Recent research indicates that there is uncertainty among children as well as among adults of where to draw the line between everyday stressors and mental health problems that could indicate a need for a common terminology and language regarding mental health (Wickström & Lindholm, 2020; Hellström & Beckman, 2021). The increased prevalence rates of self-reported mental health problems such as bad mood, difficulty sleeping, headaches or stomachache among youth shows a worrying trend in Sweden as well as internationally (Hagquist et al., 2019; Potrebny et al., 2017). At the same time, mild symptoms of mental health problems can be relatively common and be an expression of everyday challenges (Hellström & Beckman, 2021; Wickström & Lindholm, 2020). This contradictory trend is confirmed in the largescale cross-national survey Health Behavior in School-Aged Children, showing reports of very good health and quality of life among young people in Sweden as well as an increase in self-reported mental health problems (Public Health Agency of Sweden, 2018).

Adolescence is a period that involve many changes in different areas such as increasing academic demands and academic competition, a decrease in teacher-student relationship closeness or school safety, rearrangement of relationships with parents and peers including an increase in social comparison, identity issues, as well as thoughts about the future (Bremberg, 2015; Brown, 2009; Tetzner et al., 2017). In addition, the increased emphasis on high-stakes testing, assessment and grading due to recent school reforms in Sweden have shown potentially negative effects on Swedish pupil’s health (Högberg et al., 2021). There is a need to identify what causes stress in the everyday life of adolescents as they could potentially develop into mental health problems (ref). Studies show that when adolescents and young adults put it into their own words, the most pronounced everyday stressors include academic failures, relationship problems, negative self-evaluations through social comparisons, and other performance-oriented tasks (Gustafsson et al., 2010; Hellström & Beckman, 2021).

To be able to design interventions to decrease mental health problems and increase mental wellbeing for youth a common language is needed. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) provides a conceptual framework and terminology for describing health and functioning in everyday life and can serve as a common framework for developing comparable concepts (WHO, 2001). According to ICF, participation is defined as involvement in life situations promoting health and wellbeing (WHO, 2001). The ICF defines components of health included as domains described from the perspectives of the body, the individual and society. Developing a common language will make it easier to interact, discuss and plan health interventions based on young people’s perceptions (Adolfsson et al., 2018; Augustine et al., 2021; Klang Ibragimova et al., 2011; WHO, 2007). The current study investigates how youth explain stressors in their everyday life that could be conceptualized as everyday challenges and possibly symptoms of mental health problems.  Hence, the aim of this study is to conceptualize adolescents’ experiences of everyday stressors, using the ICF as an analytic tool.MethodThis study is a part of a wider project aiming to test and evaluate an intervention to enhance mental wellbeing among school students using an experience-based co-design. The sample includes 65 adolescents (45 girls and 20 boys) in grades 7–9 at seven schools in southern Sweden. Data collection took place during the autumn of 2020. The youth were identified through a purposive sampling procedure, by a gatekeeper assigned by the principal at each school, with the intention of obtaining a wide distribution of experiences to gain transferability of the results. At each school, eight to twelve participants were included. The participants were told to discuss perceived everyday stressors in pairs/smaller groups and documented words from the discussion on post-it notes. The documented words constitute the empirical data in this study. A data analysis with both manifest and latent elements, inspired by a deductive reasoning approach has been adopted. We have aimed to stay close to the text, describe what the adolescents actually say and describe the visible and obvious in the text. To make the manifest linking processes systematic and consistent, the process of coding the documented words/concepts to ICF codes (e.g., “Handling stress and other psychological demands”, “Global psychological functions” and “Emotional functions”) followed established linking rules based on the ICF (Cieza et al., 2005). To ensure that the latent interpretation could lean on a multidisciplinary background knowledge about child functioning, all three authors with different professional backgrounds conducted individual coding (Fayed et al., 2012). In cases were the authors’ linking processes resulted in different ICF codes, a latent procedure with interpretation of the underlying meaning of the content on the post-it notes were conducted by two of the authors (LH and MS). The meaning of the content on each post-it note were thoroughly discussed until consensus was achieved. 39 number of linkages were discussed jointly by the two researchers in relation to the coding scheme. When consensus was obtained, the exact agreement was 94 percentage inter-coder agreement on the 2nd ICF-level. The study was approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (reg.no. 2019-06430 / 2020-04-07).Expected OutcomesThe findings raise awareness about the concept of everyday stressors among adolescents. The aspects of everyday life that adolescents find challenging and stressful can be conceptualized and guide conversations with and about young people and guide supportive actions. The adolescence in this study expressed high psychological demands in combination with a lack of support, mainly from parents, and a lack of resources, mainly time restraints as great challenges. These demands can most often be related to performing well in school or in social contexts. Demands and their effect on wellbeing are essential aspects in the lives of young people when it comes to everyday stressors that needs to be considered in everyday conversations. For parents, school personnel or other adults this could mean talking to adolescents and young people about overwhelming demands and help them sort out what demands they can influence and what demands are hard for them to tackle alone. Here, the relation between demand and control may be a useful theoretical framework and efforts to strengthen a sense of coherence could be a useful coping strategy providing adolescents and young people with a greater sense of control. In addition to demands, how they are perceived by others and how they compare to others are other sources of stress among the adolescents. Social comparisons can function as tools for self-evaluation and self-enhancement in young people’s identity development. However, when these comparisons become stressful and potentially harmful, parents, school personnel or other adults can talk to young people about alternative strategies for identity development. Based on the results in this study in combination with previous research showing a lack of knowledge surrounding mental health, examples of relevant theoretical frameworks to enhance adults’ and young people’s mental health literacy could be demand/control model, sense of coherence and social comparison theory.References 

Adolfsson, M., Sjöman, M., & Björck-Åkesson, E. (2018). ICF-CY as a framework for understanding child engagement in preschool. Frontiers in Education, 3, 36. Cieza, A., Geyh, S., Chatterji, S., Kostanjsek, N., Ustun, B., & Stucki, G. (2005). ICF linking rules: an update based on lessons learned. J rehabil med, 37(4), 212-218. Fayed, N., Cieza, A., & Bickenbach, J. (2012). Illustrating child-specific linking issues using the Child Health Questionnaire. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 91(13), S189-S198. Gustafsson, J.-E., Allodi Westling, M., Alin Åkerman, B., Eriksson, C., Eriksson, L., Fischbein, S., Granlund, M., Gustafsson, P., Ljungdahl, S., & Ogden, T. (2010). School, learning and mental health: A systematic review. Stockholm: Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien. Hagquist, C., Due, P., Torsheim, T., & Välimaa, R. (2019). Cross-country comparisons of trends in adolescent psychosomatic symptoms–a Rasch analysis of HBSC data from four Nordic countries. Health and quality of life outcomes, 17(1), 1-13. Hellström, L., & Beckman, L. (2021). Life Challenges and Barriers to Help Seeking: Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Voices of Mental Health. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(24), 13101. Högberg, B., Lindgren, J., Johansson, K., Strandh, M., & Petersen, S. (2021). Consequences of school grading systems on adolescent health: evidence from a Swedish school reform. Journal of education policy, 36(1), 84-106. Klang Ibragimova, N., Pless, M., Adolfsson, M., Granlund, M., & Björck-Åkesson, E. (2011). Using content analysis to link texts on assessment and intervention to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health-version for Children and Youth (ICF-CY). Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 43(8), 728-733. Potrebny, T., Wiium, N., & Lundegård, M. M.-I. (2017). Temporal trends in adolescents’ self-reported psychosomatic health complaints from 1980-2016: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS one, 12(11), e0188374. Public Health Agency of Sweden, (2018). Skolbarns hälsovanor i Sverige 2017/18 [The Public Health Agency. Health Behaviour in School-aged Children, Swedish report 2017/18]. Tetzner, J., Becker, M., & Maaz, K. (2017). Development in multiple areas of life in adolescence: Interrelations between academic achievement, perceived peer acceptance, and self-esteem. International journal of behavioral development, 41(6), 704-713. WHO. (2001). International Classification of Functioning, DIsability and Health. W. H. Organization. WHO. (2007). International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth (ICF-CY). W. H. Organization. Wickström, A., & Lindholm, S. K. (2020). Young people’s perspectives on the symptoms asked for in the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children survey. Childhood, 27(4), 450-467.

