In the 1990s, New Zealand's curriculum for the compulsory schooling sector was to undergo complete revision following the administrative reforms of the 1980s. The development of each new curriculum document followed a business model in which the Ministry of Education put the development process out for competitive tender. The successful bidders were to complete their tasks to strict Ministry guidelines and under the scrutiny of the Ministry's Curriculum Review Committee and the Minister's Policy Advisory Group. After the completion of a draft version, public consultation and school trials, a final curriculum document would be prepared and mandated as the legal curriculum requirements for New Zealand government-funded schools. The process that the fifth document, Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum, was to undergo proved to be elongated and controversial. As such, it provides a case study through which to examine, critique and theorise the nature of curriculum construction at a macro-level, in this case, at a national level. This study of the development of Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum illuminates three broad themes in curriculum construction - context, complexity and contestation. These themes arise from the literature and are reinforced by the study's findings. The study set out to: provide detailed description and analysis of an example of curriculum construction; use the selected case study to demonstrate the importance of the broader contexts within which curriculum construction occurs; problematise the notion of curriculum construction by highlighting the complexities in and around the process; articulate the contested nature of selecting and presenting curriculum contents; and provide insights into the personal and affective side of involvement in a macrolevel curriculum construction process. There are three main sources of data - the process itself, the products (three versions of Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum) and the people involved. A range of data gathering methods is used from primarily historical and ethnographic research within a qualitative framework. The main data gathering tools are archival research, document analysis and open-ended interviewing. As the data are mainly textual--either as original documents or created texts, as in interview transcripts-analytic strategies include content, thematic, semiotic and discourse analysis. Social constructionism (Burr, 1995) provides a unifying theoretical approach to frame the research design and analysis. In this dissertation, the background to the study, the findings and the discussion are interwoven and presented through three story strands - institutional, contextual and personal. The institutional strand aims to tell "what happened". The contextual strand aims to explain "why things happened as they did", "in what circumstances" and "why this might be important". The personal strand aims to give more prominence to the role of individuals in such a process, that is, "who was involved, how did individuals impact upon curriculum construction and how did the process impact upon them?" The layout of the dissertation also highlights the interwoven and complex nature of the ideas being explored. It is necessary to push the boundaries of a more traditional format to keep the notions of complexity and contestation to the fore. This manifests itself in the way that the chapter headings are based around the three story strands, the literature is integrated throughout the study and multi-layered stories and multiple interpretations are given. Within this framework, the usual features of a conventional research report - background, context, literature, theoretical underpinnings, methodological choices, findings and discussion - are still to be found but some liberty is taken to "open up the complications that [would] have been smoothed over" (Stronach & MacLure, 1997, p. 5) in more traditional dissertations. The findings are analysed and presented in a variety of ways - as a chronology and a set of critical incidents to outline the process, as textual and visual analysis to examine the products, and through personal stories to illuminate the experiences of the people involved. Theorising from the data is problematised by using a range of theoretical explanations before proffering a synthesised model of curriculum construction as a multidimensional process. The findings from this study form two clusters - those that relate to the specific case study (the development of Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum) and those that provide deeper understanding of the broader nature of curriculum construction. The two sets of findings also demonstrate the interrelated nature of the three data sources - the process, the products and the people. In relation to the specific case study, there is clear evidence of the acceptance of social studies as a curriculum area in New Zealand with its own identity and integrity. The study also documents the historical development of social studies as a curriculum area and provides a detailed account of the contested nature of the development of the current social studies curriculum statement Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum. The other finding, relating specifically to the New Zealand context but which should give heart to practitioners everywhere, is the resilience of committed educators when faced with opposing ideological forces determined to undermine their position. This is exemplified in this case study by the social studies community's ability to reclaim control over the contents of the curriculum despite strong opposition from the Business Roundtable and other neo-liberal and neo-conservative forces. What is also revealed is that in order to achieve an acceptable outcome, a curriculum construction process needs both consultation and critique. Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum is all the stronger as a product because of the depth of the surrounding debate and this, in turn, strengthened the credibility of both the curriculum area and its supporters. The findings that relate to broader notions of curriculum construction either confirm key themes from the literature, expand upon some that are less explicit or offer new insights. The three touchstones of this study - context, complexity and contestation - were constantly reinforced through the gathering and analysis of the data, and confirmed by the findings. That curriculum construction is subject to a range of contextual factors - historical, social, cultural, political, economic and/or educational; that the process is complex and multi-layered; that the process is highly political and contested; and that the process and products are influenced by powerful individuals and groups both inside and outside the process, are all strongly confirmed by, and even consolidated in, this study. Notions alluded to in the literature that find stronger expression in this study relate to the nature of contestation throughout the process of curriculum construction. A model using Bourdieu's notions of field, capital and habitus (after Bourdieu and Passeron, 1977) allows stronger articulation of features such as polarisation, factionalisation, the forging of alliances and the fluid status of participants. The data reveal the curriculum construction process in a constant state of flux and subject to much serendipity. The findings also strengthen the notion that the products of a curriculum construction process are not ends in themselves but reveal much about the nature of the contestation and, indeed, lay the groundwork for future contested interpretations. New insights that arise from this study include an articulation of the strategies, such as compromise, contingency and expediency, that participants use to achieve their ends. These are often at the expense of participants' underpinning principles or adherence to particular curriculum development models. Significant insights come from the in-depth investigation of the emotional side of curriculum construction. The data reveal that the struggle for control over curriculum contents is an emotionally-charged process; that participants in the process wrestle with the differences between their own personal platforms, their ideological influences, the groups they represent and the requirements of the task; that contestation occurs between those setting and those completing the task, especially in relationship to professional decision-making and intellectual ownership; and that no consideration is given to the emotional cost of involvement in such large-scale curriculum construction processes. In summary, context shapes the unique nature of curriculum construction processes and products. If an understanding of these factors is tempered with an awareness of the complex and multi-dimensional nature of curriculum construction this will strengthen the process and could lessen the negative effects of ideologically-motivated or emotionally-charged involvement in the process. Finally, as contestation in curriculum construction is unavoidable in such high-stakes processes, consultation and critique should be seen as opportunities (rather than threats), to enhance the credibility of the final product.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis is an enquiry into the social and political role, in Australia, of practices that have attracted such labels as ‘community arts’, ‘cultural animation’, ‘cultural action’, or ‘community cultural development’ (CCD). It is often argued that such practices offer an effective means to bring about social and political change for people and communities who participate in them. Looking specifically at theatre-based approaches to CCD in Australia, this thesis examines an alternative hypothesis, namely that such projects and programs can contribute to the continued marginalisation of those who take part in them. Using a combination of Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical approach to field analysis, Don Handelman’s analytical framework of special events and Baz Kershaw’s theory of potential efficacy, I carry out an ethnographic and performance-based analysis of a particular project called The Longest Night (TLN), which was devised in collaboration with young people from The Parks, a cluster of suburbs north west of Adelaide, South Australia, and in collaboration between Urban Theatre Projects, a small Sydney-based theatre company with a reputation for doing socially and politically challenging work, young people living in The Parks and local partner organisations, for the 2002 Adelaide Festival. I find that in some instances participation in CCD projects and programs is an enabling factor, creating change opportunities in cultural, economic and/or political spheres in the lives of those who take part, whilst at other times it is a constraining factor. Participation in CCD projects and programs creates possibilities because the practices are potentially subversive and foster elements of learning and change in some participants. It also creates limitations because CCD practitioners operate within a subfield of social and cultural practices where the mechanisms and structures in place, indirectly, tend to help reproduce legitimised social and cultural values and norms.

