. Exploratory circus assignments can enable risk embracement in PE and function as a way for teachers to reflect upon pedagogical considerations and practice the sharing of power with their pupils.

Douglas Yacek’s recent book The Transformative Classroom proposes a useful aspirational model of transformative education. In this critical commentary, I review this model and suggest that while it succeeds in overcoming some ethical shortcomings of other dominant models of transformative education, I would like to suggest that focusing on more subtle transformative gestures could have the benefit of being less dependent of the teacher’s intention to transform and of being less constrained by the expectation that transformation should take place primarily in the classroom. When transformation is conceived as an educational fiction, it may be conceived as a retroactive experience constructed around memories of the teacher’s transformative gestures, thereby adding to Yacek’s aspirational model by allowing for transformation to continue beyond the walls of the classroom.

This paper addresses the rift between the teacher’s sense of self as a causal agent and the experience of being in lack of control in the classroom, by way of Hans Vaihinger’s philosophy of ‘as if.’ It is argued that understanding agential control in terms of a valuable fiction—a practical (ethical) fiction in Vaihinger’s vocabulary—can offer a way of bridging this rift and can help teachers make sense of the tension between their felt need to strive for control and their experience of suffering from lack of control. A fiction, it is argued, is different from an illusion in that fictions can be affirmed without being believed. Unlike illusions, valuable fictions can be recognized as fictions and still retain some of their affective power over us, thereby allowing us to act ‘as if.’ In education, this is helpful as it means that we can make use of valuable fictions without assuming that these have to be protected from the critical gaze of non-believers. In fact, we can openly acknowledge that we rely on fictions as this is part and parcel of being a human being with a limited cognitive ability. 

BACKGROUND: University educators are expected to cope with emerging situations and complex issues in teaching and learning, and this requires them to be agentic and proactive. While professional agency of health educators has not been investigated adequately, this study explores health educators' perception of their enactment of professional agency in the PBL facilitation process in a post-pandemic context.

METHODS: Forty PBL facilitators from medical and dental programs in Qatar University participated in the study during the fall semester of 2021, after resuming in-person PBL sessions. To collect and analyze data both qualitatively and quantitatively Q methodology was employed. A 33-statement Q-set was established based on a proposed theoretical framework of professional agency in PBL facilitation, which included three dimensions - intrapersonal, action, and environment.

RESULTS: Q factor analysis identified five significantly different viewpoints regarding how PBL facilitators perceive their professional agency sources, namely, 1) institutional resources, 2) policy guideline, 3) making efforts to improve support for students, 4) beliefs on PBL effectiveness, and 5) agentic actions. While four of the viewpoints were positive, participants with the second viewpoint reported negative perceptions and described lack of interest in facilitation work. All three dimensions of the framework were addressed and indicated complexity and interrelatedness of agency enactment. Consensus was observed regarding the need for more professional learning activities for faculty involved in PBL facilitation as source of professional agency.

DISCUSSION: The results revealed a high variation of participants' perceptions of professional agency enactment throughout the three dimensions, indicating the need for establishing a common understanding of PBL facilitation work in a given context. For practical implications, further institutional efforts are required to support professional learning for PBL facilitation in a post-pandemic context. Alternate approaches highlighting enforcement of agentic actions in all dimensions of intrapersonal values, stance and action taking, and active interactions with students, colleagues and institutional environments are crucial. Q methodology provides new conceptual and empirical insights to explore the subjectivity of actors in health education.

We investigated pre-service teachers’ conceptions of online learning during the transition from face-to-face to emergency distance education in Italy, Sweden and Iran. Conceptions of online learning were conceptualised based on how pre-service teachers defined online learning, the self-regulated learning (SRL) skills associated with it and how they compared it to face-to-face education. The participants were asked about the characteristics of their online courses, yielding information about the online learning conditions and experiences. Conceptions of online learning were found to be underdeveloped. Pre-service teachers should develop a flexible approach to SRL that takes into consideration the demands of the specific educational setting.