Over the last 20 years systematic quality work has become the main tool for developing Swedish schools (Håkansson & Adolfson, 2022). According to the Education Act (2010:800), quality work – at the local educational authority level as well as in the schools themselves – should be conducted in a systematic and continuous way, with respect to planning, follow-up, analyses, and actions taken to develop education. By continuous assessments and evaluations, the goal of the systematic quality work is to identify and address issues that need improvement for students to achieve the educational goals (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2012a). A review of the literature reveals the problematic aspects of evaluation practices and quality management, such as the risk to focus on what is measurable rather than what is desirable as well as the diverse definitions of quality (Lundström, 2015). However, what the local quality systems consist of, how they have been designed, and what practices and perceptions of quality they entail is less understood.

Previous research has primarily focused on individual schools’ quality work (Håkansson, 2013; Jarl, et al., 2017) , while less attention has been paid to the way the local educational authorities conduct systematic quality work. Thus, the aim of this study is to fill this knowledge gap by investigating how the ideas of systematic quality work in the Swedish Education Act's requirements are interpreted, translated, and materialized at the local education authority level.

The following research questions will guide our study:

1. How do local educational authorities interpret and translate the systematic quality work regulations and requirements in the Education Act?

2. How do these interpretations och translations materialize in the local quality work practices?

Theoretically we approach the phenomena of systematic quality management within the Swedish school sector from an organizing (Czarniawska, 2014) and practice-oriented perspective (Gherardi, 2019; Nicolini, 2009; 2012). These theoretical perspectives provide us a framework to analyse how the institutionalized ideas (as mental images that are well spread within the society) of systematic quality management - through authorities, policies, regulations, and quality models - are translated and materialized (Czarniawska & Joerges, 1996) into the local quality work organization and practices. The latter refers to the practices of doing and saying something related to the ideas of systematic quality management in different social contexts and time (Gherardi, 2019; Nicolini, 2009; 2012). Although the national guidelines involve the entire school system, these are interpreted, translated, and materialized by actors operating in a local context, which means that quality is understood in different ways and that the systematic quality work is conducted in different ways. An organizational perspective also includes aspects related to the tensions that arise when different interests and logics collide (for example between political, administrative, and professional interests and logics; see Czarniawska, 2014).

Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedIn this project five Swedish municipalities have participated in a study of what systematic quality work means at a local education authority level and what practices materialize from the national regulations. At the heart of the study is the recognition that quality systems are locally designed to meet the national requirements, thereby allowing diverse interpretations and translations to occur.

The local education authorities can be understood as mediators, partly between state and municipal control, partly between needs and agendas at different levels in the chain of command. This understanding also characterizes the design of the study. The empirical data has been collected through three complementary methods: document studies, observations, and interviews. The document studies consist of analysing different central documents, e.g., quality reports, provided by the local education authorities covering the past two years. We have also observed meetings related to the systematic quality work (so called “quality-dialogues”). Besides the local education authorities, the key actors in these meetings were the principals, assistant principals, and teacher representatives of the school being followed up. 

The interviews were conducted with key persons in five different local Swedish education authorities individually by the authors. The duration of the interviews was approximately one hour, and they were conducted either face-to-face, via Zoom, or telephone. The interviews were based on an interview guide including questions about the participants’ role, their experiences, and activities in relation to the systematic quality work, the expected and actual effects, as well as challenges and potential for improvement of systematic quality work. The interviews were recorded with informed consent and were later transcribed verbatim.

All the research material described above is now gathered and will be analysed during the Spring 2023. As a tool for data analyses, we will apply Bacchi´s (2012) method “What is the problem represented to be?”.

Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsEqual education for all is includes three fundamental aspects: equal access to education, equal quality of education and the compensatory nature of education (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2012b). All students should receive an equivalent education, regardless of the area they live in, the socio-economic conditions they come from, or their functional variations. But study after study shows that Swedish students' schooling is not equal, and that who you are and where you live play a decisive role in the quality of the education you receive. Many of the last decade's school policy reforms and targeted initiatives have had as their overarching goal to address this lack of equality, so far with few concrete results. In order to break this trend, there has been an increasing focus on the local educational authorities’ responsibility for the individual school's shortcomings, quality, and development. Furthermore, lack of equality is a problem within rather than between different local educational authorities. Although there is paucity of research, the limited results show that schools are often isolated with their problems and that there is a lack of supportive structures and a functional systematic quality work (Jarl, et al., 2017; Swedish Schools Inspectorate, 2021).

The paper will present results from the ongoing study, results that we believe will have relevance both in the Swedish, Nordic and in a wider European context. Through our investigation we will contribute knowledge regarding how the National Educational Act's requirements for systematic quality work are interpreted, translated, and materialized at the local level, and how this in turn shapes, promotes or hinders the quality work of individual schools.

This is the editorial paper for the virtual special issue “Using Q methodology in higher education: Opportunities and challenges”, consisting of nine original research studies from different international contexts. In addition to presenting novel findings, contributors were invited to discuss the following two questions at the center of the special issue call: In what sense has Q methodology served as a fitting approach to investigate subjectivity in higher education? What methodological opportunities and challenges arise with Q methodology in higher education settings? This editorial provides an overview and discussion of the various justifications mentioned for Q methodology. Furthermore, it collates the opportunities and challenges contributors discuss in relation to their studies using this almost 90-year-old methodological approach. The editorial paper concludes with recommendations for future Q methodological studies in higher education and beyond.

Middle leaders were required to navigate the complexities of educational disruption and respond to internal and external demands throughout the pandemic. This shifting educational context necessitated a sensemaking process to better understand and act on the issues which gave rise to ambiguities in their school environment. This study investigated the sensemaking processes employed by 27 middle leaders from 20 government schools in Qatar, at a time when COVID- related restrictions had been lifted and face-to-face learning had resumed. To collect and analyze data, Q-methodology was applied. A 34-statement Q-sample was developed based on a proposed conceptual framework of sensemaking during times of disruption which included three dimen- sions: intrapersonal, relational, and institutional. Q-factor analysis revealed two significantly differ- ent viewpoints regarding how participants enacted certain practices in response to educational disruption. These were (1) sensemaking as a relational endeavor and (2) sensemaking as an agentic endeavor. The two viewpoints differed in sources of sensemaking and its mechanisms. Sensemaking offered a useful theoretical construct as it revealed middle leaders’ perceptions and enactments, and their struggles in maintaining a balance between structure and agency. The study has implica- tions for middle leadership policy and practices in times of educational disruption and beyond, with its distinctive methodological and contextual contributions. 

