The last two decades have set the global trend of internationalized education on a new course. Besides the usual flow of international students from their home countries to Western universities, an opposite flow emerged. In the Middle East, for instance, the number of international campuses nearly doubled between 2000 and 2009, and Egypt has been no exception. Starting 2003, Egypt has witnessed a remarkable surge of private international universities that use English as a medium of instruction, adopt foreign curricula and have partnerships with universities in Europe, North America, and recently Asia. This trend has raised identity loss concerns among many intellectuals and educational researchers whose worries mainly revolved around national, religious, and linguistic identities. This longitudinal qualitative study, thus, aimed to understand how Egyptian freshman students at an international University in Cairo construct and negotiate their national, religious and linguistic identities. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 12 students at three different points of their first year at the university, and a focus group was organized at the beginning of their second year. Results revealed a more complex picture than the widespread simplistic rhetoric about international universities’ influence on students’ identity construction. The participants’ social and academic backgrounds and unique life experiences were an important factor in their identity construction and negotiation; they seemed to determine the ranking of those identities on their hierarchy of identities, which in turn shaped how they constructed and negotiated them. Moreover, participants realized and used their agency to negotiate their identities and resolve identity crises when these happened. They also resorted to other identity agents, particularly family and students’ clubs. This study contributes to the Egyptian debate on educational reform and adds to the literature on English as a medium of instruction, identity formation, and internationalized education by shedding light on the intricate ways in which students navigate through international education, and by suggesting pedagogical and policy implications applicable not only to liberal-education institutions in the region, but perhaps also to other universities in Europe and North America that attract international students, particularly with the recent waves of refugees from the Middle East.

Submitted by PATRICIA LANA PINHEIRO GUERREIRO (patricialanap@gmail.com) on 2016-08-26T19:26:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE VERSÃO IMPRESSÃO - PATRICIA LANA - 18.08.16.pdf: 1664158 bytes, checksum: 0f831864a2134c7bbb9742204afb03ca (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Grisoto (grisotoana@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-08-30T14:15:08Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 guerreiro_plp_dr_mar.pdf: 1664158 bytes, checksum: 0f831864a2134c7bbb9742204afb03ca (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-30T14:15:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 guerreiro_plp_dr_mar.pdf: 1664158 bytes, checksum: 0f831864a2134c7bbb9742204afb03ca (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Historicamente, a profissão docente tem sido desvalorizada, e não há pesquisas, em perspectiva internacional comparada com o Brasil, sobre as representações sociais da profissão docente por estudantes em formação, sobretudo os pertencentes a minorias. O objetivo desta tese consistiu em investigar as representações sociais sobre a profissão docente por alunos não tradicionais em formação em Marília-SP, e em Estocolmo, na Suécia. Estudantes não tradicionais, em linhas gerais, são os que ingressaram na educação superior após as políticas de expansão, modificando o corpo discente que antes era restrito à elite. São estudantes oriundos de classes menos favorecidas, podendo ser os primeiros de suas famílias a ingressarem nesse nível educacional. Participaram do estudo cinco estudantes cotistas do curso de Pedagogia da Universidade Estadual Paulista (Campus de Marília), e seis estudantes de cursos de formação de professores da Universidade de Estocolmo. A pesquisa envolveu revisão bibliográfica sobre pesquisa comparada, de formação inicial de professores e dos sistemas educacionais dos dois países. Empiricamente, os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevista semiestruturada, sendo a análise pautada pela Teoria das Representações Sociais (TRS) de Moscovici como práticas discursivas, em perspectiva interdisciplinar com a análise do discurso de linha francesa, em que se ressalta a ancoragem nas memórias discursiva e coletiva no processo de construção das representações sociais. A tese se mostrou com potencial para contribuir para a produção do conhecimento em educação por não encontrarmos estudos comparados sobre a temática em perspectiva comparada entre países substancialmente diferentes e pela pertinência da TRS como práticas discursivas para a análise dos dados. Houve o