This study aims to contribute to the ongoing scholarly conversation about education throughthe lenses of the German philosophy of Bildung and the American philosophy of pragmatism. Moreconcretely, in this article, the two philosophies are represented by the traditions of critical-constructiveDidaktik, based on Wolfgang Klafki’s work, and transactional realism, based on John Dewey’s. Againstthe background of the widespread outcomes-based modes of education today, the authors seek to shedlight on the necessary reconceptualization of schooling and teaching and to explore the possibilitiesfor constructive routes forward for curriculum theorizing. They outline the aspects of knowledgeand the learning concepts that the two philosophies share and those about which they differ. Theauthors also analyze the consequences that these similarities and differences have for the educationalapproaches of critical-constructive Didaktik and transactional realism. Finally, the authors present anempirical example from a Swedish year-eight classroom, drawing conclusions based on their findingsand considering corresponding implications about the two traditions’ potential to contribute to anunderstanding of teaching as a pedagogical responsibility.

En lärare ska kunna undervisa, men hur lär man sig det? Några menar att praktiska erfarenheter har störst betydelse, medan andra lägger tonvikt på akademiska kunskaper. Även om vägen till att lära sig att bli lärare är omtvistad är målet tydligt: med hjälp av sin utbildning ska en lärare kunna undervisa på ett funktionellt sätt. En lärares professionella kunskap kan sammanfattas med begreppet didaktik. Didaktiken binder samman analysen av innehållet, planeringen av undervisningen, det konkreta genomförandet och den uppföljande reflektionen. I bokens nya upplaga om didaktik som konsten att undervisa har det tillkommit ett nytt kapitel om lärares didaktiska ledarskap i barngrupp och klassrum. Som grund för lärares ledarskap betonas den pedagogiska relationen och det nära sambandet mellan ledarskap och kollegialt lärande.Författaren introducerar den didaktiska analysen för undervisningen, liksom didaktikens relation till läroplanen samt lärandets didaktiska aspekter. I boken betonas undervisningssituationers allmängiltiga och överskridande karaktär. Vidare diskuteras hur didaktikens frågor om vad, hur och varför ges olika svar beroende på de didaktiska val som läraren gör. Lärarens betydelse för hur barn och ungdomar inbjuds att delta i undervisningssamtal är ett annat exempel från bokens teman.  

The availability of skilled professionals is a challenge in many rural areas. At the same time, rural youth often view their prospects as limited and pursue higher education less frequently than urban youth. Students’ future study and career choices are influenced by social or cultural background, geographic location, and community resources. Consequently, rural schools may face the challenge of providing opportunities for students to develop skills that enable them to contribute to their personal growth as well as the development of their community. This project, involving three rural municipalities and three elementary schools, focuses on the possibilities for rural schools to promote entrepreneurship in a digitized world. Here, entrepreneurship is based on the idea of relationships and mutual concerns as starting points for developing and acting on opportunities in diverse contexts. Analyses of documents, field notes, and interviews reveal that municipal officials, principals, and teachers, are interested in using digital tools in education to enhance the connections between school, working life, and the surrounding community, which are limited by long distances. For instance, digital field trips to private and municipal enterprises and institutions have been tested as a method. The goal is to provide future-oriented education that highlights opportunities for digital location-independent occupations while also strengthening students’ sense of connection to their local community. However, promoting entrepreneurship by fostering students’ development of creativity and innovation remains a challenge for some schools.

I denna rapport kommer EU:s nyckelkompetenser, som reviderades av EU 2018, att stå i centrum för diskussionen. Den övergripande frågan handlar om vilka konsekvenser revideringen potentiellt kan få för de svenska läroplanerna, framför allt vad gäller läroplanernas inledande delar. De läroplaner som är aktuella i denna rapport är Lgr 22, Lgy 11 och Lvux 12. 

The aim of this article is to explore the interrelationships between a national government andthe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in terms of the powerand legitimization of education reforms, here based on the reciprocal dependence of the twoactors. Although the current case study only analyses the shifting relationships betweenSweden and the OECD, the assumption is that the case is quite representative of theambiguities of power in the relationships between the OECD and its smaller membercountries and the Nordic countries in particular. To explore the relationship between theSwedish national government and OECD, we make use of discursive institutionalism asa general framework. For a closer understanding of the standpoints of the OECD andSweden on different matters and at different times, two explanation logics are used. Thediscourses we found characterizing the different kinds of relationships over time area discourse of opposition, a discourse of mentorship and a discourse of subordination. Weargue that there are both ideational and institutional reasons affecting the conditions forcooperation on educational policy. Although institutional reasons strengthen the maintenanceof the cooperation, ideational reasons both challenge and develop the nature of thecollaboration between the OECD and Sweden.

