Problemställning:

Internationella studier visar att svenska lärare ägnar mer tid åt administration och mindre åt undervisning och kompetensutveckling än lärare i andra OECD-länder (OECD, 2013). I Sverige styrs skolan offensivt med ökade inslag av granskning och kontroll, vikande PISA-resultat och en ökande lärarbrist (Bejerot m.fl., 2015; UKÄ, 2016).

Trycket på svenska lärare är högt och skilda initiativ tas för att lärare ska kunna fokusera på "kärnuppdraget". Bland annat föreslås införandet av avlastande tjänster, lärarassistenter. Innehållet i avlastningen beskrivs emellertid på olika sätt. Introduktionen av lärarassistenter kan ses som ett försök till intern stratifiering av läraryrket, där arbetet delas upp och där delar av arbetet lämnas över till andra yrkesgrupper. Följden blir att professionella domäner behöver förhandlas, förskjutas och fördelas.

Frågeställningar:

-       Vilka delar av lärares arbete förväntar skolledare att redan införda avlastande tjänster skall ta över?

-       Vilka förväntningar på önskvärda avgränsningar mellan professionella domäner beskrivs av lärarna själva?

-       Vilka förväntningar om professionell domän för den nya yrkeskategorin lärarassistenter beskrivs i utbildningsinformation för lärarassistentutbildningar?

-       Harmonierar dessa olika förväntningar? Finns potentiella eller redan konstaterade konfliktytor?

Teoretiska utgångspunkter:

Introduktionen av lärarassistenter i den svenska skolan medför med stor sannolikhet att skolorganisationens ekologi rubbas, att professionella rörelser uppstår och att professionella domäner förhandlas, förskjuts och fördelas. (Abbott, 1988).

Ett tydliggörande av läraryrkets kärna (Lindqvist & Nordänger, 2007; Gardesten, 2016) och en nyintroducerad arbetsspecialisering kan betraktas som ett sätt att förstärka läraryrkets professionella status. Men introduktionen av nya yrkesgrupper kan lika gärna uppfattas som ett hot mot det professionella. Idén om införandet av lärarassistenter ”översätts” således på olika sätt - i olika praktiker - av olika aktörer (Czarniawska & Joerges, 1996) där uppfattningar om vad som är kärnan i lärararbetet (Gardesten, 2016; Lindqvist & Nordänger, 2007) och vad framstår som ”smutsigt” (Landahl, 2006; Hughes, 1958/1981) kan skilja sig åt.

Metoder:

-       Webb-enkät till skolledare om innehållet i 408 införda avlastande tjänster.

-       Enkäter till 65 lärare vid tre skolor där lärarassistenter införts. Enkätfrågor om vilka arbetsuppgifter lärarna vill bli av med, vill behålla, vill tillföra respektive vill samarbete med andra yrkesprofessioner om. Uppföljande intervjuer om utfallet av arbetsfördelningen med olika professioner på de tre skolorna.

-       Innehållsanalys av utbildningsplaner för 18 svenska lärarassistentutbildningar

Empiriskt fält:

Professionella domäner i skolan

I detta kapitel diskuteras den sortens samverkan mellan forskare och lärare som explicit syftar till att utveckla lärarnas praktik eller skolans kvalitet. Ett antagande görs att sådan samverkan kan innefatta viktiga utifrånperspektiv, inom ramen för ett ständigt pågående kvalitetsarbete. En huvudambition med kapitlet är dock att bidra med en kritisk diskussion av vad en sådan extern belysning av en verksamhet kan resultera i. I det avseendet introduceras ett antal ”f-ord”, där särskilt ordet förändring utsätts för en kritisk analys, medan möjligheterna med förädling lyfts fram på olika sätt. Därutöver diskuteras orden förbättring och förvaltning, följt av en konklusion och sammanfattning där ett avslutande f-ord lyfts fram: förståelse. Då två olika praktiker möts – forskarnas och lärarnas – kan det bli utmanande att uppnå just gemensam förståelse. I ett slutord föreslås därmed att en formulering likt ”vetenskaplig grund i dialog med beprövad erfarenhet” kan bana väg för ett mer reflekterande möte där respektive part får möjlighet att uppfatta en betydelse och innebörd av den andres samverkansbidrag.

