This doctoral dissertation consists of the empirical main study and the explorative study. The main goal of the empirical study has been to acquire knowledge about students’ attitudes towards vocational education in Jordan, and to explore the dimensionality of their attitudes as well. Another goal has been to investigate which background variables best explain the differences in students’ attitudes. A third goal has been to describe and explain the relationship between students’ attitudes and their behaviour. The goal of the explorative study has been to investigate the perceptions of decision makers about students’ attitudes and the status of vocational education. Data of the empirical study were collected from a multi-stage stratified cluster random sample of tenth-grade students. Data analysis of the empirical study has been based on a reliable and valid attitude scale rigorously constructed to achieve the aforementioned goals. Data collection and analysis of the explorative study have been based on the open-ended interview questions carried out with a group of decision makers. Results of the empirical study showed that students have nearly neutral attitudes towards vocational education, and that three main dimensions comprise the dimensional space of their attitudes. These dimensions are first, a preference to enter a vocational school and encourage others to do so. Second, the importance and usefulness of a vocational school. Third, low status, hatred, and negative image of a vocational school. Only four background variables have been found to be significant predictors of students’ attitudes towards vocational education. These are students’ behaviour to enter vocational or academic school, students’ intention to study at the university, students’ achievement in Arabic language, and finally their place of residence. Results of the attitude behaviour relationship have ascertained the predictability of human behaviour from attitudes, taking into consideration other variables as well. Results of the explorative study have clearly indicated that attitudes towards vocational education are negative. Vocational education has suffered from poor image and low reputation. It is not well liked in the society, and has been considered a second alternative for low achievement students as well.

Det övergripande syftet med projektet var att säkerställa lärarnas bedömning av studenters prestationer och progression, men också att vidareutveckla bedömningsformer och verktyg för självvärdering så att studenter kan ta en aktivare del i sin utbildning och sitt lärande. Studiens resultat från kursutvärderingen visar att verktygen för självvärdering till viss del har bidragit till att synliggöra studenternas läroprocess, såväl individuellt som i grupp och därmed tydliggjort kopplingen till lärandemålen. Men resultatet pekar också på att studenterna är ovana vid att reflektera över det egna lärandet, men även att ge och ta till sig respons och värderingar. Att ge och få respons är det verktyg där studenterna betonar vikten av utbyte i grupp. Strategiloggen med självbedömning är det verktyg som studenterna menar främst främjar självreflektion och att synliggöra sitt eget lärande.

The presentation refers to the point when distance students begin to reflect on the meaning content and to different extents attain an understanding, agreement and experience meaningful learning. In this situated web-based "space", writer, text and reader are all included. The space is formed by the students’ understanding of both their own texts and others’ texts, as well as comparisons between them. The implications and results highlights that it is not enough to consider individual written, asynchronous dialogues in order to analyse learning. It is in social and dialogic interactions that understanding of different meaningful meanings is clarified and develops.

In the presentation describes an analytical tool based on Bakhtin’s theories of dialogues as a theoretical framework, and Toulmin’s argument pattern as a way to make the specific elements in the arguments and the different words with voices in the dialogues – as well as the dialogical relations between them – more explicit – and more visible. The pedagogical structure with group argumentations over a specific period, where dialogue exchange and collaboration are in focus, opens for the manifestation of written polyphony.

Forskningsprojektet som rapporteras i detta paper fokuserar på hur distansstudenter lär sig att använda respons- och argumentationsprocesser som verktyg för lärande. Data samlades in från två distansgrupper, dels från 40 lärarstudenters responsgivning och diskussioner på fyra kursuppgifter om lärarens kunskaps- och lärandeuppdrag i två 15 hp nätbaserade kurser (N = 759), dels från 30 lärarstudenters argumentationer och diskussioner på en kursuppgift om lärarens ledarskap och roll i skolan i en 15 hp nätbaserad kurs (N = 253). Den teoretiska och analytiska ramen, som bygger på Bakhtins teorier om dialoger i studie ett, och tillsammans med Toulmins argumentmodell (TAP) i studie två, används för att bedöma kvaliteten på de skriftliga asynkrona responserna, argumentationerna och diskussionerna. Resultatet visar i vilken utsträckning studenterna kan urskilja, identifiera och beskriva meningsinnehållet i dialogerna och hur de utvecklas när meningsinnehållet konfronteras med andra fakta, påståenden och antaganden som bekräftas, motbevisas och/eller förklaras. De dialogiska mönstren med tillhörande excerpts, kan i förlängningen fungera som e-didaktiska strategier och redskap för att studenter och lärare ska få större kunskap om att förstå och utveckla meningsfulla och lärande dialoger i samspel med andra på nätet och därmed höja kvaliteten i nätbaserad undervisning.

This article focuses on strategies for how online course outlines can be designed to improve the use of collaborative peer feedback in distance education and how different dialogic patterns can be identified. Two separate studies were conducted to investigate students’ use of own and others' texts meaning content in their peer feedback as a tool for learning and how the content can be analysed. Data were collected from two student groups; one from 40 student teachers’ peer feedback and discussions of four assignments (N=759) from two 15 credit web-based courses; and one from 30 student teachers’ argumentations and discussions of one assignment (N=253) from one 15 credit web-based course. An analytical framework, based on Bakhtin’s theories of dialogues in study one, and combined with Toulmin’s argument pattern (TAP) in study two, are employed to assess the quality of the meaning of peer feedback and argumentations. A close investigation of the dialogical patterns shows the extent to which students distinguish, identify and describe the meaning content in their peer feedback that emerge in collaboration with other students in an online setting as an important aspect. The dialogue patterns that developed are illustrated in selected excerpts.

The thesis is about how students can learn to use argumentation and the processes of giving responses in a web-based setting, as a tool for individual and collective learning. The thesis comprises three studies, which examine and describe how 70 distance students develop an individual and collective competence to provide feedback, critically evaluate and argue in the context of a web-based learning environment. The aim is to investigate the quality of students’ web-based written asynchronous dialogues (N=2 430), and how students can be encouraged to use and evaluate their own and others' web-based arguments and responses, both directly and retrospectively. Additionally, the aim is to develop analytical dialogic models, that can be used to distinguish, identify and describe the meaning content and voices of the students’ arguments and responses that emerge in social and dialogic interactions in collective asynchronous dialogues, in a university web-based learning environment. Besides a general socio-cultural understanding of learning and development aims, the present study is based on Bakhtin´s theoretical framework of dialogues, as well Rommetveit’s concepts of meaning potentials and Toulmin’s argument pattern. The CSCL perspective (Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning) is here related to the theoretical approach in both socio-cultural theory, and Bakhtin´s theoretical framework. The element that distinguishes this perspective, as a whole, from other approaches to learning is an emphasis that is not possible to understand learning solely from individual actions or development. Learning always arises as a product of dialogue processes, aiming to create meaning. The results from the three studies appears that the students to various extents gradually develop an ability to make use of the meaning content and voices as an active tool for new understanding or gaining new perspectives, individually and collectively. It also clarifies that meaning; dialogue and interaction belong together. Together, these dimensions form the participatory impacts in online education. What particularly emerges is the importance of collaborative learning, when the focus moves from the individual to the collective, but also into the space within and between the written, asynchronous dialogues. The text with different voices breaks in the meeting within and between the dialogues with different meaning content, or in what we could term the passage through the speech zone. In this zone exists material and a sphere of influence dominated by the students’ own and others' words, reflections or characters. Different dialogic argument patterns develops. There is a paradigm shift “between I and other” when students are co-actors in joint continuous, open dialogues with own and others' voices.