compartilhamento de práticas discursivas muito semelhantes entre os estudantes, mostrando como as memórias coletiva e discursiva não dependem de limites geograficamente estabelecidos. Os resultados revelaram tanto a profissão docente quanto a formação de professores como extremamente importantes para a sociedade, além de uma profissão desvalorizada socialmente, financeiramente e com condições de trabalho extenuantes, que o gosto pela profissão e a inspiração de bons professores foram as maiores motivações para a escolha desse caminho profissional, que os efeitos negativos das políticas neoliberais em educação não podem ser ignorados, e que as cotas são vistas em um misto de insatisfação e de justiça social na forma de ação afirmativa. / Historically, the teaching profession has been devalued, and there is no research in an international and comparative perspective with Brazil on the social representations of the teaching profession by students in training, especially those belonging to minorities. The goal of this thesis was to investigate the social representations about the teaching profession by non-traditional students in training in Marilia-SP, and Stockholm, Sweden. Non-traditional students, in general, are the ones who entered higher education after its expansion policies, modifying the student body that was previously restricted to the elite. They are students from poorer classes, and may be the first in their families to join this educational level. The non-traditional students who participated in the research were five undergraduate students of Pedagogy at the São Paulo State University (Campus of Marilia), and six students of teacher training courses at the University of Stockholm. The research involved literature review on comparative research, on initial teacher training and on educational systems of both countries. Empirically, the data were collected through semi-structured interviews, and the analysis were performed according to the Social Representation Theory (SRT) of Moscovici as discursive practices, within an interdisciplinary approach to the French discourse analysis, emphasizing the anchorage in the discursive and collective memories in the process of social representation construction. The thesis has shown the potential to contribute to the production of knowledge in education, because we did not find comparative studies on the subject in a comparative perspective between substantially different countries, and because of the relevance of the SRT as discursive practices for the data analysis. Very similar discursive practices were shared by the students, showing how the collective and discursive memories do not depend on geographical limits. The results showed both the teaching profession and teacher education as extremely important to society, a socially and financially devalued profession, with strenuous working conditions, the taste for the profession and the inspiration of good teachers as the major motivations for choosing this career path, that the negative effects of neoliberal policies in education cannot be ignored, and that the quotas in Brazil are seen in a mix of dissatisfaction and social justice in the form of affirmative action. / CAPES: 5145/14-7

Submitted by Marcello Romani-Dias (mromdias@hotmail.com) on 2018-11-20T17:05:30Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis - Romani-Dias (2018) - Final Version.pdf: 1568443 bytes, checksum: ef0442568f35cae0f35b64dfbf4e3d9e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Debora Nunes Ferreira (debora.nunes@fgv.br) on 2018-11-21T14:42:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis - Romani-Dias (2018) - Final Version.pdf: 1568443 bytes, checksum: ef0442568f35cae0f35b64dfbf4e3d9e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzane Guimarães (suzane.guimaraes@fgv.br) on 2018-11-21T16:00:41Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis - Romani-Dias (2018) - Final Version.pdf: 1568443 bytes, checksum: ef0442568f35cae0f35b64dfbf4e3d9e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-21T16:00:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis - Romani-Dias (2018) - Final Version.pdf: 1568443 bytes, checksum: ef0442568f35cae0f35b64dfbf4e3d9e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-09 / This study addresses the phenomenon of internationalization in higher education and is composed of three chapters. The following research question inspired the first chapter: What is the influence of characteristics (and activities) of researchers on the internationalization of the Higher Education Institutions in which they work? As the main results, I identify that the researcher's: (i) international academic experience, (ii) insertion into international collaborative networks, (iii) international co-authoring and (iv) experience in international publications, are four of the main factors at the individual level that are positively associated with the internationalization of Higher Education Institutions. The second chapter built from the Social Exchange Theory in order