The aim of this licentiate thesis is to examine the means of self-presentation on the websites of 18 upper secondary schools in Sweden. This empirical material may be referred to as a kind of marketing since they render a highly idealized image of schools. To some extent they exaggerate what school is about, as a way for schools to promote themselves as well as to maintain their hold on the market. Self-presentations thus play an important role in the struggle to attract prospective students and keep these enrolled. The fact that self-presentations refer to schools and not companies in general—although several schools certainly strive to define themselves as such—indicates that self-presentations are not like any other marketing practice. They can also be read as a kind of imaginative documents. In this capacity, self-presentations do not only express what school is or may be interpreted as, but foremost how it envisions itself in the future. The material underlying the study consists of a selection of excerpts that were collected from the schools' webpages at different points of time during the years 2011/2012 and 2016/2017. This allowed me to study both continuities and change in the way schools are presented online. In this study, schools' self-presentations are analyzed thematically in combination with Jason Glynos and David Howarth's so called logics approach, which has been developed out of poststructuralist discourse theory and its ontological assumptions. A logic may be understood in this case as a rule or pattern governing the way a phenomenon like school is constituted. As a research strategy, logics have helped me explore, step by step, the conditions of possibility as well as impossibility of identity-formation processes. I mainly deal with four logics that comprise the overarching principles that structure what it means to be a school: business adaptation, academization, individualization and social responsibility. The empirical study thus consisted in setting out the social, political and fantasmatic aspects of these logics—which consequently served to thematically analyze the contemporary identity-formation on schools' websites. Social aspects have been a descriptive tool to study what characterizes school as presented in the empirical material, whereas political and fantasmatic aspects refer to analytical and critical perspectives. The aim has been to illuminate not only the way schools' identities are organized but also how and why this happens – in other words, what logics do to the identity-formation of schools. Importantly, the logics in question are interrelated and work together at the same time as they 'struggle' over the significance of being a school. As I argue, the identity-formation of upper secondary schools can hence be perceived as crisscrossed by competing and complementary logics that all make certain claims as to what a school is supposed to be (or not). The main task of a traditional Swedish school has been to foster democratic members of society. The findings of my study, however, question such a general understanding. In my empirical material a self-referential meaning of school rather emerges with the purpose to produce good employees; that is, a competent work-force willing to submit to the norms and values of the corporate sector. Subsequently, the boundaries between school and the surrounding world are also increasingly loosened, as business is brought into the classroom and made a premise of learning and development in accordance with the needs and interests of the labor market. However, this replacement of a traditional school is only partial. Since schools are equally dependent on the societal tradition to appear as legitimate and credible alternatives on the educational arena they cannot wholeheartedly commit themselves to a corporate identity. Hence, self-presentations often indicate a struggle to be different enough to stand out from the host of other schools, but also to be similar enough to be considered a 'proper' school. This licentiate thesis has in common with previous studies that statements about qualification and employability measures have indeed increased. A corresponding decline of statements about active citizenship and critical thinking could not be detected – but then again, educational-political aspects confirm that a traditional school may be understood as a background against which an alternative school is formed. This is a conclusion which is consistent with the findings of previous studies on school and education policy.

