Over time, the state has undertaken various reforms to govern the development of education. The issue of using new media may be seen as such an example. A change in the use of media in education imposes great challenges on both municipalities and teachers. This thesis aims to visualise and discuss governance in the contradictions that arise in practical activities aimed at integrating new media in school teaching, based on three actors’ perspectives, namely the dilemmas of the teacher, the media pedagogue and the media developer. The study is based on systemic thinking about governance and I employ both activity theory and the concept of governmentality to visualise and discuss the governance. The study is conducted in the form of a case study. The case consists of a municipality where, based on the curriculum’s mission, teachers have tried to find ways to integrate new media into their teaching. My own connection to the case consists of having been a driving and governing force in the work as a teacher, media pedagogue and media developer. The case was chosen because the municipality’s work on the national level and via the media has been held up as a good example. The empirical part consists of both my own life narrative and studies of different documents, texts, images, films and sound recordings that show how govern­mentalities are formed and take shape on the micro, macro and meso levels. I use a methodological prism, a combination of different analytical perspectives, discourse, activity, narratives and governmentality. The results reveal that the driving actors are innovatively handling the systemic contradictions that arise in the work of carrying out the curriculum’s mission. The governance of the activities is based on a trust rationality. The more the use of new media is spread in the municipality’s schools, the more contradictory it becomes for the middle level’s actors. The trust rationality has been superseded by a distrust rationality, creating a growing gap between the administration and the activities.

Avhandlingens syfte är att fördjupa kunskapen om skolsituationen för barn och ungdomar i samhällsvård samt att fördjupa kunskapen om de processer varigenom de unga finner vägar genom skolan och samhällsvården mot ett självständigt liv som unga vuxna. Studien har genomförts i fem svenska storstadskommuner. Materialet består huvudsakligen av upprepade intervjuer med unga som själva har erfarenhet av att vara placerade i samhällsvård. Som en bakgrund genomfördes en kartläggande aktstudie gällande alla de ungdomar från dessa kommuner, som under 2003 hade placerats i samhällsvård. Intervjudeltagarna valdes ut från denna kartläggning. I analysen av intervjuerna användes en narrativ livsberättelseansats. Fokus i analysen har riktats både mot att förstå de ungas erfarenheter av att leva i skola och samhällsvård och mot att förstå hur de unga, genom sina berättelser, tolkar dessa erfarenheter och på så sätt skapar en meningsfull berättelse om sig själva och sina liv. Resultatet visar att livet i samhällsvård för de unga är präglat av utsatthet på flera nivåer. Socialtjänstakterna pekar mot ett samband mellan svårigheter i hemmet och svårigheter i skolan för de ungdomar som placerades i samhällsvård. Livsberättelserna synliggör hur skolan, familjen och samhällsvården utgör en komplex helhet i de ungas vardag och hur utsatthet inom någon av dessa praktiker därmed tenderar att spridas vidare i en process av överförd utsatthet. I sin kamp för att undkomma denna utsatthet navigerar de unga mot arenor där de kan finna hemmatillhörighet, det vill säga en upplevelse av att förstå och ”höra hemma” i en socialt delad vardagsverklighet. Ett viktigt redskap i de ungas strävan efter hemmatillhörighet är deras förståelsearbete, det vill säga det kontinuerliga tolkningsarbete varigenom de – inom ramen för socialt delade hemmatillhörigheter – knyter ihop sina erfarenheter till en sammanhängande förståelse av sig själva och sina liv. / The aim of this thesis is to gain further knowledge about the school situation for children and youths in out-of-home care; about the processes by which these children and youths find their way through family life, school and care settings; and about their transitions from out-of-home care to an independent life as young adults. The study was conducted in five municipalities in Sweden. The main empirical data was generated through repeated interviews with young people who had the experience of staying in out-of-home care. As a background social services case files concerning all youths from the five municipalities, who during 2003 were placed in out-of-home care, were analysed. The interviewees were selected from this overview. In the analysis of the interviews a narrative life story perspective was used. Focus was directed both towards the understanding of the young people’s school and in-care experiences and at the understanding of how they, through their narratives, interpret these experiences and create a coherent story of meaning about themselves and their lives. The result indicates that life for young people placed in out-of-home care is characterized by vulnerability and exposure on several levels. The case files indicate that there is a connection between the degree of difficulties at home and in school for youths placed in out-of-home care. The life stories show that school, home and care settings, for the youths seem to represent a complex pattern of everyday practices in which their vulnerability tend to spread in a process of transferred exposure. In their struggle to avoid this exposure they strive to find spaces that provide them with a sense of belonging. An important tool in this struggle is their comprehension work, that is to say the continuous interpretive work by which they connect their experiences into a meaningful understanding of whom they are and which life they ought to live.