The thesis builds on how contemporary policy documents express an interest in gatekeeping and in controlling teacher competence, for instance in the form of aptitude tests before teacher education or during practicum in teacher education. The thesis is hence characterised by a general interest in teacher competence and what in the governmental official report SOU 2008:109 is referred to as “the essential basis” in terms of teacher competence – a metaphor that serves as a key notion in the thesis. By analysing interviews and surveys from teacher educators who have been involved in failing student teachers during practicum, the aim is to identify what is considered to be the content of this essential basis. The results indicate that the essential basis contains communicative and relational aspects of teaching, about the ability to take space (oneself) and make space (for others). The most fundamental part is however the ability to assume adult responsibility and maturity in relation to children/pupils in pre-school/school. This is described as an important initial value for teacher education and a desirable ”baseline” for those starting a teacher education. However, informants describe how it is possible within teacher education to work in multiple ways with students who need to learn how to distinctly take space (themselves), in order to then assume a more active role in teaching and in the interaction with children or adolescents. An approach based on a theory of recognition and the concept of social visibility (Heidegren, 2009) is used in this part of the analysis, in order to understand the informants’ description of what usually happens when student teachers develop this essential teacher ability. The interpretation is also backed by Polanyi’s theory on tacit knowledge (1962; 1966/2013). Moreover, findings indicate that the “gate” sometimes opens, even though teacher educators doubt whether the student teacher has developed an essential basis or not. An argument for this is that school is a workplace that ”cleans out rather briskly”, as one supervisor puts it, and school is ”not an easy environment to hold on to”. In brief, school itself is regarded to be an active gatekeeper after teacher education. This might explain the tendency to sometimes pass rather than to fail during teacher education. Therefore the thesis suggests and discusses that teacher education from the very beginning pursue what can be characterised as a “pedagogy of honesty”.

I denna essä diskuteras undervisning som begrepp och fenomen, med ett särskilt fokus på fritidshemmet. Utifrån ett handlingsteoretiskt perspektiv riktas analysen mot den konkreta interaktionen mellan pedagog och elev, där kvaliteten på pedagogens handlingar blir konstitutiva för undervisning som fenomen. Intentionen, avsikten att lära eleven något, blir ur detta perspektiv möjlig att observera under dynamiska situationer inom exempelvis fritids-hemmets verksamhet. Detta kan ställas i relation till en konventionell förståelse av undervisning då intentioner och avsikter istället antas vara inbäddade och avgränsade i tid och rum, med rubriker som ”lektion” eller ”undervisningspass”. Det handlingsteoretiska perspektivet föreslås inte ersätta en sådan förståelse, men däremot komplettera den och framför allt bidra till att uppmärksamheten riktas mot dimensioner av verksamheten där kvalitet rimligen kan bedömas.

In this study student teachers (n=74) make some initial visits in practice schools, during their very first teacher education course. The student teachers observed how their mentor teachers handled a school day start (during day 1), followed by reflections after having managed a school day start by themselves (during day 2).

Theoretically, a school day start can be seen as a “baseline condition” were minor details can lead to ”major turbulence and unpredictability later on” (Koopmans, 2014, p. 31-32). For example, a teacher´s unexpected absence in the morning may involve rescheduling available staff, or asking teachers to forgo their preparation period, dividing the class into smaller groups and so forth.

During a school day start important role transitions are also being made (Ashfort, Kreiner & Fugate, 2000), while adults and children start to approach the school yard and the school building, and dynamic social processes are starting. Different situations in school corridors or elsewhere can demand micro role transitions, when teachers enter a caring role in front of a sad pupil, or a discipline role in front of pupils who break some rule. In total, complexity theory suggest that ”small events/actions can have big effects” (Ell et.al., 2017, p. 329), not least during initial conditions such as a school day start when time is approaching for the first lesson of the day, and for the teacher to enter the teaching role in front of the pupils.

The first research question (1ab) is about the student teachers´ observation day one, and the second research question (2) is about how the student teachers reflect after having managed a school day start by themselves:

1a)What examples of care (i) and discipline/moral education (ii) do the student teachers note while observing the school day start?

1b)How do the mentor teachers enter the teaching role in front of the pupils, according to the student teachers?

2)What experiences do the student teachers describe, after being responsible for starting a school day in front of the pupils?

Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze students´ written reflections. The concepts care, discipline/moral education and teaching was used in a deductive coding phase (Xu & Sammit, 2020), followed by inductive coding which led to subthemes. Findings reveal how the student teachers noticed mentor teachers´ micro rituals together with the pupils, how different artefacts in the schools facilitated teachers work, and how the student teachers´ own attempts were emotionally challenging. The students´ emotions and doubt are discussed in relation to how teacher education programs can involve regular meetings with practice schools where it is possible to be open and honest without grades, performances or assessment being in focus.