Education on behalf of social trust constitutes a central theme in all societies. Different forms of cheating and fraud have a negative impact on the bonds of social trust. The purpose of the thesis is to increase understanding of the scope for learning about the individual-society relationship as it finds expression in pedagogical practices involving norms relating to cheating. The established norms concerning school cheating are identified in group-based discussions involving Upper Secondary students and teachers. Students ascribe each other roles on the basis of the perceived capacity to produce school results and thereby also to justify the need for school cheating. In the norm negotiations a significant tolerance is shown towards cheating which is adjudged to be necessary, provided that a hierarchic, fair distribution of grades can be retained. The teachers perceive expectations of acting for goal fulfilment, in the form of good student grades, as based on economic arguments. Good student grades imply satisfied customers in a market exposed to competition and a strong market value for the individual school. From a critical viewpoint these norms are related to the contemporary, dominant neo-liberal principles of commercialisation and individualisation in social organisation. The school actors perceive, in accordance with stratified norm theory, the norms from economic systems of conduct as more strongly conditioning on conduct than those norms from political-administrative or socio-cultural conduct systems. The teachers are aware of expectations, in hidden concert and consent with other school stakeholders, to offer social approval for student cheating and sympathetic marking concerning the lowest grade for passing i.e. violation of rules, where this is necessary to meet the economic as well as political-administrative objectives that have been established. To be part of pedagogic practices involving school cheating implies learning to uncouple rules and practice, law and morality. Such a double agenda is incompatible with norms and ideals in official curricula as well as being destructive of the bonds of social trust; it thereby functions as a hidden curriculum.

<p>The aim of this essay is to investigate what English teachers’ attitudes are towards British English, American English and Mid-Atlantic English. What variety of English do teachers use in Swedish upper secondary schools today and what are their reasons for using that variety? Do upper secondary school teachers think it is important to expose students to several varieties of English and do they teach differences (e.g. vocabulary and spelling) between varieties? The material is based on a questionnaire, which 20 participating teachers from five different upper secondary schools in Gävleborg answered. The study showed that there is an even distribution between the varieties used and taught. British English was preferred by teachers working the longest time while both AmE and MAE seemed to be growing in popularity among the younger teachers. Of the 20 teachers, 18 considered teaching differences to students since it gives them a chance to communicate effectively with people from other English speaking countries.</p>

<p>The present study examines the effects of immersion education on the English of two groups of advanced Swedish learners at upper secondary school. In immersion education, or CLIL, subject content is taught through a second language as a means of enhancing target language competence. In this study, language proficiency was measured in terms of the ratio of low frequency vocabulary (LFV) and the ratio of motivated tense shift (MTSh) in the learners’ free written production in English. An additional aim was to see whether the results were related to the students’ motivation as reported in a questionnaire.</p><p>This longitudinal study was based on three sets of narratives, written by 86 students, half of them enrolled at the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB) where English is the medium of instruction, and the other half at national programmes (NP), where English is studied as a foreign language. At the outset, the IB and NP groups had similar results on a general diagnostic test, which was the basis for the formation of three subgroups: I, II and III, with above average, average and below average scores respectively. Mean LFV and MTSh ratios as well as different kinds of motivation were compared, both overall and in the subgroups.</p><p>The IB students overall, and those in subgroup III in particular, showed the best results. As to the overall results, the IB students used significantly higher mean ratios of LFV and MTSh than the NP students in the final set of compositions. There were also a number of motivational factors that were stronger in the IB students.</p><p>As to the subgroups, the most interesting results were found in subgroups I and III. While the IB students in subgroup I had high mean ratios already in the first composition, and retained them over time, their use of MTSh tended to grow subtler. The NP students had lower mean results initially, and while their mean MTSh ratio increased and ended up on a level similar to that of the IB students, their mean LFV ratio remained low.</p><p>In subgroup III the results of the IB and NP students diverged over time. While the IB students progressed as reflected in their mean LFV and MTSh ratios, the NP students tended to regress. The difference in mean LFV ratios was statistically significant. The IB students were also better motivated than their NP peers. In all, this study suggests that immersion education has positive target language effects, especially on less proficient but motivated students.</p>

