<p>In today’s school in Sweden the assignment of community encompasses mediated values and education of democracy as well of single subject matters. What does it mean then, that teachers have a certain kind of idea of democracy, and what implications may biology have for the assignment of community? In upper secondary school there are quite many courses in biology with a national curriculum, and findings show that students of teaching perceive or think of biology as helping to promote the dual-purpose of teaching. In this study, the author of the paper has interviewed four future teachers of upper secondary school with biology as one of their main subjects. The purpose has been to identify their perceptions of democracy as well as their conceptions of the relationship between biology and democracy in education. The result is that the interviewees perceive of democracy as consistent with representative, participative and deliberative concepts of democracy. They conceive of the relationship between biology and democracy in education as to a great extent consistent with the deliberative concept of democracy. The implications are that the idea of democracy becomes more radical and consistent with the deliberative concept of democracy when subject matters of biology are part of the education. In this manner, subject matters of biology are of educational importance for the teachers´ conceptions of democracy as well for the assignment of community.</p> / <p>Samhällsuppdraget i skolan innebär förmedlade värden och kunskaper om både demokrati och enskilda ämnesstoff. Vad innebär det då att lärare har en viss sorts demokratiuppfattning, och vad har biologiskt ämnesstoff för betydelse för samhällsuppdraget? Biologi i gymnasieskolan har relativt många kurser med nationell kursplan och rön visar att lärarstudenter uppfattar biologiskt ämnesstoff som didaktiskt främjande för att läraruppdragets dubbla syfte. I den här studien har uppsatsförfattaren intervjuat fyra blivande gymnasielärare med biologi som inriktning för att försöka identifiera deras uppfattningar om demokrati och relationen mellan biologiskt ämnesstoff och demokrati i undervisningens praktik. Resultatet visar att intervjupersonerna uppfattar demokrati i allmänhet som överensstämmande med både representativ, participativ och deliberativ demokrati, och relationen mellan biologiskt ämnesstoff och demokrati i undervisningens praktik som i hög grad överensstämmande med den deliberativa demokratiformen. Implikationerna av detta är att demokratiuppfattningen blir radikalare och alltmer lik en deliberativ demokratiform med biologiskt ämnesstoff i undervisningens praktik. Sålunda har biologiskt ämnesstoff en didaktisk betydelse för såväl lärares demokratiuppfattning som samhällsuppdrag.</p>

Syftet med avhandlingen är att bidra till en ökad kunskap om hur litterär socialisation genom undervisning i olika kontexter påverkar elevers sätt att förhålla sig till en narrativ text och vilka konsekvenser den litterära socialisationen får för olika aspekter av litteraturreception, såsom tolkning, förståelse och begreppshantering. I denna komparativa studie används Sverige och Frankrike som exempel. Det huvudsakliga empiriska materialet består av 223 gymnasieelevers skriftliga reception av en novell. Elevernas texter har analyserats ur olika perspektiv relaterade till litterära receptionsteorier. Avhandlingen innehåller också en analys av undervisningsrelaterade aspekter som kan påverka elevens reception på den lästa texten. Analyserna visar att när man utbildas inom ett system som bygger på strukturalism och formalism, som det franska, blir huvudintresset i interaktionen med den skönlitterära texten närläsningar med fokus på berättarstrukturer och -teknik. Detta är till stor hjälp för att förstå exempelvis den yttre handlingen och berättarperspektivet. En annan aspekt är att eleverna håller sig inom de ramar som litteraturundervisningen ställer upp. Det finns också en risk för att det leder till en teknisk läsning där känslomässiga inslag utesluts. När man utbildas i ett system som likt det svenska fokuserar mer på en upplevelse- och erfarenhetsbaserad läsning, blir elevernas interagerande med texten friare. Analysen visar dock att även om en emotionell läsning kan vara nödvändig för att ge berättelsen liv, riskerar den att utgöra hinder för förståelsen. En litteraturundervisning som kombinerar läsning för nöje, förståelse och analys framstår därmed som mest effektiv för att främja såväl analytisk förmåga som läsglädje. / The aim of the thesis is to increase knowledge of how literary socialisation through education impacts students’ interaction with a narrative text and how this affects different aspects of literature reception, such as comprehension, interpretation and literary analysis. In this comparative study, Sweden and France are the contexts used as examples. The main empirical material consists of 223 comments on a short story, written by upper secondary school students in the two countries. The students’ texts have been analysed from different perspectives in relation to literary reception theories. The thesis also includes an analysis of education-related aspects that might have an impact on the way students respond to a literary text. The analyses show that when educated in a system inspired by structuralism and formalism, such as the French, the students’ interaction with the literary text is focused mainly on structures and techniques. A focus on stylistic aspects through close readings of the literary text is helpful when trying to understand the plot or the perspective. Another matter is that this system leads to students who stay within the frames that literary education raises. There is also an obvious risk of this leading to a technical reading where there is no room for emotions. When educated in a system as the Swedish, focusing on emotional and experience-based readings, students’ interaction with the literary text gives free rein to their imagination. However, the analyses show that, even though a personal, emotional reading is needed to give life to the story, it might be an obstacle to comprehension. A combination of reading for pleasure, understanding, and analysis seems to be the most efficient way of teaching literature.

