In the curriculum for the Swedish compulsory school, Lgr11, student influence have been given a high priority. Yet, Lgr11 is ambiguous in its discussion about how student influence should be practiced in reality. Students are therefore subjects to each school’s particular interpretation of what student influence is and how it should be implemented. Given the discrepancy, the aim of the study is to investigate students’ and principals’ understanding of student influence in a Swedish school. To analyze student influence in relation to knowledge and power we use Michel Foucault’s conceptions of power and Iris Marion Young’s work on democracy and inclusion. Our empirical data has been collected through a semi-structured interview with a principal and focus groups with five students. We find that the responsibility for implementing student influence is delegated to the teachers, even though the principals have primary responsibility according to the law. The students do not think that all students are capable of making good decisions, even if they were given more influence. In light of our findings we draw two main conclusions. First, from a democracy perspective, students’ perception of other students’ abilities, as well as their own interest and knowledge, can affect on the influence in schools. Further from a power-perspective, surveillance and knowledge could also have an affect on student influence. This study is significant to further developing our understanding of how students’ influence is affected by power and democracy factors since the curriculum offers an ambiguous discussion on student influence.

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The aim of this study is to explore how young people act and the organisation of school practice, and what possibilities they have of influencing the content and the forms practiced. The study focuses on how the pedagogic practice is organised in two classes in their first year of upper secondary school, one Social Science programme class and one Vehicle programme class. This embraces questions as: How, where, when and for what cause do students act to influence, and then with what result? Are students offered influence, and in that case which students? How does the organisation of and the content in the pedagogic practice prepare students to act in order to be able to exert influence in the future? These questions have been studied with focus on differences between the programmes with regard to social background and gender. The thesis has its theoretical base in Bernstein’s theory of pedagogy and code (1990, 2000), feminist perspectives (Arnot, 2006; Arnot &amp; Dillabough, 2000; Connell, 1987; Gordon, 2006; Gordon, Holland &amp; Lahelma, 2000) as well as theories of structuration (Giddens, 1984). The empirical material of the thesis was ethnographically produced during one school year, through classroom observations, individual interviews with students, teachers and head teachers, and the gathering of school and teaching material. The main results in the analysis are that actions taken to gain influence were rare, that the organisation of and the content in the pedagogic practice was mainly focused on students as becoming, i. e. it focused students possibilities to be able to influence in the future and not the present. Furthermore, changing of pedagogic content or pedagogic forms was dependent on students’ own actions. There was a lack of teacher organisation to promote student influence. Finally, what was evaluated in the pedagogic practice, i.e. factual learning, did not promote student influence. The thesis demonstrates how pedagogic practice was gendered and classed, which had consequences for how students could influence and how students were prepared to influence in the future. Since the Social Science programme mostly attracts students from a middle-class background and the Vehicle programme those with a working-class background, the content in the programmes contributed to reproducing hierarchical social relations. The content for the Vehicle students proved to be simplified, personal and context dependent, whereas the content of the Social Science programme was more advanced, general and context independent, knowledge which, in argumentation for influence, is usually highly valued. In previous research, working class masculinities have often been associated with opposition towards study-oriented subjects. However, the current study indicates that there is an interest in studying Swedish, English and maths. The students argued that it was necessary for future employment, and that the Vehicle industry is now asking for this kind of knowledge. / <p>Akademisk avhandling för avläggande av filosofie doktorsexamen framläggs till offentligt försvar i D270, Högskolan i Borås, fredagen den 16 november 2012, kl. 13.00.</p>

<p>This report describes an interview study of Swedish elementary school teacher’s view on stu-dent influence. The objective is to find out about teachers' approach to student influence, what do they think happens with students that are allowed to influence and what are the negotiables and non-negotiables when it comes to student influence in elementary education? And do the teachers really want their students to have influence?</p><p>According to the official policy documents for the Swedish school system the Swedish school shall work towards a democratic school. Not only should the students be educated about de-mocracy but they should also learn to use democratic values and processes. However, in these policy documents there are no concrete guidelines as to which extent or how a teacher should work with student influence. It is up to the individual teacher to interpret this on his/her own. In my report I wanted to show what the teachers say about the possibilities and threats that they feel and experience with the practice of student influence over the school teaching.</p><p>The report shows that the approach that teachers have towards student influence affects to what extent their students are allowed to influence over the school teaching. The conclusion of the report is that the Swedish school still has old values that are hard to shake and that teachers are afraid of what might happen if they allow their students to influence the school teaching too much.</p>