to address the following questions: What are the main rewards and costs that researchers perceive in their internationalization activities? How do these expectations of rewards and costs, perceived by researchers, affect their choices of international insertion? As the main results, I identify the following rewards expected by researchers: (i) professional opportunities generated from the internationalization activity, (ii) greater social approval (by the academic group of which they are part), (iii) greater autonomy in their teaching and research activities, and (iv) greater personal and professional security. On the other hand, high temporal, monetary, psychic and physical costs are among the factors that discourage researchers from seeking international insertion in their academic activity. The following question inspired the third chapter: What constitutes the internationalization of full time academic researchers ? I propose that the internationalization of the researcher can be conceptually defined as a phenomenon of four dimensions, called PRID: (i) place, (ii) relationship, (iii) impact and (iv) dissemination. The data obtained from in-depth interviews of 34 reasonably (or highly) internationalized researchers indicates that a researcher internationalizes his (her) academic activity when he (she) engages in academic activities outside his home country (place), and/or establishes relationships with academic actors outside his country (relationship), and/or achieves impact in terms of the wide use of his works (impact) and/or publishes his works in journals of international reach or in partnership with international authors (dissemination). / Esta Tese trata do fenômeno da internacionalização no ensino superior, e está organizada no formato de três artigos. Para a construção do primeiro capítulo parto da seguinte questão: Qual é a influência de características (e atividades) dos pesquisadores sobre a internacionalização das Instituições de Ensino Superior em que atuam? Como principais resultados, identifico que: (i) a experiência acadêmica internacional do pesquisador, sua (ii) inserção em redes de colaboração internacional, suas (iii) coautorias internacionais e sua (iv) experiência em publicações internacionais, são quatro dos principais fatores em nível de indivíduo (pesquisador) que influenciam positivamente a internacionalização da IES. Para o segundo capítulo da Tese, sob a luz da Social Exchange Theory, parto da seguinte questão: Quais são as principais recompensas e custos que pesquisadores percebem em suas atividades de internacionalização? Como estas expectativas de recompensas e custos, percebidos pelos pesquisadores, afetam suas escolhas por inserção internacional? Como principais resultados, identifico as seguintes recompensas esperadas pelos pesquisadores: (i) oportunidades profissionais geradas à partir da atividade de internacionalização, (ii) maior aprovação social (pelo grupo acadêmico de que fazem parte), (iii) maior autonomia em suas atividades de ensino e pesquisa e (iv) maior segurança pessoal e profissional. Por outro lado, os elevados custos temporais, monetários, psíquicos e físicos estão entre os fatores que desestimulam os pesquisadores a buscarem inserção internacional em sua atividade acadêmica. Para o terceiro capítulo da Tese, parto da seguinte questão: O que constitui a internacionalização de pesquisadores acadêmicos em tempo integral? Proponho que a internacionalização do pesquisador pode ser definida como um fenômeno de quatro dimensões, denominadas PRID: (i) lugar ou local (place), (ii) relacionamento (relationship), (iii) impacto (impact) e (iv) disseminação (dissemination). Baseado no modelo PRID proponho uma definição para a internacionalização de pesquisador: Um pesquisador internacionaliza sua atividade acadêmica quando se engaja em atividades acadêmicas fora de seu país natal ou de residência, e/ou estabelece relações com atores acadêmicos fora de seu país, e/ou atinge impacto científico internacional por meio de suas publicações (pelo amplo uso de suas obras) e/ou publica suas obras em periódicos de origem internacional, ou em parceria com autores internacionais

This research contextualizes the measurability of African musical arts (including music, dance, drama, poetry and costume art as an integrated whole), through the introduction of a generic evaluation system, which can be implemented outside its culture of origin as recontextualized authenticity. An assessment system is developed, entitled, The Generic Crosscultural Assessment Framework for African Musical Arts. The Framework illustrates that: the cultural-educational void between African/indigenous/informal and international/formal music education can be crossed; the development of a reliable, valid and objective evaluation system for African musical arts assessment, which can be recognized internationally to the satisfaction of Western and African cultures, is possible. African musical arts has only fairly recently begun to be integrated into formal education systems and