LEARNING STUDY: ROZVOJ ŠKOLY SKRZE KOLEGIÁLNÍ UČENÍ UČITELŮ : Learning study: school development through collegial learning of teachers

The aim of this article is to describe how the Learning Study method (LS) was implemented in a Swedish upper secondary school, as well as how the principals and the teachers involved perceived this to affect teaching at, and the development of, the school. It is an empirical study that was conducted as an action research project over a period of three years. The project to implement the LS method was based on the assumption that proper training is the result of collegial activity that occurs when teachers learn from each other. The teachers in this study were, in general, positive about using the LS method. It created opportunities to meet and talk about teaching skills, developed better professional relationships between colleagues, and offered a systematic method for planning, implementing and monitoring teaching. However, working together requires that time be set aside to allow for implementation of the LS method. This is crucial, as the LS method is a rather expensive way to make school development work. This places heavy demands on principals to create the necessary conditions for the implementation of the LS method.

Children’s Literature and English Teaching – Swedish Teachers’ Methods and Attitudes

This study investigates how primary school teachers of grades F-3 pupils in a number of sample schools in Sweden use children’s literature and other methods to enhance their teaching of English. The study explores the attitudes of these teachers’ to using English children’s literature as a teaching tool to promote language development in their pupils, focusing on vocabulary. An empirical questionnaire study was carried out including a total of twenty-three respondents from seven schools in a Stockholm suburb. The respondents are all working teachers with experience of teaching English to young learners, particularly in grades F-3. This study contributes with new knowledge about the often-recommended use of children’s literature as a method for teaching English to young learners, connecting international research with empirical data from the Swedish context. While the results suggest that the majority of the respondents are positive to using children’s literature in their teaching and regularly do so, many of them feel that it is somewhat difficult to find relevant materials to plan, implement and evaluate lessons within the allocated time-frame. Based on these results, further research about how to create more effective ways of using children’s literature as a method for English vocabulary teaching in Swedish schools is recommended.

Teaching Mathematics in English to Swedish Speaking Students : The Use of Second Language Teaching Practices in the Teaching of Mathematics in English to Swedish Speaking Students in Lower Secondary School

Over 20,000 Swedish lower high school students are currently learning mathematics in English but little research has been conducted in this area. This study looks into the question of how much second language learner training teachers teaching mathematics in English to Swedish speaking students have acquired and how many of those teachers are using effective teaching practices for second language learners. The study confirms earlier findings that report few teachers receive training in second language learning but indicates that some of the teaching practices shown to be effective with second language learners are being used in some Swedish schools

En enkätundersökning om lärares syn på hur de arbetar med mål i grundskolan : A survey of teacher´s views on how they work with the goal in elementary school

Detta är en uppsats om lärares syn på målstyrningen vid två skolor samt hur de uppfattar att eleverna uppnår de uppsatta målen. Undersökningen utfördes som en kvalitativ enkätstudie. Resultatet visar att många lärare uppfattar att målen är otydliga vilket resulterar i att de tolkas olika. Angående hur man mäter att eleverna uppnår målen blev resultatet att det finns en mängd olika metoder att tillgå som till exempel loggbok och observation. En tydlig skillnad fanns i svaren bland dem som hade lång arbetslivserfarenhet gentemot den som hade minst arbetslivserfarenhet. Skillnaderna kan bland annat bottna i osäkerhet på sin yrkesroll samt bristande kunskaper i och med kort arbetslivserfarenhet.

Causes of teachers’ turnover intentions in Swedish schools : A qualitative research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the causes of teachers' turnover intentions in selected Swedish schools. Research methodology – This research took the form of a qualitative research. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the causes of teachers' turnover intentions within the schools selected for this study. The sample was composed by 9 teachers that work in Säter. In order to provide a different yet meaningful perspective, a further interview with the Säter school department has been conducted. Results – Several of the results were coherent with the literature: elements such as motivations to teach, administrative support, workload, class size and collaboration were found to be related to teachers’ turnover intentions and therefore confirmed the previous studies. However, factors like salary, mentoring, autonomy, physical conditions and orderly environment were not found to have a connection with the respondents’ turnover intentions, hence constituting a result that did not confirm the literature. Originality – This thesis extended the previous research related to the causes of teachers’ turnover intentions by focusing on Sweden, which had not been investigated yet to that matter. The Swedish context appears particularly worth researching because of both the particularity of its decentralized educational system and the widespread turnover intentions of teachers.