The transition from pre-service education to in-service teaching can result in a reality shock. Negative experiences might lead to new teachers suffering from ill-being and leaving the profession. This contributes to a teacher shortage, which is currently lingering in various countries. This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of a possible gap between newly qualified teachers’ professional competence and the profession’s requirements. Data is drawn from school principals’ participation in a Q methodological study in Sweden. They were sampled because of their critical role in teachers’ transition into their professional practice. Results show some consensus regarding new teachers’ ability to plan teaching, offer pupils different ways of expressing their knowledge and work with digital tools. In addition, principals are skeptical if new teachers can competently deal with pupils with special needs, or parents in difficult conversations. The analysis also yields a range of disagreements among principals and illustrates the complexity of the subject matter. The study accentuates the importance of distinguishing between formal and actual teacher competence. While new teachers are regarded as competent in the theoretical and even practical aspects of their professional activity, they struggle with the real and situated enactment of their plans. The study presents suggestions for future research and evidence-based recommendations for policy and practice.

The study explores thirty compulsory schoolteachers’ experiences of exposure to exclusionary behaviour and comments by fellow colleagues, students, or their legal guardians at the workplace. Using analytic terms exclusionary processes and intersectionality, and by interviewing teachers who have experienced exclusion due to norms concerning gender, sexuality, ethnicity, race, and religion, I will answer following research questions: How do teachers experience exclusion and how does it affect them? What makes exclusion at workplace possible and how can one act on it? Of particular interest is subtle exclusion, as it is hard to detect and has been neglected be professionals and Swedish researchers, despite the evidence of high rate of occurrence and negative psychological, social, and professional consequences. Theoretical inspiration comes from research on intersectionality and microaggressions in the workplace. The study is based on interviews with teachers, who have volunteered to talk about their own experiences of exclusionary processes. The interviewees, working in different educational settings, define, describe, and are asked to problematize and contextualize exclusionary processes that affect them. The study shows that the interviewees are subjected to exclusionary processes because they do not occupy normative position in the local context. Gender-based exclusionary processes are often interdependent of several identity-based power differentials that may or may not operate simultaneously (for example age, gender, ethnicity and educational background or whiteness norms, religion, and gender may intersect each other, reinforcing or weakening different power axes). Additionally, the interviewed teachers express that there is a lack of institutional support for change, highlighting the importance of developing analytical tools to understand and eventually tackle subtle exercises of exclusionary power. Nowhere in the analyzed empirical material has there been talk of attempts at collective action where the teachers join or themselves organize social movements and act collectively, even though, according to Bonilla-Silva (2018), these forms of resistance make the largest impact in terms of changing social structures of exclusion. The lack of collective action and institutional support highlights the need for a paradigm shift.

This article reports on an evaluation study of the Qatar University Pedagogical Development (PD) Program. The PD program advocated pedagogical advancement towards student-centered learning (SCL), which has been highlighted as an important part of the university's overall strategy. This study explored 30 university teachers' perspectives on the sources that best supported their professional learning from this long-term PD program. Q methodology research was adopted to collect and analyze data qualitatively and quantitatively. A three-dimensional theoretical framework addressing individual characteristics, choice of actions, and interactions with the environment was used to generate the data collection tool. Q factor analysis yielded four diverse viewpoints as follows: 1) applying newly-learned pedagogical knowledge and skills to practice, 2) being provided supportive environmental conditions, 3) developing new pedagogical beliefs, and 4) taking agentic actions. The implications of this study emphasized institutional systemic and systematic supports as essential for long-term success of academic development.

Contemporary relational theorists offer an alternative vision of pedagogy in a concerning era of teacher accountability. Internationally, teachers experience challenging educational environments that reflect troubled social histories across differences of socioeconomic class, race and ethnicity, gender, and ability status. Climate change, civil and economic instability, and war add global pressures that bring immigrant and refugee students into classrooms around the world. In the United States, histories of slavery, genocide, and indigenous removal continue to resound through all levels of education. Putting the teacher-student relationship at the heart of education offers a way to serve all students, allowing them to flourish in spite of the many challenges we face in the 21st century.

Relational pedagogy is inspired by a range of philosophical writings: this article focuses on theorists whose work is informed by the concept of caring, as developed by Nel Noddings, with the critical perspective of Paulo Freire, or the ethics of Emmanuel Levinas. Although these approaches to ethical educational relations do not necessarily mesh together easily, the tensions among them can bear fruit that informs our pedagogy. After outlining the theoretical contours of relational pedagogy, we will turn to more recent empirical work in the field. New studies help us understand how to turn theory into classroom practices that will benefit all students.

Bystanders can affect workplace bullying by engaging in active or passive behaviours. However, there is a knowledge gapregarding how perceived work environment factors relate to bystander behaviour. The study aim was to investigate how job demands, and job resources are associated with bystander behaviour in workplace bullying. An online questionnaire wasdistributed to a sample of health care workers at two time points. Longitudinal data were obtained from 1144 respondents. Cross-lagged panel models were used to investigate associations between job demands, job resources, and bystander behaviours over time. The results showed that social support was positively related to active behaviours, whereas influence at work was negatively related to both active and passive behaviours. Perceived illegitimate tasks were negatively related to active and positively related to passive behaviours, whereas emotional demands had an unanticipated opposite pattern of relationships. The findings provide new information about how factors in the organisational and social work environment are associated with active and passive bystander behaviours in workplace bullying. Specifically, the results expand current understanding of workplace bullying by relating bystander behaviour to the organisational context.

Background: Recent research indicates that understanding how children and youth perceive mental health, how it is manifests, and where the line between mental health issues and everyday challenges should be drawn, is complex and varied. Consequently, it is important to investigate how children and youth perceive and communicate about mental health. With this in mind, our goal is to synthesize the literature on how children and youth (ages 10-25) perceive and conceptualize mental health.

Methods: We conducted a preliminary search to identify the keywords, employing a search strategy across electronic databases including Medline, Scopus, CINAHL, PsychInfo, Sociological abstracts and Google Scholar. The search encompassed the period from September 20, 2021, to September 30, 2021. This effort yielded 11 eligible studies. Our scoping review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR Checklist.

Results: As various aspects of uncertainty in understanding of mental health have emerged, the results indicate the importance of establishing a shared language concerning mental health. This is essential for clarifying the distinctions between everyday challenges and issues that require treatment.

Conclusion: We require a language that can direct children, parents, school personnel and professionals toward appropriate support and aid in formulating health interventions. Additionally, it holds significance to promote an understanding of the positive aspects of mental health. This emphasis should extend to the competence development of school personnel, enabling them to integrate insights about mental well-being into routine interactions with young individuals. This approach could empower children and youth to acquire the understanding that mental health is not a static condition but rather something that can be enhanced or, at the very least, maintained.