This thesis explores the construction of technological expertise amongst a heterogenous group of New Zealand teenagers, specifically in regard to their home computer use, which for many of them is their primary site of leisure. This thesis explores the field in which these teenagers are positioned, and explains the practice constituting that field. In this field, the trajectories towards expertise are explained including the time, experimentation, and pleasure evident in their praxis. The qualitative study involved observations and interviews with eight teenagers aged 13 – 17. Five boys and three girls participated and each attended one of various secondary schools located within a provincial city in New Zealand. All of the participants considered themselves to be technological experts, and their peers and/or their family supported this comprehension. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s socio-cultural theories, the capital (cultural, economic, social) and habitus of the teenagers are described (habitus being what makes them who they are, and continues to define who they are in the future). Chapter five centres on explaining the field the teenagers have positioned themselves in, namely the field of out-of-school leisure and home computer use. It also explores the construction and performance of technological expertise within the field. Chapter six examines traditional views of schooling and expertise, and contrasts these views with what the teenagers think about their learning and expertise. This gap is specifically explained with regard to differences between the concepts and value of learning, expertise, and technology, and how they are recognised and valued differently between generations. Chapter seven explores the praxis that the participants exhibit, which is arguably misrecognized by those whose interests are in the established order (e.g. institutional, societal structures). The field they are placed in is arguably part of the broader field of education, yet the findings suggest their capital is misrecognized by digital newcomers, and therefore not legitimated. This thesis concludes that the gap between teenager and adult understandings of expertise is exacerbated in the digital world in which the teenagers position themselves. Their schooling is mainly positioned in the print culture of previous generations and consequently, in the lives of these teenagers, schooling has had little influence on the development of their technological expertise. Additionally, gender has had little impact in their development of expertise; therefore stereotypical notions of female underachievement as computer experts are contested.

<p>Den här uppsatsen ska främst ses om en fältbeskrivning av en del av den svenska modebloggosfären som de senaste åren har etablerat sig som en ny aktör i rapporteringen kring mode. Vad betyder detta för modejournalistiken och kan man se modebloggandet som en ny karriärväg in till modejournalistiken? Med hjälp av Pierre Bourdieu och Erving Goffman teorier om kapital och personliga fasader vill jag påvisa hur modejournalistiken och modebloggandet skiljer sig ifrån- och liknar varandra samt hur förflyttningarna inom modebloggosfären ter sig.</p>

<p><strong>Uppsatsen behandlar några av de aktörer inom konsten som finns i Örebro kommun, deras målsättningar och verklighet. Detta ställs i relation till betraktaren.</strong></p><p><strong>Frågorna som behandlas och besvaras är vilka aktörer som jobbar med att nå ut till mottagaren; vilka är målsättningarna; hur jobbar de med att genomdriva sina mål; hur ser framtiden och visionen ut; hur kan man ställa detta i förhållande till betraktaren?</strong></p><p><strong>Den teoretiska grunden för betraktarens förutsättningar finns i perceptionsteori, samt sociologen Pierre Bourdieu.</strong></p><p><strong>Ekonomiska förutsättningar presenteras kort.</strong></p><p><strong>Aktörerna som har intervjuats, samt deras verksamhet, presenteras och sedan följer intervjuer med respektive informant.</strong></p><p><strong>Slutligen behandlas uppsatsens frågeställningar utifrån den grund som materialet har gett och en slutdiskussion förs.</strong></p>

