Syftet med studien är att beskriva och diskutera småbarns (1-3 år) digitala teknikanvändning i förskolan, med utgångspunkt i förskollärarnas beskrivningar av vilka digitala resurser som småbarnen erbjuds i undervisning och vilka undervisningsmål som förskollärarna knyter till användnningen av dessa. Studien utgår ifrån sociokulturella perspektivtaganden med vikt vid begrepp såsom stöttning och lärande genom sociala samspel. Datainsamling genomfördes med kvalitativa intervjuer där alla tre informanter var yrkesverksamma förskollärare i en barngrupp med barn i åldern 1-3 år. Tidigare forskning tar upp kring området digital teknologi och småbarn att det finns möjligheter i användarvänlig teknik för småbarn samt att småbarn har potential att bli såväl konsumenter som producenter med digitala verktyg. I resultatet framträdde fyra teman: "Småbarnen konsumerar digitala verktyg", "Småbarns kunskapsproduktion med digitala verktyg", "Språkstöd, skapande och naturvetenskapligt utforskande" samt "Samspel och stöttning som värde med småbarn och digitala verktyg" dessa relaterar till småbarn och digitala verktyg i förskolans kontext. Resultatet visar att småbarn dels positioneras som konsumenter, dels blir kunskapsproducenter genom bland annat multifunktionell programvara, digitala böcker och dokumentation. Digitala vertyg för småbarn i undervisning har visat sig göra sig särskilt framträdande som resurs i småbarns lärprocesser när det kommer till förbättrade undervisningsmiljöer, naturvetenskapligt utforskande, spåkutveckling och skapande. Detta sker främst i sociala samspel genom digitala resurser såsom digitala böcker via exempelvis Polyglutt, digitala bibliotek och bibliotekshyllor, mikroskopägg, Youtube samt sökmotorn Google.

The study aims to make visible material that can support multilingualism in the physical environment of the preschool. The research questions that this study aims to answer are what is presented in the environment to support multilingualism, for whom the environment is available from a multilingual perspective and which languages appear in the environment and how often these occur. The study is based on a sociocultural theory and was conducted at two preschools. A qualitative method was used and the collection of data consists of visual fieldnotes in the form of photographs and written fieldnotes. When processing and reading the material, a qualitative analysis was used. The result shows that material that can support multilingualism is represented in the physical environment of the preschool through alternative communication such as pictures and signs. Multilingualism has also been made visible through flags, texts and books. 

In the fairytale, ‘The Invisible Child’, by the Finnish author Tove Jansson, the child Ninny was made silent and invisible as a result of her ill-treatment by the woman responsible for her care. A similar situation to that in the fairytale can be found in schools and other education settings where students are made both silent and invisible by their treatment by teachers and fellow classmates. The overall aim of this discussion is to explore the complexities of silence and invisibility, with a specific emphasis on silence and invisibility among students in school. The paper embraces consideration of the multifaceted phenomena of silence and invisibility, both within and beyond school. Silence, invisibility and power in society as well as in schools is discussed, with a specific focus on silence and oppression as crucial dimensions of bullying in schools, followed by an exploration of teachers use of silence. The discussion focuses attention on the silent language of response and silent and invisible students. The various ways of understanding and responding to student silence and invisibility are then explored. In conclusion the significance of silence and invisibility is discussed and the implications of this for education are considered and an argument is made for the importance of listening to the silence and seeing the invisible, as a prerequisite for making the invisible visible. Throughout the paper, the discussion is connected to, and exemplified by, the fairytale of Tove Jansson.

In Sweden, as in many other countries in the world, there has been a massive shift in (higher) education towards distance education and online teaching. In the midst of this, some universities introduce and use telepresence robots. A telepresence robot provides a virtual presence – or a bodiless presence – to, for example, a remote student who cannot physically attend the classroom. The overall aim of this paper is to explore dimensions of corporeality and hyperreality in digitalized education. More specifically, the focus will be on the research question - how can embodiment and presence be understood when the students are situated, and their participation are mediated, through telepresence robots? The philosophies of Maurice Merleau-Ponty (see e.g. 1968, 1996) and Martin Heidegger (see e.g. 2001) will be used to analyze the complexity of corporeality and hyperreality in digitalized education. Merleau-Ponty’s theory of the lived body supports the analysis of the bodily presence in the room, whereas the Heideggerian ideas and concepts provide entries for an ontological understanding of the relational and spatio-temporal aspects of ‘Being-one’s-Self’ and what ‘Being-there’-with as well as the ‘Being-there’-with-of-Others might mean to students in digitized education. 

References:

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1968): The Visible and the Invisible. Northwestern University Press. Merleau-Ponty, M. (1996): Phenomenology of Perception. Motilal Banarsidass Publisher. Heidegger, M. (2001): Heidegger Studies. Duncker & Humblot GmbH. 

The demographic and economic conditions for education in the Nordic countries—especially in remote areas of this region—has led to an increasingly intensive use of information and communication technologies. The authorities’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic has, however, entailed a radical acceleration of the already ongoing change towards digitisation. In the wake of the current pandemic regulations, the purpose of this study was to illuminate and discuss Swedish secondary school teachers’ experiences of online teaching and learning—with a particular focus on the teaching dimension—based on synchronous teaching and learning modes. A specific research question was posed: What opportunities and challenges do online teaching and learning offer when it comes to forming a sense of belonging, authenticity, and presence? Theoretically, this study was based on a phenomenological lifeworld approach. The empirical data, collected from March 2020 to March 2021, consisted of written reflections from ninety-three teachers in a remote school district. Three themes showed how online teaching and learning redefines the bodily, temporal, and spatial conditions for teachers’ experiences of belonging, authenticity, and presence in education. The study also indicates how digitisation might serve as a disruption that not only reminds us of the pedagogical assignment at hand but also lets another possible pedagogical world announce itself.