Under det senaste decenniet har allt fler lärosäten över hela världen arrangerat distansutbildningar eller campusbundna kurser som helt eller delvis är organiserade med hjälp av nätbaserade lärmiljöer. Nätbaserade kurser har därmed blivit vanliga och viktiga mediala arenor inom högre utbildning, såväl i distansutbildningar som i campusbundna kursmoment. Datorstödet har också medfört ett nytt sätt att undervisa på och lära sig med. Men det råder brist på kunskap om hur nätbaserade dialoger bidrar till individuellt och kollektivt lärande. Syftet med studien var att utifrån Bakhtins teoretiska ramverk om dialoger och sociokulturell teori undersöka hur 40 studenter använder skriftliga, asynkrona dialoger (N=1567) för att kunna urskilja hur mening utvecklas individuellt och kollektivt under tre högskolekurser (60 veckor, halvfart distans). Avgränsningen omfattades av att undersöka på vilket sätt och i vilken grad studenterna använder dialogens potential och röster som medierande redskap för sitt och andras lärande i samspel med andra studenter. I resultatet från den grundligare analysen av 265 inlägg framstår att studenterna i olika grad successivt utvecklat en förmåga att använda sig av meningsinnehållet i de skriftliga, asynkrona dialogerna som ett aktivt redskap för att utveckla ny förståelse och nya perspektiv. Det som också synliggjordes var att det är en aktiv lärprocess som utvecklades över tid, när studenterna använde sina erfarenheter tillsammans med andra, mot nya sätt att tänka och handla. Potentialen och de olika rösterna i dialogerna tydliggör att det kollektiva samspelet inte sker eller utvecklas på egen hand, utan måste stimuleras och utmanas under utbildningen av lärare, men också av och mellan studenter. Studiens tillämpning är ett analysredskap och en dialogmodell som utvecklades under analysen för att kunna urskilja hur mening utvecklas individuellt och kollektivt. De kan i förlängningen fungera som pedagogiska redskap för att studenter och lärare ska få insikt i att förstå och utveckla meningsfulla dialoger i samspel med andra på nätet och därmed höja kvalitén i nätbaserad undervisning.

In the presentation describes the Faculty of Education at Malmö University and the programs of: • Bachelor of Education degree for the Compulsory School (Theory and Practice of Teaching) • Master of Education degree for the Upper Secondary School (Theory and Practice of Teaching) • Diploma in Education for the Upper Secondary School (Theory and Practice of Teaching)

The importance of developing individual and collective critical reasoning and argumentation in academic education has been highlighted in several studies and debates within distance learning and education. In a context of web-based environments learning usually consists of asynchronous dialogues or conversations between teachers and students, or among groups of students, concerning specific course content. The participants are expected to use the web-based environment to discuss course literature, theories and assignments, as well as to share knowledge and experience. The competence to comprehend and follow arguments from literature and theories, I would contend, is a crucial aspect of learning and development. The research reported in this study focuses on the distance students’ collective argumentation. For ten weeks 32 student teachers were studying a web-based 15 credits course about the teachers´ assignment. Data were collected from five student groups asynchronous argumentation concerning their own cases and one official case of the teachers´ leadership (N=362). To assess the quality of the collective asynchronous argumentation analytic tool were developed based on Bakhtins´ theories of dialogic interaction and Toulmins´ argument pattern. The analysis has helped to demonstrate how students can use and evaluate their own and others' web-based arguments to develop learning in distance education.

The research reported in this study focuses on how distance students can learn to use argumentation processes as a tool for learning. For ten weeks, 30 student teachers studied the web-based 15 credit course Teacher Assignment. Data were collected from five student groups’ asynchronous argumentation, relating to authentic cases of teacher leadership. Focus was placed on the extent to which students used own and others' texts meaning content in the discussion forum and how the content can be analysed. An analytical framework, based on Bakhtin’s theories of dialogues, and Toulmin’s argument pattern (TAP), is employed to assess the quality of the written asynchronous argument patterns. A close investigation of the dialogical argument pattern (N=253) shows the extent to which students distinguish, identify and describe the meaning content of the arguments that emerge in social and dialogic interactions in the web-based setting. A dialogic model for argument analysis is also described.

The aim of this study is to examine and describe in what way student teachers use their own and others words meanings content in asynchronous dialogues as a collaborative learning activity in three web-based courses over a period of 60 weeks. The students’ contributions to the course assignments, the group responses and the collaborative discussions were analysed and interpreted based on Bakhtin’s and Rommetveit’s theories on dialogic interactions, voices and meaning potentials in asynchronous dialogues. The results describe different dialogic interactions of meaning potentials and multiple voices in asynchronous dialogues, which students and teachers can use as a tool for learning in net-learning activities.

The aim of this study is to examine and to describe how student teachers engaged in courses in web-based learning environments over a period of 40 weeks develop a collective competence to collaborate. The collective competence of collaboration is defined as the level of learning ability a group of students express when using dialogues as a tool for their own and other’s learning in a web-based learning environment. The students’ contributions to the course assignments, the group responses and the collaborative discussions and dialogues were analysed and interpreted based on Bakhtin’s and Rommetveit’s theories on dialogic interactions and meaning potentials. The results describe three different levels at which students use dialogues as a tool for learning when they collaborate within the group.

We give a brief history of distance learning in Sweden. We then present the main electronically available resources that have been established in recent years for learning purposes. We divide the resources into two categories: Administrative resources. These include LMS-systems and other systems to administer applications, student result, course material, etc. We present studera.nu which is the Swedish application website for all university courses and programs, Ladok and Skola24, the student result databases for universities and schools, nationwide. Educational resources. These are mainly web-based systems containing material that can be used for education. We present LIBRIS Uppsök and SwePub, the two Swedish National Libary websites containing all theses and essays published at Swedish universities. We also look at the electronic library search system for Malmö University as an example of an online library system. Finally, we discuss internationally available resources such as Wikipedia, Google search and Google scholar as well as the educational aspects of social networking systems such as Facebook, Myspace and Classroom 2.0.

Anderson, L. (1998). Elever med hörselnedsättning i särskolan - en kart-läggningsstudie ur klasslärares perspektiv [Students with hearing impair-ment in special schools for the intellectually handicapped] (Pedagogisk-psykologiska problem, 642). Malmö: Lärarhögskolan. Studiens fokus är särskolan och klasslärares beskrivning av skolsituationen för elever med hörselnedsättning. En viktig del av studien är att uppmärk-samma och belysa den komplexitet och problematik som föreligger för en elevgrupp med flera funktionshinder. Studien belyser också huruvida ele-verna får det stöd som funktionshindret kräver samt i vilken utsträckning specifik kompetens finns. Stor vikt läggs dessutom vid hur klasslärare be-skriver och möter de kommunikativa svårigheter som föranleds av elever-nas kombinerade funktionshinder. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av enkäter till klasslärare i två län. Resultatet visar att det är mindre förekom-mande att elev med hörselnedsättning undervisas tillsammans med andra elever med hörselnedsättning samt att hörselnedsättningen sällan ses som orsak till elevens eventuella svårigheter. Drygt hälften av eleverna får till-räckligt stöd i undervisningen. Mindre än hälften av lärarna anser sig få till-räckligt stöd för att undervisa. En liten andel av lärarna har genomgått spe-cifik fortbildning. En stor andel av lärarna uppger att de i liten utsträckning förstår vad eleverna förmedlar samt att eleverna sällan inleder kommunika-tion med kamrater. En slutsats som kan dras av studien är att kunskap om såväl hörselnedsättning och dess konsekvenser som kommunikation måste tillföras samt att de kommunikativa betingelser som råder för elevgruppen i särskolan närmare måste studeras. Nyckelord: Flera funktionshinder, hörselnedsättning, kommunikation, stödinsats, särskola, utvecklingsstörning