As concerns about sexual and reproductive health and rights become integrated into public health policies, the demand for higher education in sexology rises. There is a need therefore to evaluate established pedagogical methods to ensure that they are relevant, efficient and lead to valuable competencies. This study explored the current evidence and pedagogical relevance for Sexual Attitude Reassessment and restructuring (SAR) as part of professional higher education in sexology. A systematic review was conducted with eleven included publications. Data were synthesised across studies and presented narratively. The publications were generally old and derive from a small pool of researchers geographically centred to the USA. Several studies were based on small numbers of participants, display a great variety in types of participants, use different evaluation instruments (mostly unvalidated), and a variety of methods to measure the results of SAR. Furthermore, long-term follow-up has been rare. Extensive, high-quality, and up-to-date research for SAR as an effective pedagogical method for use in sexology higher education for professionals today is lacking. Digital solutions focusing on broadening students sexological self-awareness appear more feasible than SAR, and suitable pedagogical and digital solutions need to be developed and evaluated to ensure high-quality teaching of sexology in higher education. 

This article explores the conditions required for preschool managers to support change through research aimed at developing educational practice. It examines factors that enable and constrain support of change and the arrangements that can be identified in relation to these factors. The results suggest that arrangements that support a more technical and accountable form of practice constrain managers’ capacity to support research aiming to change practice. However, the findings also show thatmanagers do have possibilities to support such research. One key factor is whether the research is in line with their goals and efforts. Another is whether they have trust in the researchers and the educators implementing the change. The results also indicate that one way for leaders to enable change is by creating meaningful spaces for sharing experiences and developing practices. This involves the reframing of leadership practices into a more democratic and collaborative approach, and implies that cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political arrangements are needed to support such approach. Hence, for research projects aimed at changing educational practice, it is necessary to identify the specific arrangements connected to that practice. This is especially important in times when practice-based research is promoted as a way to attain educational goals. 

This systematic review analyses the research results of low-achieving grade K-3 children’s numeracy competencies by investigating the research approaches used, the definitions of low achievers and the numeracy competencies reported. 18 articles, identified in ERIC, PsycINFO and Web of Science, were selected for further analysis. The results show that the main part of the studies used a fixed-strategy design, mainly reporting on children’s numeracy competencies at a group level in which the children’s numeracy competencies were summarily described and focused on difficulties and common errors. Identification of what is defined as low achiever was based on test results from both standardised and non-standardised tests, as well as teacher assessments. The predominant numeracy competencies assessed were basic facts (automatic recall 0–20) and arithmetic skills (addition and subtraction), as well as competencies related to counting. Analyses of the children’s understanding when they do not follow the typical way of learning were not found, which indicates the need for a qualitative approach to the quantitative research results in order to provide deeper understanding of children’s ways of understanding and operating with numbers. 

In late 2021, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund reported that “almost every child on earth is exposed to at least one climate and environmental hazard, shock or stress such as heatwaves, cyclones, air pollution, flooding and water scarcity” (Unicef 2021: 4). The present situation calls for new ethical and political understandings of the very meaning of childhood, and relatedly one of its central institutions: education. 

This study analyses representations of what an educated child is and ought to be in the Anthropocene, a geological epoch caused by the activities of the human species on the Earth's geology and ecosystems including but not limited to anthropogenic climate change. As such, the study zooms in on three practices of the Anthropocene childhood with pedagogical implications: climate fiction for children aged 6-12 years old, academic knowledge production in the field of early childhood education, and the Friday for Future-movement. 

Specifically, I focus on how the value-laden relation between children, nature, and education is (re)configured in the Anthropocene. Childhood and nature are intimately and culturally linked, and the meaning and values associated with nature and culture have ethical and political consequences that need to be address within education. I argue that the intersection of the temporalities of childhood and the Anthropocene presents new pedagogical implications which reconfigures both the very meaning of childhood and education. 

References 

Unicef (2021): “The Climate Crisis Is a Child Rights Crisis: Introducing the Children’s Climate Risk Index,” New York: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

During the second half of the 20th century education has been recognized as a human right in several international conventions, and the UN also holds that “Education shall be free” and that “Elementary education shall be compulsory” (UN, 1948, Article 26).

The education-as-a-human right-project could be viewed as a good intention of global inclusion in recognizing that all individuals have a right to education in virtue of being humans, and the idea of education as a human right thus has a tremendous global significance. However, if we look at this more critically, the education-as-a-human right-project, may not only be grounded in altruistic good intensions for the disadvantaged.