music curricula for schools and tertiary institutions. At this stage, there is no structured curriculum available for African musical arts in schools. The need for structuring a Framework for contemporary African musical arts assessment, from which a curriculum could be developed, is clear. The contextualization of the main problem of the research, namely the measurability of African musical arts, took place through: exploration of cultural diversity; translation between cultures; music-cultural integration processes in assessment; cross-cultural dialogue; the learning, teaching and grading situations in different cultures and systems and the integration of different ‘voices’ from many disciplines. Globalization and change were essential concepts in this research. The choice of the research designs for this thesis was informed by Western as well as African indigenous music philosophies. A combination of documentary research design (with literature review, content analysis) and deconstruction theory study designs was conducted within the qualitative paradigm. The reseach focused on intercultural understanding and communication, as well as its emic/etic, or insider/outsider approach. The most important aspects of the research focused, firstly, on Social Studies including Ethnomusicology, Translation Studies, Inter-Cultural and Cross-Cultural Studies; secondly, on Educational Studies including assessment standards, philosophies and systems; thirdly, on African Musical Arts; and finally, on contemplating the syntheses of all above named outcomes in relation to generic cross-cultural standards. The emphasis of the thesis is on music-cultural integration processes in assessment of progressive skills development. / Thesis (DMus)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / gm2013 / Music / unrestricted

本研究旨在了解我國高級中學學生國際教育學習成效之全球公民資質力發展情形，其目的有四：（一）探討目前我國國際教育政策執行成效。（二）研究學生在國際教育政策執行後之學習成效。（三）分析不同背景學生在全球公民資質力上之差異。（四）探究目前國際教育推動四軌面向，影響學生在全球公民資質力之程度。 本研究採用問卷調查法，以103學年及104學年臺北市與高雄市申請SIEP計畫之高級中學計 17校，藉由研究者自編「我國高級中學學生國際教育學習成效之全球公民資質力調查問卷」進行調查，採立意取樣共發出1,200問卷，回收1,028份問卷，回收率86％，剔除無效問卷，有效問卷共計843份，有效率82％。調查所得資料以SPSS 22.0統計套裝軟體進行統計與分析，使用統計方法有描述性統計、單一樣本t檢定、獨立樣本t檢定、單因子變異數分析、Pearson積差相關與逐步多元迴歸分析，研究結論如下： 一、我國國際教育政策執行已有相當成效，然而在教師國際教育專業成長與全球公民適應力、競合力與反思力尚需加強。 二、學校參與國際教育計畫，提供國際時事相關訊息，鼓勵學生參加志工服務學習，融入社團關懷日，有助於提升學生全球公民資質力。 三、家長教育程度、學生出國經驗與第二外語能力對於學生全球公民資質力有顯著的影響。 四、臺北市與高雄市學生全球公民資質力並無顯著差異，顯示背景相似的學校在推動國際教育上，可達相同一定的水準。 五、加強教師國際專業知能與增加學校環境之外的國際教育推廣面向，以提升學生全球公民資質力。 根據以上研究結論，提出相關建議，俾提供對教育行政主管機關、學校與未來研究之參考。 / The purpose of this study is to understand the development of global citizenship as the effectiveness of senior high international education in Taiwan. The purpose of this study is as follows: (1) To explore the effectiveness of the international education policy in Taiwan. (2) To study the effectiveness of learning after the implementation of international education policy. (3) Analyze the differences in the quality of global citizenship for different backgrounds. (4) To explore the current international education to promote the four-track orientation that affects the scale of students’ global citizenship. In this study, the questionnaire survey was conducted in Taipei and Kaohsiung cities in the 103 academic year and 104 academic year. The survey was conducted by the researchers in the study of "International Education in High School Students' Learning Achievements." A total of 1,823 questionnaires were collected and the recovery rate was 86%. After the invalid questionnaires were removed, there were 843 questionnaires valid. The 82% of the survey results were analyzed by SPSS 22.0 statistical software. Using the statistical methods including descriptive statistics, one sample t test, independent sample t test,analysis of variance(one-way ANOVA), Pearson correlation and stepwise regression, the study has the following conclusions: 1.The implementation of international education policy in Taiwan has been quite effective, but teachers’ international professional knowledge, global citizenship adaptability, competition and reflection need to be strengthened. 2.The school participates in international education programs and provides related information about international affairs. It encourages students to take part in volunteering work and community care day, which helps to enhance students’ global citizenship. 3.The parents’ educational degree, the students’ experience of going abroad and the proficiency of the second language have significant impact on global citizenship. 4.There is no significant difference between students in Taipei or Kaohsiung in terms of global citizenship. The result indicates that schools that have similar backgrounds can reach the same level in promoting international education. 5.To enhance the student's global citizenship, we should strengthen teachers’ professional knowledge and extend the international education beyond the school district. Based on the above conclusions, relevant recommendations are made for the educational administration, for schools and for future research.