Interpersonal Communication – a study about pupil’s with hearing loss and intellectual disability Introduction The all-embracing aim of this study (Anderson, 2002) is to look closer into the com-munication in cases where Sign Language and Sign Supported Speech are used. In focus are pupils with hearing and intellectual disabilities. The starting point is that the participants in a communicative encounter are active and that each person contributes in their way to uphold the conversation. During the interpersonal encounter something happens and the consequences that follow are dependent on how different conversa-tion partners act and react in relation to the contribution of the other. Aim of the Study • To describe and interpret patterns of interaction, form, use and content in the communication of the participants. • To study the possibilities and obstacles within the environment as well as the individual, which might have an impact on the communication process. Method The study has a micro-ethnographical onset; data consists of video-observations dur-ing one year in eight school-classes, supplemented with questionnaires, interviews, field notes and participant observations. The subjects are nine pupils, their parents, classmates and school staff. Theoretical Frame Of Reference Bloom and Laheys (1978, 1988) model gives a collected representation of different factors that are important for language development. For the interpersonal communi-cation to work and develop, it is necessary to pay attention to the individual and the conversation partner as well as the social and physical environment. In this study WHO’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF, 2001) has been used to describe the function, the activity and participation of the pupils. The contextual factors in the ICF can be related to Bronfenbrenners bio-ecological model (1989). This model describes different phenomena, which at different levels, proxi-mally (micro level) to distally (macro level), might have an impact on children’s learn-ing and development. In this study the model has been used to explain phenomena in the interpersonal communication and in the surrounding environment of the partici-pants, with the purpose to throw light upon the factors, which facilitates or obstructs communicative development of an individual. Result From the microanalysis of the video-observations patterns in the interpersonal com-munication were identified, which have been categorised in following spheres of inter-est: • Informal and formal conversations. • Content and course of the conversations. • The language as a tool When the children initiate informal conversations they often have a lot to tell. Mutual-ity occurs when both code and focus are in common. The informal conversations be-tween the partners are where the child is concerned characterised by participation and mutual exchange, existence of peer conversations, pleasure in communicating and ability to carry on a topic that is interesting. The adult participant adapts in greater extent to the perspective of the child in the informal conversation, supports and elabo-rates the initiative of the child, but can also pass on to become task-oriented and ruling if the linguistic activity of the child is low. In formal conversations do the non-linguistic expressions of the child seldom attract attention, the child has to force its way into the adult’s monologues, answer questions from the adults, carry out instruc-tions, adapt to the perspective of the adult and accordingly has a low level of participa-tion. The content in the messages which the parties convey in different conversations do not always correspond, i.e. they communicate about different things, which leads to mis-understandings, interruptions or that the conversation comes to an end. It is common that adults in communication and interaction with children with severely disabilities not wait for the response from the child. The adults often are too hasty or change too quickly into a different topic or action. The analysis of the video material has resulted in that three different ways of dealing with communication and language been sorted out. • The child that observes • The communicatively active child • The linguistically active child The results show that there are both possibilities and obstacles that respectively facili-tate and obstruct communicative and linguistic development. These can be related to micro-, meso-, exo and macro levels. The children’s communication was mostly func-tional, but the adults did not always notice their intentions. The pupils were met by staff members with varied skills in Sign Language and Sign Supported Speech and it was evident that their communicative and linguistic needs was not as a matter of course accompanied by a supportive environment that facilitated communication de-velopment. Peers as well as adults should be seen as important conversation partners and they should be supported in their roles as communicative and linguistic models for the children. Adult’s communicative and linguistic competence is partly inadequate, i.e. they do not adapt enough to their conversation partners. Nor is this competence sufficient, why adults ought to further develop their linguistic and social skills in the communication with children with intellectual and hearing disabilities. References Anderson, L. (2002). Interpersonal communication: A study about pupils with im-paired hearing in the special schools for the severely learning disabled. Malmö University: School of Education. Bloom, L. & Lahey, M. (1978). Language development and language disorders. New York: John Wiley. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1989). Ecological systems theory. Annals of Child Development, 6, 187–249. Lahey, M. (1988). Language Disorders and Language Development. New York: Macmillan. WHO. (2001). International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, ICIDH-2. http://www.who.int/icidh

Pupils with impaired hearing and moderate to severe learning difficulties usually go to special schools for the severely learning disabled. Few studies have been conducted on the interpersonal communication among these pupils. The all-embracing aim of this study is to look closer into the communication that takes place during the school day between children and adults, in cases where Sign Language and Sign Supported Speech are used. The purpose is to describe and interpret interaction patterns as well as use, form and content in the communication between the participants. The purpose is also to study possibilities and limitations within the environment as well as the individual, which might have an impact on the communication process. The study has a micro-ethnographical onset; data consists of video-observations during one year in eight school-classes, supplemented with questionnaires, interviews, field notes and participation observations. The results show that there are both possibilities and obstacles that respectively facilitate and obstruct communicative and linguistic development. These can be related to micro, mesa, exo and macro levels. Informal communication was characterised by participation and mutual exchange, pleasure in communicating and adults adapting to the child?s perspective. Formal communication was characterised by adults choosing topics for conversation and being purpose-oriented, asking questions, giving instructions and expecting certain answers from the child. The children?s communication was mostly functional, but the adults did not always notice their intentions. The pupils were met by staff members with varied skills in Sign Language and it was evident that the children?s communicative and linguistic needs were not necessarily accompanied by a supportive environment that facilitated communication development