How could the technicality arising from eleven percent of students beingexcluded from a PISA test in Sweden trigger a polarized debate followedby investigations by both the OECD and national authorities? Thisquestion is explored in the study by drawing on discursiveinstitutionalism, especially the concept of normative background ideas,communicative discourse, and the “power in ideas”. Communicativediscourses can be referred to as discourses explained by logics ofposition and logics of ideas. The normative background ideas arerelated to a critique or acceptance of receiving a high number ofimmigrants during a short period of time a few years before the 2018PISA test was conducted. The concluding reflection poses the questionsof at what point it is reasonable for newly arrived students toparticipate in the PISA test and whether the PISA test really measuresthe quality of the school system, as suggested by the OECD.

The refugee situation in the fall of 2015 was unique, as Sweden had never before received so many asylum seekers. In total, just over 163,000 people sought refuge in Sweden, most of them within a few months when more than 1 million people crossed the Mediterranean See to seek asylum in the European Union. A comparison between the Nordic countries, calculated per 10,000 inhabitants, shows that during the years 2015-2016, Sweden approved 70 asylum applications, Norway 25, and Denmark and Finland about 12 (Örstadius, 2021). This situation would result in an unexpected aftermath in connection with the report of the Swedish results of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey in 2018 which was published by the end of 2019. At the same time the results were published, national newspapers and the largest opposition party, the Moderates, noted that 11% of students were excluded from participation in the survey—the highest figure among the participating countries—due to deficiencies in the Swedish language. The debate that followed revealed a deep disagreement regarding the Swedish PISA result of 2018 and whether the result implicated an improvement or not. This paper focuses on how a transnational cooperation initiates national communicative discourses. The paper explores what main actors and normative background ideas that becomes important as well as the implications of the arguments that are made. 

The purpose of this study is to explore the implications ofa standards-based curriculum for what constitutes knowledge indifferent teaching contexts. The research question is as follows:How is the logic of uniformity within curriculum standards recontextualisedinto actual teaching in different school environments,here focusing on the concepts of the knowledge underpinning theteaching? Many national school systems have adapted to the currentaccountability movement. The accountability movement ischaracterised by seemingly simple and reasonable logic thatdefines objectives to specify what schooling should result in forlearners, evaluates the result and then uses the result to improvethe schooling process. In reality, however, the recontextualisationof the subject curriculum to teaching practice is a complex process.This article draws on interviews with two teachers focusing on eightrecently completed lessons. The analysis reveals two approaches tocurricula—integrated and performance—underpinned by two differentviews of knowledge: transactional realism and social realism.Although the key aim for teaching based on transactional realism is‘coordinating the students’ interest in’ the curriculum and teachingcontent, the key aim for teaching based on social

Läroplansteori och didaktik är två delar av det vetenskapliga ämnet pedagogik. Läroplansteorins grundläggande fråga är ”Vad räknas som kunskap?” Det är en fråga som ständigt är utsatt för omprövning och debatt. En fråga som ofta väcker känslor och som aldrig kommer att få ett slutgiltigt svar. Lika omdebatterad är didaktikens grundläggande fråga om hur kunskaper, värden och erfarenheter ska organiseras i konkreta undervisnings- och lärandesituationer. 

I den här boken belyser författaren dessa två breda frågeställningar ur ett flertal olika aspekter. Som en röd tråd löper insikten att det vi håller för sant i frågor om utbildning och lärande förändras historiskt över tid och varierar geografiskt, beroende på varje lands egna historiska, sociala och kulturella traditioner. 

I bokens tredje upplaga har bland annat ett nytt kapitel om skolans likvärdighet och olika typer av läroplaner tillkommit. Här finns även en guide för lärares didaktiska analyser som bygger på analyser av den aktuella läroplanen. Texten om olika kunskapsinriktningar har utökats och berörs nu i flera kapitel. 

Boken avslutas med ett avsnitt som visar på hur varje läroplan mer eller mindre medvetet grundas på antaganden om ett visst medborgarideal. Kapitlet är en påminnelse om den viktiga roll som skolan har i samhället för att upprätthålla och utveckla demokratin.  