<p>Den här uppsatsen har till syfte att undersöka den dagliga medieanvändning som finns hos första generationens invandrarungdomar från Kurdistan, samt ta reda på om de som elever i skolan har varit med om att lärare tagit upp nyheter rörande deras hemländer i den allmänna undervisningen. Om vi ser det hela med elevernas ögon tror vi att de kommer att uppleva att undervisningen blir mer relevant för dem om också nyheter från deras hemländer diskuteras i klassrummet. Extra fokus har lagts på om medier från hemländerna ingår i medieanvändningen. Studien bygger på en explorativ fallstudie med semistrukturerade intervjuer tillsammans med tre manliga och tre kvinnliga elever med kurdisk bakgrund i åldrarna 16-18 år på Tingvallagymnasiet i Karlstad.</p><p>Det är relevant att undersöka medievanorna hos unga invandrare i Sverige eftersom det inte finns speciellt många studier gjorda som har fokuserat på just den här frågan. Som blivande medielärare anser vi också att det är viktigt att ha kännedom om invandrares medievanor eftersom vi då bättre kan planera våra lektioner med en mer multikulturell inriktning.</p><p> </p><p>Resultaten visar att ungdomarna har ett intresse av att hålla sig uppdaterade dels om händelser i Sverige, men även i deras hemländer och i övriga världen. De använder sig dagligen av medier så som Internet, MSN och teve. Vid vissa tillfällen använder de sig också av kurdiska eller arabiska medier, speciellt tevekanaler över sattelit. En majoritet av ungdomarna laddar hem och lyssnar på musik från hemländerna, men ingen av dem läser böcker på sitt hemspråk.</p><p>Ingen av respondenterna har uppgett att lärarna i sin undervisning har tagit upp frågor rörande mångkulturalism.</p> / <p><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1107304683 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoHeader, li.MsoHeader, div.MsoHeader {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-link:"Sidhuvud Char"; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; tab-stops:center 8.0cm right 16.0cm; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoFooter, li.MsoFooter, div.MsoFooter {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-link:"Sidfot Char"; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; tab-stops:center 8.0cm right 16.0cm; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.SidhuvudChar {mso-style-name:"Sidhuvud Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:Sidhuvud; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;} span.SidfotChar {mso-style-name:"Sidfot Char"; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:Sidfot; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:70.9pt 70.9pt 70.9pt 70.9pt; mso-header-margin:35.45pt; mso-footer-margin:32.05pt; mso-page-numbers:0; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} @page Section2 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section2 {page:Section2;} --><!--[if gte mso 10]> <mce:style><! /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Normal tabell"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} > <! [endif] ></p><p>The scope of this thesis is to investigate the daily use of media by young Swedish first generation immigrants from Kurdistan. It also examines if the teenagers - as students in high-school - have had any experiences of teachers having brought up news concerning the student’s home countries in the general education. From the student’s point of view we feel that the education will be more relevant to them if topics from their native countries are discussed in the classroom.  An extra focus has been placed on the question of whether media from the respondent’s own home countries are present in their daily media use or not. The study is based on an explorative case study with semi-structured interviews of three males and three females aged 16-18 with Kurdish background studying at the Tingvalla high-school in Karlstad.</p><p> </p><p>It’s relevant to investigate the media use of young Swedish immigrants because not many studies have focused on this specific issue. As future teachers in media, we also feel it’s important to have knowledge about immigrant’s media use, so that we can plan our lessons in a better way with a more multicultural approach.</p><p> </p><p>The results of the study show that the teenagers are interested in keeping up with the news from Sweden and also from their home countries and the rest of the world. The respondents are daily users of media such as the Internet, MSN and television. At some occasions they also use Kurdish or Arabic media, especially satellite television channels. A majority of the teenagers use the Internet to download music from their home countries, but none of them are reading books in Kurdish.</p><p> </p><p>None of the respondents have stated that the teachers have brought up multicultural issues in the classroom.</p><p><--></p>