The study was a part of the Swedish national pilot project ULF (Swedish acronym which stands for Development, Learning and Research). The aim of the project ULF is to develop and test sustainable collaboration models between academia and the school or school system regarding research, school activities and teacher education. 

Replying to reviewers of their book “Towards on ontology of teaching” Vlieghe and Zamojski (2020) confirmed that the phrases “pointing”, or “extraordinary pointing” could indeed be seen as the most essential dimension of teaching:

"What makes pointing into a truly teacherly gesture is an exaggeration: pointing in a more than trivial sense (like when instructing someone where the post office is), pointing in an overdone way, extraordinary pointing" (s. 113-114).

The pointing gesture aims to draw the attention of the pupils, thus enabling a joint focus on a subject matter that the teacher wants to highlight. Here the word “Pointing” can also be viewed as a key metaphor for a teacher with episteme knowledge or a teacher with profound subject knowledge. In my presentation, I will discuss this metaphor in relation to the work of school-age educare teachers. School-age educare was included in the Swedish School law in 2010 and received its own section in the national curriculum in 2016, which includes core contents and abilities that the pupils are supposed to develop. At the same time, the curriculum states that teaching in school-age educare is to be based on “the pupils’ needs, interests and experiences, while ensuring that the pupils are continuously challenged, by inspiring them to make new discoveries” (p. 23).

What might this mean for the “pointing gestures” of teachers´ work? What other requirements or demands does a student-centered education place on school-age educare teachers, and what are the possible benefits for the pupils? Those are the preliminary research questions in an article in progress, that will be further elaborated on during the presentation. Through qualitative data analysis of teachers´ written reflections, findings contain descriptions of situations and moments where pupils´ curiosity or initiatives are being handled by the teachers. In short, tentative findings indicate that school-age educare teachers rather often notice pupils´ “pointing”, or pupils´ unexpected attention/curiosity during dynamic situations and moments. This form of pointing is then discussed in relation to the teacher´s attention and to the teacher as a listener and an interactor.

The findings are also related to the concept of “phronesis” (Aristotle, 2011), while the teachers´ attention gets a significant meaning through that concept. Moreover, the findings indicate that the conceptof “episteme” may need a more prominent meaning for school-age educare teachers and school-age educare teachers´ education. If the teachers focus on the pupils´ ”pointing” then the teachers may need a wide range of episteme knowledge in order to listen, interact with and elaborate the pupils´ curiosity within this form of student-centered education context (Shulman, 1987). 

To Take Space and to Make Space – Basic Teacher Competencies?

In Sweden there have been some teaching reforms enabling teachers to improve their teaching competence and knowledge. A presumption within these reforms is that teaching is something that one always can improve and therefore never should be seen as something “completed”. Similar opinions are often articulated when teachers assess student teachers´ performances during their teaching practice.

However there are as well policy texts that emphasize the importance of controlling teaching competence, suggesting that teaching isn´t something that everyone has the talent to do. As a consequence gatekeeping function should be highlighted enabling only the right persons to enter the profession.

In total these different discourses of teaching competence could be related by suggesting an “essential base-competence” where gatekeeping should be more emphasized, and thereafter specific sub competencies focusing learning and development.

But how can one understand such an “essential base - competence” in terms of content and in terms of gatekeeping strategies? One way to answer this question might be done by examining gatekeeping within teacher education and by asking teacher educators under what circumstances they will suggest a failure grade during student teachers´ teaching practice. The research questions in the thesis are:

RQ 1: What do teachers, working as mentors during student teachers´ teaching practice, describe as an ”essential base-competence”, those aspects influencing whether to suggest a failure grade or not?

RQ 2: What kind of experiences do mentors describe after working with student teachers doing their “second chance” in a new school? What, in the essential base, is seen as possible to develop, how might this be done, and what is seen as more difficult to develop, suggesting a failure grade once more?

I have analyzed some initial pilot surveys (with a national sample) where different administrators have described what normally is seen as insufficiency in student teachers´ performances, suggesting for example that it seldom is a lack of content knowledge, but rather subtle interaction issues and relational aspects.

As a theoretical statement I have tried to see children’s self-understanding as something growing from interaction situations where teachers´ (or student teachers´) contributions are of crucial importance. When children are able to see themselves through the eyes of a teacher, self-understanding processes are involved enabling further development and learning processes. This is a theoretical presumption of human development that has some roots in Hegels, Fichtes and Meads philosophies. A dialectical perspective of communication make it possible to emphasize the importance of teachers being able to understand childrens´/pupils’ perspectives and feelings without suppressing their own subjectivity in a classroom situation.