The way in which music teachers choose and use the subject content in ensemble and music theory in the upper secondary school is focused in this study. The point of interest is the everyday classroom teaching of music teachers. The intentions that music teachers have with their teaching is also studied. This thesis is a study of music teaching and is a subject-didactic investigation, inspired by variation theory. The overarching aim of the thesis is to study how music teachers in upper secondary school choose teaching content when teaching ensemble and music theory. The teachers’ use of the teaching content implies that they choose to focus and teach certain parts in their teaching. This choice of con- tent and how it is used is in focus in this study. The research questions are: How do music teachers choose teaching content when teaching ensemble and music theory in upper secondary school? How do music teachers use the teaching con- tent in their teaching? The data collection includes video-documented lessons and qualitative inter- views with five music teachers in upper secondary school in 2004. The analysis reveals two different choices of content. When the teachers have music and theory as the content of their teaching, it is the content that guides the teaching methods, where the teacher uses a fixed content, which is then presented in different ways; this was mainly in music theory. When the content is music activities, the music teachers adjust the activity-based content in accordance with the level of the pupils’ skills in ensemble. The differences that occur in the varia- tion theory results are closely related to the teaching content. The foundations of the two different choices of content that are made by the music teachers, as well as the significance of the learning objects, are finally discussed.

This is a study on how a group of ten pupils choose their upper secondary schools (gymnasium). All pupils are ninth graders in a middle school in Husby which is a suburb of Stockholm. Like the big majority of Husby citizens, they all have immigrant backgrounds and their time in Sweden varies; some are born here while others are born abroad and migrated later with their parents. My aim was to understand their upper secondary school choices through own and their parents’ "cultural capital". I based my study on Bourdieu’s theory on social reproduction and I used his terminology and definitions of cultural capital, interest, field, habitus and strategies. I investigated if and in what way these children follow the tracks of their parents in terms of future educational and working plans but even in terms of common cultural and leisure activities and the way they affect their upper secondary school choice. The Swedish upper secondary school is divided in 18 different specializations, 12 technical and 6 theoretical, respectively. In the first, the pupils are prepared for a technical profession and in the second, they prepare for further academic studies. I was interested in finding out the pupils’ strategies in fulfilling their educational and professional dreams in connection with their choice of upper secondary specialization and their parents’ educational and cultural interests and backgrounds. I used a qualitative method, specifically interviews. I transcribed the interviews and I tried to relate what was said to Bourdieu’s theory. I was mostly inspired by the phenomenological approach where the interviewer avoids taking position and focuses on the message the person being interviewed tries to communicate. Most families in my study have a relatively law cultural capital and even though some have had academic studies and high status professions in their home countries they have had jobs that did not match their education level in Sweden. Most children aim high in the educational rank and especially those who come from high educated parents seem to have a better knowledge of the Swedish educational system and how to better move into it.

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In a society where the labour market is becoming increasingly knowledge intensive and more differentiated, education has assumed greater importance for the capitalist states integrative functions as for the competitiveness in the global economy. As a consequence, the educational system has become a key governing resource for the state to meet and manage different kinds of social changes and problems. Against this background the thesis raises the main question - “what kind of societal problems are the educational reforms studied here considered to be the solution of?” The aim of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of the changes of the formation of knowledge in Swedish upper secondary curriculum between the 1960s and 2010s. In what way attained these changes in view of knowledge legitimacy in relation to the socioeconomic context? And what do these changes mean in terms of the attribution of the positioning of upper secondary school pupils and teachers?   This thesis draws on a “classical” theoretical framework of curriculum theory (i.e. the frame-factor theory) this means that the analytical focus is directed at the relationship between the content of the curriculum and the social context. With theoretical and methodological inspiration from critical realism and critical discourse analysis (CDA) the thesis argue for an alternative way to theoretical and empirical examined this relationship. Three historical reform periods are used to explore the discursive changes in the formation of knowledge in the Swedish upper secondary education reforms.   The results show how changes in socioeconomic conditions, such as economic crisis, over time have acted as important triggers for governing mechanisms embedded in the control of the educational system. These changes and mechanisms, in turn, have resulted in some major discursive knowledge shifts between the reforms studied, from the 1960s combination of an economic-rational and an objective-subject knowledge discourse, through the deregulated goal-rational and socio-cultural oriented knowledge discourse of the 1990s towards the 2010s knowledge discourses that are characterized by an increased focus on learning outcomes and measurability. Against the background of these discursive shifts, the analysis also points to some underlying continuities in terms of a general “reform imperative”, based on a number of overarching values ​​such as efficiency and rationality. The result show how this imperative was embedded in all three educational reforms and has ruled the order of discourses about what was deemed to be legitimate curriculum knowledge, a professional teacher and a desirable pupil.