<p>Examensarbetet berör den bild som Dagens Nyheter publicerade den 21 juni 2006 gällande Komvux och om skolan som en elitenhet. Åsikten är att unga med fullvärdiga betyg vandrar från gymnasium till Komvux, i uppsåt att höja betygen. På så sätt hoppas de att bli antagna till de mer attraktiva utbildningarna såsom jurist kandidatutbildning och läkarutbildning. För att verifiera eller dementera våra frågeställningar, har vi analyserat texter både kvantitativt och kvalitativt samt som vi gjort empirisk undersökning i form av intervjuer, vilket skall återge den sanna bilden av Komvux (Gamlebyskolan) i Varberg. Materialet som vi har använt oss av är bland annat rapporter från både skolverket och utbildningsdepartementet. För att erhålla en teoretisk förklaring på våra frågeställningar, har vi använt oss av sociologiskt skrivna verk, författade av Ulrich Beck och Pierre Bourdieu. Utifrån resultatet kan vi dementera den bild som DN presenterade, då merparten av eleverna på Gamlebyskolan läste nya ämnen. Komvux är för den breda massan som planerar att läsa på universitet och högskolor, men dock inom de mindre prestigefyllda utbildningarna.</p>

<p><strong> </strong>Tora Vega Holmström (1880-1967) beskrivs ofta som en avantgardistisk kolorist som gärna använde exotiska motiv. I min uppsats redogör jag för TVHs förutsättningar, strategier och status i konstens Sverige med tonvikt på åren 1910-1930, med hjälp av sociologen Pierre Bourdieus modell för maktpositionering i kulturella fält. Dessutom görs en översiktlig beskrivning i TVHs porträtt- och figurbilder, men tonvikt på det varierande bildspråket och den öppna inställning hon tycks ha haft gentemot sina modeller. En av hennes ”negerbilder” <em>Utanför ett musikcafé i Biskra</em> analyseras ur ett postkolonialt perspektiv och verket ställs i relation till det tidiga nittonhundratalets värderingar och till TVHs egna ord. Genom att använda förstahandskällor som brev och samtida recensioner har jag fått värdefulla upplysningar om TVHs sociala och ekonomiska situation och även kunnat nyansera den bild som förmedlas i Birgit Rausings biografi över TVH. I ett självporträtt från 1904 framstår TVH som en rakryggad och stolt person, egenskaper som senare märks på flera sätt i hennes konstnärskap, såväl i bildspråket som i andra faktorer i hennes karriär. Hon hade många goda förutsättningar för att lyckas som konstnär då hon föddes in i en kulturellt och intellektuellt stimulerande uppväxtmiljö. Olika kontakter gav henne utställningsmöjligheter, ledde till beställningsarbeten, gav henne konstnärlig feedback eller stöttade henne ekonomiskt. Å andra sidan mötte hon motstånd i konstens fält på grund av att hon kom från Skåne och var kvinna, ett motstånd som inte minst syns i recensioner från hennes levnadstid. Hon ville inte låta politiska eller ekonomiska frågor och problem påverka det konstnärliga uttrycket. I breven framstår TVHs vänskapsrelationer som nära och samtidigt fruktbara med tanke på konstnärskapet. Vännernas stöd i kombination med hennes starka integritet, tycks ha varit förutsättningar för det bildligt och bokstavligt talat färgstarka inslag hennes bilder var och är på den svenska konstkartan. Hon tillhörde inte det svenska kulturlivets elit, men konsekrerades<em> </em>stegvis och blev framför allt en del av det skånska konstlivet. Hennes position kan delvis förklaras med de ekonomiska och strukturella faktorer som Bourdieu talar om.  TVH tycks dock ha varit mer intresserad av ett fritt konstnärskap, meningsfulla relationer och sociala sammanhang, än att bli vad Bourdieu menar att alla fältets agenter strävar efter: att bli fältets härskare. <em>Utanför ett musikcafé i Biskra</em> (1929) föreställer två afrikanska män i halvfigur, med bortvänd kroppsställning och blick och karikatyrartade anletsdrag. Beaktande att publiken var svensk och vit ur de övre samhällslagren i en era präglad av kolonialism och exotism hävdar jag att bilden kan betraktas på ett distanserande, objektiverande sätt.</p>

<p>The concept of democracy is of importance to the Swedish educational system. The best proof of that is the central position democracy has had in the education program we attended at the Örebro university. This study analyses the concept of democracy and its leading foundation, namely the so-called “deliberative dialog”. The last is belived to be an ideal of democracy which schools in Sweden should follow. This is at least how prominent academics and advocates of “deliberative dialog” Tomas Englund and Jurgen Habermas, see this phenomenon and its role in our schools.</p><p>Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist and social theorist has though shown that there is danger in believing that dialog is the only foundation of democracy. Accordig to him in every dialog exists a certan power struggle. What Bourdieu really means is that in a dialog actors are not equal, but there is great risk that some actors get dominated by other actors. These different views of dialog and its role in the school world has inspired us. In our study we wanted to see whether there are students or groups of students, that based on gender or ethnicity are dominated by other students in the everyday classroom dialog.