Kommunikation i sociala nätverk runt barn och ungdomar med stora kommunikationssvårigheter Lotta Anderson Bakgrund Kommunikation och språk utvecklas mellan människor i samspel och en fungerande kommunikation är grundläggande för annan utveckling. Detta till trots är det många kommunikativa möten i vardagen som av olika skäl inte vidareutvecklas i positiv riktning. I den närmaste omgivningen, dvs. familj, släkt och vänner, förskola, skola och kamrater, skapas utvecklingsmöjligheter genom att personerna kommunicerar och berikar varandra på olika sätt. För att barn och ungdomar med stora kommunikationssvårigheter ska kunna utveckla sin kommunikation och sitt språk krävs kunskap och kompetens hos personer i det sociala nätverket (Blackstone & Hunt, 2002; Anderson, 2002). Projektets relevans och målgrupp Projektet består av två delar; där den första omfattar en enkätundersökning medan den andra inriktas på kommunikationsutveckling hos åtta familjer och deras sociala nätverk. Projektet förväntas belysa processen i det gemensamma lärandet då betydelsefulla närpersoner som finns omkring barn/unga med stora kommunikationssvårigheter samtalar kring bl a funktionshinder, kommunikation, delaktighet, faktorer som underlättar eller hindrar, lärandemiljöer, samtalspartnerns roll och kompetens (Light & Binger, 1998; WHO, 2004). Målgruppen är barn och ungdomar med stora kommunikationssvårigheter i åldern 5-25 år. Stora kommunikationssvårigheter innebär att kommunicera med någon form av symboler, men dessa räcker inte till för att göra sig förstådd eller att förstå i vardagen. Syfte Projektets första del syftar till att kartlägga och analysera föräldrars och yrkesverksammas uppfattningar Frågeställningarna handlar om kommunikation och dess tillämpning, samtalspartnerns roll, samverkansformer och kompetens samt vilka uttalade behov av stöd som finns och hur dessa kan tillgodoses. Den andra delen av projektet handlar om familjens sociala nätverk, dvs. i detta fall bestämmer familjen vilka som ska ingå i nätverket runt barnet/ungdomen. Åtta sociala nätverk är aktuella. Arbetet i dessa kommer att pågå i 1½ år och inriktas på att under handledning/utbildning som inkluderar videobaserad vägledningsinsats över tid, reflektion och dokumentation i syfte att utveckla förmågan som kommunikationspartner i relation till barnet/ungdomen. Metod För att få frågorna besvarade i projektets första del har postenkäter skickats till föräldrar och yrkesverksamma inom förskola/skola, habilitering, daglig verksamhet och fritidsverksamhet. Kartläggningen genomfördes nationellt. Resultat del ett Om barn och ungdomar. Alla de aktuella åldrarna finns representerade, men med en övervikt för åldrarna 8-14. Pojkarna är fler än flickorna. Kommunikationssätten är varierande och oftast kombinerade i form av tecken, bild och kroppsspråk men också i huvudsak teckenspråk eller tal. En dryg tredjedel av barn/ungdomar har någon form av kommunikationshjälpmedel, oftast till följd av motoriska svårigheter snarare än andra funktionsnedsättningar. Flertalet 2 barn/ungdomar har någon form av diagnos som grund till olika svårigheter, 19 olika diagnoser, som enda eller i flera kombinationer, förekommer. Flertalet har också habiliteringskontakt som bedöms som mer eller mindre tillfredsställande av föräldrarna. Nästan 2/3 av barnen/ungdomarna har en plan med mål som handlar om kommunikation/språk . Men det finns också små barn som inte har någon individuell plan, vilket kan betraktas som märkligt. De mål som beskrivs är ibland så generella att det kan ifrågasättas hur de kan genomföras och utvärderas och man träffas mestadels på de yrkesverksammas villkor. Om det finns en plan, oavsett vad den kallas, beror det i mindre utsträckning på hörselproblem (signifikant skillnad) än andra svårigheter (motorik, koncentration, syn)! Barn och ungdomar kommunicerar bäst i strukturerade situationer och mest i situationer som är motiverade, lustfyllda, har ett barn/ungdomsfokus och tillsammans med en partner som är engagerad, har fantasi, inger förtroende, är stresstålig eller m.a.o. är en kommunikativ "naturbegåvning" eller medvetet kunnig. För att ställa frågor, berätta, protestera, "hålla igång" ett samtal måste barn/ungdomar veta hur de ska gå till väga, vilket inte alltid är fallet. De strategier som används och hur framgångsrika de blir är ofta kopplade till barn och ungas personlighet, språklig- och kommunikativ utvecklingsnivå men också till omgivningens kompetens och form av respons. Föräldrar menar också att deras barn har mycket mer att uttrycka än de har uttrycksformer för. Om föräldrarnas uppfattningar: Mestadels är det mammorna som svarat på frågorna. Flertalet familjer är med i någon intresseförening, företrädesvis FUB, men också DHB. Ofta är de med i flera olika föreningar med koppling till någon av barnets funktionsnedsättningar och synpunkterna varierar från mycket stöd och gemenskap med föräldrar liknande situationer och olika utbud till inget stöd alls med avseende på kommunikation. Den som svarar på frågorna menar sig förstå barnet i något större utsträckning än övriga familjen. Kommunikationen försvåras med avståndet, dvs. släkt, vänner, grannar, kamrater förstår i mindre utsträckning. Än mer tydligt blir detta när man inte har någon gemensam referens, dvs. när budskapet är mer eller mindre okänt för kommunikationspartnern. Men föräldrar förlitar sig mer på andra vuxnas kompetens än jämnåriga runt barnet. Föräldrar menar att de i mycket liten utsträckning erbjudits att pröva alternativa kommunikationsutbud. Om de yrkesverksammas uppfattningar: De yrkesverksamma arbetar mestadels som lärare och specialpedagoger inom olika skolformer och logopeder inom habilitering. De anser, precis som föräldrar, att de förstår sina elever eller de barn/ungdomar som de arbetar med i större utsträckning än vad andra uppfattas göra. Men inte helt oväntat lika övertygade för egen del som föräldrar är. De yrkesverksamma (i skolan) menar å ena sidan att barn/ungdomar kan ses som "ensamma öar", som nästan aldrig kommunicerar med varandra. De menar också att det behövs vuxenstöd för att de ska "komma igång" med sin kommunikation. Men å andra sidan menar de att de skapar tillfällen så att kamrater kan samspela med varandra och att de vet vad som motiverar till kommunikation och samspel. De anser att det kan vara svårt att anpassa sig till barn/ungas tempo och intresse oftast till följd av att eleverna i grupperna har så varierande förutsättningar och behov. De största problemen med att arbeta med barn/unga med stora kommunikationssvårigheter är, menar de, att fånga alla i omgivningen - det finns en tröghet i systemet, den kommunikativa kompetensen, attityderna och förhållningssätt hos andra inom verksamheten skulle kunna vara mycket bättre. Det finns också kommunikationstillfällen som leder till missförstånd eller som 3 lämnas oförstådda och detta leder till stor frustration samtidigt som de menar att de i hög grad behärskar det kommunikationssätt som eleven använder. Likheter och skillnader: En del svar tyder på att föräldrar och yrkesverksamma har uppfattningar "om den andre" som inte sammanfaller när man tittar på varje grupp för sig. Uppfattningar som skulle kunna vara underlag för gemensamma diskussioner och leda till större tillfredsställelse. De yrkesverksamma menar att föräldrar har inflytande över insatser och utformning av planer. Föräldrar å sin sida anser att information om hjälp för att kunna kommunicera med sitt barn eller att få gehör för sina synpunkter inte varit tillräckliga. Således en fråga om delaktighet och att ge och få inflytande över företeelser som berör. De yrkesverksamma kan skriva såhär: "När man gör planer så krävs det att föräldrar vet vad de vill och vad barnet behöver", eller "det finns föräldrar som har svårt att acceptera sitt barns behov av teckenspråk", men också att "föräldrarna är stommen runt barnet - personal står för det pedagogiska kunnandet". Dessa uttalanden handlar om att inta olika roller men också att lägga över "bördan" på någon annan. De yrkesverksamma anser att elevernas behov mestadels tillgodoses. Föräldrarna (40 %) menar att de kommunikationsinsatser som erbjudits barnet och familjen inte varit meningsfulla. Detta formulerar de som att: "alla kring barnet kan tecken och kan avläsa", "logopeden tror oss inte när vi berättar", "skolan famlar mycket", "många tips men inget genomförande" men också "det vi fått har varit bra men för lite". Uttalandena handlar om kompetens, ansvar och trovärdighet. De yrkesverksamma anser att deras egna och föräldrarnas uppfattningar om barnets kommunikationsbehov stämmer överens och föräldrarna menar samtidigt att de ges möjlighet att diskutera barnets kommunikation med dem som regelbundet arbetar med barnet. Både föräldrar och yrkesverksamma har uppmanats att beskriva egna behov av insatser och stöd och kompetensutveckling och hur detta skulle kunna utformas. Vad gäller de yrkesverksamma så finns det ett önskemål som överskuggar allt annat - utbildning om och i tecken som alternativ och kompletterande kommunikation och teckenspråk. Föräldrarnas önskemål är mer mångfacetterade, ligger på olika nivåer, och riktar blicken mot organisation, struktur och innehåll. De kan sammanfattas med följande ord: regelbundenhet, samverkan, förståelse, empati, likvärdighet, kunskap, lust och glädje. Reflektioner: Resultatet ger en mängd intressant information, men där fortfarande mycket återstår att bearbeta. Men så här långt kan några punkter lyftas fram. • Den vanligaste kommunikationspartnern till barn/ungdomar, oavsett deras ålder, är en vuxen. Vad får det för konsekvenser när vi vet att samspel och kommunikation med jämnåriga också är centralt för utvecklingen. • Barn/ungdomar kommunicerar som mest när upplevelsen är gemensam och väcker intresse och utmaning. • Både de yrkesverksamma och föräldrarna har föreställningar om "den andre". • Samverkan sker med och mellan många parter och där hänsyn måste tas till delaktighet, inflytande, begriplighet, meningsfullhet och ansvar. 4 • Alla uttalar ett stort behov av kunskap och kompetens om kommunikation och samspel. • Varje familjs behov är unika och måste tillgodoses genom ömsesidighet och respekt. Projektet finansieras av Allmänna arvsfonden, Sunnerdahls handikappfond och Tysta skolan. Nyckelord: kommunikation, kommunikationssvårigheter, samtalspartner, sociala nätverk Referenser Anderson, L. (2002). Interpersonell kommunikation: En studie av elever med hörselnedsättning i särskolan. Malmö: Lärarhögskolan. Blackstone, S. & Hunt-Berg, M. (2003). Social Networks: Augmentative Communicators and their Communication Partners, http://www.augcominc.com/socialnetworks.html Light, J. & Binger, C. (1998). Building Communicative Competence with Individuals Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. WHO (2004). Klassifikation av funktionstillstånd, funktionshinder och hälsa, ICF-CY. Stockholm: Socialstyrelsen.