Moreover, this intersubjective perspective of pedagogy might as well be fruitful when it comes to the second research question – that is, when it comes to the student teacher´s owns development and the mentor´s contribution in this sense.

Method

The research questions were primarily answered by interviewing teachers working as mentors during student teachers´ teaching practice. Thus one might emphasize that the thesis make it possible to understand what is seen as “essential base competence”. Therefore it is important to relate empirical findings to theoretical perspectives of teaching competence and findings from other research traditions addressing competence issues. The respondents (n=11) in this study are teachers working in Swedish schools or preschools, acting as mentors during student teachers´ teaching experience. In Swedish policy documents these mentors are suggested to get a more operative position when it comes to assessing future teacher generations. In that sense it might be valuable to use those mentors as respondents describing their opinions of essential teaching competence, and under what circumstances they would suggest a failure grade in a student teacher´s teaching practice. When it comes to research on teacher competence the design in this study has the potentiality to contribute in a specific way. Certain aspects of teacher competence could get a specific meaning when those aspects are seen to be absent. Studying failure practices might contribute in a way that studying good practices do not. The respondents (mentors) in this study had recently suggested a failure grade related to a teacher student´s performance in teaching practice. They were asked open ended, nonstandardized questions, and they answered by discussing what they felt was insufficient and why, what they felt was necessary in the teaching profession, but also other mentor experiences when expected learning occurred and how these different mentor experiences could be understood in relation to one another. After analysis the manifest content could be described in six different categories. A theoretical interpretation made it possible to identify some themes.

Expected Outcomes

The mentors described the importance of wanting and being able to initiate social contact (1), to set limits in a firm and determined way in a classroom setting (2), to understand and involve the other person´s (the pupil´s) perspective (3), to take responsibility as an adult (4), to balance social closeness and distance (5) and to show a degree of secure self-presentation (6). To summarize, essential base competence, articulated by mentors after a failure in teaching practice, contains of an ability to take space and an ability to make space. A theoretical interpretation makes it possible to see the ability to take space (yourself) as more fundamental, thereafter enabling an opportunity to make space (to others). However, in a follow up study (RQ 2), mentors describe several methods of how to help student teachers to take space (themselves), but also describing difficulties in how to work with student teachers who needs to learn to make space (to others). Tentative findings from RQ 2 also make it possible to frame the assessment situation by contextualizing it in relation to different mentors and different school-environments. The consequences, when it comes to gatekeeping strategies, are discussed during the presentation. This proposal is a part of a PhD-project.

References

Goodwin, A. L., & Oyler, C. (2008). Teacher educators as gatekeepers. Deciding who is ready to teach. In M. Cochran-Smith, S. Feiman-Nemser, D. J. McIntyre, & K. E. Demers. (Ed.), Handbook of research on teacher education: Enduring questions in changing contexts, (p. 468-489). New York, NY: Routledge. Hegender, H. (2010). The assessment of student teachers’ academic and professional knowledge in school-based teacher education, Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 54(2), 151-171. Knudsen, R. E., & Turley, S. (2000). University supervisors and at-risk student teachers. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 29(2), 35-58. Nordänger, U-K. & Lindqvist, P. (2015). ”Det såg vi från början …” ? – Underkännanden i den svenska lärarutbildningens verksamhetsförlagda delar. In Press: Nordic Studies in Education. Polanyi, M. (1962) Personal Knowledge. Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy. University of Chicago Press. Chicago, IL. Raths, J. & Lyman. F. (2003). Summative evaluation of student teachers. An enduring problem. Journal of Teacher Education, 54(3), 206-216. Uljens, M. (2001) Om hur människan blir människa bland människor - om pedagogik och intersubjektivitet. Utbildning & Demokrati, 10(3), 85-102.

Denna essä ger perspektiv på hur fritidshemmet som utbildningsinstitution och fritidspedagogisk undervisning kan kopplas till begreppet måluppfyllelse. Kritiska perspektiv på sådana kopplingar synliggörs i essän, följt av en analys av villkor som ändå framhåller fritidshemmets potential i detta avseende. Genom att förädla fritidshemmets särart, och tydligt relatera denna utbildningsform till olika mål, kan potential synliggöras som annars riskerar att negligeras.