According to the national framing of the Swedish preschool system, educators are expected to act as mediators of the dominant language while simultaneously promoting multilingualism. Previous research shows that educators display an insecurity as well as a lack of knowledge of how to implement this dual undertaking. This article examines educators’ dual undertaking of linguistic diversity (changeability), on the one hand, and a national standard (stability) on the other, based on ethnographic data from three preschools with socioeconomic differences. The data are analysed employing concepts from pedagogic theory and linguistic diversity. Bernstein’s competence model with weak classification and framing accommodates translanguaging, giving room for the children’s own linguistic initiatives. Translanguaging is understood from a local as well as a global perspective; the local is based on global norms and global norms relate to local practices. The results show that educators support children as linguistic and multilingual beings. Unlike previous studies showing that middle-class children benefit from the competence model, this study shows how children with different socio-economic backgrounds benefit from the competence model. The diversity of language practice in Swedish pre-schools has the potential to create opportunities for new forms of agency and identity for children.

Taking as our point of departure a prevention initiative involving Arabic-speaking mothers and local emergency services in a designated ‘vulnerable area’ in Sweden, the chapter aims to show how shifting notions of vulnerability and corresponding ideas of learning and responsibility work to entrench ethnic and gender divides and stereotypes, even as they promote an ethics of attentiveness and awareness. While a conventional understanding of vulnerability, in accordance with established in/equality metrics, conceives of minority-ethnic populations in deprived areas as amongst those most in need of empowerment and capacity building, a more affirming approach views vulnerability as a precondition for mutual learning, not limited to deprived or minoritized people, groups or spaces. As the term vulnerability has dispersed through contemporary prevention discourses, the ‘classical’ us/them or friend/enemy distinction is being increasingly displaced, amounting to a ‘flattening’ and ‘whitewashing’ of differentiations. The disavowal of the structural conditions of those involved in prevention measures is not simply a decoupling of vulnerability from power relations, but is itself a political strategy.

In The Relational Dimension of the Teaching Profession, we follow four teachers who meet their students in a particularly evolving way. Deploying what is described as pedagogical tact and stance, the author has filmed teachers in order to observe how they create pedagogical meeting spaces wherein the teachers and students meet as people, thus developing an understanding of trustful, relational teaching in practice.The relational dimension of the teaching profession is something that has hitherto played a hidden role in teacher education. Nevertheless, well-functioning teacher-student relationships are a fundamental part of successful teaching. Including a multi-relational perspective on teaching and education (Pedagogical Relational Teachership, or, PeRT) as well as a taxonomy with an observation scheme for student teachers and researchers, this book is aimed at teacher students at undergraduate and advanced levels and is also suitable for teachers in practice.

Based on bioecological systems theory, engagement is the mechanism for children's learning and development. However, children with hyperactive behavior tend to be less engaged in early childhood education and care (ECEC), which might negatively influence their learning and development. On the other hand, social interaction might support children with hyperactive behavior staying engaged in these activities. The current study investigates whether the association between teacher responsiveness, positive peer-to-child interaction (i.e., the quality of peer interaction) and children's hyperactive behavior and engagement levels are transactional. Two hundred and three children aged 1 to 5 in Swedish preschool settings were followed. Data was collected at three points in time between 2012 and 2014. This data was then analyzed to identify associations and how they changed over time. Transactional paths were found between children's levels of core engagement, teacher responsiveness, and the quality of positive peer-to-child interaction. Children's core engagement increases the probability of better quality positive peer-to-child interaction and teacher responsiveness, increasing core engagement over time. Teacher responsiveness and the quality of positive peer-to-child interaction are predictors of reduced hyperactive behavior over time. Meanwhile, children's hyperactive behavior does not significantly influence these two types of social interaction, that is, decreased hyperactivity may not improve social interaction to the same extent as increased engagement. The findings are discussed in relation to how special support for children with hyperactive behavior can be designed, with a focus on increasing core engagement in preschool settings.

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been implemented with different levels of success in first-year engineering education in response to the rapidly growing requirements for a higher degree of learner agency in graduates. This study is contextualised in a systemic problem-based learning environment and explores the sources of first-year engineering students' learner agency development in relation to the main features and skillsets of PBL, such as teamwork, student-centredness, problem orientation and project organisation. Q methodology was employed, including both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis based on a 39-statement Q sample and 102 valid Q sorts. The Q analysis identified four statistically distinct viewpoints on the key sources of learner agency for students: (1) Team dynamism and self-directed learning within the project team, (2) Trust and peer support within the project team, (3) Individual efforts at career readiness and (4) Team efforts at project management. The findings highlight the potential of PBL for offering more and better pedagogical support for first-year engineering students in developing learner agency.

The Relational Dimension of the School Leader Profession 

An ethnographic study was carried out at the Oak school, situated in a segregated area in Sweden, where the school leader and the teachers handle major pedagogical and social challenges. With a clear focus on changes in teaching and learning, the school leader decided to face the challenges by developing a distributed leadership (Gronn, 2000), which needs to be based on trust (Liljenberg, 2016). Viewing leadership from a relational perspective enables the visualisation of interpersonal relationships (Gergen, 2009). With a focus on school development, the aim of the study was to explore the complexity in developing a distributed leadership over time. From a relational perspective (Ljungblad, 2021) a specific aim was to explore how the school leader relate to her personnel, face to face, in everyday practice, which is presented in this presentation. The school leader was shadowed one day a week during a year, enabling a profound data production. The field work consisted of observations of spontaneous meetings with the personnel. An observation scheme based on pedagogical tact (Ljungblad, 2023) was used for detailed observations of the interaction in scheduled meetings. In the end of the day the school leader participated in meaning making dialogues (Ljungblad, 2016) about events during the day. Furthermore, 32 semi-structured interviews with the school leader and the teachers were conducted. 

The Key Indicator Taxonomy of Relational Teaching (Ljungblad, 2022) was used as an analytic tool for analysing the school leader’s way of relating to the personnel on a micro-level. The Taxonomy consists of six key indicators and the characteristics of each key indicator were analysed. The results are presented under the themes incalculable tact, con-tact, pedagogical tactfulness, responsible considerations, curiosity and pathfinder. A general pattern in the results highlight a school leader’s tactful balancing act in developing the school organization, with the necessity to constantly balance organizational factors and interpersonal values. Over time, in the collaboration between the school leader and the personnel a trustful climate emerged. At the same time the school enhanced its performances. Hence, the results underline the importance of trusting leadership, which creates opportunities for teachers to act and operate freely, face new challenges, grow and contribute to the school to their full potential. To conclude, the results give insight into that a relational leadership has to be lived every day, face to face. In line with this insight, the findings elucidated the vulnerability within interdependent professional relationships where the school leader and the personnel mutually needed to find ways to trust each other while working in the incalculable processes of school development. 

References

Gergen, K. (2009). Relational Being: Beyond Self and Community. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gronn, P. (2002). “Distributed leadership as a unit of analysis.” The Leadership Quarterly, 13(4), 423–451.

Liljenberg, M. (2016). “Teacher leadership modes and practices in a Swedish context – a case study.” School Leadership & Management, 36(1), 21–40.

Ljungblad, A-L. (2023). The Relational Dimension of the Teaching profession. NY: Peter Lang.

Ljungblad, A-L. (2022 accepted). Key Indicator Taxonomy of Relational Teaching, Journal of Education for Teaching.

Ljungblad, A-L. (2021). “Pedagogical Relational Teachership (PeRT) – a multi-relational perspective.” International Journal of Inclusive Education, 25(7), 860–876.