Den här studien undersöker en samverkansmodell mellan hem och skola för att arbeta medläsutveckling hos elever i årskurs 2–6 i behov av avkodningsträning. I projektet utarbetades enmodell med det digitala programmet Trädet Web, som användes under en intensiv-träningsperiod. Studien ämnade undersöka hur modellen upplevdes av vårdnadshavarna,specialpedagogerna, eleverna och klasslärarna samt vilka faktorer som kunde beskrivas somgynnsamma i arbetet. För att uppnå detta genomfördes fokusgruppsamtal med special-pedagogerna, semistrukturerade intervjuer med vårdnadshavarna samt enkäter med elever ochklasslärare. Materialet analyserades genom en tematisk analys, vilken resulterade i fyra teman.Programmet visar sig fungera som ett nav för elevens läsutveckling där samtliga aktörer kansamlas kring elevens läsutveckling. Vidare visar resultaten att de spelifierade inslagen somingår i arbetsmodellen synliggör elevernas progression. Att arbetsmodellen bryter nerlästräningen i beståndsdelar är följaktligen av betydelse för eleverna. Slutligen visar resultatetatt arbetsmodellen resulterar i ett flytande ansvar mellan olika aktörer.

I vår forskning om hästböcker har vi kommit att intressera oss också för hästboksläsarna. I syfte att få kunskap om varför människor läser hästböcker har vi intervjuat cirka 60 unga och vuxna. Ett delresultat utifrån intervjuer med flickor 9-12 och i vissa fall deras (ibland hästintresserade) föräldrar presenteras. Där framkommer att flickorna i många fall är bokslukare, om än tämligen genretrogna. Ett tydligt samband mellan identiteten som hästtjej och läsare framträder, då läsningen ofta har spin-off-effekter på lekmönster. Orsakerna bakom hästboksläsningen handlar om identifikation i termer av ett flickskap som i stallkulturen står utanför normen och som präglas av mod och beslutsamhet, men där även spänning och kunskapsinhämtning nämns. Hästbokens status har höjts i både skolan och på bibliotek, där den tidigare har haft dåligt rykte, något som kan ses som att större uppmärksamhet ägnas åt något som intresserar många flickor.

This article analyzes how the horse story setting problematizes the conception of the good mother and normative mothering, by elucidating how the gazes of the young main characters on their mothers function in relation to the notion of the good mother, how this influences the mothering and how the mothering characters challenge this notion. Mothering is seen here as caring practices, which can be performed by people other than mothers. The analysis of three horse story series by Pia Hagmar, the books on Klara (1999–2008), the books on Millan (2012–2014) and the books on Juli (2019–2021), shows that the series depict motherhood and mothering at the intersection between the conception of the good mother and the good horse person. The common denominator is nurturing traits that make personal needs take the back seat – for the traditional good mother to the benefit of her children, for the good horse person to the benefit of the horse. Hagmar normalizes the presence of several mothering characters in addition to their mothers around the horse girls. Furthermore, these characters, who function as mothering variations, contribute to the creation of a solid caring environment, reducing the demands on mothers who try to be everything to their children. Although the daughters’ views of their mothers are sometimes critical, Hagmar allows the mothers to be imperfect, partly incompetent, or simply women with their own agency,interests and needs outside of motherhood. In addition, a mother-daughter relationship built on a common interest in horses allows for a friendship with a common focus – the horse.

In our previous research, we developed a theoretical concept that we call ‘the impossibility view’, denoting an attitude commonly held about people with certain disabilities, claiming that they cannot participate in philosophical dialogues, for alleged lack of skills, abilities or prerequisites. Inprior research, we have shown it false for several types of disabilities, and in our ongoing research project, we take on the challenge to prove the impossibility view false also for pupils with intellectual disability (ID), and study what influence a philosophical dialogue intervention has on socio-emotional development and experiences among pupils with ID. We use a mixed-methods pretest-posttest intervention design with an intervention school and a matched control school. In this paper, we outline the background of the research and describe the main methods used. During the presentation, we will present preliminary results.

We will present results from a multiple case study based on interviews with students diagnosed with neurodevelopment disorders and their school staff after participating in a short and small-scale intervention carried out in a socio-economically disadvantaged Swedish elementary school in 2019. Two small school classes participated in 12 philosophical dialogues each (ranging from 45 to 60 minutes) during a total of seven weeks. Two facilitators, both with years of facilitation experience and teacher degree and at least BA in philosophy, facilitated the majority of the dialogues. 

The philosophical dialogues mainly followed a ”routine” procedure, but a few differences can be noted. First, one of the facilitators wrote short stories prompting interest in contestable issues during the intervention, which helped the stimuli to get adapted to the groups’ developing interests. Second, in the start-up phase of several dialogues, the students were encouraged to practice dialogic skills through randomly assigned individual and group tasks based on both the jointly decided rules for interaction and on ART for kids (a tool for children to become aware of and evaluate dialogic quality and progress in inquiry dialogic sessions). During meta-dialogue, the groups returned to these tasks in order to increase meta-cognitive awareness, evaluate group performance, and set up short term goals for the upcoming session. Third, during two sessions, the sessions were organized in the form of a dialogic puzzle. 

The sample in this multiple case study contains students from two school classes (school years 3 and 4) in a Swedish elementary school. The school was small (about 150 students in total), rural, and ranked among the 10 % most socio-economically disadvantaged in Sweden. The school included students from around 20 different countries and about 20 % of the schools’ students were asylum seekers. All the students in the multiple case study were diagnosed with different neurodevelopmental disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and severe developmental language disorder (DLD).

We interviewed the students, four teachers who participated in the dialogues, and the school principal. The students were interviewed individually in direct connection to the end of the intervention about their experiences from the dialogues and their perceptions about the influence of the dialogues. The interviewed teachers (two in each grade) were those who had participated in the dialogues. They were interviewed in pairs, also in direct connection to the end of the intervention, while the school principal was interviewed two years after the study. The staff interviews concerned the staff’s experiences of the influence of the dialogues on the students within the intervention as well as transfer effects to other contexts in school. All interviews were semistructured. 

For each student, we present data from both student and staff interviews. We strive to give a representative picture of both the advantages and disadvantages expressed by students and staff. 

In an ongoing project (Vinnova, project dnr 2019-04651), we develop an app, called Dialogica, which is intended for use in app-supported philosophical dialogues for persons with aphasia in an IRL setting. Aphasia is a communication disorder caused by a brain injury and involves often grave difficulties with expressing thoughts to others. Many persons with aphasia are excluded from conversations about deeper issues. In a previous research project (Swedish Research Council, project dnr 721-2013-2161), philosophical dialogues were conducted with persons with acquired brain injuries and aphasia, with positive results in group argumentation development. However, the group of persons with more severe brain injuries and aphasia saw smaller changes and needed more facilitator support than did the group of persons with milder brain injuries and without aphasia. This prompted further consideration about appropriate tools, such as apps, to support the participants with aphasia in increasing their autonomy and participation during the dialogues.

