Mass media is a powerful social institution that establishes dominant discourses about social practices. This study is a multimodal critical discourse analysis of two TV series depicting the Swedish school system, broadcast by the Swedish public service broadcasting company (SVT) before the 2022 election. The study aims to critically examine the discursive construction of the Swedish school as it evolves in public service. It explores how these dominant discourses influence school practices and the broader societal debate on education. The study also addresses the media’s challenge of being easily accessible while conveying complex phenomena. The results show that the TV series construct and reinforce a dominant discourse of a school crisis. From a power perspective, the TV series construct a dichotomy between power as the ability to act within school versus power as knowledge about school. The school’s implementation arena is presented as a consequence of its formulation arena. The conclusion discusses the need for awareness of the media’s influence on perceptions of Swedish schools, the importance of engaging with possible alternative discourses, and the necessity of strengthening operational perspectives in the school debate.

Studien ingår i ett större praktiknära forskningsprojekt inom ramen för en nationell försöksverksamhet på uppdrag av den svenska regeringen. Försöksverksamheten ska utveckla och pröva hållbara samverkansmodeller mellan akademi och skola vad gäller forskning, skolverksamhet och lärarutbildning. Syfte med föreliggande studie är att undersöka möjligheterna att utforma en gemensam digital plattform som en informationslänk mellan lärosätet och skolor med lärarstudenter. Plattformen avser att stärka samarbetet ytterligare mellan lärosäte och de aktuella skolorna, genom att förenkla viss kommunikation som sker mellan aktörerna och sprida/dela praktiknära forskning. Plattformen syftar till att skapa 2 möjligheter att följa praktiknära forskningsprojekt utifrån skilda aktörers perspektiv. Resultatet visar att det krävs uthållighet och förståelse för varandras kulturer, både mellan fält och akademi men även mellan olika funktioner i samma verksamhet, för att nå ett samarbete som upplevs meningsfullt och hållbart över tid. Här framträder det delade objektet som betydelsefullt, det vill säga the boundery object som skrivs fram av Collins, Evans och Gorman (2007). En gemensam digital plattform torde kunna fungera som ett delat, sammanlänkande objekt i linje med Collins m.fl. (2007) resonemang och därmed bidra till olika former av samverkan mellan olika aktörer. Rätt utformad och administrerad skulle en digital plattform kunna erbjuda ett gemensamt ägandeskap av samverkansprocessen för alla parter oavsett tolkning av the boundery object. En digital arena kan förstås som the boundery object, i det vi skulle vilja kalla för det tredje rummet (Olsson & Brunner Cederlund, 2020).

The increased influence of neoliberalism in education has allowed the trend of evidence-based teaching to dominate professional developmentin many Western countries. Despite increased andpersistent neoliberal measures in education, education critics argue that neoliberal reforms have a naive view of teaching. This narrowedneoliberal view both ignores the complexities involved in the everyday interaction between teacher and student and constrains the teacher’s judgementtherebylimiting their contribution in the educational process.Many educators will note the significance of reflection in learning as essential and often emotional. However, the emotional experiences embedded in teacher reflections are often ignored, even discounted, in the discussion of teachers’ professional development.Investigating this phenomenon of emotions in teacher reflections, analysedbydrawing on lifeworld theory, revealed how emotional experiences can be a resource in teachers’ professional development. To acknowledge teachers’ emotional experiences means recognizing that the teacher’s subjective and lived body is involved in the reflective and learning process of becoming professional.

Artikeln syftar till att fördjupa förståelsen av emotionell närvaro i lärares arbete utifrån ett relationellt perspektiv, samt att visa på livsvärldsfenomeno-logins teoretiska och metodologiska bidrag till detta perspektiv. Med hjälp av Bubers dialogfilosofi analyseras erfarenheter av emotionell närvaro i lärares arbete. Resultatet av analysen presenteras i två meningsbestämmande teman: uppmärksamhet och skärpa i lärares arbete och integritet och gemenskap. Ana-lysen visar på betydelsen av emotionell närvaro som en kompass för lärare för att handla omdömesfullt. I emotionell närvaro riktar lärare och elever sin uppmärksamhet mot det som upplevs som väsentligt. Emotionell närvaro innebär en förmåga hos läraren att omfatta den pedagogiska situationen som en helhet. Likaså innebär emotionell närvaro en upplevelse av samhörighet som både är gemenskap och respekt för personlig integritet. Emotionell när-varo är en mänsklig kraft som förmår motverka ett mekaniskt och instru-mentellt förhållningssätt i lärares arbete.

This thesis aims to explore teachers’ ‘work enjoyment’ and thereby deepening our understanding of teachers’ work and professionality. Positive emotions in teachers’ work are an underestimated and under-researched dimension of teacher practise and professionality. Through interviews that have generated the empirical material, the work enjoyment of nineteen teachers is focused on and analyzed from a phenomenological lifeworld approach. The results are presented in two parts; the first one consists of descriptions of teachers’ work enjoyment that reveal seven themes of meanings that signify joy in teachers’ work. The themes include Supporting meanings, which are mood, power source and presence awareness, as well as Widening meanings, which are context and connectedness, rhythm and balance, opening and after heat. In the second part of the result the meanings of the phenomenon are interpreted further and conclusions are drawn. The conclusions highlight the importance of the relation between lived experiences and teachers’ work enjoyment. These themes are To be present, To feel a rhythm, To be “occupied” by work, To be both personal and professional and Teachers’ work as a tapestry of life. Enjoyment of work is fundamental; i.e. like a safe floor to stand on. The experience of joy also means opening and involves an expectant foreshadowing. Based on a safe floor, teachers can open up to different options of how to be or to act. Joy as opening extends across time and space through the longing and hope that it is connected to. In times of struggle, joy enables teachers to find their way back to what is meaningful in their work. Teachers’ work enjoyment is related to the involvement in children’s development and learning. The result shows how work enjoyment provides emotional presence in teachers’ work, both letting oneself be involved by work and involving oneself in the work. Emotional responsiveness is enjoyment of work; it makes the teachers relate to their work with openness and insight. Such responsiveness contributes with sensitivity to the whole classroom situation and towards what is essential in their work, and shows how the emotional and the rational are intertwined. This study provides an understanding of the meanings of teachers’ work enjoyment and what lived experiences of joy can imply for ordinary schoolwork. Given the results of this study it is problematic that positive emotional dimensions of teachers’ work are a relatively unexplored area. The study indicates that work enjoyment is of fundamental importance to teachers’ work.