In the broad field of education, studies have been done to understand the ways in which adult learning, development, and transformation are fostered in travel contexts. Such studies mainly used the experiential learning and transformational learning theoretical frameworks to look at participants’ lived learning experiences from travel. However, there is a void when one searches for studies that examine the intersection of self-directed learning and travel. This study used self-directed learning theory to explore the essence of learning from foreign travel experiences. The aim of this study was to understand the role of self-directed learning as a learning process that adults use to design and pursue learning and personal enrichment experiences in foreign travel contexts. This was about understanding the ways in which adults find joy in travel through creating their own learning environments. Qualitative interviews were gathered from participants who wished to share their experiences and conclusions were reported following a phenomenological framework. Today, becoming a self-directed learner is more important and prevalent than ever. Especially with the improved ease of use with technology to find and/or create learning opportunities and the availability of a multitude of travel options, information and experience-seekers have today a variety of ways to satisfy their hunger for personal enrichment. In an age when more adult learners are taking learning experiences into their own hands and looking to explore the foreign destinations that they might have only read about in books, or searched for online, it is important for travel-related providers and academic thought-leaders to understand the self-directed learning process as it relates to adult learners in foreign travel contexts. The findings of this study show that Knowles’ self-directed learning theory can be an applicable and advantageous learning framework to be utilized during foreign travel experiences and that traveling with learning goals and strategies enhances such experiences. My personal goal with this project was to give readers a better understanding of how self-directed individuals learn through travel and an applicable construct with which to do so.

Since the late nineteenth century, Switzerland, a self-professed “playground” and “classroom” of the world, has successfully promoted itself as a desirable destination for international study and tourism. The historically entangled private schooling and tourism industries have steadily communicated idealised images of educational tourism in Switzerland via advertising. Concentrating on the period 1890 -1945 – when promotional ties between tourism organisations and private schools solidified – this thesis investigates the social construction of educational tourist place in two different types of promotion aimed at English-speaking markets: private international school prospectuses and education-focused tourism brochures. An analysis of early prospectuses from three long-standing private international schools and of education-focused tourism guides written by municipal organisations, travel agencies, school boards and the Swiss government revealed highly visual, ideologically-charged textual representations of locations and markets simultaneously defined, idealised and commodified international education in Switzerland. Chapters provide close interpretation of documents and aim, through thick description, to understand specific place-making examples within a wider socio-historical context. Chapter One examines the earliest prospectuses of Le Rosey and Brillantmont, two of the world’s must exclusive Swiss schools (1890-1916). An examination of photo-essay style prospectuses reveals highly selective portrayals of “Château” architecture communicated capacity to deliver a “high-class” and gender appropriate Swiss finishing. Visual cues hallmarking literary and sporting preferences indicated texts catered to the gaze of social-climbing, Anglo-centric markets desirous a continental cosmopolitan education that was not overly “foreign.” Chapter Two analyses the social construction of towns in French-speaking Switzerland as attractive educational centres (1890-1914). It explores how guides promoting Geneva, Neuchâtel and Lausanne constructed an idealised study-abroad landscape through thematic testaments to the educative capacities of local human and natural landscapes. The remaining chapters explore interwar texts. Chapter Three examines a high-altitude institute’s use of the idealising skills of high-end tourism poster artists to manufacture a pleasant, school-like image for the mountain sanatoria-like campus of Beau Soleil. Chapter Four investigates two series of education-focused tourism guidebooks which promoted education in Switzerland. An examination of a Swiss National Tourist Office series reveals discourses of nationhood racialised the Swiss as natural-born pedagogues and constructed Switzerland as a safe, moral destination populated by cooperative, multi-lingual and foreign student-friendly folk. An analysis of R. Perrin Travel Agency’s series explores guidebooks which openly classified education as a tourism commodity. The final chapter examines Le Rosey and Brillantmont’s interwar prospectuses within the context of complex, transnational schooling and school advertising practices. An analysis of images of school sports at winter holiday resorts suggests prospectuses expressed the sense of freedom which accompanies upper-class identity more so than any sense of gender-driven restriction. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