In a family where a child with complex communication needs are alter the life situation for the family and the family often become coordinator of the contacts and efforts by various actors. Professionals in rehabilitation become one of those contacts and cooperation partners who perceptions of the concepts activity, participation, context, interaction and influence, and the rehabilitation plans drawn up on the above target. Focus Calls and text analysis of the rehabilitation plans have been the methods used in this study. The starting point is the WHO's classification, ICF. The text content has been encoded in accordance to with ICF´s components and domains. Results show both similarities and differences in parents' and professionals' understanding of concepts, interaction and influence. There is a dilemma between rehabilitation as a volunteer effort and the family’s voice and activity rate, which has been visible. The professionals' mission is not to self-clarity compatible with family circumstances and expressed needs. ICF´s concepts is well known to those working on the one hand, but is not fully anchored. For parents on the other hand, the ICF is not something familiar, however given the concepts a meaning, although couched in other terms to some extent. Analyzed rehabilitation plans can be related to both physical function component as the components and domains activity, participation and environment. Formulated goals and accompanying activities are not automatically linked. The majority of parents expresses satisfaction with rehabilitation efforts but also formulates proposals for improvement. The professionals remarked that there is a dilemma between professional and family spoken or unspoken needs.

Children with severe communication disabilities are a vulnerable group in the community and are depending on the knowledge, skills and empathy of the people in their immediate surrounding, which include parents, sisters and brothers, relatives and professionals, i.e. the social networks (Klefbeck & Ogden; 1996; Blackstone & Hunt Berg, 2002; Anderson, 2006). The family is of great importance in supporting the communication and language development of the child. The professionals have to create conditions conducive to a positive learning environment, which demands knowledge of disability, language, communication and proximal zone of development (zpd). (Lahey, 1978; Vygotsky, 1986; Bodorova & Leong, 1996). It is significant to consider persons with complex disabilities as active and participating parties in the developmental process (Light & Binger, 1998). Children with disabilities encounter different hindrance in their daily life, in their communication with others and in their learning. Hindrance can be found by the individual himself as well by the persons in the surrounding and in the situation as in structures and principles of the society (Beukleman & Miranda, 1998; WHO, 2001, 2004; Anderson, 2002; Eriksson, 2006). Another reason can be found in indistinctive goals, effort and responsibility according to communication and language development of the child. Various kind of hindrance can be eliminated, among others by identifying and analyzing them, contextualizing them, illuminating facilitating phenomenon and increasing the awareness of the importance of communication by as well professionals as families. This project was made on the thesis from Anderson (2002). The results show that there are both possibilities and obstacles that respectively facilitate and obstruct communicative and linguistic development. These can be related to micro-, meso-, exo and macro levels. Informal communication was characterised by participation and mutual exchange, pleasure in communicating and adults adapting to the child´s perspective. Formal communication was characterised by adults choosing topics for conversation and being purpose-oriented, asking questions, giving instructions and expecting certain answers from the child. The children’s communication was mostly functional, but the adults did not always notice their intentions. The pupils were met by staff members with varied skills in manual signs and it was evident that the children’s communicative and linguistic needs were not necessarily accompanied by a supportive environment that facilitated communication development. Adults in the surroundings need education, training and support in Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) to become competent and challenging communication partner (Beukleman & Miranda, 1998; Light & Binger, 1998; Arts, 2000). Another result shows that language use of parents and teachers with respect to prerequisite and needs of the children influence the expectation and treatment of the children. The starting point of the current project is the social networks surrounding children and youth with complex communication needs caused of, among other things hearing and intellectual disabilities. The target group is children and youth of 6 to 25 years of age and who 2 communicate in linguistic level, but the communication form is not sufficient to understand or express feelings, thoughts, and aims within the family or in daily life situations. Aim of the study The all-embracing aim of the Social Networks project is to examine the communicative competence in the surroundings and follow and illuminate participation and collaborative learning among participants in social networks (families and professionals) related to children with complex communication needs. An underlying purpose is to develop assessment methods, analysing needs and support and to find suitable forms of cooperation. The project contains two parts.

Under läsåret 2009-2010 gavs för tredje och sista gången en kurs omfattande 30 högskolepoäng (hp) inom specialpedagogik som introduktion och förberedelse inför fortsatta studier på de specialpedagogiska programmen, dvs. för att utbilda sig till specialpedagog eller speciallärare. Läsåret därpå komprimerades denna kurs till att endast omfatta 22,5 högskolepoäng (hp) och fick därmed huvudfokus på det självständiga arbetet motsvarande 15 hp, som, bl.a. Lärarutbildningen i Malmö, har som förkunskapskrav för att bli antagen till de specialpedagogiska programmen. Vi som står som redaktörer för denna samling bestående av sju uppsatser på grundläggande nivå, har varit kursledare (Barbro Bruce) respektive examinator för merparten av uppsatserna (Lotta Anderson). Vi har skrivit den sammanbindande kappatexten och gjort en innehållsmässigt logisk ordningsföljd av uppsatserna utifrån ett tidsperspektiv av barnets vistelse i pedagogiska verksamheter från förskola till grundskola. Utöver denna sammanbundna version med gemensam kappa, så existerar vart och ett av dessa sju arbeten och finns publicerade på MUEP, Malmö högskolas elektroniska publiceringsplats. Det faktum att denna kurs hade förhållandevis många campustillfällen gjorde att studenterna träffades regelbundet och hade därför tid att komma in på djupet i de centrala specialpedagogiska frågorna. Gruppen sammansvetsades, vilket fick till följd att det var ”högt i tak” under diskussionerna. Detta påverkade även kursledaren, som gavs många tillfällen att vara moderator och se till att alla perspektiv blev belysta i den specialpedagogiska väv som växte fram. När det var dags att hitta uppslag för det självständiga arbetet hade vi ett idéseminarium, där var och en fritt fick spåna utifrån sin/a intresseinriktning/ar. Det var i samband med detta seminarium som det stod klart att variationen i de olika uppslagen tillsammans täckte in de allra mest centrala specialpedagogiska frågorna, där själva ”mötet” har en överordnad och samordnande roll för uppsatsernas teman: pedagogens kompetens och erfarenheter, miljöns utformning, synen på inkludering, studiemotivation, pedagogik och sist men inte minst upplevelse av stress hos barn. Dessa aspekter berör allesammans förutsättningar för lärande, som ju kännetecknas av att den som lär själv är trygg men också aktiv. Särskilt tydligt blir allt detta ur perspektivet ”En skola för alla”, där utmaningen är att kompensera – eller ”överbrygga” för brister i förutsättningar, antingen i miljön eller hos individen. Det faktum att denna kurs benämndes ”överbryggande” kom därför att utgöra grunden för en dubbeltydighet. Samtidigt som kursens funktion var ”överbryggande” för att komma vidare till studier på de specialpedagogiska programmen, var fokus även att ”överbrygga” brister i förutsättningar för delaktighet och lärande i förskolan såväl som i skolan. Uppsatsförfattare: Helena Axner, Anneli Björk, Ann-Kristin Carlsson, Mattias Dacke, Mikael Hansén, Jessica Liljedahl Ahlbeck, Ingela Lorin, Tommy Nilsson, Karina Petersson, Dubravka Radic, Kristina Strömberg, Eva Sundberg, Jenny Tenggren, Christel Åkesson