Ljungblad, A.-L. 2016. Takt och hållning – en relationell studie om det oberäkneliga i matematikundervisningen [Tact and Stance – A relational study about the incalculable in mathematics teaching]. PhD diss., Gothenburg Studies in Educational Sciences, 381. Gothenburg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. 

Research Findings: Few studies address the contextual conditions for preschool staff in supporting children in preschool, especially in classrooms with high proportions of early second language learners (L2-learners). The aim of the study was to describe preschool staff’s support of children’s engagement in units with high proportions of L2-learners. In an exploratory mixed-methods approach, eleven interviews (11 units and 27 staff) were conducted, analyzed through content analysis. For the observations, 121 preschool staff (31 units) were added, and 594 children were observed (42 classrooms), analyzed through T-tests to investigate staff’s contextual differences in units with high proportions (>80%) of L2-learners (L2-groups) and child groups with high proportions (>80%) of L1-learners. Content analysis revealed a main theme of a commitment to establish relationships with the children while managing cultural values and norms. In interacting with children individually, the staff wanted to be close to the children and acknowledging them. In these aspects, no differences were found between staff between groups. Differences occurred in interaction with children in groups. Staff in L2-groups struggled with routines, mediating values and encouraging children learning from each other. Policy/practice: Staff in L2-groups need further encouragement from the organization to manage the needs of children in L2-groups without straining their commitments.

Since the turn of the millennium, a new phenomenon has arisen on the global stage, as girls have increasingly begun to raise their voices. In an effort to achieve new philosophical understandings of contemporary childhoods in a post-truth era, the present article examines this Girl Rising movement from an existential perspective. In doing so, the article aims to problematise children’s right to be heard and listened to, as enshrined in Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. More specifically, the article explores children as rights-holders and their rights-subject position and how these positions are supported (or not) by adults in different ways. Throughout the analysis, Greta Thunberg is used as a case study to illustrate the phenomenon under study. This new movement highlights children’s right to be heard as a valuable right. The defence of this view relies on the claim that at the heart of adult’s acknowledgement lies the uniqueness of each child and the implications of this uniqueness. Taking into consideration the realisation of children’s rights, powerful stakeholders who seek to silence children’s voices are also identified, as are worldwide adult acknowledgements intended to empower girls to exist ‘in’ and ‘with’ the world in a ‘grown-up’ way.

Teachers are considered key drivers of the education for sustainable development (ESD) agenda. They play a critical role in ensuring the attainment of sustainability goals, yet require early opportunities to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes, which will enable them to foster ESD. Therefore, this study documented the development and evaluation of a framework consisting of the core competencies that pre-service teachers need to achieve ESD in Qatar. Framed by complexity theory, the competency framework was developed into a Q-sample, which was then evaluated by multiple education stakeholders, including teacher educators, professional development specialists, ministry specialists, and teachers. The results of the Q-analysis indicated six diverse viewpoints and revealed a lack of overarching consensus statements among the viewpoints. Several statements were also considered controversial as different participants revealed contrasting views in regard to their importance for pre-service teachers. Implications for practice using the competency framework as a dynamic communication and reflection blueprint for implementing ESD are discussed.

This special issue consists of five original research papers from four European countries. By applying different methodologies (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods), the contributions aim to better understand teachers' beliefs about multilingualism in a time of increasingly globalised societies and intensified migration flows. The studies cover all educational stages and include pre-service as well as in-service teachers, and teacher educators. Both individual and collective beliefs are considered. While two of the studies are cross-sectional, the other three apply a pre-post study design in order to investigate whether teachers' beliefs can be influenced through adequate learning opportunities. The special issue is wrapped up by a commentary piece that links the findings and issues raised by the individual papers and addresses four pressing matters which should be considered to advance further research on teachers' beliefs about multilingualism. In this editorial, we briefly introduce the concept of teachers' beliefs and explain its relevance for teaching and learning in multilingual settings. Based on an ongoing review study, we provide a summary of the most commonly used methodologies in research on teachers' beliefs about multilingualism. We conclude with a summary of the five original papers as well as the commentary piece in this special issue.

In Scandinavia, plurilingualism has been embraced as an important goal in language curricula. However, research shows that teachers struggle to understand what plurilingualism is and how it can be implemented. To address this lack of clarity, we analysed the curricula for the three main language subjects of schooling in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden with the purpose of identifying which pluralistic approaches can be found in them. We based our analysis on the three main approaches described in The Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures: integrated didactic approach (IDA), intercomprehension between related languages (ICRL) and eveil aux langues (EAL). We found several similarities across the Scandinavian countries, but also some major differences, suggesting that plurilingual education in these countries will likely have different learning outcomes for the students. For example, IDA is lacking in the Swedish curriculum, and the goals for ICRL are more ambitious in Denmark than in the other countries. Furthermore, Norway and Sweden include national minority languages in their pluralistic approaches, whereas no attention is given to language diversity in regions with close political bonds to Denmark, such as the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland.

As the privatisation of the public sector has grown rapidly in Sweden in the last decade, private companies have become an imperative part of education. Private companies sell and deliver consultancy, hardware, software, services, etc. to schools and municipalities. This study examines a growing rate of activities from companies and businesses working within public sectors. It also examines consequences of cooperation between private and public actors. Findings show that multiple actors meet in different forms and with different functions, in multiple ways and with diverse agendas. What can be discerned is strong Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), where actors and networks are linked together, directly or indirectly, in fluid and flexible relations and partnerships. Private actors on educational markets not only becomes edupreneurs but policyneurs, a new concept introduced. As private actors engage in the policy making and the public sphere, a complex and disorganised landscape with new formations of strong actors emerge, entailing a number of consequences. One implication is the establishment of lobbyism in the Swedish educational landscape, with potentially negative consequences for democracy. One conclusion is that new formations of power dissolve the roles and functions of private and public actors within education, with implications on decision-making, transparency, and democracy. 

his paper reports on a two-year project focusing on health com-municators working with refugees in Sweden. By employing parti-cipatory action research and the theory of practice architectures, the study examines a health information practice for newly arrived refugees and highlights its potentials and constraints. The joint meetings that occurred between the participating researcher and the health communicators during the project were the primary source for collaboration, development, and data collection. The findings show that perceptions of limitations due to existing power structures initially hindered the group from experimenting with new activities for the groups of refugees. However, as the communicators gained experience, the conversations in the joint meeting practice changed, which facilitated the action research process. By challenging common working methods, which were initially perceived as causes for concern, the communicators recog-nised that the concretisation of the health information they wanted to convey could also function as a useful pedagogical tool. The analysis shows that, despite constraints during the working process, the participatory action research practice created a democratic work process which empowered all participants. Collective talks in the communicative space nurtured an architecture that generated new ideas and made it possible to leave the classroom-based teaching situation for new ways of learning about health and physical activity. The findings also show that participatory action research made the communicators aware of their capacity to imple-ment change by offering various movement-based activities that benefited the participating refugees and increased their agency and empowermentT