This proposal is a part of an ongoing project that concerns educational institutions in Swedish rural societies, with focus on digitization and entrepreneurship. Even though almost half of the population worldwide still live in rural societies (43% in 2021 according to Statista, 2022) there is lack of research concerning rural societies and rural education in comparison to research on city areas and educational institutions in those areas (Åberg-Bengtsson, 2009; Beach et al, 2019). This spare interest from research communities, and/or, from governmental institutions contributing with research grants, may of course have many explanations. Huge capital is generated in metropolitan areas, high status educational institutions are located there, and the political decisions are made within the larger cities. To this should be added the prejudgment views on rural communities and their citizens – particularly on the rural working class – exploited and transferred over the world via the dominating urban-centric middleclass media culture Walker-Gibbs, Ludecke, & Kline, 2015, 2018). The metro-centric cultures lack of concern for the less urbanized part of the world, are also seen in the often simplistic understanding of “rural” and “rural education” (Bagley and Hillyard, 2014; Beach et al, 2019; Their et al, 2021). ”The challenge for all rural research is how rural is defined” says Walker-Gibbs, Ludecke, & Kline (2018).

In research on the field “rural education” heterogeneous and context-dependent nature of rurality are empathized (Nelson et al 2021). Rural areas present a great diversity among them in terms of social, cultural, religious, economic as well as topographical characteristics both within and across countries (Showalter et al., 2017). On the other hand, it is well known that rural youth to lesser extent then their urban counterpart is prone to complete a college degree, but that does not mean a complete absence of factors in smaller rural communities that can be helpful for rural youth in relation to their future ambitions (Roberts & Grant, 2021; see also, Beach et al, 2019). It has been argued that teachers have greater opportunities to provide support for and information on students’ postsecondary options in rural areas then in non-rural ones. However, while teachers and school personal staff do influence, and support, their rural students, research also show that this support is often inadequate for helping students enact the necessary steps for achieving their postsecondary ambitions (Roberts & Grant, 2021).

With Massey (1994) we argue that social relations are what construct space, and therefore, particular social relations – stretched over time, with its politics, culture and its history – is what makes up a particular space. In our case this means that we view our particular rural social spaces as imbedded in the relational life of the school, and in the same time as stretched out over the world via the continuing digitalization. Our research sites are three rural municipalities. We focus on one elementary school at each research site. 

We concentrate on the places for education, in the era of digital tools, and possibilities for the schools and the communities to educate children and at the same time work with entrepreneurship, beneficial for the individuals as well as for the communities (Pettersson, 2018). Entrepreneurship in this project builds on the idea of relationships and mutual concerns as starting points for developing and acting on opportunities in diverse contexts (Berglund & Johannisson, 2012; Weicht & Jónsdóttir, 2021). The aim in this paper is to analyze and exemplify school-work and their local surroundings in relation to classroom work as well as to the social organization at the school with particular focus on entrepreneurship in the digital era.MethodIn a broad sense, this study belongs to a Swedish branch of the Scandinavian Ethnography Tradition which began in the late 1960s (Larsson, 2006, [see also, Beach 2010; Beach & Larsson, 2022]). Typical of this tradition are long-term fieldwork, integration between locally situated events, relations between agents within institutional frameworks and sociocultural patterns developed over time together with a sensitivity to politics and economy that place the ethnographical site in a wider context. This time frame is also central to allowing for continual reflections on the complexity of human contexts. For example, on the relationship between the appropriate cultural, political, and social levels of the research site and on individual and group agency there. Moreover, research efforts include explicit theoretical perspectives and analysis, thereby providing an opportunity to use empirical data for the interrogation of macro and middle range theories and to develop (or ground) new ideas. The corpus of empirical data is the result of empirical and theoretical work conducted between 2022-2023. The methods applied have included: participant observation-based investigations, class-room studies, collection and analysis of documents, as well as formal and informal interviews with respondents (see also, Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007). Time, place, and objects were strategically selected (Jeffrey & Troman, 2004). The field notes, transcripts, and other data were analyzed continually. The project has been approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority. We analyze relations, formal as well as informal, between different parts of the rural societies with focus on the schools and the relations within them. We analyze and describe how these three societies have structured their education, and the relations between the schools and the surrounding environment. We analyze and describe how they plan and execute education in the schools and within the classroom. We take particular interest the digital environment and entrepreneurial initiatives in relation to that. That may include local business-corporations, but cultural initiatives concerning art, music, and craft as well. It may also include cooperation between school and other part of society, but also between other municipalities or other schools.Expected OutcomesDemographically, the results indicate that some of the rural municipalities have a steady population growth. When it comes to school and education, there is close cooperation with neighboring municipalities, which brings both opportunities and obstacles. In one of the municipalities, there are current digitization strategies with, for example, investments in a new digital center that works with digital participation for the municipality's various sections, including schools and libraries. Additionally, the latest investments made are a cultural environment program. The rural schools seem to play an important role as a unifying force in the local communities. The municipalities, as well as the local school leaders, put an interest in integrating the surrounding society in the school activities. In this pursuit, the local business life, sports and culture associations, as well as parents are involved, and digitization opens up opportunities for development of new relations. However, due to a large variation within the municipalities in terms of level of education and occupation between families and cultures, there is a challenge in offering equal opportunities for all pupils within the municipalities. For example, one of the rural schools in this study is placed within an area that has a strong agriculture culture as well as a well-developed but small community for craft and design. The schools itself are central employers in the villages, and at one of the schools, several teachers have themselves been students at the K-6 school, which indicates strong ties to the rural community as a social and cultural place. This contributes to a school culture that values the preservation of tradition which tends to delay the development of strategies to take advantage of the possibilities of digitization. But, on the other hand this delay might, at least partially, be beneficial for the classroom interaction and the pupils schooling.References 

