Åldersblandning i skolan : elevers erfarenheter

Mixing ages in school classes became more and more common during the last dec-ades of the 20th century. From being a way to organise classes out of necessity they have now come to be something which is implemented on the basis of pedagogical arguments. The aim of this research has been to improve our knowledge of classes where pupils are not of the same age. A study of the pupils’ perspectives has been my main interest. (Age) homogeneous class can been looked upon as a result of the authorities’ deci-sion to have a fixed age for children to start school and their decision that certain courses should be completed within a defined period of time. Terms and the data concerning heterogeneous age groupings are ambiguous and cannot be fully understood without knowledge of national and sometimes even local contexts. Practices within age heterogeneous classes may differ greatly. A great deal of individual work takes place in age heterogeneous classes. Whether the class is non-mixed or mixed-aged does not seem to have a major im-pact on cognitive or non-cognitive abilities among the pupils, but there are suggestions that age heterogeneous classes might be disadvantageous to pupils in problematic situations. I am able to show that more than 30% of pupils in grades 1-3, close to 25% in grades 4-5, about 15% in grade 6 and a couple of percent of Swedish pupils in the later school years are taught in mixed-age groups. My own empirical research focuses on pupils’ experiences. My investigation has a ‘life-world’ oriented approach inspired by phenomenology. Pupils in grades 5 and 6 from three schools in three different socio-economic settings were interviewed. These pupils had experienced both mixed-age and single-age classes. The life-world of pupils seems to be something different from that encompassed by the philosophy about the advantages of mixing the ages in classes. Pupils find it diffi-cult to maintain or create relationships when only a few pupils of the same sex, who have started school at the same time, can be together in a class for a long time. Be-cause of the importance of social relationships almost every pupil in this investigation wished to be in a single-age class during the following year. It is the importance of common experiences rather than age that is central. Pupils stated that having things in common to study in their everyday schoolwork makes it easier to communicate and contributes to stable friendships. In my conclusion I focus on what it means to have relationships and how these are important for human identity. I also try to show how relationships are important in learning situations at school and for pupils’ opportunities to expand their knowledge.

Translation, Communication and 'Learning' : Experiences from teaching a master program in Viet Nam

In Vietnam, as in other Asian countries, co-operation with foreign universities plays an important role for the development of higher education. This paper is based on personal experiences from teaching a Swedish Master Programme in Education Science at Vietnam National University in Hanoi. Using theories developed by Lev Vygotsky and Donald Schon, the programme is explored as an inter-cultural learning process. Three aspects are focused upon. Firstly, the fact that communication between students and teachers is conducted with the help of translators who support both teachers and students in their attempt to understand and make themselves understood. Secondly, the expressed need to connect the ideas and techniques which are studied in the programme to the students´ professional worlds. Thirdly, the need to construct a framework wherein the students can inquire into their own situations and to encourage them to try new and more productive ways to deal with problems they are confronted with.

Learning in and through drama : The necessity to use multiple theoretical perspectives in order to understand how learning takes place in drama

The complexity of learning implies that learning seldom is about just one thing. It can be said that learning processes are interdisciplinary. Within educational contexts, learning is not limited to constructed school subjects. In drama education, learning is simultaneously about drama as aesthetic expression and content because drama always is about something. The mainly focus can be on form, content or social aspects. The different aspects are always present, but may be more or less foreground or the background depending on the purpose of education. How do development concerning understanding of form, content, and social interaction, interact in a learning process in drama? My research is based on the view that learning at the same time takes place as an individual, internal process and a socially situated, inter-subjective process. Can learning in drama imply learning that can be transferred between different situations, a transformative learning and if so, how? Transformative learning includes cognitive, affective and corporal and social action aspects and means that the individual's frames of reference are transformed, evolved, to become more insightful and flexible which implies a change of personality. It leads to an integrated knowledge that can be applied in different contexts.   In the paper that will be presented at the conference, theories about how we learn in drama will be discussed in relation to my empirical research concerning drama and learning.