An Empirical Study on Teachers’ Choice of Extensive Literature in the Swedish Upper Secondary EFL Classroom

The importance of extensive literature reading in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context has been given increasing attention in recent research. Literature reading is also a required part of the national syllabi of the (EFL) courses offered to both adolescents and adults at Upper Secondary level in Sweden. This thesis aims to investigate the teachers’ process of making literature choices for extensive reading in upper secondary EFL courses in Sweden. Eight teachers of three different student groups took part in the study, representing adolescent university preparatory programs and vocational programs, as well as programs for adult students. Questionnaires were used and the data was analyzed for patterns revealing three main factors affecting teachers’ literature choice: language proficiency, reading experience and contextual factors. These three factors were fitted into the theoretical framework of psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic reading models, with the addition of a perspective of motivational research. The results of this survey underline the importance of extensive reading, according to teachers, and that motivation for literature choice can be primarily related to factors associated with psycholinguistic reading models. The survey also points to the need for further investigating of teachers’ own experiences of literature reading, searching for deeper motivational factors which influence teaching choices. Another future field of research is the choice of reading activities assigned together with the chosen literature, which probably also influence teachers’ choices in the Swedish EFL classroom.

Teaching Mathematics in English to Swedish Speaking Students : A systematic review of strategies for teaching mathematics to second language learners

The Swedish government has authorised the teaching of mathematics in English to Swedish speaking students. Much of that teaching is performed by foreign trained native English speaking teachers lacking training in second language learners. This systematic review summarises international studies from the last ten years that deal with the teaching of mathematics to second language learners. The review shows that second language students working in a bilingual environment achieve higher rates of content and language knowledge than learners in a monolingual environment. This study also summarises some of the teacher practices that are effective for teaching mathematics in English to second language learners.

A Story of English Language Learning – How Can Children’s Literature be Used in Teaching Vocabulary to Young English Language Learners? : - A Literature Review

This study aims to find research relating to the use of children’s literature to promote vocabulary development in young children, particularly English language learners in Sweden. The main questions address how (methods) children’s literature can be used and why (reasons) children’s literature is often recommended for the teaching of vocabulary to young learners. The study also aims to explore reasons against the use of children’s literature in vocabulary teaching found in previous research. A systematic literature review was carried out, including results from five empirical studies. The studies involved native speakers, second language learners and foreign language learners from various backgrounds. The results suggest that while research has shown children’s literature to be a good tool to use with young learners, careful lesson planning needs to be carried out. Direct instruction and scaffolding using pictures, technology and gestures is recommended. Hence, the teacher plays an important part for the vocabulary development using children’s literature in the classroom.

How initial vocational education and training (IVET) teachers in Sweden perceive their prospects of being able to prepare upper secondary school pupils for a future occupation

Vocational teachers in Swedish upper secondary schools are a heterogeneous category of teachers, connected to different types of trade. These teachers represent a broad set of trade skills varying in content and character. In their teacher role, they continue to wear the clothes, speak the language, share the culture and remain mentally in their former professions. Still, it is central that they keep up this contact to be able to school the pupils into the environment of the trade in question, but also to help them to understand what skills a profession demands. However, the individual teacher also has to distance himself from the negative elements in the culture of the profession: patterns and habits that, for various reasons, have to be broken or changed. This paper draws attention to the ways in which a group of vocational teachers, who were participants in a project that aimed to train unauthorized vocational teachers, expressed their ambitions to prepare the pupils for a future professional career. When collecting information, we used the degree dissertations they produced and discussed in seminars, and informal dialogues. The result shows that it is important that the instruction location resembles a real working site as far as possible. These places are more or less realistic copies of a garage, a restaurant kitchen, a hairdressing salon, and so on, in order to give the pupils a realistic setting for instruction. However, the fact that these simulated workplaces lack the necessary support functions that exist in a company creates problems, problems which make a lot of extra work for the teachers. Vocational teachers also have to instruct the pupil in the experienced practitioner’s professional skills and working situation, but the pupil herself/himself must learn the job by doing it in practice. Some vocational upper secondary programs lack relevant course literature and the businesses give little support. This also makes extra work for the teachers. Moreover, the distance between the vocational programs and the trainee jobs was experienced as being difficult to overcome. One reason seems to be differences between businesses and differing preconditions between small and big companies’ abilities to take care of these pupils. The upper secondary school vocational programs also play a role in cementing existing gender roles, as well as perpetuating class-related patterns on the labour market.