This thesis deals with the assessment of school texts by students in Swedish upper-secondary school or in the corresponding adult education and concentrates on what differs between the grades Pass and Fail. The 60 texts used in the survey come from the 1997 archives of the national test construction group. A questionnaire to teachers asks what criteria are most important when distinguishing between Pass and Fail. The five criteria pointed out are Holistic scoring, Relevant content, The connecting thought, Sentence structure and How the student has followed the instructions. The most salient result regarding grades is the difference between grades from the students’ own teachers and from the independent assessors. Ten texts have received a Fail from the student’s own teacher, but as many as 35 get an average Fail from three assessors. There is variation in assessment, but 18 Fail texts and 18 Pass texts get a unanimous grade. Quantitative analyses of the 60 texts show a definite correlation between grade and number of words. However, the Fail-groups among narrative, expository and argumentative texts contain both the shortest and the longest texts. School texts are longer now than thirty years ago, especially texts with low grades. Sentences and words have become shorter. Coherence is investigated by a method of reference cohesion. No clear difference between Pass and Fail texts can be found, but between types of essay topics. Also important is the organization of the text and its paragraphs, a factor which separates Fail and Pass texts. Various aspects of sentence structure show better results in the Pass texts. The thesis is concluded with a commentary on the demands of the last compulsory course in Swedish. The needed level is argued to be the ability to write for an unknown reader.

The main purpose of this study has been to survey the pupils’ general comprehension of the content and aim of Swedish as a subject in upper secondary school and their attitude towards the subject. Furthermore the study aims at discerning whether there is a distinguishable difference between programmes with vocational and academic character. The study is based on the results of 101 answers from students in an opinion poll handed out at a Western Swedish upper secondary school. Throughout the analysis the results of the two programme groups have been weighed against each other. The result of the survey shows that: • The understanding of the aim and content of Swedish at upper secondary school is acceptable as a whole. One quarter of the students show a very good comprehension. • The pupils’ general attitude towards the subject is fairly positive. • There is a clearly discernable difference between the vocational programmes and the academic ones with regard to the comprehension of the subject’s aim. Vocational pupils generally show a weaker understanding than the academic pupils do. • There is an equivalent difference between the groups when looking at the comprehension of the content of Swedish as a subject. • The differences in attitude towards Swedish as a subject follow the pattern of the pupils’ comprehension. The pupils from the academic programmes generally have a more positive attitude. This pattern shows true for both attitudes with cognitive basis and for the ones based on emotion. / Huvudsyftet med denna undersökning har varit att kartlägga gymnasieungdomarnas generella förståelse för svenskämnets innehåll och syfte samt deras attityder till ämnet som sådant. Dessutom har en stor del av undersökningen syftat till att undersöka om det förekommer några skillnader i förståelse och attityd mellan elever på studieförberedande respektive yrkesförberedande program. Studien bygger på en enkätundersökning där svaren från 101 elever på en västsvensk gymnasieskola har behandlats. Genomgående har analyser gjorts där resultaten från de två programkaraktärerna, studieförberedande program och yrkesförberedande program, har jämförts. Av resultatet framgår följande: • Totalt sett visar eleverna en acceptabel förståelse för såväl svenskämnets syfte som dess innehåll. Ungefär en fjärdedel av eleverna visar en mycket god förståelse. • Totalt sett visar eleverna också en relativt positiv attityd till svenskämnet. • Det finns en klar skillnad i förståelse för svenskämnets syfte mellan de två programgrupperna. Eleverna på de yrkesförberedande programmen visar generellt upp en svagare förståelse än eleverna på de studieförberedande programmen. • Det finns även en motsvarande skillnad när det gäller elevernas förståelse för svenskämnets innehåll. • När det gäller elevernas generella attityd till svenskämnet visar resultatet att eleverna på de studieförberedande programmen delar en betydligt mera positiv attityd än eleverna på de yrkesförberedande programmen. Detta mönster gäller för såväl de känslomässigt som förnuftsmässigt baserade attityderna.

