This essay applies a critical lens to Mrs. Dalloway (1925) by Virginia Woolf. The aim of this essay is to investigate if and how Mrs. Dalloway can be utilized for students to practice critical consciousness in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf criticizes her own contemporary society by deliberately writing about the obnoxious social class system in London during the inter-war period. This deliberate social critique is analyzed by both looking into the author’s background and the historical time period the novel was written. The Marxist literary critic, Terry Eagleton argues that in order to fully understand literature, you must compare both the author and the author’s contemporary society to the novel itself. By analyzing these aspects, it is possible to understand any piece of literature from any given historical time period. Moreover, this essay desires to ascertain if canonical literature is relevant when teaching students about social class and inclusiveness. Furthermore, this essay argues that having a Marxist perspective can help students become critically conscious of both their environment and society. Also, it examines if the combination of Marxist theory together with critical pedagogy can create an educational situation that is equally fair for all students, regarding their socioeconomic status. The results of this essay concluded that applying either Marxist theory or critical literacy pedagogy to literature, could make students become more critically conscious about their environment, which could help to replicate the teaching philosophies of critical pedagogy by Paulo Freire.

This inquiry aims to contribute to the understanding of critical pedagogy and its implications for the visual arts classroom as it identifies the transformative dimensions of critical pedagogy in visual arts education. Consequently, this inquiry answers the questions: What are the views of critical pedagogy that can be discerned in the current Swedish syllabus for visual arts? And, how can the transformative dimensions of critical pedagogy be manifested in the visual arts classroom? The rationale of the study rests on the visual arts teachers’ importance to provide pupils with means for understanding the world in a nuanced way. The study is a theoretical study using critical pedagogy as a theoretical frame. The research material consists of the Swedish syllabus for visual arts and four academic publications that exemplify the use of critical pedagogy in visual arts education. The study uses content analysis for a systematic review of this material. The results suggest that critical pedagogy is an asset for creating meaningful and engaging classrooms environments. The findings also indicate that visual arts teachers may interpret parts of the Swedish visual arts syllabus as means to advocate for social justice. However, the results also suggest the need for visual arts teachers to expand the planned syllabi, and the importance of collective efforts and cooperation in the visual arts classroom. Furthermore, the study also re-presents these results in a didactical commentary in form of a visual narrative — a graphic story —.

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The purpose of this study is to examine how social studies teachers deal with issues related to norm-critical aspects in the classroom and what opportunities and challenges teachers experience with this approach. The paper also examines what it means to implement a norm-critical perspective in the social studies classroom. In addition, it explains a range of norm-critical strategies that teachers use. The research and literature selected for the thesis addresses the subject of social studies, the curriculum and syllabus, norms and values, the pedagogy of tolerance, norm-critical pedagogy, and the didactics of social studies. There is little research on norm critique and, in particularly, norm critique as it relates to social studies for grades 4-6, which reinforced the relevance of examining the purpose of this study.  The theoretical perspective used to analyze the empirics of the work is Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective. The method used to investigate the purpose and questions of the work are qualitative semi-structured interviews. Six people participated in the interview, all of them working as social studies teachers in grades 4-6. The result shows that a norm-critical approach is to countering discrimination and violations by promoting normative diversity. It appears that teachers do not value the curriculum and syllabus in terms of a norm critical approach, but rather draw from their own experiences and values in terms of working with norm-criticism, norms, and values. Furthermore, the results show that teachers see several opportunities in norm critical pedagogy and challenges in this work. They believe that norm critique is relevant in the social studies subject because it offers opportunities to provide students with foundational knowledge and understanding of norms in order to develop their critical thinking. It also seems that a norm-critical approach is relevant to the values-based mission because it helps foster democratic citizens who have respect for their fellow human beings. / Examenarbetets syfte är att undersöka hur lärare inom samhällskunskapen behandlar frågor gällande normkritiska aspekter i undervisningen. Syftet är även att synliggöra de möjligheter och utmaningar lärare ser med ett normkritiskt förhållningssätt. Arbetet undersöker även vad det innebär att implementera perspektivet i samhällskunskapsundervisningen och skolverksamheten i sin helhet. Dessutom redogörs det för ett antal normkritiska strategier som lärare använder sig av. Den valda forskningen och litteraturen för examensarbetet behandlar ämnet samhällskunskap, styrdokument, normer och värden, toleranspedagogik, normkritisk pedagogik och samhällskunskapsdidaktik. Det finns lite forskning gällande normkritik och särskilt normkritik kopplat till samhällskunskap för årskurs 4–6, vilket stärkt relevansen gällande att undersöka examensarbetets syfte.  Det teoretiska perspektivet som har använts för att analysera examenarbetets empiri är Vygotskijs sociokulturella perspektiv. Metoden som användes för att undersöka arbetets syfte och frågeställningar är kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer. Sex respondenter deltog i undersökningen och samtliga är verksamma som samhällskunskapslärare i årskurs 4–6. Resultatet som framkommer är att innebörden av ett normkritiskt förhållningssätt är att motverka diskriminering och kränkningar genom att främja en normmässig mångfald. Det framkommer att lärarna inte lägger någon vikt vid styrdokumenten gällande ett normkritiskt förhållningsätt utan de utgår ifrån sina egna erfarenheter och värderingar gällande arbetet med normkritik, normer och värden. Vidare visar resultatet att lärare ser ett antal möjligheter med en normkritisk pedagogik och utmaningar med arbetet. De anser att normkritik är relevant i samhällskunskapsämnet då det ger tillfällen, att ge elever grundläggande kunskaper och förståelser för normer för att vidareutveckla deras kritiska tänkande. Det framkommer även, att ett normkritiskt förhållningssätt är relevant för värdegrundsuppdraget då det bidrar till att fostra demokratiska medborgare som hyser respekt för sina medmänniskor.