Dialogica is developed with modern digital technologies used in computer games and is intended for use on a portable device such as an iPad. It thus contains technologies for text-to-speech and speech-to-text synthesis, real-time translations, avatar animations, visual highlighting, and so on. The design is based on theory and methodology from the fields of philosophy for/with children as well as argumentation analysis and informal logic, along with experience from years of facilitation of philosophical dialogues in different settings. The goal is to produce an app that is easy to use, visually engaging, and tailored for use in philosophical dialogues, in order to provide tools for higher levels of autonomy and participation in inquiry dialogues to participants who otherwise have limited abilities to express themselves. This is done through several features of the app, such as the “conversation tree”, which gives a visualization of the inquiry, and a palette of predefined dialogic moves, to support spoken interaction.

In the project, we use a methodology inspired by an extended interpretation of the “Living Lab” principle, where the actual end-users of an app is involved in the development process through recurrent workshops including feedback sessions. In our case, these workshops rely on a “routine” PwC procedure in combination with using the app during the joint inquiry and meta-dialogue, and giving feedback during and after the sessions, when questions about usability, overall impression and specific features are discussed. Both persons with aphasia and supporting staff in their daily milieu join the workshops. This methodology can be extended also to school environments, where students and teachers are involved.

In this research presentation, we will present our research about app-supported philosophical dialogues (including an overview of the user input received through the Living Lab workshops), shortly show the user interface of the app, and outline some of its main features.

From 2019 to 2021 we conduct the multidisciplinary research project When words fail: advanced communication through digital innovation for persons with aphasia, with support from Vinnova. The project’s aim is to develop a prototype for a mobile application, Dialogica, to support communicative participation for persons with acquired brain injuries and aphasia when joining conversations about deep, personally relevant, and contestable issues. Millions of people each year acquire a brain injury (Colantonio et al., 2016), for instance through stroke or car accidents. The consequences are diverse and may show in the communicative, cognitive, social, emotional, or vocational domains (Cancelliere et al., 2014; Colantonio et al., 2016; Durham, 2012; Fabiano & Sharrad, 2017; Sabatello, 2014, Soeker, 2016). Aphasia – defined as ”a loss or impairment of verbal communication, which occurs as a consequence of brain dysfunction” – is one common consequence in the communicative domain (Brady et al., 2016, p. 79). It often means long-term communicative changes with severe influence over engagement in activities and maintenance of relationships (Lanyon, Rose, & Worrall, 2013). To achieve communicative support for persons with aphasia, we bring together expertise in computer game technology, education, special needs education, and philosophy. Together with end users we develop the application and test its effectiveness. In this paper, we (i) provide an overview of the theoretical background and the development hitherto, and (ii) discuss issues or dilemmas relating to the app and the fulfilment of its purpose.

In short, Dialogica is an application developed through the game development engine Unity, designed for mobile devices with larger screens, and is based on computer game technology, theory in dialogic education, and argumentation theory. The main usage of the app is when the participants are in the same physical room and it is then intended to support participants in expressing themselves in different virtual environments through personal avatars, animations and chats. Dialogica allows for conversations’ argumentative structures to be represented visually through so-called ”conversation trees”. In order to support participants with verbal language loss, the app also incorporates a text-to-speech function.

The project depends on close collaboration with end users, with which iterated workshops and facilitated dialogues using prototypes will be conducted. Through these workshops, we receive feedback used for further development of the prototype. In the end stage of the project, we will compare dialogues with and without Dialogica using an adapted version of the structured observational scale called the Argumentation Tool (Reznitskaya & Wilkinson, 2017), in order to measure the extent to which the application facilitates communicative participation for the participants. However, because of the pandemic, we have not yet been able to test the prototypes developed so far. Other issues that we will attend to in greater length in this paper is the level of applicability of the app in settings others than dialogues facilitated by experienced facilitators, how the app could support the participants’ awareness of improvements in communicative participation, and possible threats to internal validity when using the final app in experimental studies.

Central references

Brady, M. C., Kelly, H., Godwin, J., Enderby, P., & Campbell, P. (2016). Speech and language therapy for aphasia following stroke. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 24(958), 314. http://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD000425.pub4  

Cancelliere, C., Kristman, V., Cassidy, J. D., Hincaplé, C., Côte, P., Boyle, E., . . . Borg, J. (2014). Review article: Systematic review of return to work after mild traumatic brain injury: Results of the international collaboration on mild traumatic brain injury prognosis (ICoMP). Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 95(3), 201–209.

Colantonio, A., Salehi, S., Kristman, V., Cassidy, J. D., Carter, A., Vartanian, O., . . . Vernich, L. (2016). Return to work after work-related traumatic brain injury. NeuroRehabilitation, 39(3), 389–399.

Durham, C. Y. (2012). Empowering people with ABI to acquire better insight into brain injury: An application of educational principles (Doctoral thesis). RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved from https://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/eserv/rmit:160046/Durham.pdf 

Fabiano, R., & Sharrad, S. (2017). Rehabilitation considerations following mild traumatic brain injury. Journal of Nurse Life Care Planning, 17(1), 26–34. 

Lanyon, L. E., Rose, M. L., & Worrall, L. (2013). The efficacy of outpatient and community-based aphasia group interventions: A systematic review. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15(4), 359–374.

Reznitskaya, A., & Wilkinson, I. A. G. (2017). The Most Reasonable Answer: Helping students to build better arguments together. Cambridge: Cambridge Education Press

Sabatello, M. (2014). “If you can’t do it now, you’re out the door:” Employees with traumatic brain injury – A case study. Work, 48(3), 373–379. 

Soeker, S. (2016). A pilot study on the operationalization of the model of occupational self efficacy. Work, 53(3), 523–534.

Persons with aphasia suffer from a loss of communication ability as a consequence of a brain injury. While rare, a small strand of research indicates effectiveness of dialogic interventions for communication development for persons with aphasia, but a vast amount of research studies shows its effectiveness for other target groups. In this paper, we describe the main parts of the hitherto technological development of an application named Dialogica that is (i) aimed at facilitating increased communicative participation in dialogic settings for persons with aphasia and other communication disorders, (ii) based on computer game technology as well as on theory in dialogic education and argumentation theory, and (iii) designed for mobile devices with larger screens.