 The term “elementary education”, or sometimes “primary education”, which is used in several human rights-documents seems to suggest that it is some sort of formalized education. It would be useful however to make a distinction between formal and informal education, as well as between teaching, learning, education and schooling, in the discussion of the right to education and specifically in the discussion concerning education as a “human right”.

 There is obviously a difference between the right to teach, the right to learn, the right to education and the right to schooling. And how are these rights related to compulsory schooling, compulsory education and the supposed duty to teach and duty to learn? A further concern is what makes this a human right rather than for example a juridical right as a citizen.

By addressing these questions within a theoretical framework of social ontology and ameliorative conceptual analysis I believe that we can find new ways of dealing with fundamental problems within philosophy of education such as the nature, purpose and aims of education as well as the right to education.

Purpose: The aim of this case study is to describe what commitment and actions are needed in the Swedish school so that principals — within the Swedish school policy framework and with the goal of creating an inclusive school culture and practice — can positively affect schooling for students with disabilities, with a particular focus on students with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). Three research questions guide the study: (1) What commitment and actions do principals consider important for developing an inclusive school for all students, with a particular focus on students with ASC? (2) How do the principals reflect on their own leadership in the development of inclusive education, with a particular focus on students with ASC? (3) Based on the results, what are the implications of the study in practice? Design/methodology/approach: As part of a three-step data collection method, a snowball sampling was conducted in which n = 6 principals were initially interviewed and the data analyzed by an inductive thematic content analysis. Findings: (1) Certain structures are needed when planning how to develop mutual values when organizing an inclusive school involving students with ASC, (2) the principals could, at times, feel a sense of loneliness in relation to their superiors and decision-makers and (3) more accountability from educators and greater consideration for the student perspective in decision-making are needed. Practical implications: It was found that (1) certain structures are needed when planning how to develop mutual values when organizing an inclusive school involving students with ASC, (2) the principals could, at times, feel a sense of isolation in relation to their superiors and decision-makers and (3) more accountability from educators and greater consideration for the student perspective in decision-making are needed. Originality/value: Index for inclusion and elements from the inclusive leadership model were used in the data collection and analysis. 

To what extent should teachers promote the view from nowhere as an ideal to strive for in education? To address this question, I will use Mark Twain’s The Mysterious Stranger as an example, illustrating the stakes involved when the view from nowhere is taken to be an attainable educational ideal. I will begin this essay by offering a description of Thomas Nagel’s view from nowhere. Having done this, I will return to Twain’s story, providing some further examples of how access to the view from nowhere comes to influence the educational process in different ways. I will then connect the educational question raised by Twain’s story to two radically different versions of the exemplar found in the works of Benedict de Spinoza: the philosopher and the prophet. These figures will help illustrate how the striving for philosophical truth can sometimes be educationally inapt, as education always needs to account for humans being human, all too human.

National values or imagined communities are often reflected in a country's educational system. In this paper, a teaching course for migrant teachers in Sweden is used to reflect on how some of these national values and practices are presented and subsequently negotiated by course leaders and course participants. While measures that emphasise national values are often criticised as assimilationist, building partly on Goffman's work it is argued that a discussion of national values can also serve to unveil hidden rituals that are otherwise taken for granted, while also pointing both to the potential usefulness and pitfalls of civic education. For example, while course teachers try to avoid presenting the Swedish value system as superior to that of other countries, certain 'sacred' national values, such as a commitment to gender equality, are seen as non-negotiable. For participants, their previous teaching identity can be used both as a resource in navigating the course and for work practice. But for some participants, their previous teaching identity is seen as in need of adjustment in order for them to follow Swedish teaching and school 'rituals'.

This chapter gives an intimate account on the research process when participating in and gathering data at a four-day school development trip to London, England, arranged by a large private educational technology company from Sweden. Using a sociomaterial perspective and the war paint metaphor the chapter reflects on ethics, alcohol, clothes and identity discussing camouflage, appearance and disappearance. The chapter shows how researchers and participants appearances are multiple and contingent, always relational and never completely in their own hands. It also shows that these processes are linked to policy processes. Moreover, the chapter displays a new layer in policy networking within education whose informal characteristics are different from traditional policy networking used to be studied in earlier research.

