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Framing

Lärare som undervisar i ämnen med praktiskt innehåll delar utmaningar i arbetet med bedömning av praktiskt kunnande.I samverkan har Högskolan Dalarna och en kommun i regionen genomfört ett utvecklingsarbete med uppföljandeforskning. Utvecklingsarbetet var ett läsårslångt projekt där de deltagande lärarna skulle lära sig mer om bedömning avelevers praktiska kunnande och utveckla tidigare tysta dimensioner av den egna undervisningen. Forskningsprojektet, som kopplades till utvecklingsprojektet, hade som syfte att synliggöra och problematisera vilkaaspekter av praktiskt kunnande som lärarna gör centrala i kollegial utveckling av den egna bedömningspraktiken.Upplägget av själva utvecklingsprojektet bygger på teorier om hur praktiskt kunnande genom reflektion och pendlingmellan enskilda och gemensamma aktiviteter bidrar till att kunskap om något (förklaringar utifrån och på abstrakt nivå)och kunskap i något (erfarenhetsmässig förståelse inifrån) skapar kunskap för något som leder till utveckling av enkritisk yrkesroll och en förändring av praktiken (jfr Adolphsson …). För att identifiera vilka delar av undervisningen somlärarna i projektet valde att tala om användes en modell för undervisningsinnehåll från Dimenäs (2018) som analysredskap. Modellen hanterar följande delar av undervisning: kontext, innehåll, organisation, kommunikation, utmaning, generalisering och utvärdering. Inför tolkningen av resultatet är tanken att använda teorin om praktikarkitekturer (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008) i den mån teorierna om kunnande och reflektion inte räcker till.

Methodology/Method

Upplägget av själva utvecklingsprojektet bygger på teorier om hur praktiskt kunnande genom reflektion och pendlingmellan enskilda och gemensamma aktiviteter bidrar till att kunskap om något (förklaringar utifrån och på abstrakt nivå)och kunskap i något (erfarenhetsmässig förståelse inifrån) skapar kunskap för något som leder till utveckling av enkritisk yrkesroll och en förändring av praktiken (jfr Alvunger & Adolfsson, 2016). För att identifiera vilka delar avundervisningen som lärarna i projektet valde att tala om användes en modell för undervisningsinnehåll från Dimenäs (2018) som analysredskap. Modellen hanterar följande delar av undervisning: kontext, innehåll, organisation,kommunikation, utmaning, generalisering och utvärdering. Inför tolkningen av resultatet är tanken att använda teorin ompraktikarkitekturer (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008) i den mån de beskrivna teorierna om kunnande och reflektion interäcker till.

Outcomes

Lärarna slås av hur stora likheter det finns mellan estetlärarnas arbete och yrkeslärarnas. De fokuserar i sina samtalmycket på fackspråkets betydelse i klassrummet och på hur eleven stöttas i sitt lärande på bästa sätt. Särskiltauskultationen och inspelningen av samtal i par (poddar) var ögonöppnare för den egna praktiken. Lärarna betonarvikten av att utmana eleverna och att stötta dem i generaliseringen, dvs. i överförandet av ett tränat moment iklassrummet till att bli användbart i många andra sammanhang. Lärarna ska enligt projektplanen även fokusera påbedömning av elevers praktiska kunnande, men samtalen kommer i första hand att handla om lärarens eget agerandevad gäller språkanvändning, relationsbygge med eleverna och hanteringen av tyst kunskap.

References

Alvunger, D. & Adolfsson, C.-H. (2016). “Introducing a Critical Dialogical Model for Vocational Teacher Education”. Nordic Journal ofVocational Education and Training, 6(1): p. 53-75

Dimenäs, J. (2018). "Teaching in action: A model to understand the complexity of teachers´decisions in teaching mathematics". International Journal of Advanced Research in Education and Literature, 4(1): 10-24

Kemmis, S. & Grootenboer, P. (2008). Situating praxis in practice: Practice architectures and the cultural, social and material conditionsfor practice. I: Enabling praxis: Challenges for education. (Eds.) S. Kemmis & T. .J. Smith, 37-64. Sense

Demands on the scientific foundation of Swedish Vocational Teacher Education has led to adevelopment project on academic competence at Dalarna University in 2018. The projectcontained two sub-projects; the construction of a matrix, to display the progression of students’academic competence; and the implementation of a series of seminars on VET research. This article presents the point of departure and the methods used, together with the results of mappings and analysis of four different aspects of academic competence. This inventory offeatures of academic competence in teacher education, evokes a wide range of questions onthe meaning and consequence of scientific foundation, the research-practice relationship andconcrete questions concerning course content.

Demands on the scientific foundation of Swedish Vocational Teacher Education has led to a development project on academic competence at Dalarna University in 2018. The project contained two sub-projects; the construction of a matrix, to display the progression of students’academic competence; and the implementation of a series of seminars on VET research. This article presents the point of departure and the methods used, together with the results of mappings and analysis of four different aspects of academic competence. This inventory of features of academic competence in teacher education, evokes a wide range of questions onthe meaning and consequence of scientific foundation, the research-practice relationship and concrete questions concerning course content.

Vocational education and training (VET) is an important part of the EU aim to have 75% of its working-age population in work by 2020.  VET research which is focused on developing effective teaching is getting increased attention from the educational research community. A special area of interest for VET research is the integration of traditional theoretical subjects such as mathematics and English in vocational courses. Integration of subjects, if successfully organized, has proven to generate improved learning outcomes. What, then, are the factors that render such projects successful?