In this paper, we describe technological advances for supporting persons with aphasia in philosophical dialogues about personally relevant and contestable questions. A computer game-based application for iPads is developed and researched through Living Lab inspired workshops in order to promote the target group’s communicative participation during group argumentation. We outline some central parts of the background theory of the application and some of its main features, which are related to needs of the target group. Methodological issues connected to the design and use of Living Labs with persons with aphasia are discussed. We describe a few problems with researching development of communicative participation during group argumentation using an app assisted intervention for the target group and suggest some possible solutions.

Current approaches used in educational research and practice to evaluate the quality of written arguments often rely on structural analysis. In such assessments, credit is awarded for the presence of structural elements of an argument, such as claims, evidence, and rebuttals. In this article, we discuss limitations of such approaches, including the absence of criteria for evaluating the quality of the argument elements. We then present an alternative framework, based on the Rational Force Model (RFM), which originated from the work of a Nordic philosopher Næss. Using an example of an argumentative essay, we demonstrate the potential of the RFM to improve argument analysis by focusing on the acceptability and relevance of argument elements, two criteria widely considered to be fundamental markers of argument strength. We outline possibilities and challenges with using the RFM in educational contexts and conclude by proposing directions for future research.

En betydande forskning om adhd har gjorts, men den har i stort sett utelämnat flickor och detär en av anledningarna till den avsaknad av kunskap som funnits om flickor och adhd (Kopp,2018). Samtidigt visar Skolinspektionens rapport (2018) att delaktigheten i skolan generellt ärlåg för elever med neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar, dit till exempel adhd hör. Syftetmed vår studie är att synliggöra delaktigheten i skolsituationen för flickor med diagnosen adhdur ett elev- och ett lärarperspektiv och genom detta bidra med kunskap till området. Utifrånstudiens forskningsfrågor har vi undersökt hur flickor med diagnosen adhd och lärare beskriverflickornas skolsituation ur ett delaktighetsperspektiv samt vilka skillnader och likheter somfinns i flickornas och lärarnas beskrivningar. Vi har också ringat in ett antalutvecklingsområden som kan bidra till att främja delaktigheten i skolsituationen för dennaelevgrupp. Studien genomfördes med en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi med inspiration från enjämförande forskningsdesign och som datainsamlingsmetod användes semistruktureradeintervjuer. Totalt genomfördes fyra intervjuer, två med elever i grundskolans årskurs sju ochtvå med lärare verksamma på mellanstadiet. Urvalet var i huvudsak målstyrt. Intervjuernaspelades in och transkriberades i sin helhet och materialet kodades därefter utifrån de sexaspekterna i Szönyi och Söderqvist Dunkers (2018) delaktighetsmodell; tillhörighet,tillgänglighet, samhandling, erkännande, engagemang och autonomi. Fyra olika temanframträdde tydligt i vår empiri och vi valde att kalla dem relation och kommunikation, tydlighetoch struktur, inkludering, samt diagnoser kontra olikheter. Resultatet visade att samtligainformanter beskrev goda relationer och god kommunikation mellan elev och lärare somcentralt för att skapa delaktighet i skolsituationen. De intervjuade flickorna uttryckte att det tartid att få det stöd de behöver i skolan och kopplade detta till att de svårigheter de stötte på iskolsituationen ofta inte blev synliga för lärarna, samt att det kunde vara svårt att få komma tilltals och ges inflytande över skolsituationen. Resultatet visade också att struktur och tydlighet iundervisningen var en starkt bidragande faktor till ökad delaktighet för flickorna i vår studie,vilket framhölls av både flickor och lärare. De intervjuade eleverna uttryckte ett behov av att iolika utsträckning få arbeta i avskildhet och vi tyckte oss se att även en av lärarna lyfte fram atten sådan anpassning, förutsatt att den skedde på elevens initiativ, kunde bidra till ökad snarareän minskad delaktighet. Utifrån intervjuerna med flickorna kunde vi skönja en efterfrågan påökad kompetens hos lärare kring hur adhd-liknande svårigheter kan ta sig uttryck hos flickor.Vi såg en fara i att fokus på ökad kunskap om diagnosen adhd skulle kunna bidra till ettkompensatoriskt perspektiv på skolsvårigheter, där till exempel specialpedagogikens uppgiftfrämst skulle vara att kompensera individen utifrån de brister denne uppvisar (Nilholm, 2020).Emellertid ansåg vi ändå att kunskapen kan gynna flickornas skolsituation eftersom den kangenerera mer förståelse och kunnande för hur skolan kan anpassa undervisningen för ökaddelaktighet.

Intresset för praktiknära skolforskning är idag stort. Aktionsforskning är en populär form för samarbete mellan forskare och lärare där handledning är centralt. Syftet med denna studie är att problematisera handledning och handledarroller i aktionsforskningsprojekt. Som teoretisk grund ligger den amerikanska utbildningsfilosofen Nel Noddings omsorgsetik. Deltagarna i studien är en forskare och tre lärare som alla har erfarenheter av att leda aktionsforskningsprojekt genomförda inom kommunal skolverksamhet. Datainsamling har skett genom skriftliga reflektioner och kollegiala samtal om handledning och handledarroller. Analysen har utgått ifrån tematisk analys och domäninteraktionsmodell. I analysen framträder fyra handledningsmetaforer i aktionsforskning: trädgårdsmästaren, herden, läraren och brobyggaren. Alla rollerna kan praktiseras samtidigt och fingertoppskänsla avgör när en handledare går in i och ut ur olika roller. Slutsatsen är att omsorgsetik kan bidra till ökad förståelse för handledning som något situerat och relationellt, där ett symmetriskt förhållningssätt mellan handledare och handledd betonas. I handledning är det viktigt att inte behandla alla likadant, utan att i stället lära känna varandra som individer, ha tilltro till varandra och visa omsorg baserad på specifika behov. Handledarens roll omfattar att skapa förståelse för andras perspektiv samt att inbjuda till kommunikation och reflektion. Utifrån studiens resultat kan konstateras att de fyra metaforerna för handledarroller är användbara för att belysa komplexiteten i handledarroller och för att bidra till underlag för reflektion och omformulerande av stereotypa handledarroller.

