Föreliggande antologi behandlar mångfald, flerspråkighet och interkulturella perspektiv. Författarna till kapitlen förstår och förhåller sig på olika sätt till begreppet “interkulturalitet” och ett av antologins syften är att visa på vikten och bredden i den forskning som brukar förknippas med interkulturella perspektiv, flerspråkighet och mångfald inom skola och utbildning. Antologin binder samman och exemplifierar den mångfacetterade forskning som bedrivs på Linnéuniversitetet idag. Vår förhoppning är att du som forskare, blivande, lärare, yrkesverksam lärare eller lärarutbildare ska läsa, reflektera över och kunna ha nytta av bidragen.

When Sweden began to experience a steady decline in student achievement results in PISA and TIMMS, the Swedish National Agency of Education initiated a model of collaboration with Swedish universities aimed at providing support to schools with falling student achievement scores. In this article, we examine how such projects can work at the local school level. Our focus is mainly on how knowledge construction can be realized for teachers and principals; we reflect on whose knowledge is valued, and we explore what role research texts play in school improvement. Working within the frames of both social and cultural processes, we looked at how teachers and principals are provided opportunities to develop and define their own professional understanding of school improvement. We found that knowledge construction of school improvement, as both a political and cultural process, needed to be based on local needs. The guidance of a knowledgeable other in interpreting research literature on school improvement can support such knowledge construction only when the local needs and history are part of the process.

The chapter describes how Anwar, the principal of a Muslim-profiled independent primary school, is negotiating and working to change the cultural meanings that define what is regarded as civil and anti-civil. The results show that Anwar’s narrative of strengthening children’s Muslim cultural and religious identities through schooling stands in stark contrast to core groups’ narratives on the Swedish school system. Occasionally, Anwar manages to link his urgent matters to core narratives and symbols. Thus, the analysis demonstrates that the line between being constructed as civil and anti-civil is very fine. In this context, the negative or positive outcome of Anwar’s social performances is determined by his ability to merge meaning systems and narratives “into chains of already powerful symbols”. 

The primary aim of this paper is to narrow down the description of how school leaders interpret the assignment (the task) and identify the markers for how they look upon the conditions of doing a good job in Sweden. The aim is in the context of practice-based and process-oriented research. We use complexity and complexity theories to frame the emerging practice of leading and organizing. This is in contrast to technocratic homogenization—that is, law texts, steering documents, documentation, standardized methods, planning, and ceremonies. A questionnaire was conducted with three open questions (n=363 out of a possible 548 participants) and four focus groups (n=21). Complexity, dilemmas, and inconsistency emerge in the respondents’ answers the closer they are to everyday action. The results show that complexity theories put focus on a conflict between the image of schools as complicated and complex. Complicated is accompanied by generalizing and weak contextualizing of control systems, standardized methods, planning, law texts, and evidence-based education—that is, the concept of technocratic homogenization. Complexity theories emphasize the life in organizations, everyday practice as leaders, and a conflict between weak and robust contextualizing from the perspective as practice-based and process-oriented research.

In this report we investigate further adult education directed towards teachers at primary and secondary level. The further education provided teachers with knowledge and tools in regards to working with pupils who have experienced trauma.