The field of special education is characterized by substantial complexity in learning as well as in interaction and communication. Video-observations are especially suitable for studies of interactions and especially interaction with students in communicative complex situations. Video analysis also makes it possible to uncover the "hidden agenda" and the subtle signals that shape relationships, emotional climate and learning in the classroom. In the article focus is on the potential video-observations offers in studies of students in special needs in general and students with disabilities as deafness and hearing loss in particular. Advantages and limitations of video technology are discussed as well as ethics in relation to special educational contexts. Different principles of transcription and analysis, when sign language and manual signs are used in communication, are described. Examples from our research are given as analysis of communication between mother and child, between teacher and student and between students. The discussion focuses on issues that video-recording may highlight, in ways another medium could not, knowledge to be acquired from the analysis and conclusions that can be drawn from the referred examples.

This study is focused on language and texts inspired by the post-structuralist linguistic turn. It is based on postulations about incompatible discourses characterizing guiding principles for education and in particular the normative concept of inclusive education. The aim of the empirical study is to create a picture of the sense-making processes whereby teachers construct meaning in “a school for all”. A theoretical ambition has been to construct a tool in which these processes can be analyzed by providing scope for the voices of teachers while constructing the complex, fragmentized and multifaceted context in which they are supposed to implement political visions. By catching linguistic dynamics and variation, I want to discover how different discursive expressions emerge, are formed, and transformed during conversation. Governing by using rhetoric like “a school for all” generates a vacancy that partially destabilizes the predominant structure of meanings. In this study, when teachers act on prevailing rhetoric they must orientate themselves between divergent discourses which make their meaning-making strategic, whereas the vacancy is filled with what is already known and self-evident, so called myths in the vocabulary of Laclau. These myths function as hegemonic joint properties, an objective world, in which teachers are able to describe their own wishes for how things are and can turn out to be. In my study teachers legitimate their actions and make them meaningful by filling the empty rhetoric with myths, emerging from current school traditions or thought styles, dominant in this specific school. Keeping rhetoric alive is consequently to open up for the discursive field, for the hegemonic struggle and to create a space to facilitate dislocations. If “a school for all” is distinctly delimited from that which it is not, there are no possibilities for the “others” to make themselves heard and the rhetoric on openness and variety become endangered. “A school for all” is in itself an impossible project; at the same time as it, rhetorically, appears possible precisely due to its impossibility.

Denna skrift bygger på en forskningsrapport från en studie som genomfördes under våren 2010 på uppdrag av Skolverket. Den utgör en del i ett stör‐re projekt för att stärka skolors arbete med värdegrunden. Studien fokuse‐rar de processer som ligger till grund för hur skolledning, lärare, föräldrar och elever bildar mening i de värden som utgör skolans värdegrund och hur arbetet med den gestaltar sig i några skolors verksamhet. I dessa processer tas grundläggande värderingar inte för givna utan blir föremål för förhand‐ling och omförhandling i relation till den dagliga verksamheten. En sådan förståelse av värdegrundsarbetet kan peka på möjligheter, men också visa på hotbilder i skapandet av en lärmiljö som motverkar kränkningar och marginalisering.

Education always has been a main tool for adjusting citizens’ ways of thinking about the world. Although the importance of transmitting crucial values are not new its importance was emphasized in the Swedish curricula of 1994 in conjunction with the ideological collapse of communism in Eastern Europe that before the fall of the Berlin wall had served as an antitype for defining democracy. One of the aims in education has for the last decade been to foster homogeneity in a fragmented postmodern society. This has created an ethical moral order in schools around prevailing values. Our presentation is built on a project financed by the National Agency of Education during 2010 with the aim to scrutinize and problematize the work in schools with civil rights and values as equableness, democracy, participation and solidarity. The first part of the study consists in an analysis of official texts where fundamental values are given senses and meanings. In the selection of texts the aim was to find those documents central to how questions of values constitutes as well as are constituted by prevailing societal conditions and it’s social and discoursive context. The texts were supposed to provide information about the expected acts based on prescribed values. To understand senses and meanings in these texts it is important according to the Wittgenstein theory to be able to think beyond the limits of a phenomenon and in registering what is inside also reveal how the phenomenon is signified by exclusion of what cannot be comprised. In the analysis we have used the term cluster and scrutinized how they were constructed by connecting different signs to a nodal point. Thereby it emerged how significance was made in relation to signs of meaning as Democracy and influence, School as a social venue, Understanding the Other, Moral guidance and “Bildung” and teaching. Method The aim of the second part of the study was to analyze how these values were transmitted in schooling. Special interest was on how pupils’ behaviors were valued according to how norms were constructed, how veiled or visible strategies of rewarding were used and how routines and repeated acts expressed obvious, but still invisible interpretations of ethical standpoints. In the second part 7 school areas from preschool to grammar schools were visited during a week while pupils, teachers, welfare teams and parents were interviewed. Furthermore observations were made in classroom situations as well as in informal settings. Interviews and observations were documented by recordings and field notes and then turned into texts. Texts are according to Ricoeur a semiotic dimension recalling the process of references that has been interrupted from the act of discourses. In this respect to analyze means to unveil a structure of internal reliance that constitutes the static condition of a text. The screening during data collection was made by using important signs that emerged from the text analysis as participation, safety, equity, democratic conductivity. Expected Outcomes The second part of the study showed the importance of negotiating values continuously in order to avert oppression. Attitudes in the marginal of the tolerable emerged as threats against what is constructed in society as a canon of fundamental values. Especially teenagers were seen as provoking with attitudes of homophobia and xenophobia. It was a challenge for the adults in schools to keep the openness that contribute to the definition of democracy and simultaneously defend what is socially constructed as good. Among younger children this was unproblematic and education mostly focused on reliance in taken for granted principles. Social injustice and inequality in society turned out to have greater impact among older students. Here social class and the amount of cultural capital mattered most in grammar schools where students were divided into theoretical or vocational educational programs. The fostering of citizens proved to be a struggle towards harmony where antagonism was seen as destabilizing the canon of “taken for granted values” in human rights. Pupils were tutored into the right way of thinking by means of different governmentality strategies based on pastoral power.