<p>In this study we wanted to have a closer look at how a specific working team of pedagogues in the senior part of elementary school works with student influence through a pedagogical concept created by themselves. We have used qualitative interviews as a method to achieve relevant information from the pedagogues, and from students teached by the same.</p><p>The purpose of the study was to investigate how the working team, through the concept, pursue real student influence within different school subjects and how the individual student is favored in his/her learning process. Another intention was to find out to what extent the students experience this influence. We also wanted to elucidate the advantages as well as the disadvantages of this concept, and to shed some light on how the informants view the future development of the concept.</p><p>The result shows that consensus prevails to a large extent among teachers and students regarding the signification of real student influence in the everyday learning situation. It also appears that the students’ abilities to exercise influence vary between different school subjects. The students seem to have understood and accepted the reasons for this.</p><p>The interaction between traditional teaching (in certain subjects) and the concept has resulted in the fact that students have succeeded in their learning process to a larger extent and that their engagement and sense of responsibility have increased significantly.</p>

In this study we wanted to have a closer look at how a specific working team of pedagogues in the senior part of elementary school works with student influence through a pedagogical concept created by themselves. We have used qualitative interviews as a method to achieve relevant information from the pedagogues, and from students teached by the same. The purpose of the study was to investigate how the working team, through the concept, pursue real student influence within different school subjects and how the individual student is favored in his/her learning process. Another intention was to find out to what extent the students experience this influence. We also wanted to elucidate the advantages as well as the disadvantages of this concept, and to shed some light on how the informants view the future development of the concept. The result shows that consensus prevails to a large extent among teachers and students regarding the signification of real student influence in the everyday learning situation. It also appears that the students’ abilities to exercise influence vary between different school subjects. The students seem to have understood and accepted the reasons for this. The interaction between traditional teaching (in certain subjects) and the concept has resulted in the fact that students have succeeded in their learning process to a larger extent and that their engagement and sense of responsibility have increased significantly.

This report describes an interview study of Swedish elementary school teacher’s view on stu-dent influence. The objective is to find out about teachers' approach to student influence, what do they think happens with students that are allowed to influence and what are the negotiables and non-negotiables when it comes to student influence in elementary education? And do the teachers really want their students to have influence? According to the official policy documents for the Swedish school system the Swedish school shall work towards a democratic school. Not only should the students be educated about de-mocracy but they should also learn to use democratic values and processes. However, in these policy documents there are no concrete guidelines as to which extent or how a teacher should work with student influence. It is up to the individual teacher to interpret this on his/her own. In my report I wanted to show what the teachers say about the possibilities and threats that they feel and experience with the practice of student influence over the school teaching. The report shows that the approach that teachers have towards student influence affects to what extent their students are allowed to influence over the school teaching. The conclusion of the report is that the Swedish school still has old values that are hard to shake and that teachers are afraid of what might happen if they allow their students to influence the school teaching too much.

The aim of this papper is to investigate how spanish teacher understand the concept of Sustainable Development and how they implement the Education for Sustainable Development in their lessons. For this purpose we have used two different methods: the first was to analyze Swedish school policy documents (Education Act, Lgr 11 and Lgy 11) to see if they promote the Education for Sustainable Development in foreign language classes. The second was to analyze the perceptions of the teachers in terms of understanding and application of Sustainable Development in their teaching. A questionnaire study was conducted with 12 spanish teachers representing 11 secondary- and high schools in Växjö. The questionnaire contains 8 questions about personal information, 3 open questions about understanding of Education for Sustainable Development and 27 affirmations about Sustainable Development which measure teacher´s levels of agreement or disagreement (Likert ordinal scale). The results showes that Swedish school policy documents don´t make it clear that teacher in general and spanish teacher in particular have to educate for Sustainable Development (in the Education Act the words 'sustainable development' are not even mentioned). They also showes that 58 % of the teachers implemet in their teaching the Sustainable Development; 100 % of the teachers consider the lack of knowledge, the lack och time and the irrelevance of Sustainable Development in the spanish lessons as factors who difficult the Education for Sustainable Development; 92 % of the teachers would like to get more education about how to educate for Sustainable Development.