BackgroundWorkplace bullying is widespread in the healthcare sector and the negative effects are well known. However, less attention has been paid to bystanders who witness bullying in the workplace. Bystanders can affect the bullying process by engaging in active, passive, or destructive behaviors. There is a need to study work-related and organizational consequences of witnessing bullying and bystander behaviors.ObjectiveThe aim was to explore how witnessed workplace bullying and bystander behaviors are associated with work-related and organizational consequences, such as perceived quality of care, work engagement, and turnover intentions, among healthcare workers over time.DesignLongitudinal design. An online questionnaire was administered twice over the course of six months.Setting(s)Employees in the healthcare sector in Sweden, such as physicians, nurses, and assistant nurses, responded to the questionnaire.Participants1144 participants provided longitudinal data.MethodsStructural equation modeling was used to explore the associations between witnessed bullying, bystander behavior, work-related and organizational factors over time.ResultsWitnessed workplace bullying (B = − 0.18, 95 % CI [− 0.23 to − 0.12]) and the bystander outsider role (B = − 0.24, 95 % CI [− 0.29 to − 0.19]) were statistically significantly related to a decrease in perceived quality of care. Work engagement was statistically significantly predicted by all three bystander roles over time; positively by the defender role (B = 0.11, 95 % CI [0.05–0.17]), and negatively by the outsider role (B = − 0.23, 95 % CI [− 0.29 to − 0.16]), and the assistant role (B = − 0.32, 95 % CI [− 0.41 to − 0.24]). The outsider role (B = 0.12, 95 % CI [0.02–0.22]), the assistant role (B = 0.17, 95 % CI [0.03–0.30]), and witnessed workplace bullying (B = 0.18, 95 % CI [0.08–0.29]), all positively predicted increased turnover intentions at a subsequent time point.ConclusionsIn addition to the direct negative impact workplace bullying has on those targeted by it, witnessing bullying and taking different bystander roles can have work-related and organizational consequences by influencing perceived care quality, employees' work engagement, and their intention to leave the organization.

The concept of subjectivity has long been controversially discussed in academic contexts without ever reaching consensus. As the main approach for a science of subjectivity, we applied Q methodology to investigate subjective perspectives about ‘subjectivity’. The pur- pose of this work was therefore to contribute with clarity about what is meant with this central concept and in what way the understanding might differ among Q researchers and beyond. Forty-six participants from different disciplinary backgrounds and geographical locations sorted 39 statements related to subjectivity. Factor analysis yielded five different perspectives. Employing a team approach, the factors were carefully and holistically inter- preted in an iterative manner. Preliminary factor interpretations were then discussed with prominent experts in the field of Q methodology. These interviewees were selected due to their clear representation by a specific factor and led to a further enrichment of the nar- ratives presented. Despite some underlying consensus concerning subjectivity’s dynamic and complex structure and being used as individuals’ internal point of view, perspectives differ with regard to the measurability of subjectivity and the role context plays for their construction. In light of the wide range of characterisations, we suggest the presented per- spectives to be used as a springboard for future Q studies and urge researchers, within and beyond the Q community, to be more specific regarding their application of the concept. Furthermore, we discuss the importance of attempting to deeply understand research par- ticipants in order to truly contribute to a science of subjectivity.

INTRODUCTION: Addressing a literature gap on leaner agency in health profession education, this study explores students' perceptions on which aspects of a problem-based learning (PBL) environment cradle their leaner agency enactment.

METHODS: Thirty-eight students from a newly established undergraduate dental medicine programme in Qatar participated in the study. Q methodology was adopted to collect and analyse data both qualitatively and quantitatively. A 40-statement Q-set was established based on a proposed conceptual framework of learner agency in PBL, including three dimensions-intrapersonal, behavioural and environmental.

RESULTS: Q methodological factor analysis identified four significantly different student viewpoints, which underscored participants' enactment of learner agency addressing the intrapersonal, behavioural and environmental dimensions of the conceptual framework. Despite differences in opinion regarding sources of learner agency, the four student viewpoints unanimously underscore the importance of PBL facilitators' expertise to nurture and develop agency amongst undergraduate students. Post-sorting qualitative data further confirmed the quantitative analysis. Time constraints and workload were identified as the main challenges by the participants.

CONCLUSIONS: This study explored enactment of learner agency as perceived by undergraduate dental students in a PBL curriculum. The findings of this study provide new insights into participants' subjective understanding of learner agency in a PBL curriculum in dentistry. Structured support is needed for students having no prior PBL experiences to develop their learner agency at both intrapersonal and behavioural (self-regulated learning) dimensions, and to ensure they interact with their learning environment proactively.

Traditionally bilingual Maltese school populations are increasingly linguistically diverse, due to intensified migration flows. To shed light on central issues to be addressed by policy makers, school administrators, researchers and teacher trainers, collective beliefs of Maltese primary school teachers regarding their conceptual understanding and pedagogical actions concerning multilingualism are investigated. Through the application of Q methodology and focus group interviews, data from twenty-one in-service teachers from six different colleges were collected. Using inverted factor analysis, three factors were extracted for each of the components (understanding and pedagogy). Detailed narratives for each group of collective teachers' beliefs were described and supplemented with teachers' validating comments. Findings indicate that having a positive understanding of multilingualism does not necessarily imply positive pedagogical beliefs and vice versa. In Malta's inherently bilingual education system, teachers tend to accept and welcome children's languages in their classrooms and encourage the learning of additional languages. However, possibly due to a lack of adequate training on the subject, there is scepticism regarding whether and how to effectively draw on multilingualism in the classroom. Additionally, the need arises for more teacher autonomy and agency to make decisions regarding classroom language practices, and for a more comprehensive Maltese national language education policy.

University teachers are expected to continuously improve their practice, but research about their viewpoints of future-ready universities is scarce. The paper contributes to educational research through paired Q methodology and investigates university teachers' shifting views of successful future learning environments, while being forced to move to fully digital solutions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Four pre-pandemic (January 2020) and two while-pandemic viewpoints (November 2020) are qualitatively interpreted and show that lived experiences during the pandemic led to a polarization of participants' subjective perspectives. Despite challenging conditions, university teachers view digital and distance teaching more positively, but remain skeptical concerning technologically-enhanced on-campus learning environments. Results also indicate a largely unchanged consensus regarding the importance of critical thinking and creativity. This exploratory study's results allow forward-thinking dialogues about new policies in potentially ever more hybrid learning environments with various educational stakeholders, both within the case university in Sweden and other educational institutions.

Purpose This study determines which aspects of the intended object of learning (planned by teachers during the first phase of a learning study) is made discernible from a learners' perspective. In a learning study, the intended, enacted, and lived object of learning are considered. This study focuses on the learning material used by teachers while designing a lesson. Design/methodology/approach In many learning studies, variation theory is used to design lessons, which predicts difficulties in and possibilities for student learning. The data consisted of a lesson part - instruction through a video-recorded dance choreography - employed to enhance primary school (in a Swedish context, grade 4) students' dancing skills in the subject of Physical Education and Health. The choreography comprised five different sequences, where a variation occurred when the subsequent (new) sequence was applied to the previous movement pattern. The sequences acted as building blocks, where the students' transitions from one movement pattern to another were logical and distinguishable. Findings The results of this study show in what way an analysis of learning material, based on variation theory, can help teachers take into account the level of complexity of the object of learning. The results also identify which parts of a lesson design can be predicted to present a higher degree of challenge and by that more difficult to grasp, especially for students with different educational needs. Originality/value Lessons may be designed based on theoretical assumptions to ensure effective classroom learning and provide guidance to teachers based on student needs.