This article is a synthesis of four investigations made by students at the special educational program at Malmö University. It describes how headmasters experience the professional role of the special needs pedagogue in schools. Research questions concerning the relationship between higher education and school practice are elucidated in the article. The responses are analyzed and problematized with the help of von Wright’s Action theory as well as of Dahllöf’s frame factor theory. In the interviews headmasters describe the special educational activities and the special pedagogue profession as multifaceted and complex. This is a situation which impedes good functioning and effective use of competence resources. Moreover, headmasters are frequently caught between the visions of policy instruments and school practice, not least concerning situational acting, and the question of short or long term planning and acting.

Det är i leken barn upptäcker och utvecklar språket - samtidigt som språket gör att leken förändras och berikas. Det här kapitlet tar sin utgångspunkt i detta ömsesidiga förhållande. Att leka är naturligt och lustfyllt, och något som alla barn tidigt sysselsätter sig med. Att leka är härligt och värdefullt i sig samtidigt som leken också är en naturlig plattform för lärande och utveckling.

Communication skills during social interaction at 18 months' age, such as comprehension of instructions and play behaviour, have been shown to predict the results on language tests three years later. Accordingly, children with weak communication skills are at risk for persistent problems of language and communication. Problems of communication in social interaction are also common in children with neuropsychiatric disorders, such as ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and ASD (autism spectrum disorder). For different reasons, it is important to identify children who are at risk for language impairment and neuropsychiatric disorders at as an early age as possible. First, early identification allows early intervention, which may increase the chances of a positive outcome for the child. Second, early identification may decrease the risk of secondary problems with behaviour, and social and emotional wellbeing, which are frequently occurring in children with neuropsychiatric disorders. This paper is an overview of the literature focusing on the importance of early communication skills, i.e. language use in a social interaction context. Conclusion: Early communication skills in social interaction are a possible predictor of language impairment and neuropsychiatric disorders, and should therefore be included in early screening procedures. Furthermore, social interaction enhances language development, and can therefore be regarded as a tool in language intervention.

The present study examined assertiveness and responsiveness in two different conversational contexts: children with specific language impairment (SLI) interactiong with an age-matched peer with typical language development (TLD) and children with SLI interacting with a language-matched peer with TLD. The dialogues where the 10 participating children with SLI interactd with an age peer were characterized by a higher degree of responsiveness and coherence. The age peers tended to dominate the interaction with the children with SLI. The dialogues where children with SLI interacted with a language peer were characterized by less responsivenss and less coherence and the child with SLI was likely to be more dominant in the interaction. Thus children with SLI take different roles in verbal interaction depending on how much support the conversational partner can offer.

A welfare state consists of a variety of client organisations within which, among other professions, academics and social workers are active. Social work as a profession has developed in a welfare context where changes at the different levels of the individual, organisation and society constantly pose new challenges to the profession. When a society undergoes a total transformation, this also affects higher education, especially when it comes to facing needs for new competencies in a subject area such as Economics and Management. A change in a profession can also be seen on different levels and in various contextual environments. The thesis addresses the overall question: In the transformation of different societal and organisational environments, which factors may influence professions’ knowledge acquisition and learning processes? The theoretical frame of reference is provided by a modified model of Bronfenbrenner’s Development Ecology. This theory focuses on the individual’s drive and ability to influence their specific environment. This study’s point of departure is the individual and the individual in relation to their surrounding context on different levels. The thesis makes a contribution by improving knowledge of how Development Ecology may be seen in a welfare context by using study objects within the fields of education and a profession. The data collection primarily took the form of interviews. Other sources were added to the interviews; an analysis of key documents, lectures and seminars where there was an interaction with students as additional, empirical sources in various contexts, along with study visits. The thesis is based on the following three original publications: Management and Economics studies in Lithuania – the creation of a university discipline, Development Ecology in German Social Work and Proposed Enhancement of Bronfenbrenner’s Development Ecology Model. The study demonstrates how the Development Ecology model in a modified and developed form can constructively contribute to understanding a profession undergoing change. In addition, the study shows how the Development Ecology model can be used in two various societal and organisational contexts. It also demonstrates how professional autonomy is conditional given certain organisational and societal frameworks. Finally, the study reveals that entrepreneurship and learning are closely linked to each other and knowledge acquisition is about meetings on different levels where the interplay between the individual and their internal driving forces is essential – namely, to emphasise that the internal driving forces belong to the individual involved (a person).

This study highlights how a profession acquires knowledge in the context of the German welfare state. This is achieved by studying the organisation, transformation and sphere of influence of social work in Germany. The theoretic frame of reference is provided by a modification of Bronfenbrenner’s model of developmental ecology. If we view Social work as an action-oriented discipline, then both action and intervention are essential elements. Social work can thus be said to contain five different levels of intervention. This study is focusing the meso-social level and the exo-social level. The main result of this article leads us to a paradox and a professional dilemma. The social worker’s freedom and power within their own profession, a professional empowerment, can be said to be more conditional, where, whilst creativity has been stimulated, these are acceptable only within the boundaries defined by the newly created civil structures and interest groups. Key Words: developmental ecology, knowledge acquisition, social work, sphere of influence, transformation

Studies of the circumstances surrounding the creation and development of a university discipline are a part of pedagogical research. This thesis highlights the development of management and economic education against the background of changes caused by the Lithuania’s emancipation from the Soviet Union and aims to present a picture of how management as a university discipline has been created in Lithuania between the period 1988-1997. The nexus of this study is individuals and individuals in context. The theoretical frame of reference is provided by a modified model of Bronfenbrenners developmental ecology, complimented by Bergs tier (level) model. Data collection has primarily been in the form of interviews with university staff from Lithuanian institutions for higher education. In addition to the interviews, literature lists, course schedules and other key documents have been collected and analysed. One of the studies primary foundations is that reality is a social construct. The analysis focuses on individual’s conceptualisation of three main areas: re-programming, course schedules and literature lists, alongside their attitudes and interests. The study demonstrates how the creation of management and economics as a university discipline in Lithuania has been formed by a combination of political/ideological, economic, institutional and individual factors. Behind these factors are decisions taken at a variety of different levels, including national level (macro), local/institutional level (exo), collegial level (meso) and individual level (micro). International influences have also played an important role and their effects represent an additional level, the so-called exmacro level. A further factor comes into play in the meeting between the previously rigid doctrine and the new doctrine, which isn’t so much a doctrine but rather more of an academic freedom; a freedom that didn’t exist previously, at least not one that was acknowledged. A final factor in the study is the impact that the consequences of change, the various influences described above and this new-found freedom, have had on the subject’s content and method of teaching. One of the study’s main contributions is to highlight the significance of the concept of academic freedom and to focus on the paradox, where constraint under the old system is replaced by another form of constraint. In this case, where the rigidity of the old Soviet doctrine is replaced by a new freedom; but instead of being given greater opportunities to influence and change the subject, the academic staff are forced into a position where, once again they are subjugated to the influences of outside (international) sources.

How academic disciplines are constituted and the related professional development must be viewed within their wider social, political and economic aspects. When studying the organisation, transformation and spheres of influence of professions, the Development Ecology model provides a tool for understanding the encounter between societal, organisational and individual dimensions, a continual meeting point where phenomena and actors occur on different levels, including those of the organisation and society at large. However, the theory of development ecology may be questioned for how it looks at the individual’s role in relation to other actors in order to define and understand the forces underlying the professional development and constitution of academic disciplines. Factors relating to both the inside of the individual and social ties between individuals and in relation to global factors need to be discussed.