Detta är en kvalitativ uppsats som baseras på intervjuer med elever som går årskurs två på estetiska programmet och läser den obligatoriska kursen Estetisk orientering. I inledningsavsnittet ges en bild av de estetiska ämnenas funktion och plats i skolan, hur det ses på praktiskt kontra teoretiskt kunnande, att lära med olika sinnen samt de estetiska ämnenas minskade utrymme i skolan. Studiens övergripande syfte är att beskriva gymnasieelevers upplevelse av en integrerad undervisning i estetiska ämnen i skolan. Forskningsfrågorna ringar in hur eleverna resonerar kring sin individuella självbild utifrån undervisning där dans, teater, bild och musik ingår. Elevintervjuerna belyser även gruppens betydelse för formandet av den enskilda elevens självbild samt hur eleven talar om kroppen i relation till rörelsemomenten i estetämnesundervisningen. Studien utgår ifrån ett fenomenologiskt - hermeneutiskt perspektiv och intervjuerna har analyserats med hjälp av Amedeo Giorgis fenomenologiska analysmetod. Analysen av intervjuerna visar hur eleverna upplever sina nyvunna erfarenheter av de olika estetämnena och hur dessa ökat deras förståelse för sig själva och andra. Eleverna beskriver upplevelser av den integrerade estetämnesundervisningen genom att resonera kring EOS kursens påverkan på dem som individer. Eleverna talar om kreativitet, att utforska, spränga gränser, styrkor och svagheter, tillit, mod, begränsningar och oro samt kroppen som uttrycksmedel och kunskapsinhämtare. Lustaspekten lyfts fram och viljan hos eleverna att lära nytt. Eleverna har hittat varierade metoder för att uttrycka sina tankar, känslor och idéer genom EOS kursen. Studien visar på de estetiska ämnenas viktiga funktion i skolan. Detta påvisas genom att lyfta fram både aktuell forskning som stöder estetiska ämnens funktion i skolan samt elevernas positiva upplevelser kring den ämnesintegrerade estetundervisningen. / This is a qualitative essay which is based upon interviews with second-year, upper-secondary students taking an Esthetic Program and studying the core subject Esthetic Orientation (EOS). In the introduction, the purpose and role of the esthetic subjects in the school are illustrated, e.g. practical knowledge versus theoretical knowledge, sensory learning as well as a decreased focus on the esthetic subjects’ within schools are discussed. The purpose of the study is to describe upper-secondary students’ experiences of integrated teaching of esthetic subjects in school. The research questions focus on how students reason about their self-image following lessons that incorporate dance, drama, art and music. The student interviews highlight the importance of the group in the formation of an individual student’s self-image as well as depict how students describe their bodies in relation to the physical elements in the teaching of an esthetic subject. The study uses a phenomenological hermeneutic approach and the interviews are analyzed using Amedeo Giorgi’s phenomenological analysis method. The analysis of the interviews shows how the students experience their newly discovered knowledge of the different esthetic subjects and how this has increased their understanding of themselves and others. The students describe their experience of integrated esthetic teaching by discussing the possible influence the EOS course has had on them as individuals. The students speak about creativity, discovery, breaking new ground, strengths, weaknesses, trust, courage, limitations and fears as well as the body as a form of expression and a gleaner of knowledge. The students’ desire to learn as well as will to learn is also highlighted. The students found varying methods to express their thoughts, feelings and ideas through the EOS course. The study demonstrates the important role esthetic subjects have in schools, which is proven by both examining current research that supports the esthetic subjects’ role in schools as well as by describing students’ positive experiences of subject-integrated esthetic teaching.

