Skyddandets förnuft : En studie om anhöriga till hjälpbehövande äldre som invandrat sent i livet

This dissertation aims to examine and deepen the knowledge of family member caregiving where the care recipient is an elderly person who immigrated late in life. It also aims to contribute to the knowledge of the complexities underlying informal care giving and add to our understandings of what it means to be an immigrant in Sweden. The caregiver is in focus. The research conducted is explorative and partly inductive. The main material used is a qualitative interview study carried out with family members from different countries who are providing informal care to elderly immigrant relatives. The analysis gives three patterns of caregiving. One shows help from informal caregivers only who are not compensated economically. Another shows help from family members who are compensated. The third shows help from family members and staff from the public care system. Three ideal-typical informal caregiver roles show different positions vis-à-vis the new: “guardian”, “filter” and “reinterpreter of traditional care ideals”. Swedish born and immigrated informal caregivers are also compared through analysis of data gathered in telephone interviews with a representative selection of inhabitants in the County of Stockholm. A philosophy of action together with theory on integration and multiculturalism serves as theoretical frameworks to understand discrepancies and ambiguities in the data. Young immigrants experience different integration processes than do the older ones. They strive to protect older family members from changes linked to the migration experience. Talk about dependence on culture underlines family feelings and legitimates the processes of protection. Preconceptions about great differences between Swedish born and immigrant families are not supported by quantitative data. A conclusion is that protection can be understood in relation both to the traditional and the new, the latter in the forms of meetings with Swedish society where unequal relations prevail. It is a kind of counter-strategy where the range of actions is diminished, and thus it has its own logic. Protection can be loosened up when the circumstances change and the range of actions grow.

Pedagogiken i tiden : Om framväxten av nya undervisningsformer under tidigt 2000-tal – exemplet Kunskapsskolan

The study concerns the new educational activities that emerge within the deregulated school system at the beginning of the 21st century. Which ideas guide the work? How is the activity formed? What does one hope to achieve? The aim of the thesis is to explore these educational practices in one of the larges independent schools in Sweden – Kunskapsskolan. The study was based upon a sociocultural perspective on learning and on twenty situated interviews with seven principals. Tools central for the activity in Kunskapsskolan were used as basis for the interviews. A qualitative analysis has been used; one of the methods for analysis applied is phenomenography. The study shows how the school, with the help of centrally developed tools, organised the teaching and the environments for learning that were implemented in all schools of the company. Individually organised teaching is the foundation for all teaching, where the students are expected to be self-regulated and self-correcting and use the tools provided for their learning. With regards to the students’ learning, the teachers’ role is mainly related to individual tutorial conversations. Thereby the tools intended to create freedom and control for the students, also create problems and obstacles. Students who do not learn to use the tools have difficulties in managing their studies. The new tools also affect the teachers’ work. In comparison with other schools, the teachers are expected to submit to the educational model and a centrally controlled planning. The teaching is centrally planned in subject specific stages or subject integrated courses. Teachers can influence the central planning by working collaboratively in teacher teams but not individually. The main commission of the teachers is to follow the educational model decided by the company. In comparison with the traditional school, both teachers and students are given new roles. When learning is individually organised for the students, the teachers are expected to develop their knowledge collectively. According to the results, both students and teachers have different approaches to the system – they can submit to the system or approach it in a more independent and reflective way.

En tolk ska översätta, det är inte som att vara en lärare : Hur upplever skolledare, tolkar, lärare och elever tolkningen i specialskolan?

I denna undersökning intervjuades en skolledare, två tolkar, en lärare och två fokusgrupper med elever om sin syn på tolkning inom specialskolan. Data från de semistrukturerade intervjuerna analyserades enligt en kvalitativ innehållsanalys där liknande svar samlas i temagrupper. Tre teman valdes ut till resultat och dessa är: 1. Information om tolkning 2. Tolken som samordnare 3. Tolkens roll. Information om tolkning handlar om vilken information eleverna får och behöver ha för att tolkningen ska fungera. Tolken som samordnare utgår från Wadensjös (1998) syn på samordning som en reglering av det tolkade samtalet som tolken måste sköta. Tolkens roll undersöktes med främst Metzgers (1999) fundering kring huruvida tolken kan vara neutral. Resultatet pekar på att skolledare och lärare anser att eleverna får mycket information om tolkning, men det tycker inte eleverna själva. Tolkarna anser att mer information behövs för en förståelse för tolkprocessen. Tolkens roll, som neutral och samordnande, är tydlig för tolkar och elever, men inte när det är en lärare som tolkar. Tolkning inom specialskolan är något naturligt som sker ofta och som upplevs fungera till största delen väl när det är tolkar som utför uppdragen.