Mentoring is a central aspect of action research processes and raises ethical issues concerning roles and responsibilities, particularly when teachers and researchers collaborate. The purpose of the study is to explore mentoring and the roles of mentors in action research from an ethical stance. The theoretical basis is the philosophy of care ethics developed by the American educational philosopher, Nel Noddings. Participants in the study included one researcher and three teachers with experience serving as mentors in action research. Data collection included written reflections and collegial conversations on mentoring. Thematic analysis and the domain interactional model were used in the analysis, where four mentor metaphors in action research emerged: the gardener, the shepherd, the teacher and the bridge-builder. All roles can be practiced at the same time; sensitivity determines when a mentor moves in and out of different roles. The study finds that care ethics can contribute to an increased understanding of mentoring as something situated and relational, where a symmetrical approach between mentor and mentee is emphasized. The goal of mentoring should not be to treat everyone equally, but instead to build relationships on the individual level in order to establish mutual trust based on individual needs. The study shows that the four mentor metaphors can serve as a useful tool for critical reflection on the complexity of the mentor role and accordingly, the renegotiation of stereotypical mentor roles in relation to the quality of teaching.

Artificiell intelligens (AI) och chattbottar som ChatGPT har blivit allt vanligare i lärares undervisningspraktik. Syftet med studien är att fördjupa kunskapen om hur AI och specifikt chattbottar (ex. ChatGPT) påverkar undervisning, lärarroll och elevers lärande samt vilka utmaningar och möjligheter som lärare upplever. I studien deltog 15 lärare från högstadiet och gymnasiet i fokusgruppsintervjuer vid två tillfällen. Dessa berörde erfarenheter av AI och ChatGPT, elevers användning av ChatGPT samt hur ChatGPT påverkat undervisning, lärarroll och ämne. Analysen resulterade i fem roller som beskriver lärares undervisning och förhållningssätt: Kontrollanten, Upptäckaren, Demokraten, Observatören och Filosofen. Lärarna kan anta olika roller och gå emellan dem beroende på situation. Resultaten visar att det för lärare är centralt att komma förbi tanken på fusk för att också utforska möjligheterna med AI, men samtidigt vara medveten om och hantera de problem som kan uppstå när chattbottarkommer in i skolan.

I Piteå kommun bildades i januari 2022 ett forsknings- och utvecklingsteam (FoU-teamet) bestående av kommunens vetenskapliga ledare och fyra förvaltningsövergripande förstelärare. Teamet tillsattes för att arbeta med forskning och utveckling (FoU) i kommunens grundskolor och gymnasier och utgjorde ett led i Utbildningsförvaltningens strävan att förverkliga Skollagens krav om en utbildning på vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet (SFS 2010:800). Denna artikel bygger på en studie av FoU-teamets uppstartsfas: de utmaningar som teamet mötte under den första terminen och de lärdomar som gjordes. För att förstå de olika kontexter som var centrala för teamets arbete användes ett policy enactment-perspektiv (Braun et al., 2011). Data samlades in genom att teammedlemmarna och en inbjuden medforskare reflekterade skriftligt samt genomförde fokusgruppsamtal. De utmaningar som framträder i materialet rör tre teman: Öppenhet och styrning i uppdraget, Strategiskt och operativt arbete samt Bredd och djup i aktiviteterna. Lärdomar som drogs var att det behövs tydliga men samtidigt flexibla strukturer, både långsiktigt och kortsiktigt perspektiv samt att förankringsarbete är viktigt. En central slutsats är att teamet, för att hantera utmaningarna, har gått balansgång och navigerat mellan interna och externa behov, krav och förväntningar på teamets arbete.

The Swedish preschool has undergone some radical education policy changes during recent years, all of which have affected teachers’ work. The focus of this article is on the changes relating to the demand for research-based education and how the concept of teaching has been introduced in preschool. The aim of this article was to study preschool-teachers’ professional learning in relation to research-based education within an action research project which focused a new conversation method with the children. The theoretical framework of the study was based on social learning theory and communities of practice. The empirical data consists of collegial conversations and written documents produced in the action research project. The results show that the preschoolteachers in a mutual agreement persistently examined and negotiated conversation methods so that they could be adapted to their view of teaching, their professional self, and children and children’s participation and learning. Through a common repertoire of scientific tools and social learning processes, they reflected each other’s teaching in an open, trustful, and appreciative collaboration, and together, they critically reviewed and problematized their earlier experiences and their teaching in relation to research.

This article discusses computational thinking and programming in mathematics teaching and aims to shed light on different interpretations of what programming entails. The literature review revealed that there are mainly two ways of approaching programming in an educational context either by a narrow interpretation or a broader interpretation of programming. These different interpretations of programming are manifested in different ways in mathematics teaching. The narrow interpretation is manifested in an activity that focuses on learning to write code on a computer, while the broader interpretation of programming is displayed in activities with a focus on learning how solve problems in such a way it can be executed by a computer or by a human. Also, this article explores an appropriate programming activity within the context of mathematics education in Sweden. 

Mathematics self-beliefs influence students’ self-image, classroom behavior, engagement, and motivation. However, current research faces challenges due to overlapping constructs, which can lead to high correlations and ambiguous findings. For instance, while mathematics self-efficacy is often defined broadly in educational research, task-specific mathematics self-efficacy refers specifically to confidence in completing particular tasks. To enhance the credibility of predictions regarding mathematics achievement, it is crucial to distinguish between different types of general mathematics self-beliefs. This thesis aims to provide new insights into these beliefs by refining methodologies for their measurement.

An exploratory factor analysis of upper-secondary student data, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative reasoning, revealed a clear distinction between mathematics self-concept and generalized mathematics self-efficacy beliefs. A key difference between these two constructs is that the latter significantly influences student engagement. Additionally, the identified factor structure included two constructs related to mathematics anxiety. One noteworthy finding is that the worries of providing incorrect answers in the classroom significantly contribute to gender differences and diminish students’ agentic engagement. Overall, these findings underscore the importance of removing variables with substantial intercorrelations from the analysis, provided this procedure is supported by qualitative reasoning. The findings of this thesis support a pragmatic approach to investigating mathematics self-beliefs, ultimately offering new insights into the significant role of autonomy-supportive teaching in shaping students’ general mathematics self-beliefs.

This study explores how generalized mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics self-concept influence students' engagement across behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and disengagement dimensions. Conducted during an advanced mathematics course in Sweden, the study assessed students' self-beliefs in mathematics at both the beginning and the end of a course segment where they solved mathematically complex and contextually realistic problems. Path analysis revealed that generalized mathematics self-efficacy is a stronger predictor of engagement than gender, prior achievement, mathematics self-concept, or mathematics anxiety. Mathematics anxiety was measured through students' reported stress about not being able to complete assignments at home (referred to as assignment anxiety) and their reported concern about giving incorrect answers in class (referred to as in-class anxiety). Notably, self-concept had minimal impact on agentic engagement, with its effect mediated by generalized mathematics self-efficacy and in-class anxiety. Prior achievement influenced cognitive engagement primarily through generalized mathematics self-efficacy, while assignment anxiety played a key role in cognitive disengagement.