Previous research on integration projects has highlighted the importance of organizational framing such as time allotted for planning, scheduling, infrastructure and management support. Soft values such as relations, cooperation, pedagogical values, and perspectives, have however, not received as much attention in research. The aim of this study is therefor to contribute with knowledge about how teachers, who have been successful in integrating subjects, relate to each other We have chosen to examine how teachers talk about their cooperation and their understanding of the subject content, which in this case is mathematics. The study has taken place at a Swedish upper secondary school which offers only vocational education, and where they have had an active integration project, for several years. The teachers and the school management have identified the project as successful based on improved learning outcomes as well as an increased interest in pursuing more advanced mathematics courses. The Swedish National Agency for Education have also highlighted the project as an example of productive integration.

Theoretically we have chosen to focus on teachers’ room for maneuver or freedom to act professionally in relation to each other (Annerberg, 2007). To deal with relations and room for maneuver we use theories that derives from the power perspectives of Foucault (Foucault 1997, 2011). The professional relations between teachers are examined with theories of “professional identity” (Gustafson, 2010) and the room for maneuver is closely related to Parding´s “discretionary power” (2007). We consider power discourses (professional identities and relations) as mediated by language (Fairclough, 2010). 

The study has a qualitative approach and focuses on the discourses that emerge in the teachers’ talk. There are two groups of respondents; eight vocational teachers who each have been interviewed, and six math teachers who have each been interviewed but also engaged in six group interviews during one year. The interviews were semi-structured and they were transcribed and analysed using a thematic content analysis (Vaismoradi, et al, 2013). The group interviews focused on a particular theme and different data, provided by the researchers, were used as a base for the discussions. Examples of such data include interviews with students, curricular documents and statements regarding mathematics.  Discussions during group interviews were recorded and transcribed in the same manner as the individual interviews. 

The results show that the relations between vocational teachers and mathematics teachers are described differently. The feature that they have in common however is a mutual respect and a recognition of the other groups’ competence as teachers. Most of the vocational teachers talk about themselves as teachers with very good relations to students, they meet the students often and the students value their expertise. They also talk about mathematics in very positive terms and as something that is valuable and useful in their vocation. All vocational teachers do not talk about the integration project as quite as successful as the mathematics teachers do. It seems that one of the most important elements to the way the project is described as successful is the way the mathematics teachers have approached their vocational counterparts with modesty and a genuine interest in identifying the various ways in which mathematics is part of the different professions. This identification has also involved finding ways to incorporate this “workers’ mathematics” into the mathematics teaching. The school has also tried to develop similar integration projects in other subjects. These projects have however been less successful and the vocational teachers argue that identifying these subjects in their vocations is more challenging, hence the cooperation is also less fruitful. 

One important aspect of the relations between the vocational teachers and the mathematics teachers is the fact that the school offers only vocational programmes. There are no theoretical programmes. The school has an ambition to act as a model of a workplace where teachers act as managers rather than teachers and this creates an environment in which power and status does not come from having theoretical knowledge but rather in having being able to develop and sustain good relationships to the students and in being an expert in the various vocations.

Annerberg, A. (2016). Gymnasielärares skrivpraktiker: skrivande som professionell handling i en digitaliserad skola. Diss. Örebro: Örebro universitet, 2016. Örebro.

Fairclough, N. (2010). Critical discourse analysis: the critical study of language (2nd ed.). Harlow: Longman.

Foucault, M., Bjurström, C. G., & Torhell, S.-E. (2011). Vetandets arkeologi. Lund: Arkiv.

Foucault, M., & Ewald, F. (1997). ”Il faut défendre la société”: cours au Collège de France (1975-1976). Paris: Gallimard.

Frelin, A. (2010). Teachers’ relational practices and professionality. Uppsala: Institutionen för didaktik, Uppsala University.

Gustafson, N. (2010). Lärare i en ny tid: om grundskollärares förhandlingar av professionella identiteter. Diss. Umeå : Umeå universitet, 2010. Umeå.

Parding, K. (2007). Upper secondary teachers’ creation of discretionary power : the tension between profession and organisation. Luleå: Division of Industrial Processes, Department of Human Work Sciences, Luleå University of Technology.

Vaismoradi, M., Turunen, H. & Bondas, T. (2013). Content analysis and thematic analysis: Implications for conducting a qualitative descriptive study. Nurs Health Sci. 2013 Sep; 15(3):398-405. 

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to deeper knowledge about the writing practices of teachers in upper secondary school. Schools are under constant pressure to respond to the needs and expectations of an ever-changing society and political intentions. A major factor in this change which is taking place in schools is digitalization. Another factor is the adoption of new governing principles for schools involving management by goals and results, which brings increased demands for written documentation of teachers' work.

In order to describe and problematize this development the thesis is based on a combination of Critical Discourse Analysis and New Literacy (Clark and Ivanič, 1997). The theoretical framework rests upon an understanding of writing as social action and the idea that texts both affect and are affected by the social environment. The empirical study focuses on twelve teachers and their writing practices, analyzed during week-long field visits over three years. The teachers' talk about their writing is used together with analyses of texts and images to investigate parts of teachers' writing which, according to the teachers, are considered complex and problematic.

The findings indicate significant differences between the writing practices of the individual teachers, where each teacher has his or her own system of texts fulfilling different purposes. Despite these differences it is still possible to identify recurrent themes in the discursive conditions for teachers' writing: efficiency, reuse, authority, audit, relationships to addressees, and room to maneuver. The study illustrates possible dilemmas for teachers' writing at the intersection of teachers' professional responsibility and demands for accountability.