• Föränderlig tillblivelse : figurationen av det posthumana förskolebar...
  Lindgren, Therese  : Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för lärande och samhälle Serie: Malmö Studies in Educational Sciences;83 (2018)	Doctoral dissertation

  

  

  English abstract:	In a time when the pursuit of equivalent quality is high on the Swedish ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) policy agenda, teachers’ responsibilities for evaluating educational practice, based on documentations of individual children’s development and learning, is emphasised. To aid teachers in this work, the Swedish National Agency of Education published and distributed a support material promoting ‘pedagogical documentation’ as a tool and a method for documentation and evaluation, framed within a so called postconstructionist/posthumanist theoretical framework. In the support material, the (social) constructionist approach, previously associated with the tool pedagogical documentation, is criticised for having an excessive focus on interpersonal interaction and the constitutive power of language. Instead, an understanding of the world that acknowledges the force and impact of nonhuman subjects and material objects on children’s subjectification and knowledge construction is called for. The theoretical ideas that are expressed in the support material corresponds to what broadly has been explained as a “material” turn in the humanities and social sciences. Against the backdrop of the alleged material turn, not only is the superior position of language being questioned, but also the unique and ontologically superior position of the human mind. The theoretical stance taken by the National Agency of Education can be considered unique and raises questions concerning the meaning and aim of theoretical intervention through research and policy, and of its subsequent consequences. The overall aim of the dissertation is to critically examine the figuration of the posthuman child in both a Swedish and international context of early childhood education. Part of this work involves investigating how posthumanist concepts and ideas travel, how they are picked up in policy and how posthumanist theory is being translated to fit the framework of early education. This inquiry concerns fundamental questions about the making of the preschool child in the intersection between educational research, educational policy and pedagogical practice. In the different studies of the dissertation, Claudia Castañeda's (2003; 2014) interpretation of the concept "figuration" is being used as an analytical tool for “unpacking” the practices, knowledge and meanings, that are built into the posthuman child as figure.
  Note:	Preliminary record

  Therese inlaga-1.pdf   (5.179Mb)

• Teachers' beliefs about multilingualism : findings from Q method rese...
  Lundberg, Adrian   Journal article in Current Issues in Language Planning; : Routledge (2018)	Journal article

  

  

  English abstract:

  This study explores teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism and multilingual students in Swedish primary schools. The aim is to support a better-informed discussion about teachers’ decision- making in linguistically diverse classrooms in the European nation- state. The use of Q method combines qualitative and quantitative data analyses. Q material applied in the present study provided the participants with all the necessary language to describe their beliefs. Two Q sets of statements – one regarding the understanding of the phenomenon and the other concerning suggested pedagogical responses in relation to current multilingualism – were constructed using a variety of sources. The participants are forty teachers, predominantly female, employed at three different primary schools in southern Sweden. Applying inverted factor analysis and abductive interpretation, three sets of teachers’ beliefs emerged and descriptions represent the teachers’ complex views about multilingualism in the classroom. Overall, teachers’ beliefs are rather welcoming towards multilingualism and multilingual students and recent concepts with growing acceptance in literature, such as translanguaging, are well accepted. However, sceptical views, often based on monolingual ideologies are present and are likely to pose challenges for the implementation of pluralistic policies. This study contributes to an open debate about benefits and challenges of current multilingualism in education.