This study is about internationalization activity in the British Columbia university colleges. It discusses the environmental context, identifies the types of internationalization activities which occur and discusses the impact of this activity on faculty, staff and administrative work. The investigation employs a nested case study with units of analysis occurring at five levels. The university college sector is the first level; second, its senior officers; third, its deans and directors; fourth, faculty members; and fifth, staff members. Data collection involved individual and focus group interviews, compiling documentary and historical records, participant-observation and on-site visits to each university college. M y intent was to learn about internationalization, to identify the factors influencing its activity and to discover how the activity influences the university college environment. The research provided six key findings on internationalization in the university colleges: (1) the meaning of internationalization is heavily influenced by the external environment; (2) the university college workplace is shaped by growing numbers of international students; ( 3) the university colleges have been very successful in attracting international students to their programs; (4) internationalization work is both under-valued and under-supported at the university colleges; (5) a separation exists between international education and faculty areas and results in a number of misperceptions; (6) the university colleges are faced with leadership challenges. The key findings presented five general conclusions about internationalization in the university colleges: (1) internationalization efforts do not have a legitimate voice nationally, provincially or locally; (2) an institutional discussion and debate regarding the role and purpose of internationalization has not happened at the university colleges; (3) the university colleges run the risk of becoming overly dependent on a 'soft money' source to fund ongoing financial commitments; (4) the university colleges face some ethical challenges as they grapple with the economic imperative of internationalization; (5) the university colleges face an inherent structural challenge that creates tension within and between their internal and external communities. Policy and practice recommendations are made to government, to higher educators and in particular to the university colleges. The limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are provided. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

The following three articles in this dissertation challenge the current rationale of internationalization and makes the case for anew approach to internationalization within U.S. higher education. My first article delves deep into the rationale of internationalization in U.S. higher education over the years by way of U.S. study abroad. This analysis identifies and evaluates the multiple cause-and –effect relationships in a historical context in order to understand the origins that led to the expansion of internationalization efforts within U.S. higher education. My second article explores Mansilla and Gardner’s global consciousness framework as a viable solution to the issues that are currently plaguing internationalization efforts in U.S. higher education. I contend that the global consciousness framework provides an alternative approach to internationalization that is rooted in mindfulness rather than competiveness. Finally, my third article evaluates the impact of this proposed solution by examining how Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine students within the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine view their roles and careers in society after engaging with the global consciousness framework. Overall, these articles take a critical lens to our approach in preparing students for the global era.

This study investigates the difficulties that may arise for students as a consequence of differences that exist in mathematics education between different educational systems. The questions asked are when and why difficulties as a consequence of differences in writing or types of student problems may arise and in which way teachers and students attend to these difficulties. The focus is thus on the written parts of mathematics education and the questions are asked within the frame of general upper secondary education.In order to answer these questions, a sociocultural perspective based mainly on Sfard’s (2006) participationist theories together with Vygotsky’s (1999) general theories on development and learning is used. An important analytic tool is the discourse concept which in this context means a type of communication that brings some people together while excluding others from the communication. From this perspective the different rules that govern the way student problems are formulated and the ways of writing that will be accepted, may be described as parts of a specific discourse in the mathematics education rather than universally accepted truths.The study has been based on a qualitative research method and has included observations of lessons and semi-structured interviews with teachers and students. In order to give a global picture, four schools have participated in the study and one week has been spent at each school. The selection has consisted of one international school with IB education, two schools abroad (from different countries) and one Swedish upper secondary school.The study shows that difficulties occur for students and that these are mainly due to differences in the mathematics education between the different educational systems. Partly, the student problems have proved to differ in crucial ways and therefore it is difficult for students to interpret and find solutions to unknown student problems. Besides, the mathematical writing differs in many fields such as text editing, use of mathematical notation and algorithms, and this also causes difficulties. In order to overcome these difficulties, teachers and students use methods which aim at creating habits for the new way of working by showing the practices to the students who then repeat them on their own accord.Apart from the direct answers to the research questions, another great problem for students who start studying mathematics in a new educational system appeared to be lacking basic knowledge, which means that