</p><p>The empirical part of the study shows that those who were not activly engaged in the observed classroom dialog were boys of Swedish origin. The study also shows that those who seemed to have no problem with an active participation in the classroom dialog were girls, and very often girls of Swedish origin.The results of this study are though not completely unambiguous. As the group of students we observed were of differnt gender and came from different ethnic backgrounds we choose to see them as individuals. That means that they as individuals have differnt abilities when it comes to adapt to the climate of the classroom.</p>

<p>I den här uppsatsen undersöks debattartiklar under åren 1997 till 2007 på Dagens Nyheters debattsidor. Intresset ligger vid att undersöka kvalitetsrelaterade skolfrågor och särskilt hur</p><p>lärarprofessionen deltar i debatten. Som inspiration för behandling av materialet används Pierre Bourdieus ramverk med dess kapital- och fältbegrepp. Resultaten av undersökningen indikerar att lärarna har stort utrymme i debatten. Dessutom hörs statliga politiker i hög grad.</p><p>Skolverket, akademiker och näringsliv deltar i betydligt mindre omfattning, men befinner sig inte på något sätt på marginalen. Kommunen däremot lyser med sin nästintill absoluta frånvaro. Den övergripande riktningen i debatten är att kvalitet nås genom en stärkt</p><p>lärarprofession. De övergripande teman som finns i debatten utgår ifrån lärarprofessionens centrala betydelse.</p>

Tora Vega Holmström (1880-1967) beskrivs ofta som en avantgardistisk kolorist som gärna använde exotiska motiv. I min uppsats redogör jag för TVHs förutsättningar, strategier och status i konstens Sverige med tonvikt på åren 1910-1930, med hjälp av sociologen Pierre Bourdieus modell för maktpositionering i kulturella fält. Dessutom görs en översiktlig beskrivning i TVHs porträtt- och figurbilder, men tonvikt på det varierande bildspråket och den öppna inställning hon tycks ha haft gentemot sina modeller. En av hennes ”negerbilder” Utanför ett musikcafé i Biskra analyseras ur ett postkolonialt perspektiv och verket ställs i relation till det tidiga nittonhundratalets värderingar och till TVHs egna ord. Genom att använda förstahandskällor som brev och samtida recensioner har jag fått värdefulla upplysningar om TVHs sociala och ekonomiska situation och även kunnat nyansera den bild som förmedlas i Birgit Rausings biografi över TVH. I ett självporträtt från 1904 framstår TVH som en rakryggad och stolt person, egenskaper som senare märks på flera sätt i hennes konstnärskap, såväl i bildspråket som i andra faktorer i hennes karriär. Hon hade många goda förutsättningar för att lyckas som konstnär då hon föddes in i en kulturellt och intellektuellt stimulerande uppväxtmiljö. Olika kontakter gav henne utställningsmöjligheter, ledde till beställningsarbeten, gav henne konstnärlig feedback eller stöttade henne ekonomiskt. Å andra sidan mötte hon motstånd i konstens fält på grund av att hon kom från Skåne och var kvinna, ett motstånd som inte minst syns i recensioner från hennes levnadstid. Hon ville inte låta politiska eller ekonomiska frågor och problem påverka det konstnärliga uttrycket. I breven framstår TVHs vänskapsrelationer som nära och samtidigt fruktbara med tanke på konstnärskapet. Vännernas stöd i kombination med hennes starka integritet, tycks ha varit förutsättningar för det bildligt och bokstavligt talat färgstarka inslag hennes bilder var och är på den svenska konstkartan. Hon tillhörde inte det svenska kulturlivets elit, men konsekrerades stegvis och blev framför allt en del av det skånska konstlivet. Hennes position kan delvis förklaras med de ekonomiska och strukturella faktorer som Bourdieu talar om.  TVH tycks dock ha varit mer intresserad av ett fritt konstnärskap, meningsfulla relationer och sociala sammanhang, än att bli vad Bourdieu menar att alla fältets agenter strävar efter: att bli fältets härskare. Utanför ett musikcafé i Biskra (1929) föreställer två afrikanska män i halvfigur, med bortvänd kroppsställning och blick och karikatyrartade anletsdrag. Beaktande att publiken var svensk och vit ur de övre samhällslagren i en era präglad av kolonialism och exotism hävdar jag att bilden kan betraktas på ett distanserande, objektiverande sätt.