This thesis investigates how students in upper secondary school solve problems and discuss physics in small groups. The study examines how gender, knowledge in physics and the image of the subject physics are constructed in the students’ conversation and how these processes are related to each other. The theoretical framework includes a sociocultural perspective on learning and a gender perspective that views gender as both process and discourse and focus on how femininity and masculinity are constructed in social relations. 28 students in two classes at the science program participated in the study. 8 videotaped group discussions and 15 audiotaped interviews where analysed through thematic analysis and discourse analysis according to different research questions. The results show the complexity of a learning conversation. The character of the dialogue in the groups, the difficulties the student encounter when dealing with the tasks, and the social interaction in the groups, has a deep impact on the possibilities to develop the discussion about physics phenomena and concepts. The images of the subject physics and the images of a student skilled in physic that are constructed in the interviews are reconstructed in the students’ discussions and in their acting in the groups. But there are also inconsistencies and counter discourses. The possibilities for learning are related to the construction of gender and to equality issues within the groups. Traditional gendered positions are to a large extent reconstructed in the students’ interaction. Boys are for instance positioned as more competent in physics than girls. But traditional gendered positions are also resisted and challenged.

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.

Under 1990-talet uppmärksammade politiker och tekniskt näringsliv att antaletelever på teknisk gymnasieutbildning hade minskat kraftigt. Detta befarades kunna leda till brist på utbildade tekniker och ingenjörer och i förlängningen äventyra landets ekonomi. För att åter öka elevantalet inom teknisk gymnasieutbildning infördes höstterminen 2000 det nya Teknikprogrammet. I denna avhandling analyseras tankarna bakom Teknikprogrammet och hur detkom att utformas på tre olika samhälleliga nivåer. Avhandlingen undersöker hur teknikprogrammets syfte och innehåll förändrades från det politiska initiativet via Skolverkets operationalisering till hur programmet tolkats av lärare på skolnivå. I fokus för analysen står frågor om vad teknisk utbildning skulle innehålla och hur den skulle utformas för att kunna locka fler flickor till tekniken. Detta var nämligen en central tanke bakom reformen. Med hjälp av analys av utredningsmaterial, regeringsbeslut och dokument från Skolverket samt intervjuer av lärare från två gymnasieskolor, diskuteras i avhandlingen hur relationen mellan genus och teknik förstås och uttrycks på de olika nivåerna och vad det innebär för hur man ser på den tekniska utbildningens karaktär. Avhandlingen visar att en traditionellt tudelad bild av pojkar och flickor och deras respektive intressen dominerar berättelserna på den politiska nivån och skolverksnivån, men att en mer differentierad syn på genus framträder på skolnivån. Teoretiska begrepp, som gränsarbete och översättningar används för att visa på de komplexa översättningar av intentioner och perspektiv som sker inom och mellan nivåerna. Genus och teknik samkonstrueras på olika sätt på de olika nivåerna. / During the 1990s a drastic decline occurred in the numberof students at the technology orientation of Swedish upper secondary school. Politicians and representatives of industry reacted strongly and feared a potential lack of technicians and engineers, something which in the long run would threaten economic growth. A new Technology programme was therefore introduced in 2000 to increase the number of students oriented towards a technical education in upper secondary school. This thesis analyses the thoughts behind the Technology programme, and how it was framed as different stories of technology, gender and education at three different levels of society. It examines how the aims and contents of the Technology programme were translated and transformed from the political initiative to the operationalisation of the Swedish National Agency for Education, and finally in the teachers’ interpretations of the programme at the school level. In focus are issues of what kind of technology was relevant within a technical education, and how it should be framed and taught, in order to attract more girls to technology. This was one of the central objectives of the reform. With the help of documentary analysis and interviews with teachers in two upper secondary schools, the thesis discusses how relations between gender and technology were understood and constructed at the three different levels, and what this implied for how the character of the technology programme was interpreted. The dissertation shows that a traditional, dichotomized understanding of boys and girls and their respective interests dominates the stories given at the political level and the level of the Swedish National Agency for Education. At the school level, however, a more differentiated view on gender appears. Using the concepts of boundary work and translation, the analysis shows that complex transformations of intentions and perspectives took place between and within the different levels. Gender and technology were co-constructed in different ways at the different levels.