  Teachers belief ... from Q method research.pdf   (1.676Mb)

  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14664208.2018.1495373

• Reay, Diane; Miseducation : Inequality, education and the working cla...
  Persson, Magnus   Review article in Sociologisk forskning;1 : Sveriges sociologförbund (2018)	Review article

  

  

  Recension.pdf   (63.94Kb)

  http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1198736/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• At the Wake, or the Return of Metaphysics
  Dahlbeck, Johan  : European Educational Research Association (2018) ECER 2018 (4-7 September : Bolzano, Italy)	Conference contribution

  

  

  English abstract:

  We have all been told of the death of grand narratives. We have been told that the days of asking eternal metaphysical questions in philosophy are long since over. When Wittgenstein’s (1953/2009) famous spade hit bedrock it reminded us that we had better stop wasting our time on lofty questions without answers. Foucault (1970) prompted us to recall Borges’ story of a certain Chinese encyclopedia showing us that there are many ways of ordering the world and that each way changes the rules of the game a little bit. We found that history was contingent and that hierarchies, however firmly built, would all crumble in the end. In its place were the slightly disorienting feeling following the postmodernist’s proclamation of ‘the elusiveness of meaning and knowledge’ (Kirby, 2017). It turned out that the metaphysical questions of old were not so easily abandoned after all. While we might turn a blind eye to them we are still bound to them by our tacit presuppositions and they still tend to lurk in the shadow of our every endeavor to rethink the old. Educational philosophy is in need of a direction as it is always aimed at some kind of change. Metaphysical assumptions can provide us with a direction. If we assume a capacity of free will, education can achieve certain ends, and if we assume that free will is a myth then education needs to abandon certain claims and stake out new paths. Both assumptions may be valid but they will result in very different understandings of what education is and what it can achieve. While the door opened by the postmodern skepticism of eternal truths cannot be closed, it may be that we can benefit from acknowledging our need for addressing our most basic metaphysical assumptions without unlearning the lesson of postmodernism. Like Foucault’s encounter with the Chinese encyclopedia, we might find joy in revisiting the lost traditions of the past without assuming that they can salvage us from the perils of our future. The postmodern doubt not only shook things up, but it helped us see that we always rely on something, whether we know it or not. Rather than tear down the great structure of metaphysics once and for all, it helped reveal that the questions we ask always betray some kind of metaphysical assumption. Seeing this, we can return to the great metaphysical questions a little less innocent than before.

  https://eera-ecer.de/ecer-programmes/conference/23/contribution/45772/

• Science and Technology Education in response to global, socio-environ...
  Colucci-Gray, Laura; Sjöström, Jesper; Lee, Hyunju; Bencze, Larry; Levinson, Ralph; Alsop, Steve; Gray, Donald; Østergaard, Edvin; Fooladi, Erik; Areljung, Sofie; Hetherington, Lindsay  (2018) IOSTE (August, 13-17, 2018 : Malmö, Sweden)	Conference contribution

  

  

  English abstract:

  We are standing at a crucial point in Western, techno-scientific culture. Faced with profound changes affecting the Earth systems at a global scale, current narratives of technological innovation seek to assuage the urgency of the problems through new and creative solutions. Yet, as Hannah Arendt envisaged already half a century ago,“for the first time in history all peoples on earth have a common present”, even if “this common present is not based on a common past and does not in the least guarantee a common future” (1968, p. 83). More than coincidentally, this growing awareness has brought to the fore the need for new narratives of development, to ensure equity and a diversity of views and modes of living on our shared Planet. A common response in science education has emphasised the progressive enculturation into the subculture of science, weeding out cultural beliefs and misconceptions as well as risk and uncertainty to favour the acquisition of consolidated scientific knowledge. Conversely, an eco-reflexive and ecotransformative education, which draws upon a variety of theoretical contributions and practical approaches, is proposed. This round-table in three parts seeks to explore the potential of such a view within the field of Science and Technology Education. Part A focuses on different models of teaching and education, which take into consideration the global, socio-environmental challenges. Part B addresses the ontological shift from being spectators to active participants in the global environment; taking the lead from Colucci-Gray and Camino (2016), discussion will focus on what methodologies characterise this mode of learning. Part C addresses – based on Sjöström & Eilks (2018) and with further elaboration – a relational and critical Vision III of ST literacy and education. How can it be understood, which are its implications for teaching and ‘knowing-beingdoing’ and for the whole educational system?

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