Bagley. C & Hillyard. S (2014). Rural schools, social capital and the Big society: A theoretical and empirical exposition. British Educational Research Journal 40(1): 63–78. Beach, D. 2010. Identifying and Comparing Scandinavian Ethnography: Comparisons and Influences. Ethnography & Education 5 (1): 49–63. Beach, D., Johansson, M., Öhrn, E., Rönnlund, M. & Rosvall, P-Å. (2019) Rurality and education relations: Metro-centricity and local values in rural communities and rural schools. European Educational Research Journal 18(1): 19–33. Berglund, K., & Johannisson, B. (2012). Introduction: In the beginning was societal entrepreneurship. In K. Berglund, B. Johannisson & B. Schwartz (Eds.), Societal Entrepreneurship: Positioning, Penetrating, Promoting. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Hammersley, M., and P. Atkinson. (2007). Ethnography – Principle in Practice. 3rd ed. London: Routledge. Jeffrey B and Troman G (2004) Time for ethnography. British Journal of Educational Research 30(4): 535–548. Massey, D. (1994). Space, Place and Gender. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. Nelson, K. S., Ngyuyen, T. D. Brownstein, N. A., Garcia, D., Walker, H. C. Watson, J. T. & Xian, A. (2021). Definitions, measures, and uses of rurality: A systematic review of the empirical and quantitative literature. Journal of Rural Studies, 82 (4), p. 351-365. Pettersson, F. (2018). On the issues of digital competence in educational contexts–a review of literature. Education and Information Technologies, 23(3), 1005-1021. Roberts, J. K. & Grant, P. D. (2021). What We Know and Where to Go: A Systematic Review of the Rural Student College and Career Readiness Literature and Future Directions for the Field. The Rural Educator. Vol. 42 (2) pp. 72-94. Showalter, D., Klein, R., Johnson, J. & Hartman, S. L. (2017). Why Rural Matters 2015-2016: Understanding the Changing Landscape. Washington, DC: Rural School and Community Trust. www.ruraledu.org/ Thier, M., Longhurst, J. M., Grant, P. D., & Hocking, J. E. (2021). Research deserts: A systematic mapping review of U.S. rural education definitions and geographies. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 37(2). pp. 1-24 doi.org/10.26209/jrre3702 Walker-Gibbs, B., Ludecke, M. & Kline, J. (2018). Pedagogy of the Rural as a lens for understanding beginning teachers’ identity and positionings in rural schools, Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 26:2, 301-314, DOI: 10.1080/14681366.2017.1394906 Weicht, R., & Jónsdóttir, S.R. (2021). Education for social change: the case of teacher education in Wales. Sustainability 13, 1-19. Åberg-Bengtsson L (2009) The smaller the better? A review of research on small rural schools in Sweden. International Journal of Educational Research 1(1): 45–57.