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This essay aims to examine which consequences a less-detail controlled curriculum has on English teachers’ choice of English-language literature. With support from the literature review, this essay argues that an unofficial, tacit school canon of English-language literature mainly composed of ten literary works seems to have been established in Swedish upper-secondary schools, despite the Swedish National Curriculum not naming specific literary works educators in Sweden are required to use in their teaching. Thus, this essay answers the following questions: 1) Which English-language literature do English teachers in Sweden use in their teaching? 2) Does a less-detail controlled curriculum contribute to English teachers in Sweden being more inclusive in their choice of literature in teaching? The results support the hypothesis; that despite the ten literary works found in the unofficial, tacit school canon might be vulnerable to the same criticism aimed at the “Western literary canon” and a “prescribed” curriculum. Yet, no evidence was found which would illustrate that a less detail-controlled curriculum does not contribute to English teachers in Sweden being more inclusive in their choice of literature in teaching since the inclusive classroom is not only a matter of what is being taught but also of how it is being taught. Additionally, the study shows that there are countries in the Western world that name literary works as a teaching requirement for educators that “silently” marginalize and privilege some voices. Despite educators not being able to influence what is being taught, educators have developed strategies and methods (critical literacy/pedagogy, and intersectionality) on how these literary works are taught to learners with the aim to make room for a spectrum of voices when being required to teach from a “prescribed” curriculum.

Issues regarding how gender and sexuality are represented within different discourses have gained increased attention in the past decades. Within the field of language, gender, and sexuality, topics such as sexist language, stereotypes and heteronormativity have been continuously problematised as means of sustaining societal norms. The ramification of such norms can have a negative impact on how people engage with and express their identity, especially within the context of education. Research conducted on textbooks shows problematic representations of gender and sexuality where women are disfavoured and non-binary and LGBTQ+ identities often are excluded. Whilst gender representation has become increasingly more equal, a heterosexual norm is still very much prevalent within education. In response to such issues, the pedagogical approach norm critical pedagogy emerged in Sweden a few decades ago with the aim to develop critical thinking and thus challenge discriminatory beliefs and prejudice. In the present study, the representation of gender and sexuality within education will be investigated in a Swedish context. Linguistic patterns and word choice in three ELT textbooks are analysed through two approaches to content analysis. The findings showed that there is unequal representation of gender and sexuality overall, with gender identities outside the binary and varying sexualities being predominantly excluded. Additionally, implicit linguistic patterns which reinforce gender stereotypes and further limit the scope of acceptable gender expressions emerged across all textbooks. However, the most recent book stood out by being more inclusive and engaging with issues in a way which engages critical thinking.