School-age educare (fritidshem) was included in the Swedish education act in 2010 and received its own section in the national curriculum in 2016. From that point on, teaching in school-age educare was also linked to predefined core contents and abilities that the pupils are supposed to develop. At the same time, the curriculum states that teaching in school-age educare is to be based on “the pupils’ needs, interests and experiences”. In the article, this duality is discussed in relation to empirical findings from school-age educare teachers. The teachers describe situations when they pay attention to pupils’ doing and saying, and how this is transformed into teaching purposes. The findings are related to the concept of “phronesis”, while the teachers’ attention gets a significant meaning through that concept. Moreover, the findings indicate that “episteme knowledge” also needs to be emphasized in this form of student-centered education, as something necessary for school-age educare teachers to know.

In this essay, the compensatory mission of the Swedish school-age educare is discussed, focusing specifically on school-age educare centers in areas with socio-economic challenges. This is made in the light of narratives of principals and school-age educare staff and in relation to the Official Reports of the Swedish Government (SOU 2020:34; SOU 2022:61), which proposes a free of charge school-age educare for all children aged 6–9 years. Both the official reports and the narratives contain several examples of how school-age educare centers can be valuable in a variety of ways for the children growing up in areas with socio-economic challenges. On the one hand, the potential of a traditional school-age educare pedagogy, where children can develop the fundamental democratic values on which the Swedish society is based, is described. On the other hand, it becomes clear that free school-age educare for all children also could lead to negative consequences. If resources aren’t provided, in form of better premises and more staff, the centers can only in the best-case scenario provide child minding. Overall, a picture of the school-age educare centers’ potential emerges, but also what kind of resources that might be required for this potential to be realized. In conclusion, the essay reflects upon how the compensatory mission can be understood in a time where children’s free time is described as more and more problematic. 

Schools in Sweden need to handle an acute lack of teachers. One way to handle this problem is to hire new staff who can work with social and administration tasks, enabling the teachers in school to teach some more classes instead. This study examined two secondary schools in Sweden where this way to solve the problem was tried out. The aim of the study was to highlight possible consequences for teachers’ core practices (teaching), and discuss whether more teaching might involve another sort of teaching. In this analysis, Ryle´s distinction of “achievements” versus “tasks” was being used (Ryle, 1949). Another aim was to highlight possible consequences for teacher-student relationships and possible consequences for the teachers´ working conditions. The empirical base was five focus group interviews with the teachers. The findings indicate that the new work model might turn into a “mechanical teaching”, more of an achievement than a task, in Ryle´s sense. Moreover, while new staff was hired to solve social problems among students, teachers still describe how they handle acute conflicts in the school environment; “because I´m an adult”. Finally, even though the working conditions are still demanding, the clarifying of job boundaries has contributed to less work stress.

This qualitative study focuses on how new teacher candidates reflect on teacher tasks such as moral education, care, and teaching. The candidates reflected on these experiences after being put in charge of starting a school day in front of the pupils, but also after having observed how mentor teachers started a school day. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the written reflections of the candidates. Our findings reveal that the candidates noted how micro rituals and school artefacts could support the way teachers work, but also how emotionally challenging it could be to handle such tasks as a novice. These findings are discussed in relation to how teacher education programs can promote openness and honesty when facing challenges and difficulties.

In this article, some initial findings from a research project where the practice/theory relationship and collaboration between schools and universities in teacher education are studied. The purpose of the study is to highlight possible effects of a work-integrated teacher education. The empirical base are eight interviews where university teachers describe how the increased time spent in schools might influence student teachers´ performances in university courses. Are any dimensions of teacher competence developed? The answers from the university teachers are first categorized into three themes, namely knowledge of subject didactics, connections theory/practice and practice/practice and finally in relation to the student teachers as legitimate participants. The themes are thereafter related to the concepts of spectator-knowledge and participant-knowledge and to Biestas (2012) concepts: qualification, subjectification and socialization. In conclusion, findings indicate that the “work integrated profile” have potential to balance these purposes of education.

The study highlights the extension and scope of teachers’ work. Swedish teachers reflected on this before and after visiting schools in France, where “CPE-staff” alleviate teachers with different tasks. In sum, findings indicate that the extension and scope of teachers’ work can be discussed in terms of what, when and where, but also as already institutionalized or something that reshapes during negotiations on a daily basis. The findings are analyzed by the concepts of “structure” and “communitas” (Turner, 1974, 2008), highlighting how the professional boarders are dependent on patterns of structures and relationships within the school as an organization.