Measures of association, which typically require pairwise data, are widespread in many aspects of educational research. However, due to the need to reduce their content to equal numbers of units of analysis, they are rarely found in the analysis of textbooks. In this paper, we present two methods for overcoming this limitation, one through the use of disjoint sections and the other through the use of overlapping moving averages. Both methods preserve the temporal structure of data and enable researchers to calculate a measure of association which, in this case, is the complementary Euclidean average distance, as an indicator of the books’ similarity. We illustrate these approaches by means of a comparative analysis of three commonly-used English and Swedish mathematics textbooks. Analyses were focused on individual tasks, which had all been coded according to the presence or absence of particular characteristics. Both methods produce nearly identical results and are robust with respect to both densely and sparsely occurring characteristics. For both methods, widening the aggregation window results in a slightly increased level of quantified similarity, which is the result of the ‘smoothing effect’. We discuss the relation between the window width and the choice of research question.

This study used video feedback in a collaborative development study to help improve teachers’ perceptions of the learning needs of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and intellectual disabilities (ID) and enhance their active participation in the classroom. Crucially, teachers need the necessary skills to discern students’ subtle communications, as students with ASD and co-occurring ID may have reduced or non-existent verbal language and may express their needs mainly through behaviours. The first author video recorded ten classroom lessons and collaborated with three teachers to discuss the recordings in six meetings over the course of one semester.

The data used for this analysis were taken from the first (February) and last (June) collaborative meetings of the semester. The results show how collaborative video feedback can influence teachers’ judgements about students’ learning and further their professional development; the subtle signals that students use to communicate become more visible when the video recordings are viewed multiple times. The collaborative discussions facilitated the teachers’ understanding of students’ behaviours and actions. In addition, the teachers’ focus shifted from identifying general aspects of their students’ behaviours to their skills and knowledge.

In this paper we present analyses of three textbooks currently used in the teaching of mathematics to year-one children in England. One is an established English-authored textbook, while the others are Singaporean-authored imports promoted by government as solutions to perceptions of systemic failure. Every task in each textbook was coded against a set of eight number-related competences known to support children’s learning in both short and long terms. Such a framework, which is literature-derived and curriculum-independent, enables meaningful comparison of materials deriving from different cultural contexts. Analyses of the proportions of all tasks coded for the different competences showed that none of the three books adequately addresses all eight competences, although the English-authored comes closest. Moving averages, undertaken to show the temporal location of the opportunities presented for children to acquire the eight competences, showed them distributed throughout the school year in the English-authored textbook but only during the first half of the school year in the two Singaporean-authored textbooks. Some implications for the importation of such materials are discussed.

Deliberate practice and having a growth mindset have been hypothesized to increase school performance. But previous studies are few, have been limited to very short interventions, and on average resulted in small effect sizes on school performance. This study compared the attitudes, performance, and behavior of 130 7th-grade students taking part in eight 30-minute sessions of deliberate practice and growth mindset over 14 weeks to a same-age active control group. The intervention had no significant effects on attitudes related to deliberate practice, growth mindset, or mathematical performance. However, students who participated in the intervention engaged in more deliberate practice behavior in a mathematics test. We pre-registered our hypothesis and research design at aspredicted.org/13742.

The aim of this study was to collect and analyze research on inclusive education from the perspective of parents of students with intellectual disability (ID). The review examined characteristics and trends related to geographical origin of research, design, data collection, publication source and year, source of data, age of individuals with ID, and research focus. The initial database search produced a total of 2,540 non-duplicated articles published between 1994 and 2019. In total, 63 articles were included from the initial search and a subsequent ancestry search. The results show a significant increase in publication on the topic in the final one-tenth of the review time parameter, suggesting a continued upward trend. The majority of articles were qualitative in design, used interviews and surveys to collect data, and focus on the perspectives and beliefs of parents on inclusive education. Gaps in the existing set of research included a lack of family perspectives beyond that of mothers (e.g. father, grandparent) and a limited focus beyond perspectives and beliefs, to that of parent experiences of inclusive education.

Enabling functional communication is critical for accessibility in school and society for all pupils. This systematic review analyzed the results of educational studies on developing communication skills for learners (<= 21 years) with autism spectrum disorder and comorbid intellectual disability. Systematic database searches were conducted using ERIC, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO. Seventeen of 208 peer-reviewed articles in English published between 1990 and 2020 met the inclusion criteria. The analysis identified various educational approaches, ranging from using alternative linguistic tools (e.g., signs and gestures) to physical devices (e.g., visual cues), and also examined instructional approaches used by educators. The synthesis shows heterogeneity of methods used, resulting in weak evidence for any model's impact on this pupil group's communication skills development and concomitant possibilities to affect their school situation. In addition, the analysis demonstrated that personnel performance crucially affects children's opportunities to learn regardless of the approach used. Directions for future research are concluded.

Motivated by earlier research highlighting Swedish teachers’ beliefs that the setting of homework compromises deep-seated principles of educational equity, this paper presents an exploratory study of Swedish parents’ perspectives on homework in their year-one children’s learning. Twenty-five parents, drawn from three demographically different schools in the Stockholm region, participated in semi-structured interviews. The interviews, broadly focused on how parents support their children’s learning and including questions about homework in general and mathematics homework in particular, were transcribed and data subjected to a constant comparison analytical process. This yielded four broad themes, highlighting considerable variation in how parents perceive the relationship between homework and educational equity. First, all parents spoke appreciatively of their children receiving reading homework and, in so doing, indicated a collective construal that reading homework is neither homework nor a threat to equity. Second, four parents, despite their enthusiasm for reading homework, opposed the setting of any homework due to its potential compromise of family life. Third, seven parents indicated that they would appreciate mathematics homework where it were not a threat to equity. Finally, fourteen parents, despite acknowledging homework’s potential compromise to equity, were unequivocally in favour of mathematics homework being set to their children.

This paper addresses two major challenges of 21st century education systems; the shortage of teachers in general and the lack of diversity in the teaching force. Similar to other European countries, Sweden has lately not only experienced international immigration connected to globalization, but also due to the recent refugee crisis. In addition to an increasingly diversified student population, large numbers of highly educated and qualified teachers were eager to enter the labor market in their new home. However, these teachers are usually confronted with language-related issues and experience a difficult intergration into the Swedish school system. Consequently, the challenges of teacher shortage and lack of teacher diversity should be understood as language (in) education phenomena.

The guiding question of this qualitative case study is: What are the lived experiences of recently migrated teachers to Sweden? Ten teachers' responses from to an open-ended questionnaire and in-depth follow-up interviews were analyzed based on Bourdieu’s sociological concepts of habitus and capital. Teachers were asked to reflect on a) their teaching competence, b) differences between school leaders’ expectations of them in Sweden and in their home countries and c) what teacher education, school leaders and teachers could do to improve their situation as recently migrated teachers. All interviews were transcribed and hand-coded.

Findings show that recently migrated teachers’ professional integration in Sweden is in fact problematic. Unless they are teachers of their native language, participating teachers report a lack of trust by and belonging to a community of practice involving colleagues and school leaders. The fact that they are often viewed as incompetent teachers due to their non-nativeness in Swedish is critically discussed. Implications for teacher education are presented, as a culturally diverse teaching force might contribute to a much needed culturally responsive teaching practice in a predominantly monolingual education system.