Background Few studies have reported how students enact learner agency in a team setting or examined what elements of team settings students perceive as more supportive of their learning in problem- and project-based learning (PBL) processes. Purpose This study explores how engineering students perceive their enactment of learner agency, particularly which aspects of the PBL process they find most important. Method Thirty-nine students from two PBL civil engineering courses in Qatar participated in the study. Q methodology was chosen for both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. A 40-item Q set based on a theoretical model of learner agency was used. Results Eight significantly different student viewpoints emerged from the Q methodological factor analysis, indicating a range of individual perceptions of learner agency. Intrapersonal dimensions were highlighted by three of the eight viewpoints, behavioral dimensions were underlined by seven viewpoints, and environmental dimensions were valued by all viewpoints. Conclusion While the results reveal a wide range of individual experiences with learner agency across the three dimensions, students addressed self-directed learning aspects both actively and passively, suggesting that many participants still value instructors' roles of providing direct instruction and authorized knowledge in PBL. The results highlight the need for more awareness of learner agency and more opportunities for students to enact learner agency by increasing PBL knowledge, skills, and efficacy. Q methodology can contribute to engineering education research by providing new theoretical and empirical insights into learners' subjective understanding of agency in a PBL setting as a complex system.

Research about physical education teacher education (PETE) indicates that the education program attracts homogeneous groups of students, consisting mainly of young men originating from the country in question and who have academic backgrounds. The purpose of this article is, through a case study of one Swedish PETE institution, to explore a cohort of 60 students regarding background characteristics (gender, social and migration background) and secondary characteristics (school success, experience of sport and physical activity cultures, and perceived physical ability). The case study indicated that the students have slightly more diverse backgrounds than is found in previous PETE research, but at the same time, they remain fairly homogeneous regarding, e.g. such as school success, the experience of sport and physical activity, and perceived physical ability. Attracting a more diverse group of students does not mean necessarily that the students are equally diverse when it comes to experiences of movement culture, and the abilities and knowledge that they have gained from participation in this culture.

This study explores the form of curriculum documents and its implications for the enacted curriculum. In this study, the narrative voices that appear in the Scottish Broad General Education phase and the Swedish Compulsory phase of the curriculum are scrutinized in relation to the most likely reader of these documents-the teacher. The study adopts a critical hermeneutic approach to documents relating to the Swedish and Scottish Science curricula, focusing on the primary and lower secondary school phase of education. In addition, the analysis utilised the concepts and categories from narratology as an analytical framework that illuminates the emerging narrative voices in the curriculum documents. Both countries are similar in terms of "the teacher" not appearing in a prominent role but differ in terms of how teachers are framed from a narratological perspective. While the Swedish science curriculum appears to be a very rudimentary narrative, resembling "stage directions" for teachers' activity, the Scottish science curriculum contains a variety of different narrative voices, although none of these puts the teacher in an active, autonomous or decision-making position.

The importance of providing mechanisms and tools that effectively support the transition from implicit to explicit representations of Learning Design has been emphasised by previous research in the field of Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL). In addition, the benefits of Game-based learning approaches have been long documented in the educational research literature. The paper presents the design, implementation and evaluation of a card game that aims to support the design process of TEL activities in higher education. The game was tested by a group of 36 students and tutors (n = 36) in higher education during an interactive workshop. Feedback was asked by the participants using an anonymous survey. The results reveal that the participants a) are satisfied with the game process, b) appreciate the groupwork and interaction taking place, and c) believe that they used their communication and collaboration skills. The paper includes the description of the outputs of a group (i.e., the cards selected for their TEL scenario and their actual TEL scenario) to exemplify that it is possible to use the game in order to elicit or diagnose existing LD knowledge from the game participants. The paper concludes on the usefulness of the approach suggested, limitations, and plans for future work.