This article reports on an investigation among 156 upper secondary students who self-evaluated their general mathematics self-efficacy and anxiety beliefs. After minimizing the influence of extreme multicollinearity, an exploratory factor analysis revealed a clear four-factor pattern. Two of the factors were interpreted as self-concept-like factors; one representing student’s overall confidence in mathematics labeled mathematics self-concept, and the other labeled generalized mathematics self-efficacy, concerned with student’s future-oriented perception of their competence in mathematics. The other two factors are students’ anxiety when they give wrong answers in mathematics class (in-class anxiety), and students’ anxiety and stress when they must do mathematics homework (assignment anxiety). Although no gender differences were found in previous mathematics achievement, the analyses indicated that all latent factors differed between genders. However, further analyses of logistic mixed models with all latent factors and prior mathematics achievement as predictors revealed that reported in-class anxiety was the primary discriminating factor between male and female students. 

Learning vocabulary is a central and time-consuming endeavour for a language learner and it has thus been suggested that the foreign language classroom has to supply explicit support for students’ vocabulary development. A major source of explicit word focus is vocabulary exercises in teaching materials and students’ learning can be facilitated if they are designed in a way that is conducive to learning. Few studies have so far sought to establish what learning opportunities tasks in materials provide. The present study reports an analysis of the vocabulary exercises in three series of Swedish intermediate EFL materials, focusing on target vocabulary and learning conditions. The target vocabulary was analysed in terms of frequency distribution in general English and the learning conditions provided were studied using a modified version of the Involvement Load Hypothesis. The results indicate that learning is facilitated through extensive retrieval opportunities in the material. However, it was also found that the exercises seldom require students to use the target vocabulary and that it comprises primarily high-frequency words, that is, words that the learners are likely to already know. It is therefore concluded that a more systematic approach to vocabulary has to be adopted by materials developers to ensure that word-focused tasks contribute significantly to students’ learning.

Given the complexity of EFL vocabulary development, learners need structured support in this endeavor (e.g., Schmitt, 2008). School can play a central role in providing this support, as the classroom is the shared language learning environment for students. It is therefore important that the EFL classroom is organized in a way that facilitates vocabulary learning (Newton, 2020). Although there is a large body of research relating to how vocabulary is learned and what vocabulary students need to learn (cf. Nation, 2011), there is a considerable research gap relating to how vocabulary learning is approached and supported in the classroom and thus the learning opportunities provided to learners. This paper presents the results from a doctoral dissertation situated in Swedish secondary school that seeks to understand vocabulary instruction by studying factors impacting classroom practice, namely conceptualizations of vocabulary learning and learning support in EFL teaching materials. 

This paper reports a synthesis of the results from four studies; two qualitative interview studies with Swedish EFL teachers and materials developers, one corpus-based analysis of the texts in EFL teaching materials and one analysis of vocabulary exercises in materials using word frequency and the Involvement Load Hypothesis (Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001) as analytical tools. The synthesis shows two main themes in the findings, namely that vocabulary instruction is not seen as a central concern for the classroom and that vocabulary instruction is not guided by a systematic approach. The paper discusses these findings in relation to contextual factors, such as communicative language teaching (Schurz & Coumel, 2020) and extramural English (Sundqvist, 2020), and their implications for the learning support provided in the classroom. As the results indicate a gap between vocabulary theory and EFL teaching practice, the paper also reflects on how this gap can be bridged by directing attention to the research community.  

References:

Laufer, B., & Hulstijn, J. (2001). Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language: The construct of task-induced involvement. Applied Linguistics, 22(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/22.1.1

Nation, I. S. P. (2011). Research into practice: Vocabulary. Language Teaching, 44(4), 529–539. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444811000267 

Newton, J. (2020). Approaches to learning vocabulary inside the classroom. In S. Webb (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of vocabulary studies (pp. 255–270). Routledge. 

Schmitt, N. (2008). Instructed second language vocabulary learning. Language Teaching Research, 12(3), 329–363. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168808089921 

Schurz, A., & Coumel, M. (2020). Grammar teaching in ELT: A cross-national comparison of teacher-reported practices. Language Teaching Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820964137

Sundqvist, P. (2020). Sweden and informal language learning. In M. Dressman & R. Sadler (Eds.), The handbook of informal language learning (pp. 319–322). John Wiley & Sons.

Vocabulary is a central but difficult aspect of learning English. EFL students face a considerable challenge in acquiring a vocabulary sufficient for communication, which means knowing many words and having a deep and varied knowledge of them. Researchers therefore argue that students need support to succeed in this endeavor, especially in an instructional context, where time and language exposure are limited. Although vocabulary research has provided many insights as concerns the nature of vocabulary learning, little is known about vocabulary learning in school. This thesis investigates vocabulary learning support in the Swedish secondary school EFL classroom in four empirical studies. The overall purpose of the studies was to illuminate the vocabulary component in areas that structure and organize the EFL classroom. It comprises two qualitative interview studies with teachers (n = 14) and materials developers (n = 8) respectively, and two content analyses of teaching materials focusing on the target words and learning conditions provided in the reading texts and the accompanying vocabulary exercises. 

The results illuminate how vocabulary is positioned and how the vocabulary component is treated in the classroom. The findings from the interview studies show that although the teachers and the materials developers stated that vocabulary is important, they attested to not perceiving vocabulary as a prominent aspect of the EFL classroom. This was found to be a result of their understanding of vocabulary development as an incidental process. Much in the same vein, the interviewees expressed that they do not prioritize working explicitly with vocabulary in class and rely on words to be acquired when students engage in other activities. The results also show that the vocabulary component in the classroom is mainly unplanned, both in regard to both target words and vocabulary learning activities. Neither the teachers nor the materials developers reported any systematic approaches to planning vocabulary instruction. Similarly, the teaching material analyses reveal that the vocabulary component is not structured in a way that is in accordance with research-based suggestions. The thesis indicates that the Swedish EFL classroom is unlikely to provide sufficient vocabulary learning support, which, in turn, can have considerable implications for students’ learning in school. The findings are discussed in relation to central contextual factors such as communicative language teaching, the Swedish curriculum and extramural English. 