We present a research project aiming at investigating how teachers and students in lower secondary school experience work with socio-scientific issues (SSIs). Our interest concerns the importance the actual content has for the students‘ interest and learning and how students‘ gender and attitudes towards science, affect their experience. Another interest is how the teachers describe their work with the cases, the students‘ learning and what difficulties they encounter in the work. We have compared students‘ and teachers‘ experiences of the SSI work. Data have been collected by questionnaires with students and teachers and interviews with teachers. The teachers confirm results from this and other studies that students are interested in working with socio-scientific issues. However some of results are contradictory. The teachers felt safe with content and work forms but they still arranged SSI as something special and even if they were comfortable with group work they generally did not seem to know how to facilitate the students‘ work. Both students and teachers found the work interesting and the teachers but not the students judged that the students learnt as much science as usual. Both students and teachers perceived critical thinking, search for information, and ability in argumentation as learning outcomes that were developed during the work with the case.

Interpersonal competences, empathy, perspective taking and ability to make judgements are examples of important parts of teachers’ and social workers’ professional competences. The pedagogical idea of this project was to develop such competences using experiences students acquire outside ordinary higher education while working temporarily or being active in organizations like youth clubs, the scouts etc. Eight groups of students (from teacher education, social work education, and a mentoring program called Näktergalen) participated in the project, each with their own faculty leader. Students wrote and told a story deriving from a personal experience, rewrote and retold it from the perspective of another in the story, discussed together different perspectives and alternative outcomes, and also acted out the stories in forum plays.

Deaf children’s concept formation in mathematics is illuminated by describing how some deaf children express themselves and act on their way towards understanding multiplication with whole numbers.

The question why deaf children have difficulties in learning mathematics is the basis of this study. The aim of the study is to illuminate deaf children's concept formation in mathematics by describing how some deaf children express themselves and act on their way towards understanding two basic concepts, the concept of multiplication with whole numbers and the concept of length. Theories developed by Feuerstein are used in order to describe how deaf children develop concepts, and to investigate possibilities to help deaf children develop their cognitive potential in a more effective and adequate way. Concept maps illustrate steps and pathways taken by the pupils. The importance of language in concept formation, with focus on sign language is illuminated. The children in this study were pupils in a School for the Deaf, a bilingual school with the languages Swedish Sign Language and Swedish. Seven 11-year-old pupils, all the pupils in one group in grade 4, were studied. Video recordings were made of pupil-teacher interactions in problem solving situations in sign language only, with paper and pencil, with learning materials and with real things. A large variety in the pupils ability to solve the problems was found depending on different factors identified by Feuerstein e.g. self-confidence, looking for meaning, search of challenge, intention to finish the work and use of known facts. No difference was found concerning the steps towards comprehension of the concepts for the deaf pupils in the study compared to those of hearing pupils. In accordance with earlier studies it was found that the deaf pupils needed more time to learn mathematics than hearing pupils normally do. As a consequence they may learn certain concepts at a later age and the pathways towards comprehension may vary compared to those of hearing pupils. The structure of sign language and the lack of an established terminology in mathematics are also of importance. The bilingual situation for deaf pupils is a reason for developing methods of teaching mathematics to deaf pupils alternative to methods used today.

Every year, about ninety university students go through Malmö University’s mentoring programme The Nightingale. As a mentor, the student meets with a child from an elementary school in a deprived area of the city for eight months. This article is based on my master’s thesis in educational science, in which I examined the learning among the mentors. The study focuses on learning from two different perspectives: first, what type of learning takes place; and second, the actual knowledge the mentors are developing. In order to analyze my results, I have used theories of learning, social exclusion, societal inclusion and intercultural competence. Both quantitative and qualitative methods have been used. I interviewed twenty four mentors and conducted a survey of all sixty eight mentors in The Nightingale Mentoring Programme in 2008/2009. My results suggest that there is extensive learning in the programme. Mentors develop knowledge about children’s living conditions, social exclusion and social inclusion. Furthermore, they develop intercultural skills that are necessary to decrease the boundaries between exclusion and inclusion.

Under de senaste åren har mentorskap i olika former ökat i popularitet, såväl i offentlig sektor som i näringsliv. I denna bok ger författarna en bild av mentorskap för barn och unga. Boken belyser mentorskap utifrån duon – mentorskapet är en ömsesidig relation mellan två parter där bådas lärande och utveckling beaktas. Vad lär sig någon som är mentor till ett barn? Vad får mentorskapet för betydelse för ett barn som har en mentor? Boken diskuterar också mentorskap för barn och unga ur ett bredare perspektiv. Vilken samhällelig nytta kan mentorskap som modell innebära? Kan mentorskap bygga relationer för hållbar samhällsutveckling? Boken riktar sig till den som är intresserad av mentorskap för barn och unga och kan vara till nytta för den som vill starta mentorsverksamhet, men också den som är intresserad av mentorskapet som utvecklingsmetod.

The pink project – so far A report from a coanalytic experiment with school leaders. On the basis of the ongoing project The school leader, school change and the teacher students (The pink project), I want to discuss the methodological approach to involve school leaders in an analysis of an interview material they have contributed to. The question here is: What happens when you ask school leaders to make a contribution in a reasearch analysis of this kind? I also want to discuss the content of this analysis. The question here i What dimensions do the school leaders apply in their analyses of the material? In this Pink project seven school leaders connected to the teacher education of Malmö, were interviewed concerning their own efforts in relation to school change and teacher students. The project started in the autumn of 2004 partly as an extension of the The young cuckoo project (see a separate text, Henningsson-Yousif & Viggósson). The school leaders were asked to read and react on two “analysis booklets”. Analysis booklet 1, contains reasonings about the relation between the teacher education and the school (accompanied by a booklet with sketches on the issue made by the school leaders). The Analysis booklet 2, contains the reasonings about strategies of change, leadership, their own background etc. In december 2005 the school leaders have given their reactions on booklet 1. A meeting with three of the school leaders, who also have made an attempt to analyse booklet 2, is planned to take place in march 2006.

The major objective has been to create tools for analyzing the reasoning regarding the school the different actors involved - pupils, teachers, school and politicians show. A subordinate aim was to explore relevance in this connection of eight studies carried out by the author 1979 – 1999 concerning three basic areas: the pedagogical processes at the school level, at the teacher education level and at the level of school change. I conclude that a recurring question is that of the relevance and the sense of meaningfulness experienced by those involved in different educational processes. In one of the eight empirical studies, termed the compulsory-school teacher study (1997), an approach to analyzing what teacher trainees find relevant in their work in schools is presented, involving two basic concepts, those of the event space and the relational space. In considering these concepts in terms of Alfred Schutz' theory of the lifeworld, I rename the relational space the space of contemporaries. A new study is also reported in this thesis – Teachers and schoolpoliticians in the pedagogical process of school change, the LoP-study. In considering the earlier eight studies in conjunction with the LoP-study, I find the studies to have dealt with personal processes and societal processes as well as pedagogical processes in how the parties involved reason in talking about the school. Three different aspects of the processes are distinguished: meta-aspects, connected with the aims a given process has; core aspects, connected with what one concretely does; and approach aspects, pertaining to how the persons involved relate to each other and to the process. In analyzing the LoP- interviews carried out with use of the tools developed – enabling different processes and aspects of these to be analyzed – I find marked individual differences in the patterns of different aspects of the processes involved. The width of the event space and of the space of contemporaries on the part both of the teachers and of the politicians were found to vary considerably. A conclusion drawn is that further development of the tools created would be worthwhile. It also seems possible to apply these tools to other areas, such as those of the scientific community with its research processes and of the political community with its steering processes.