This review maps patterns in research on Challenge Based Learning (CBL) in higher education (HE) between 2009 and 2020. How is CBL defined in HE settings? How is CBL in HE grounded scientifically in the research? The results show a shift of CBL from being a concept coined by a multinational technology company targeting learning in schools, to being embraced by HE, first and foremost as a method for transformation of adult learning. A critical scientifically grounded approach towards learning is however absent or marginally present in the papers reviewed.

This contribution explores how subject positions and perspectives are negotiated in the discursive practices of teaching social studies. The study involved a teacher and a group of second-language learners in Grade 6, the data being gathered by observations, voice recordings, and collection of teaching materials throughout seven weeks. The analysis, drawing upon discourse theory and sociological theories of education, is conducted from the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis. The result, highlighting a curriculum area about living conditions, shows how Western-centric beliefs about a divided world were perpetuated both during introductory activities and in the searching for information about different countries. This mainstream meaning perspective was also sustained when the teacher modelled ways of using language for expressing content knowledge. Throughout, the migrant language learners were positioned as privileged Swedish citizens. Implications for shaping discursive practices of teaching in ways which builds on students’ diverse knowledges and experiences are discussed. 

This article discusses the multifaceted concept of inclusion referring to a study (Kotte, 2017). It aims to contribute with deeper knowledge of teachers’ perceptions of inclusive education regarding students’ diverse learning prerequisites. The methodology is a combination of a quantitative and qualitative data analysis related to teachers participating in a Swedish national research and school improvement program. The analysis is performed through Biesta’s dimensions of the aim of education, Uljens’ model for analyzing didactic action; Hedegaard-Sørensen’s situated professionalism and Tomlinson’s differentiation of teaching. Some main results show that teachers have a positive attitude to inclusion but they also understand it as a difficult task to carry through during lessons. They experience a dilemma between single students’ needs and the interests of the class as a whole. Further results indicate that collegial collaboration is regarded as a valuable aspect for the inclusive didactic lesson planning and lesson work to be successful.

The general aim of this thesis is to explore the relations between children’s interaction and places within preschool activities. How children’s interaction opportunities are conditioned by the physical and social environment in the preschool yard (study I), as well as place-making processes in various contexts in mobile preschool activities (studies II and III), are examined within the framework of this purpose. As these three sub-studies have different research focuses, they use different theoretical perspectives. 

In study I, special attention is given to how the physical environment and teachers emerge in the contexts of children’s (aged 1–3 years) interaction in the preschool yard. Study II focuses on how children (aged 3–4 years) use the spatiality of a mobile preschool to create places in a recurring fantasy play. In study III, the focus is directed on both children’s place-making within fantasy play and how children and teachers create “place” together in a mobile preschool. Destination choices can be part of place-making processes of a mobile preschool; therefore, which aspects considered as important, in choosing a destination, are investigated. 

The first study starts from sociocultural perspectives on children’s interaction (e.g. Vygotsky, 1930/ 1995). Taking an abductive approach, the concept of artifacts (Wartofsky, 1979) and concepts from an environmental psychological perspective (see Gump, 1969; Westlander, 1999; Wicker, 1985, 1987) are added to explore how the social and physical environments relate to opportunities for different interactions. The results show how children reveal "interaction junctions" and "interaction swathes" in their activities within the preschool yard.  

In order to investigate place-making within a mobile preschool, the second and third studies combine a relational perspective on spatiality (Massey, 2005) with a sociology of childhood perspective that emphasizes children’s agency and collective activities, such as fantasy play (e.g. Corsaro, 2015). The results show how children create their own “play-places” in their place-making and how teachers choose destinations.  

Through its chosen perspectives and focus on younger preschoolers, this thesis provides further knowledge on how opportunities for interaction can arise in the preschool yard. Furthermore, this thesis reveals a new kind of spatiality within the preschool – that is, a mobile preschool – by using a relational perspective on place-making. Thus, this thesis contributes additional knowledge in the interdisciplinary field of Childhood Studies regarding children’s (possible) interaction in diverse places. 