In the school subject of the natural sciences it is imperative that the students are given opportunities to ”talk science”, since the dialogues that occur in the classroom have a significant importance for the students’ abilities to engage in meaning-making in their learning process. Hence, the student and teacher interaction in the classroom and the feedback given there play a significant role in the students’ learning process. The aim of this study is to contribute to the development of formative assessment tools that can mediate the students’ meaning-making in natural sciences subjects in upper-secondary school. I have designed and tested a method of oral peer-assessment that enables dialogue-interaction in the natural science-classroom where the students, under supervision of the teacher, get to use each other as learning-resources in groups. The oral formative peer-assessment has been conducted in form of a design-based study in two upper-secondary school classes where each teacher taught natural sciences. The data collected include conversations in small groups, between groups and with the teacher. Data was analysed based on different types of talk (exploratory, cumulative and disputational talk) and type and level of feedback that was given in the classroom. The results showed that the students were given different opportunities for meaning-making, where the lack of subject-knowledge, difficulties with peer-assessment and physical artefacts were seen to significantly affect the learning process. The analyses of the interaction in the classroom showed that the teachers, in both studies, gave a direct feedback, where the students got the opportunity to compare and support their results in a dialogue with each other and the teacher. This type of feedback is considered highly efficient for learning. This study shows that the oral formative peer-assessment is a tool that teachers can use, and adapt to their practices, in order to create interactions in the classroom that can increase the students’ meaning-making. / I de naturvetenskapliga ämnena är det viktigt att eleverna ges förutsättningar att ”prata naturvetenskap” eftersom talet som sker i klassrummet har en mycket stor betydelse för elevernas möjligheter att skapa mening i det naturvetenskapliga lärandet. Interaktionen i klassrummet och den återkoppling som ges har därför stor betydelse för elevernas inlärning. Med syfte att bidra till utveckling av redskap för formativ bedömning som kan mediera elevernas meningsskapande i naturvetenskaplig undervisning på gymnasiet, har jag designat och testat en metod som möjliggör dialogisk interaktion i det naturvetenskapliga klassrummet där eleverna under ledning av läraren gruppvis får använda varandra som läroresurser i en muntlig kamratbedömningsövning. Den muntliga formativa kamratbedömningen har genomförts i form av en designbaserad studie i två gymnasieklasser där ämnesområden i naturkunskap behandlades av lärarna. Datainsamlingen inkluderar samtal som har förts inom grupper, mellan grupper och med läraren. Data analyserades utifrån olika typer av samtal (exploratory, cumulative och disputational talk) och typ samt nivå på den återkoppling som gavs i klassrummet. Elevsamtalen inom grupperna visade att delaktigheten var stor men att typen av kommunikation gav eleverna olika förutsättningar till meningsskapande där bristen på ämneskunskaper, ovana vid kamratbedömning och fysiska artefakter kan anses vara av stor betydelse för läroprocessen. Analysen av interaktionen i klassrummet visade att läraren i de båda studierna använde direkt återkoppling som gav eleverna möjlighet att jämföra och motivera sina resultat i en dialog med varandra och läraren, vilken anses vara en typ av återkoppling som är mycket effektfull för inlärningen. Studien visar att den muntliga formativa kamratbedömningsövningen i sin ursprungliga form är ett redskap som lärare kan använda och anpassa till sina praktiker för att skapa interaktioner i klassrummet som kan öka elevernas meningsskapande.

This thesis examines the activities within the Swedish steering system concerning upper secondary school. Sweden has a long history of shared responsibility between the state level of government and the municipalities, dating back to federal decisions concerning the establishment of a compulsory school system. By the early 1990s two parallel changes were taking place within the Swedish educational sector, one concerning the steering system which evolved towards deregulation and decentralization, and the other an extension of the compulsory school. A consequence of the latter change was that in practice upper secondary education became mandatory. The political aim was to realize the vision of “one school for all”. In this study the political vision and the larger question of how to turn it into reality (the differentiation question) is used to show how activities at national as well as the local level of the steering system are formed. / <p>Se även under Uppsala i DiVAportalen.</p>

This thesis looks at conditions for selections of fictional texts in the Swedish subject in the upper secondary school. Three different empirical materials have contributed to the understanding of what conditions there are for the texts to enter the classroom. The first material consists of national policy documents from 1970 to 2005. Here there is a tendency that the student goes from being an object for knowledge to becoming a subject that creates his/her own knowledge. With this development the contents and the given aims with the subject become more abstract, which leads to the framework of the curriculum becoming wider and more difficult to interpret. Simultaneously the focus is moved from mediation of given knowledge, to the development of an identity for the individual. The second material consists of debate and method articles from Svenskläraren, a magazine for members, published by an organisation of Swedish teachers. The study comprise articles from the same period of time as the national curricula. In the articles there are three tendencies reflecting the changes in the discourse of the Swedish subject. The first tendency shows how the overall ideological debate on the subject disappears during this period. The second tendency shows how discussions about the conceptions of the subject is replaced by more and more concrete examples of methods. The third tendency depicts that the concrete text selections have moved from being partly predetermined during the seventies to become debated during the eighties, to finally during the nineties end up in a situation where some texts has a sufficient cultural capital not to need justifications, whereas others need it. The third material consists of interviews with, and observations of, four active teachers, in order to find what conditions there are for text selections in their rhetoric and practice. The results show a clear impression of informal institutional factors and of the school culture. However, this seems to decrease with experience. There are big differences in how the teachers speak about text selections and text use and what the result becomes in practice. Here professionalism in form of knowledge in subject didactics could have a vast impact.