they lack certain essential knowledge and calculation proficiencies that are necessary prerequisites. This problem is specifically preponderant for students with Swedish educational background. Furthermore, it appears that the teachers at the international schools are much conscious of the fact that there exist differences in mathematics education and in general they consider it inspiring to be able to learn more from the knowledge of their students.By interpreting the differences in the mathematics education as representative for different discourses, it has been possible to understand that the difficulties that arise are due to the fact that the student has not yet individualized the new discourse. This means that the student is only able to carry out the discursive routines collectively, with aid from the teacher or the group, which explains the routine creating practices used by teachers and students. When the student has worked within the new discourse it will be individualized and the student will be able to work within the discourse in a deliberate and independent way. For the education, thisimplies that the students will first be able to perform certain routines within the discourse before a comprehension of the rules that govern them will be achieved.Since the problem of lacking basic knowledge is due to a total lack of the students’ necessary prerequisites, it is possible to interpret this problem with help of Vygotsky’s (1999) reasoning. The knowledge assumed by the new discourse does not lie within the zone of proximal development and therefore the conditions for learning are not fulfilled. The positive and reflective attitude of the teachers with respect to differences in the mathematics education differs in a decisive sense from the literature and appears to influence the possibilities to overcome the difficulties in a positive way. / Denna studie undersöker svårigheter som kan uppstå för elever på grund av skillnader som finns i matematikundervisningen mellan olika utbildningssystem. De frågor som ställs är när och varför svårigheter till följd av skillnader i skrivsätt och uppgiftstyper kan uppstå samt på vilket sätt lärare och elever arbetar med dessa svårigheter. Fokus ligger således på de skriftliga delarna av matematikundervisningen och frågorna ställs inom ramen för studieförberedande gymnasieutbildningar.För att besvara dessa frågor används ett sociokulturellt synsätt som huvudsakligen utgår från Sfards (2006) participationistiska teoribildning tillsammans med Vygotskijs (1999) generella teorier om utveckling och lärande. Ett viktigt analysverktyg är begreppet diskurs som i detta sammanhang innebär en typ av kommunikation som för samman vissa människor medan andra exkluderas från kommunikationen. Utifrån detta perspektiv kan de olika reglerna som styr hur uppgifter utformas och vilka skrivsätt som kommer att accepteras, beskrivas som delar av en specifik diskurs i matematikundervisningen snarare än universellt vedertagna sanningar.Undersökningen har utgått från en kvalitativ undersökningsmetodik och har innefattat lektionsobservationer och semistrukturerade intervjuer med lärare och elever. För att ge en övergripande bild har fyra skolor deltagit i studien och en vecka har tillbringats på vardera skolan. Urvalet har utgjorts av en internationell skola med IB-undervisning, två utlandsskolor (från olika länder) samt en svensk gymnasieskola.Studien visar på att det förekommer svårigheter för elever och att dessa framför allt beror på skillnader i matematikundervisningen mellan de olika utbildningssystemen. Dels har det visat sig att uppgiftstyperna kan skilja sig på avgörande sätt och att det därför är svårt för eleverna att tolka och hitta lösningar till obekanta uppgifter. Dessutom skiljer sig det matematiska skrivsättet på flera områden såsom textredigering, notationsanvändning och algoritmer vilket också ger upphov till svårigheter. För att överbrygga dessa svårigheter använder sig lärare och elever av metoder som syftar till att skapa en vana vid det nya arbetssättet genom att läraren visar på arbetsmetoder och att eleverna även repeterar dessa på egen hand.Utöver de direkta svaren på frågeställningarna framkom också att ett stort problem för elever som börjar studera matematik i ett nytt undervisningssystem kan vara bristande baskunskaper, det vill säga att de saknar vissa grundläggande kunskaper eller räknefärdigheter som är nödvändiga förkunskaper. Detta problem är speciellt framträdande för elever med svensk utbildningsbakgrund. Dessutom har det framkommit lärarna på de internationella skolorna mycket väl är medvetna om att det finns skillnader i matematikundervisningen och generellt upplever det som inspirerande att kunna lära sig om dessa genom elevernas kunskaper.Genom att tolka skillnaderna i matematikundervisningen som representativa för olika diskurser, har det varit möjligt att förstå att de svårigheter som uppstår beror på att eleven inte har individualiserat den nya diskursen. Detta innebär att eleven endast klarar av att utföra de diskursiva rutinerna kollektivt, med hjälp av läraren eller gruppen, vilket förklarar det rutinskapande arbetssättet som tillämpas av lärare och elever. När eleven har arbetat i den nya diskursen kommer den att individualiseras och eleven kan arbeta inom den på ett avsiktligt och självständigt sätt. En implikation för undervisningen är här att eleverna först kan utföra vissa rutiner inom diskursen innan en förståelse reglerna som styr dem skapas.Eftersom problemet med bristande baskunskaper grundar sig i att eleverna helt saknar de nödvändiga förkunskaperna är detta möjligt att tolka genom Vygotskijs (1999) resonemang. De kunskaper som den nya diskursen förutsätter befinner sig inte i den närmaste utvecklingszonen varför förutsättningar för lärande inte föreligger. Lärarnas positiva och reflekterade inställning till skillnader i matematikundervisningen skiljer sig på ett avgörande sätt från litteraturen och förefaller påverka möjligheterna till att överbrygga svårigheter på ett positivt sätt.