Some of the United Nations sustainable goals by 2030, for a better and more sustainable future for all, are closely related to education such as quality education and reduced inequalities. Children's rights (UN, 1989) in education, with the reproduction of obvious inequalities within and across schools, are reflected in the discussion about inclusion. In discussing children's rights in modern education, inclusion can be seen as a core value of democracy (Biesta, 2001). Within the field of inclusion, this paper presents a theoretical relational perspective, Pedagogical Relational Teachership, PeRT, (Ljungblad, 2019) which can support development of new knowledge about teachers' relational proficiencies. PeRT addresses relational challenges in today's and tomorrow's school, focusing on interpersonal relationships and relational values. It is a radical alternative that explores teaching conditions to enable subjectification and how students can emerge as unique subjects. Through a relational oriented approach, the searchlight is directed towards pupils' participation in education. The concept of relational teachership is elaborated on to emphasise the importance of teachers' relational proficiencies in the classroom. PeRT has a three-dimensional model highlighting interpersonal relationships at different levels within the educational system. The first dimension contains the child's rights, where four articles in the Children's Convention are indicative. The second dimension includes a model which highlights different aspects of relational teachership, as well as the relationship between teacher and students. This part of the model is inspired by Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory focusing on qualities for children and young people growing in different environments. However, PeRT is a relational perspective highlighting micro, meso and macro levels of interpersonal relationships within the educational system. The third dimension of the model makes visible a tool for relational and didactical aspects in teaching. In total, PeRT's relational multi-dimensional model illustrates a relational teachership and provides an enhanced relational understanding of situated teaching. The model, and its various parts, can be used in teacher education as well as in research within pedagogy, didactics and special educational studies. In addition, PeRT can support novice and experienced teachers in their quest to develop sustainable interpersonal teacher-student relationships. Furthermore, PeRT is a relational perspective that can support future empirical research on participation, accessibility and equity.

I denna forskningsutblick undersöker forskaren Ann-Louise Ljungblad lärare och deras pedagogiska taktfullhet på nära håll. När lärare taktfullt lyssnar in och samtidigt tar ansvar för den pedagogiska situationen, skapas både tillitsfulla relationer till eleverna och en inkluderande undervisningsmiljö.

This article presents a theoretical relational perspective of education, Pedagogical Relational Teachership (PeRT), which supports the development of new knowledge about teachers’ relational proficiencies to create opportunities for students to participate in their education and to emerge as unique individuals and speak with their own voices. Within the field of inclusive education, it is a relational approach where teaching is to be understood relationally. The fundamental bases in this inclusive perspective on education are the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Salamanca Statement. The concept of relational teachership is elaborated on to emphasise the importance of teachers’ relational proficiencies in the classroom. The article also clarifies how PeRT includes a multi-dimensional model to illuminate relational processes and relationships on different levels within the educational system. PeRT is a relational approach for scholars and practitioners, which can be seen as a new beginning and an invitation to a relational pathway that explores participation, accessibility and equity.

Takeaway: In today’s globalized world, it is imperative that all students are able to use their unique voices and actively participate in conversations. In order to foster meaningful participation in the classroom, educators need to develop strong and trusting relationships with their students. Challenging the notion of what it means to be inclusive provides educators with the opportunity to re-imagine modern education by prioritizing relationships and placing human values at the center of the teaching and learning experience.

Our conference presentation dwells on an innovative project revolving around disadvantaged students’ (the majority with immigrant background) participation in homework activities. The theoretical framework is relational pedagogy with a focus on student-mentor relationships in a university setting. The authors used semi-structured interviews combined with observations of the interactions between the participants. The findings are analysed at a micro- and meso-level, based on an interpersonal relational perspective on teaching, Pedagogical Relational Teachership (PeRT) (Ljungblad, 2016, 2019). The popular claim that homework time is positively related to scholastic achievements gains was observed. The findings from this study add to the general knowledge of how participants perceive their school activities and future careers. Furthermore, relational values like connecting, belonging, trusting, including and confidence building emerged between students and mentors over time. The examination of the mentor-student relationships highlights how a relational bonding creates a new interpersonal relational capital that launch a movement with a possible change in social position, in terms of entering future university studies. The results are discussed at a societal level in relation to equity and young people’s possibilities of participating in future university studies. Since the study shows the positive aspects of ‘enriching’ activities supporting immigrant youth in homework activities at university facilities, we encourage other institutions of higher education to open up their premises for similar projects, in order to improve engagement, raise achievement levels and enhance inclusiveness in the larger social fabric.