How initial vocational education and training (IVET) teachers in Sweden perceive their prospects of being able to prepare upper secondary school pupils for a future occupation

Vocational teachers in Swedish upper secondary schools are a heterogeneous category of teachers, connected to different types of trade. These teachers represent a broad set of trade skills varying in content and character. In their teacher role, they continue to wear the clothes, speak the language, share the culture and remain mentally in their former professions. Still, it is central that they keep up this contact to be able to school the pupils into the environment of the trade in question, but also to help them to understand what skills a profession demands. However, the individual teacher also has to distance himself from the negative elements in the culture of the profession: patterns and habits that, for various reasons, have to be broken or changed. This paper draws attention to the ways in which a group of vocational teachers, who were participants in a project that aimed to train unauthorized vocational teachers, expressed their ambitions to prepare the pupils for a future professional career. When collecting information, we used the degree dissertations they produced and discussed in seminars, and informal dialogues. The result shows that it is important that the instruction location resembles a real working site as far as possible. These places are more or less realistic copies of a garage, a restaurant kitchen, a hairdressing salon, and so on, in order to give the pupils a realistic setting for instruction. However, the fact that these simulated workplaces lack the necessary support functions that exist in a company creates problems, problems which make a lot of extra work for the teachers. Vocational teachers also have to instruct the pupil in the experienced practitioner’s professional skills and working situation, but the pupil herself/himself must learn the job by doing it in practice. Some vocational upper secondary programs lack relevant course literature and the businesses give little support. This also makes extra work for the teachers. Moreover, the distance between the vocational programs and the trainee jobs was experienced as being difficult to overcome. One reason seems to be differences between businesses and differing preconditions between small and big companies’ abilities to take care of these pupils. The upper secondary school vocational programs also play a role in cementing existing gender roles, as well as perpetuating class-related patterns on the labour market.

Democracy lessons in market-oriented schools : The case of Swedish upper secondary education

Based on recent ethnographic research, this article explores young people’s opportunities of formal and informal democracy learning and expressions of such learning in the highly market-influenced Swedish upper secondary education. With its ambitious democracy-fostering goals and far-reaching marketisation, Swedish education constitutes an interesting case in this respect. The analysis indicates that ‘voting with the feet’ emerges as an important way of exerting student influence. At the same time, young people’s voice is surprisingly neglected in classroom practice. Increased focus on performance and goal attainment tends to overshadow less ‘rewarding’ aspects of the curriculum, such as democracy teaching and learning, both from the side of teachers and students. Students are also increasingly expected to act as school representatives and to avoid giving negative impressions of their school.

Uses of history in history education

This compilation thesis contains an introductory chapter and four original articles. The studies comprising this thesis all concern aspects of how historical culture is constituted in historical media and history teachers’ narratives and teaching. It is argued that the teaching of history is a complex matter due to an internal tension resulting from the fact that history is both a product and a process at the same time. While historical facts, and knowledge thereof, are an important aspect of history, history is also a product of careful interpretation and reconstruction. This study analyses and discusses how history is constituted in history textbooks and popular history magazines, i.e. two common historical media, and in teachers’ narratives and teaching of history. The study finds that the historical media studied generally tend to present history as void of perspective, interpretation and representation, suggesting this to be the culturally warranted form of historical exposition. Moreover, the teachers studied also tend to approach history as if it were not contingent on interpretation and reconstruction. These results indicate that the history disseminated in historical media and history classrooms presents history in a factual way and disregards the procedural aspects of history. Applying the history didactical concepts of historical consciousness, historical culture and uses of history, this thesis argues that an essential aspect of historical understanding is an appreciation of the contextual contingency that characterises history. All history is conceived within a particular context that is pertinent to why and how a certain version of history is constructed. Furthermore, all history is also received within a particular context by people with particular preconceptions of history that are contextually contingent, in the sense that they are situated in a certain historical culture. Readers of historical media are members of societies and are thus affected by how history is perceived and discussed in these contexts. This thesis argues that an awareness of these aspects of history is an important factor for furthering a complex understanding of history that encompasses the tension highlighted above.

English as a Lingua Franca in Namibia: : Teachers’ Attitudes Towards English as a Medium of Instruction in Classrooms

This study aims to investigate Namibian teachers’ attitudes towards English as a medium of instruction in Namibian classrooms. Regardless of the fact that English has no historical ties with Namibia, English still operates as the official language and the language of instruction in schools. This study briefly discusses the probable reasons for choosing English as an official language in Namibia, and as the medium of instruction in educational institutions. Furthermore, it discusses the attitudes that Namibian teachers have towards English as a medium of instruction in Namibian classrooms. A pilot electronic questionnaire, a revised questionnaire, and telephone interviews were used to acquire data for the study. The results indicate that English is a challenge for many learners and this poses a challenge to teachers as well. However, a majority of teachers from this study portray English as the language that is capable of uniting Namibian learners from different backgrounds, and a language that makes education possible in Namibia. In addition, teachers also reported that knowledge of English opens up educational opportunities for learners to study abroad.