Learning vocabulary is a central but yet complex aspect of learning a language. Hence, researchers stress the importance of facilitating vocabulary development via a structured approach to target words and recycling. While teaching materials have the potential to provide this structure to all students in a classroom, few studies have investigated the vocabulary component of textbooks and the learning opportunities they provide. In the present study, the texts in five series of EFL materials aimed at intermediate learners in Swedish secondary school (years 7–9) were investigated, using corpus-based methods. The results indicate that the texts encompass a suitable amount of unknown vocabulary for vocabulary learning from reading and provide exposure to mid-frequency vocabulary. However, it was also found that these items are not recycled sufficiently. Rather, the materials mainly recycle lexical items that students are likely to know already. It is therefore concluded that although the materials offer input suitable for the target students, they are not structured in a way that supports vocabulary development.

The importance of word frequency for vocabulary development is generally agreed on (e.g., Ellis, 2002; Webb, 2014): the more frequently learners encounter a lexical item, the more likely they are to acquire it. As a result, it has been argued that it is beneficial for language learning if vocabulary input is structured in a way that ensures repeated encounters with target vocabulary. In the foreign language classroom, where the language input is limited, it can be difficult for the individual teacher to ensure that learners are encountering target words frequently enough (cf. Schmitt, 2019). Teaching materials can thus play a valuable role in the language classroom by being the source of structured vocabulary input, where target vocabulary is systematically recycled. Studies have evaluated teaching materials and their function as learning tools by investigating the amount of recycling in the books, using either the raw frequency of words or a type-token ratio. However, given that some words are inherently more frequent in the language, figures representing the extent of recycling may be misleading, as the recycled items may be words already known to the target students. 

This paper presents a corpus-based textbook analysis where recycling is investigated numerically and the nature of the recycled items is also considered, that is, how frequent the recycled items are in general discourse. The corpus encompasses the texts from five series of intermediate EFL materials used in Swedish secondary schools (years 7–9)­. Lemmas occurring ten or more times were considered frequently recycled and thus possible to learn from the exposure. As the target students are intermediate learners, particular attention was paid to the amount of recycled mid-frequency vocabulary (cf. Schmitt & Schmitt, 2014) in the materials.

The results indicate that although a considerable proportion of the lexical input is recycled ten or more times in the materials, the vast majority of the recycled items are high-frequency words, which students are likely to already know. Considering the target students, this means that the recycling figures cannot be considered favorable for vocabulary development. It thus appears that investigations of the recurrence of words may have to be complemented with analyses of their frequency profile to understand the vocabulary learning opportunities in language learning materials.

One core aspect of learning a language is developing vocabulary, an endeavor that requires a structured and principled focus in the classroom. As the EFL textbook has a central position in the language learning classroom, it should have an important role to play in structuring vocabulary development. Yet, what guides decisions concerning the vocabulary content in textbooks has not been thoroughly studied. This paper presents an interview study with eight Swedish materials developers of frequently used EFL teaching materials aimed at school years 7–9. The results show that the materials developers focus primarily on providing engaging texts and base the vocabulary content on end users’ opinions and their own intuition. The study also indicates that word lists are construed as a tool primarily for reading comprehension rather than for vocabulary learning. The study concludes that vocabulary research findings appear to have a limited impact on decisions about vocabulary content.

Vocabulary is a core feature of language proficiency, requiring explicit attention in the language classroom. As teachers’ conceptualizations influence their teaching, their understanding of vocabulary deserves closer attention. Yet, few teacher cognition studies focus on vocabulary, and even fewer on non-native teachers’ conceptualizations of vocabulary. This paper presents an interview study with Swedish EFL teachers at secondary school level. Fourteen teachers were interviewed about their beliefs and practices in relation to vocabulary development in the classroom. The study shows that despite a general understanding of the importance of vocabulary in language learning among the teachers, vocabulary was not seen as a learning objective in its own right. Closely connected to this understanding, the teachers showed a great reliance on incidental vocabulary learning, where words were understood as “picked up along the way” while doing other things, such as reading and playing games. It was also found that although the teachers showed an awareness of the many aspects involved in word knowledge, they mentioned few methods to work with them. The study suggests a need for a more explicit focus on vocabulary instruction in the language learning classroom.

English proficiency is a core skill for Swedish students today, as is visible in the curriculum for compulsory school where it is stated that school has a responsibility for ensuring that each student can “communicate in English, both in the spoken and written language” (Skolverket,2022, p. 13, our translation). To reach English language proficiency a substantial knowledge of vocabulary, both in terms of size and depth (Nation, 2022), is necessary. Vocabulary is, however, not prominent in the syllabus for English in Swedish compulsory school and studies have indicated that Swedish EFL teachers do not prioritize vocabulary instruction (Bergström et al., 2022). It has also been found that vocabulary learning is facilitated by systematicity and structure (Schmitt, 2019). The teaching material used in the classroom can be of support in reaching this structure in vocabulary learning, if it provides well-planned input. We have carried out a number of analyses of the vocabulary learning opportunities provided in Swedish EFL teaching materials for compulsory school. Taken together, the results indicate that thereis a lack of systematic approach to vocabulary in textbooks throughout compulsory school. Combined with the vague writings in the curriculum, this questions the support given to students in this respect. In this paper, we report on the compiled research findings and discuss the implications for equal opportunities in Swedish schools. We also present future directions for lexical analyses of teaching materials, informed by advances in linguistic research.  

References:

Bergström, D., Norberg, C., & Nordlund, M. (2022). “Words are picked up along the way” –Swedish EFL teachers’ conceptualizations of vocabulary knowledge and learning. Language Awareness, 31(4), 393–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2021.1893326

Nation, I. S. P. (2022). Learning vocabulary in another language (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Schmitt, N. (2019). Understanding vocabulary acquisition, instruction, and assessment: Aresearch agenda. Language Teaching, 52(2), 261–274. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444819000053

Skolverket. (2022). Läroplan för grundskolan, förskoleklassen och fritidshemmet 2022 [Curriculum for the compulsory school, preschool class and the recreation centre 2022].Skolverket. 