The thesis is based on eight vocational teachers’ life stories with the aim to provide knowledge about vocational teachers and their work with pupils in teaching in the industrial-technology programme, in the context of both a working life and a vocational education which is continuously changing. The thesis answers two research questions: 1) the themes that recur in vocational teachers’ life stories about how they meet and teach their pupils and 2) the teaching goals and strategies which emerge from vocational teachers’ life stories. All in all fifteen interviews were conducted from which life stories and teacher profiles were constructed. Results show five recurring themes in the teacher profiles.  The themes are; to be a caring adult for vocational pupils, to teach them basic knowledge considered important for the education, to teach them respect and discipline, to teach them the value of fighting and not giving up, and to show them the possibility of international employment. Moreover, the teacher goals and strategies emerging from the life stories show that the teachers can be said to educate different types of industrial workers. In line with these results, vocational education can be seen as more than a preparation for working life. Vocational teachers with different life experiences create different relationships with their pupils in order to create opportunities for them to manage school and to succeed in a life after school. In an industrial-technical education and in a working life which is constantly changing, vocational teachers have received various educations and worked in various industries during different time periods. They both educate their pupils and prepare them for a future working life based on these experiences. / Avhandlingen bygger på åtta yrkeslärares livsberättelser och syftar till att bidra med kunskap om yrkeslärare och yrkeslärares arbete med elever i undervisning på industritekniska programmet. Avhandlingen fokuserar återkommande teman i yrkeslärarnas livsberättelser med avseende på hur de möter och undervisar sina elever, samt olika undervisningsstrategier och mål som kommer till uttryck i det lärarna berättar om sin undervisning. Resultaten visar att yrkeslärarnas tidigare livserfarenheter har betydelse för hur de möter och undervisar eleverna på industritekniska programmet. Detta blir tydligt genom de fem teman som återkommer i deras livsberättelser. Dessa teman handlar om att vara en omtänksam vuxen för yrkeseleverna, att undervisa i viktiga grundkunskaper, att lära eleverna respekt och disciplin, att lära dem värdet av att kämpa och inte ge upp samt att visa på möjligheten arbete i andra länder än Sverige. Vidare visar de olika undervisningsmål och -strategier som framträder ur yrkeslärarnas livsberättelser att industriteknisk utbildning handlar om mycket mer än att förbereda eleverna för en framtida anställning. Förutom detta uppenbara mål visar resultatet att yrkeslärarna, utifrån sina olika livserfarenheter, också använder sig av olika strategier för att hjälpa eleverna att klara studierna, att visa på möjligheterna att läsa vidare samt att utveckla en yrkesstolthet.

Denna studie tillhör deltagarorienterad forskning (PAR) i form av en forskningscirkel. Syftet var att beskriva och analysera en forskningscirkels kunskapsutveckling både gällande dess process och dess innehåll. Deltagarna i cirkeln var nio lärare som arbetar vid en komvuxskola och de undervisar vuxenelever i ämnena SFI, SVA och engelska. Forskningscirkelns fokus har varit frågor som gäller individanpassad undervisning inom komvuxutbildningar. I cirkeln har empiriska data kommit fram genom att låta deltagarna berätta sina livsberättelser om individanpassad undervisning och i gruppsamtal prata om individanpassad undervisning. I en växelverkan mellan deltagarnas erfarenheter om individanpassad undervisning och tidigare forskning inom detta område, arbetade vi i cirkeln fram metoder för individanpassad undervisning inom komvuxutbildningar. Deltagarna prövade dessa metoder i undervisningen. Metoderna som var utformade för individanpassad undervisning var både vitt och övergripande utformade, vilket var positivt på grund av att lärarna kunde anpassa metoderna och arbetssätten till varje elevgrupp och till enskilda vuxenelever. Resultatet visar att individanpassad undervisning bör utformas som individuell undervisning, en till en undervisning, mellan lärare och vuxenelev. Då kan vuxeneleven få individuell hjälp med studierna och eleven kan få arbetsuppgifter som är individuellt anpassad till hens förmåga att studera. Det har också framkommit att, det är viktigt att undervisningen är utformad utifrån relationell undervisning, vilket innebär att vuxeneleven både får möta lärare och andra elever under studiernas gång. Det innebär olika undervisningssätt som både är individanpassade, samtidigt som de utgår från en relationell undervisning. Det har framkommit i studien att relationell undervisning är särskilt viktigt i språkundervisningen. Det har också uppmärksammats individanpassade metoder som utgår från digital undervisning både inom individuell undervisning och relationell undervisning. I studien lyftes fram olika arbetssätt som utgår från digital undervisning. / This study belongs to the research tradition Participatory Action Research (PAR) in the form of a Research Circle. The task was to describe and analyse the process and content of knowledge development within a Research Circle. The participants in this circle were nine teacher who work at komvux, and teach adult students in subject such as SFI, SVA and English. In this circle with participating teachers, issues of individually adapted teaching in adult education have been in focus. In this circle, empirical data has been highlighted by having the participants tell life stories and in group interviews about the individualized teaching. In an interaction between the participants´ experiences of individually adapted teaching and previous research in this area, we in the circle developed methods for individually adapted teaching in adult education. The participants tried these methods in their teaching. The methods that were developed for individually adapted teaching were both broadly and comprehensive designed, which was positive because then the teacher can adapt the teaching methods to each student group and individual adult student. The result indicate that the individually adapted teaching needs to be designed based on individual teaching, one to one teaching between teacher and adult student. Then the adult student can receive individual support in their studies and receive tasks that are individually adapted to the student´s ability to study. It is also important that the teaching is designed based on relational teaching, were the adult student both meets the teacher and other students during the course of study. This means different working methods in teaching that are individually adapted based on relational teaching. Relational teaching is especially important in language teaching. It has also been highlighted methods for individually adapted teaching based on digital teaching which is both based on individual teaching and relational teaching. This digital teaching is based on different working methods that are highlighted in this study.