Student influence in school-age educare. A scientific essay on student influence, student participation and a democratic approach in school-age educare. This scientific essay explores how teachers relate to student influence, student participation and democratic praxis in compulsory primary school and school-age educare. The main focus being the relationship between student influence and the professional role of the school-age educare teacher in Primary school. The aim was to gain an understanding of whether student influence and student democracy affect students' wellbeing, and if so, how? Could practical knowledge and well working social relations increase student influence? We describe two different events based on our own experiences. The first one tells how a teacher in school-age educare only listens to contributions from one student, the second recounts several school-age educare teachers’ attitudes towards students’ various proposals at a student council. We have also carried out participatory observations. The curriculum for the school-age educare clearly states that democratic values and students’ influence through participation should govern the activities. We feel there is a certain contradiction between theory and practice, in that the school-age educare teacher truly believes he or she has a democratic approach when in reality, it is a sham democracy. Thus, we have chosen to write about student influence to highlight the importance of including this in the activities and how school-age educare teachers can affirm the students' initiatives and interests. We firmly believe in true democracy and everyone’s equal value and with that the possibility for each student to influence the content of the school-age educare schedule. Through reflections, studies of different theories, observations and our own experiences we have come to the conclusion that student influence makes students heard, seen and taken seriously. In addition, it also generates a stronger student self-esteem and increased well-being. Furthermore, if school-age educare teachers encourage student influence, the students dare to, and want to, express their thoughts. In our opinion, school-age educare teachers have an obligation to create a non-judgemental environment where all this is possible. In all, students who experience true democracy and student influence will most likely feel more involved in the context. / Sammanfattning Vår vetenskapliga essä handlar om hur fritidslärare förhåller sig till elevinflytande, delaktighet och demokrati. Vi har tagit fasta på begreppet elevinflytande i förhållande till vår yrkesroll som fritidslärare. Genom denna essä vill vi undersöka och få förståelse om elevinflytande och demokrati påverkar elevernas välbefinnande och i så fall hur? Kan praktisk klokhet och goda relationer öka elevinflytandet? Vi kommer i essän att använda oss av självupplevda händelser och gestalta två olika berättelser. Den ena berättelsen handlar om att fritidsläraren låter endast en elev ha inflytande. Den andra handlar om fritidslärarnas inställning till elevernas olika förslag på ett fritidsråd. I fritidslärarnas styrdokument deklareras tydligt att demokrati, delaktighet och elevinflytande ska styra verksamheten. Vi uppfattar att det finns en viss motsättning mellan teori och praktik, att fritidsläraren “tror” att förhållningssättet är demokratiskt men i realiteten är det skendemokrati. Vi har även genomfört deltagande observationer. Vi har valt att skriva om elevinflytande för att synliggöra vikten av att inkludera inflytande och demokrati i verksamheten och hur fritidslärare kan bejaka elevernas initiativ och intresse. Vi brinner för demokrati och allas lika värde och anser att varje elev ska få möjlighet att påverka innehållet i fritidsverksamheten. Reflektioner, tankar och insikter kring olika teorier, observationer och våra egna erfarenheter har fått oss förstå att genom att utöva elevinflytande blir eleven sedd, hörd och tagen på allvar. Det genererar i en starkare självkänsla och ett ökat välbefinnande. En slutsats som vi har kommit fram till är att om fritidsläraren bejakar elevinflytande, vågar, vill och stärks eleven i att kunna uttrycka sina åsikter. Vi anser att det är fritidslärarens skyldighet att skapa en sådan sfär för eleverna i fritidsverksamheten. Genom att eleverna bemöts med ett förhållningssätt som främjar elevinflytande, delaktighet och demokrati leder det till att eleverna med största sannolikhet kan uppleva känsla av sammanhang i verksamheten.

In this degree project the concepts of student democracy, student influence, learnerresponsibility and learner awareness are discussed. This has been done in connection to the learner autonomy movement in Sweden and the steering documents at a secondary school level. Our study concerns some teachers’ and students’ attitudes to and experiences of working with these issues in school. We came to the conclusion that the teachers that we interviewed are very aware of what the steering documents say and try to incorporate these essential parts in their teaching. We also found that the students are not at all aware of theconcepts and ideas presented in the steering documents in the same way as the teachers are.Also, the teachers’ and the students’ understanding of these terms differ, something that may lead to a misunderstanding and make it hard to discuss matters connected to student democracy and learner autonomy. A lot of work has to be done in schools in order to make the students more aware and to encourage them to take more responsibility for their learning.