Introduction

As part of the welfare sector, Swedish schools have undergone several reforms during the past few decades resulting in increasing and often conflicting demands on principals. Additional to implementing new grading systems and curricula, the sector has been impacted by market-oriented logic (new public management), resulting in a mix of professional and bureaucratic governance structures. Many of these reforms demand daily responses because principals are the key actors in both organizing and leading pedagogical practices, being the head of business and main respondent to local political initiatives. Hence, principals’ work environments have gradually deteriorated, with many experiencing high stress levels, which has led to high turnover and difficulty recruiting and retaining principals.  

Aim

Using JD-R theory as the point of departure, the aim of this study is to examine principals’ organizational and social work environment and attempt to answer the following research question: which job demands and job resources are related to principals’ job satisfaction and their intention to leave the job, and how do these job demands and job resources relate to changes within the institutional landscape as a result of the major political reforms the Swedish school sector has undergone over the last few decades?  

Method

We use a mixed methods approach combining responses to questionnaires (466 participants) and interviews (15 participants).  Participants were principals who were members of the school leader section (Lärarförbundet Skolledare) of the Swedish Teachers Union.  

Results

The questionnaire responses indicated that job resources such as role clarity, influence, meaningfulness, and social community with senior managers were related to job satisfaction, while a lack of job resources (influence, social community with senior managers) and role conflict were associated with higher intention to leave the profession. The interviews deepened the understanding of the shift in institutional logic within the school sector that has created boundaries between principals’ professional and managerial roles in accordance with new public management thinking. The separation of their professional and managerial roles has contributed to the development of a blind spot in principals’ organizational and social work environments. This is a problem for principals and a risk factor for the organizations themselves because stress and ill-health experienced by leaders tend to affect the entire organization. 

There are objects that are so strongly attached with a situation that they become hard to distinguish from the situation itself. They “become invisible”, although crucial for the emergence and the actual becoming of the situation.

The overarching aim is to investigate such an invisible object, i.e., schoolbags and how their contents function in the lives of pupils. Of special interest is the connection between the privacy of the home and the public, societal world of school and classroom. Whilst earlier studies have focused on ergonomics this study aims at contributing to an understanding of the complex functions of schoolbags, providing new perspectives on their pedagogical and social role.

Socio-materialist theory is used as an ontological stance understanding schoolbags as objects that establish and maintain actions and norms in a given social context. The uniqueness of the study calls for a more basic approach on the analytical level, carefully investigating and describing the content of the schoolbags as well as their context, i.e., the German school system. The study’s original point of departure has been a genuine curiosity for and interest in the school bag’s (educational) place particularly in the German context.

The study is thus deeply rooted in the data material which consists of photographs of the contents of 16 German satchels provided by middle-school pupils. The contents were unpacked, carefully arranged and photographed by helpers at the school. The resulting photographs are carefully analysed alongside a description of exterior appearances of schoolbags as well as the material context of the classroom based on results from earlier research, both by the involved researchers and others.

Findings show that the function of the schoolbags exceeds their obvious transportation purposes, and that they are a complex, entangled object in the construction of “schooling” and “the pupil”. At the same time they contain anchors to the private family lives of the pupils, and such time that are intimate and deeply personal. The findings call for more research on invisible items within education and the role they play when transporting not only pens and paper but norms and values.

Drawing on a preschool digitalization project, this article presents the findings from a survey of 75 Swedish preschool heads. One main question guided the survey: how do Swedish preschool heads describe the use and usefulness of digital tools for interaction with parents? These findings are discussed in regard to intercultural differences, intercultural communication competence, and discursive blind spots, where two additional questions are addressed: (1) what preunderstandings and discursive blind spots are found in preschool heads’ accounts of the use of digital tools for preschool staff–parent communication, and (2) what implications does the use of digital technology have for (intercultural) communication? Findings from the survey show that preschool heads take little consideration of their own or the parents’ cultural background when understanding and promoting the use of digital tools. The conclusion is that overrelience on digital communication may increase the risk of miscommunication – for all Swedes but particularly with regard to communication between native and “new” Swedes.

The aim of this study is to capture and analyse perspectives on higher education from the views of five students through in-depth interviews. The students' statements are analyzed in order to gain an understanding of their experiences of developing academic literacies in their university studies. They are regularly visiting the university study workshop for help with their exam assignments. The following questions have been formulated to fulfil the aim of the study: (a) what aspects of studies in higher education do the students express as important, favorable, or unfavorable, for their development of academic literacies? and (b) in what way do the students value the study workshops as an educational tool? The analysis reveals three themes: the importance of explicit support structures, the importance of teachers’ feedback, and the importance of using the students’ pedagogical capital. The results also show that the students highly value the study workshop when they reflect upon the one-to-one feedback, but the support seems to be insufficient both in supporting them to be more independent in their studies and in developing academic literacies from a critical and epistemological point of view.

Describing good teaching practice in higher education is a perennial challenge in educational research. This is to some extent influenced by the lack of consensus among academics themselves. The purpose of this research project was to investigate the range and diversity of perceptions about good teaching practice within the Swiss higher education sector. Q methodological data was collected from 26 current participants of a professional development program towards a certificate of advanced studies in higher education and Q factor analysis revealed two different perspectives. Each of these factors was preliminarily interpreted by participants signifi- cantly loading on them. Not only adds this participatory design to the credibility and validity of factor de- scriptions, but the process promoted a deep and reflective engagement with methods and instructional practices in higher education.

Although children’s engagement in preschool is vital for executive functioning (EF) and learning, children with a neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) have difficulty maintaining their engagement, which negatively influences learning. Lack of engagement is partly explained by delay in EF and partly by contextual factors. The present systematic review provides the preliminary result of how early interventions in preschool settings improve engagement and EF for children with NDD. The interventions include naturalistic teaching strategies. The educators set up the environment to increase learning opportunities, take advantage of naturally occurring events and activities, and use naturally occurring antecedents in early childhood education. We present the outcomes of this review and its effectiveness of interventions in maintaining child engagement. 

This study investigated university teachers' perspectives on their change readiness to implement education for sustainable development (ESD) through their participation in a problem-based learning (PBL) pedagogical development (PD) program. Theoretically, the study connected a systems-thinking approach to change readiness literature and proposed a four-dimensional conceptual framework, including intrapersonal, relational, and environmental dimensions. Q methodology was adopted to collect and analyze data both qualitatively and quantitatively. Four significantly different viewpoints emerged among the 25 participants regarding what they considered most important for their change readiness towards ESD, namely (1) improvement of teaching and learning performance, (2) personal learning and conviction, (3) applying PD learning to practice, and (4) student learning engagement and professional practice. Revealing a complex and interrelated connection between the four dimensions of change readiness, these results also observed university teachers' expression of learning gains and engagement in prospective change. Nevertheless, such change readiness was mainly within their micro teaching practice environment, with little anticipation of commitment to a wider institutional scale of change. Such restrictions on their change readiness were attributed to constrained institutional conditions and supports for long-term improvement. Results of the study suggested that it is essential to facilitate both individual awareness and efforts, as well as institutional readiness for the goal of implementing ESD in higher education (HE). In this regard, both systemic and systematic professional learning activities are recommended.