During the two past decades, in the field of relational pedagogy, the teacher-student relationship has been explored as an interpersonal relationship. The presentation is based on an article (Ljungblad & Rinne, 2021) which illustrates how pedagogical tact (Lövlie, 2007; van Manen, 1991, 2015) as an analytical tool can highlight new opportunities in classroom research, by visualising the relational dimension of teachers’ work. The results are based on a comparative analysis of two classroom studies in which the notion of pedagogical tact has been used (Ljungblad, 2016; Rinne, 2014). The analysis shows that pedagogical tact as an analytical tool can take us beyond the taken for granted assumption about teaching as an easy profession. The results reveal how the teacher seeks con-tact with the student. By exploring the relational and interpersonal aspects of teaching, existential dimensions of the teaching profession can be illuminated, and relational values which are of importance for students’ growth can be visualised. In conclusion, the article discusses how pedagogical tact can contribute to the creation of human subjectification as a counterweight to students being objectified. Such a relational voice highlights relational values and the awareness of humanity.

Perezhivanie is a concept that was originally defined by Vygotsky, but it did not become a part of educational theory until recently. Today the concept has been revived, and it is now used as a way to include emotional aspects into education and educational research. The concept also provides a rationale for describing and forming personalised learning. The present study provides a literature review with the aim of covering the variety in definitions of the concept, as well as the different perspectives that the concept lends to research in general, and to research with focus on early years education in particular. Results show that the concept has been applied within the most common theoretical perspectives in use today (such as social, cultural and subjective perspectives) with an interesting array of outcomes, such as design of educational methods, analysis of different modes of experiencing and development of self-awareness. The use of this concept becomes a shift toward more emotional perspectives of learning and development that may not be altogether positive, as perezhivanie holds the risk of blurring the border between psychotherapy and education, which is something that would provide new challenges for education in general and especially for teacher education.

Att läsa digitalt, på en datorskärm eller annan enhet, skiljer sig från att läsa på papper. Syftet med den här webbtexten är att fler ska få kunskap om digital läsning. Det är också en viktig förberedelse inför digitaliseringen av de nationella proven.

This article is a part of an ongoing dissertation work with a purpose of describe and develop knowledge about teaching responded to children’s play (Pramling et al, 2019). What happens to children's “free” play1 when teaching is established? The question stems from the idea “children are free” in relation to play (Huizinga, 1949). The Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989) becomes interesting to weave into the discussion, since the CRC are enabling children to feel free. In order to understand why teaching at a preschool can be criticized an understanding of what teaching implicates as well what play implicates in relation to the concept of free must be made. I turn to Arendt (1961) and Berlin (1969) who have different views on the concept of free. What happens if we place free next to teaching?

This theoretical contribution aims to discuss and point out in what way Q-methodology merged with phenomenography can contribute to a more systematic and solid analysis of respondents’ expressed experiences, as well as how phenomenography can contribute as an analytical tool to find viewpoints and statements providing a Q-sorting. Since the start of the development of the research approach, phenomenography has focused on respondents’ conceptions or experiences, and qualitative differences between differently expressed phenomena captured during a qualitative analyze. Critic has been raised against the de-contextualization during the analysis, and by that, neglecting differences of experiences in relation to contextual aspects. Lately, there is a claim that the development of phenomenography as a methodological approach has been sparse, instead there has been a focus on variation theory to enhance the theoretical stance based on the approach. In this paper, the two methodological approaches are discussed, and aspects of strengths which can be used to contribute to each approach’s development are based in previous research. 

Based on an analysis of course syllabi from four Swedish universities, this article aims to illuminate how conceptions of multimodality in these course syllabi frame opportunities for teacher students to interpret and engage in multimodal meaning making. The analysis revealed three conceptualizations of multimodality; as digital, as supporting other learning processes and as knowledge in its own right. Tensions between these conceptualizations were further explored, disclosing that when multimodality was regarded as knowledge in its own right the process of meaning making were in focus. In contrast, the other conceptualizations revealed a focus on representation in the form of a product. A focus on the process of meaning making and relational aspects, rather than representations of knowledge in a product, enable a holistic view on qualitative aspects of multimodality.