Adolescents who have newly arrived in Sweden face a considerable learning task in trying to acquire substantial Swedish proficiency in as little time as possible. One potential source of learning input could be out-of-school (extramural) exposure to the language, which has been identified as a key factor for students’ learning of English (e.g., Sundqvist, 2009). While the Swedish field of language education has considerable knowledge about the extramural English exposure of Swedish students, little attention has been directed to learners of Swedish in Sweden. Given that newly arrived students learning Swedish do so in a Swedish context means that they should have vast potential exposure to the language outside of school, which could facilitate their learning. However, Nuottaniemi (2023), as an example, highlights that many learners have few Swedish-speaking arenas outside of the classroom. This raises the question of the extent of extramural Swedish exposure for these learners. 

This study draws on the considerable knowledge base concerning the learning opportunities in informal out-of-school language exposure. This has been found in many studies focusing on extramural English and Swedish learners of English (e.g., Sundqvist, 2009; Sylvén & Sundqvist, 2012). It has also been suggested that extramural exposure poses challenges in the classroom, as students come with different levels of knowledge (e.g., Sundqvist & Olin-Scheller, 2013). Knowledge concerning the extent of extramural Swedish exposure could provide valuable insights about the realities of the Swedish as an L2 classroom and what learning opportunities students have that complement their Swedish classes in school. Extramural Swedish encounters could potentially occur not only in real world interaction but also in digitized contexts, such as online or in popular culture. Thus, the paper sheds light on language and communication in the digital age. Moreover, qualitative insights concerning students’ encounters with different languages offer additional perspectives on how the social realities of the students impact their extramural exposure and choices. 

The purpose of the study is to map the extent and nature of extramural Swedish that immigrant learners attending the Språkintroduktion program encounter. In this way, a knowledge gap is addressed as regards the informal Swedish learning opportunities of this student group. In this paper, the results of a pilot study mapping extramural Swedish exposure is presented. The data was gathered using self-reports in the form of language questionnaires and language diaries as well as follow-up interviews with learners. The follow-up interviews are valuable in this context, given the sociopolitical factors that have major impact on this group of learners. The paper shares tentative results concerning the amount of extramural Swedish exposure, a discussion on the methodological difficulties in gathering data in multilingual classes and an outline for the upcoming large-scale study where data is gathered from a larger sample and teacher perspectives are elicited for a deeper understanding of the classroom.

References:

Nuottaniemi, A. (2023). Flerspråkighetens gränser: Språkdidaktik på (o)jämlik grund i migrationernas tid [The limits to multilingualism: Language pedagogy on (un)equal grounds in the age of migrations] [Doctoral dissertation, Umeå University].

Sundqvist, P. (2009). Extramural English matters: Out-of-school English and its impact on Swedish ninth graders’ oral proficiency and vocabulary [Doctoral dissertation, Karlstad University].

Sundqvist, P., & Olin‐Scheller, C. (2013). Classroom vs. extramural English: Teachers dealing with demotivation. Language and Linguistics Compass, 7(6), 329–338. https://doi.org/10.1111/lnc3.12031

Sylvén, L. K., & Sundqvist, P. (2012). Gaming as extramural English L2 learning and L2 proficiency among young learners. ReCALL, 24(3), 302–321. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095834401200016X 

Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie var att analysera förskollärares positioneringar av sig själva och av vårdnadshavare under inskolning av nya barn i förskolan. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt var positioneringsteorin, och datainsamlingen skedde genom kvalitativa intervjuer med tre verksamma förskollärare på avdelningar för yngre barn. Empirin utgjordes av transkriberingarna från de genomförda intervjuerna och detta har sedan analyserats med hjälp av tematisk analys, där materialet sorterades, reducerades, tematiserades och argumenterades. Tematiseringen gjordes genom kategorisering och kodning av transkriberingarna för att upptäcka vilka positioneringar som framträdde i materialet. Studiens resultat visade att förskollärare positionerar sig själva och vårdnadshavare på flera olika sätt i sina beskrivningar för inskolning av nya barn i förskolan. Förskollärarna positionerade sig själva bland annat som informant, förstående och anpassande. Några av förskollärarnas vanligast förekommande positioneringar av vårdnadshavare var positionen som oerfaren, otrygg och informant. Förskollärarnas positioneringar av sig själva och av vårdnadshavare kunde kategoriseras som antingen överordnade, likvärdiga och underordnade positioner. Utifrån resultatet framgick det att förskollärarna växlade mellan att positionera sig själva eller vårdnadshavare som överordnad, samt att detta ofta medförde att förskollärarna positionerade sig själva och vårdnadshavare som likvärdiga. Utifrån positionerna som presenterades i resultatet fördes en diskussion där det framgick att innebörden för den överordnade positionen varierade beroende på om förskollärarna positionerade sig själva eller vårdnadshavare som överordnad.  Slutsatserna som drogs var bland annat att förskollärares positionering påverkas av deras perspektiv och tidigare erfarenheter, samt att kombinationen av förskollärares pedagogiska och yrkesmässiga expertis tillsammans med vårdnadshavares expertis kring sina barn krävs för att barn och vårdnadshavare ska kunna erbjudas goda inskolningar.

Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskap om förskollärares beskrivningar av hur de arbetar språkutvecklande i förskolan. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter är det sociokulturella och relationella perspektivet. Studiens forskningsfrågor besvarades genom en kvalitativ forskningsansats där semistrukturerade intervjuer användes. Den insamlade datan analyserades utifrån studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter samt tidigare forskning. Resultatet visar att samtliga förskollärare beskriver att de arbetar språkutvecklande på förskolorna men strategierna som användes skilde sig åt mellan förskolorna. Resultatet visar dock att alla förskollärare är eniga om att TAKK (Tecken som stöd och kompletterande kommunikation) och visuellt stöd är avgörande faktorer i ett språkutvecklande arbete som inkluderar alla barn. Aktivt närvarande pedagoger i förskolan är väsentliga för möjligheten till att främja alla barns kommunikation och interaktion med andra barn.

In Sweden, curricula and syllabi for education are politically determined after public consultations. Thus, these educational documents are discursive trade-offs reflecting research, traditions in the educational system, and political ideologies. This study maps the discourses in the syllabus for Sami as L1 mother tongue for preschool class – Year 9, and mother tongue instruction in media debate 2016–2022. It problematises the educational implications of the language ideologies and tensions in the material. While Sami is accorded the status as mother tongue, it does not have the same status as Swedish or even Modern languages. Mother tongue instruction is promoted as the foundation for learning other languages, and multilingualism as an asset for Sweden as a country, and for the individual. The quality of mother tongue instruction is criticised by Sami and other minorities, as well as by those perceiving mother tongue instruction as a threat to assimilation.