Dannelse i pædagogisk praksis – om den praktiske nødvendighed og anvendelighed af et sensibiliserende sprog og en ikke-forudsigende didaktik

In regards of teaching in lower and secondary schools the article pursues an empirical answer to how it is possible to talk about and accommodate pupils formation without defining, predicting and instrumentalizing the teaching practice. An action research project combined with practice-theoretical analyzes of teachers approach to formation shows, that language and concepts about formation must be open and sensitizing. Furthermore it is shown that teaching should be intentional but not causal, which underlines that teaching is experimental also in terms of planning and development. Finally a model is presented, which seeks to clarify important characteristics of what is described as a pedagogical reconsideration, that formation-oriented teaching must rely on.

”At knække lærerkoden” – en elevperspektivisk analyse af adressater ved mundtlig eksamen

In order to graduate, Danish (and Norwegian) upper secondary high-school students are assessed orally in high-stakes tests by two teacher-assessors. Based on a fieldwork following students preparing for the oral exam, the article investigates who the students are presupposing to talk to at the exam. Exam introductions and student interviews are analyzed using Bachtin’s dialogical theory. The paradigmatic case analysis finds that students focus on delivering interpretations that they think the teacher wants to hear, since alternative interpretations are considered a confrontation with the assessors. Potentially, this limits what students allow assessors to gain access to at the exam.

Et kvantitativt blik på forældredeltagelse i skolesamarbejdet: Generelle tendenser i forhold til uddannelse, køn og klassetrin

This article examines parental involvement in school collaboration. The study was based on survey data from Program for Learning Management gathered between 2015 and 2019. An analysis was performed on parent responses (N = 38,378) to elucidate their personal experience of school collaboration in Danish primary and lower secondary public schools. The results indicate that highly educated parents more often participate equally in school collaboration. Mothers are still more involved in school collaboration than fathers and more often take on the main responsibility, especially at higher grade levels. In general, fathers could be involved more.

Hvordan vil du være pædagog? Et fagpersonligt dannelsesspørgsmål, som kalder på kvalificere(n)de faglige fællesskaber

In our research concerning the education of Danish pedagogues we found a common understanding that professionalism and personal involvement are not mutually exclusive, so we grapple with the relationship between them. We settle the problem with a reminder of the nature of education and upbringing as a cultural project based on values such as participation and emancipation: values that always have to be realized in unique situations. We argue that professionalism and personal involvement go hand in hand if they are embedded in communities of investigative practice, in which multiple forms of knowledge are brought into play.

“We Want to Be Educated!” A Thematic Analysis of Gifted Students’ Views on Education in Norway

Norwegian educational policy focuses on inclusive, equivalent, and adapted education for all. We followed procedures for an inductive thematic approach to explore the educational experiences of seventeen gifted students (age twelve – fifteen). The inductive thematic analysis revealed three key themes: the educational system, the joy of learning, and problematic issues concerning school and learning. Our results are discussed in light of educational policy and Gagné’s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent, and indicate that the Norwegian educational system does not meet these gifted students’ needs at either the individual or systemic levels. This study is vital for gaining a better understanding of the Norwegian perspective as well as the wider Nordic setting.

Antecedents of Student Teachers’ Commitment to the Teaching Profession in Finland and Norway

The purpose of this study was to explore antecedents of Finnish and Norwegian student teachers’ prospective commitment to work as teachers or pursue other careers. Are student teachers’ perceptions of coherence between the theoretical and practical elements of the teaching programme related to their commitment to work as teachers or to pursue other careers? For Finnish student teachers, strong associations emerged between the theory-practice interaction in supervision and student teachers’ prospective commitment to work as teachers. Norwegian student teachers exhibited strong associations between personalised feedback and their prospective commitment to teaching. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.

Threshold of Adversity: Resilience and the Prevention of Extremism Through Education

This article introduces the concept of ‘threshold of adversity’ as an, at present, tentative means of understanding the turning points to radicalization and extremism within educational systems. The conceptual frame is, we argue, of pedagogical and policy relevance across and beyond Nordic countries. Across Nordic countries, the main objective for the prevention of radicalization and extremism through education (PVE-E) is to strengthen the students’ resilience against ideological influences. Given the specialist complexities of the interdisciplinary research literature on terrorism, from which much PVE-E derives, for teachers and policy-makers, understanding the theoretical contexts, which underlie such policy innovations and their pedagogical implementation, are, understandably, problematic. To discuss extremism and the possibilities of its prevention especially in the education sector, an understanding of what exactly is being prevented or fought against is needed. Our conceptual ‘threshold of adversity’ model offers at least a starting point for a more practicable pedagogical implementation.

Synthesising Inclusive and Didactic Research – a Way to Ensure the Participation and Learning of Every Student?

The aim of this paper is to compare research criteria for inclusive education in relation to criteria for didactic research. The inclusive researchers that were selected defined inclusive education as removing barriers to social participation and learning for all students. The didactic researchers that we have selected referred to the tradition of successful reading and writing, focused on schools and teaching practices with favourable outcomes. The results indicated that the inclusive education researchers study school mainly from an organisational point of view. In contrast, the didactic researchers focus on a pedagogical approach, that is, on the teachers’ teaching strategies concerning the ways in which each student learns best. Within both fields under study it is considered that in-service training is most effective when it is based on the teachers’ actual working situation and when it emphasizes the importance of cooperative school cultures where the teachers also meet researchers. A reflection is that the inclusive education researchers in the study strive to transfer new knowledge to the teachers, in order to help them broaden their views on reducing social and organisational barriers to inclusion. The reading and writing researchers presented in this study represent a more dialectical process aimed at developing both the teachers’ didactic professionalism, the researchers’ own research questions and, in the end, the students’ learning. Another reflection is that if inclusive education and didactic researchers were to develop collaborative research cultures, this would shorten the way to the common goal: to ensure the participation and learning of all students.

Family Background Characteristics and Student Achievement: Does School Ethos Play a Compensatory Role?

It is a well-known fact that family background characteristics affect school achievement, and according to Swedish law, school should play a compensatory role to outweigh such differences. Previous research has demonstrated that a strong school ethos is associated with higher student achievement, but whether school ethos can play a compensatory role for family background has not been investigated to the same extent. This study examines whether the predictive capacity of students’ family background on school achievement is moderated by school ethos. Data were derived from 9,349 ninth grade students (15–16 years) and 2,176 teachers in 159 school units in Stockholm. Multilevel linear regression analyses showed that family background characteristics, as well as school ethos, were associated with student achievement. School ethos did not, however, moderate the association between family background and school achievement. The results suggest that school ethos does not play a compensatory role, but rather, promotes school achievement for all students alike.

Kunnskapsområdene i barnehagelærerutdanningen – en umulig modell? Utfordringer ved faglig integrasjon og profesjonsretting

As typical for professional education, early childhood teacher education (ECTE) aims to integrate knowledge from a wide range of disciplinary fields. With the 2013 reform of the Norwegian ECTE national curriculum the 10 disciplinary subjects have been replaced by 6 integrated “knowledge areas”. Research has documented that this shift in curriculum design has been problematic; the old structure seems to prevail in the new model. While acknowledging the essence of integration in professional knowledge, this article critically discusses the rational for the 2013 reform of the ECTE curriculum. Building on recent research on professionalism and a historical analysis of the Norwegian ECTE education curriculum, the article recommends a fundamental rethinking of the design of integration of subject fields in ECTE.