Margareta Sandström Kjellin

Citizenship in the classroom: transferring and transforming transcultural values

The aim of the paper is to present and discuss a Report from a Comenius 2.1 project, aimed at developing teachers’ interpersonal, intercultural, social and civic competence. The study presented in the report was a multiple case study, and the methods for collecting data were focus group dialogues (with 34 teacher students), one video recording in each country and a document analysis of a European overview of citizenship education in Europe. Five countries participated in the study (the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, the UK and Sweden) and the study focused on 12 year‐old pupils. One conclusion was that teacher education needs to focus more on horizontal classroom dialogue if goals for citizenship education are to be reached.

Pupils’ voices about citizenship education: comparative case studies in Finland, Sweden and England

The aim of the article is to present and discuss a study in which Finnish, English and Swedish pupils’ understanding of citizenship education with regard to: (a) political literacy; and (b) attitudes and values was explored. The study was a cross‐national, multiple case study and data were collected through 18 focus group dialogues with 15‐year‐old pupils. Results showed that English pupils were much more well‐informed about rights and responsibilities than their Nordic counterparts and also more skilled rhetorically, but appeared less accustomed to open and confident relationships with adults than the Swedish pupils. Finnish pupils did not seem to be encouraged to talk; instead they kept their thoughts and feelings to themselves. One conclusion, among others, was that the study illuminates conditions for the development of a so‐called key competence – i.e., ‘interpersonal, intercultural, social and civic competence’.

Focus group dialogues as a method for identifying a school's developmental needs

In this article a study is presented in which teachers describe the working situation at their school. The aim of the study was to find out in what respects the school needed to be developed. The study was a case study and the method for collecting data was focus group dialogues. All teacher teams at a Swedish secondary school participated. The teacher teams focused on structural problems for the school. When analysing the activity in the team dialogues, problems on the group level also appeared. The necessity of teacher dialogue when initiating school development is observed and the functioning of the group is recognised as important.

Areas of Instruction : A Tool for Assessing the Quality of Instructional Situations

A model for analysing the nature of the dyadic teacher–student interplay in instructional situations including one teacher and one student is described. The “teacher” may be a regular teacher, a parent, or any other person who is in the position of teacher. The “student” may be a student of any age. The model may discern (a) if the teacher merely asks for information preknown to the teacher and the teacher evaluates the students answer according to the teachers preknowledge, (b) if the teacher asks for information preknown to the teacher, the teacher then scaffolds the students learning by giving clues to the correct answer and then evaluates the answer according to the teachers preknowledge, or (c) the teacher asks for information not preknown to her/him and the teacher is genuinely interested in the students answer. This last scenario (c) is thought to give optimal conditions for cognitive development for the student.

Classroom Activities and Engagement for Children with Reading and Writing Difficulties

A multiple case study is reported aiming at comparing the degree of taking part and being engaged in classroom activities for children with and without reading and writing difficulties. Observations are made of 23 pupils with reading and writing difficulties (seven with a diagnosis of dyslexia), and 23 pupils in a control group; the observations concern accessibility to, taking part in, engagement and received help in classroom activities. The result is discussed in relation to the two goals in Swedish schools: ‘goals to attain’ and ‘goals to aim for’. A conclusion is that the two goals for the instruction in Swedish language involve a dilemma for teachers, since all children are expected to reach the ‘goals to attain’, while instruction is expected to be directed towards ‘goals to aim for’.

Children's Engagement in Different Classroom Activities

A multiple case study is reported aiming at identifying the degree of taking part and of being engaged in classroom activities for children with and without reading and writing difficulties/dyslexia. The aim was also to investigate the accordance between ‘effective literacy teaching’ and children’s expressed interest and observed taking part and engagement in different kinds of activities. The study is exploratory and the generalizability of the results limited. Three observations each were made of five children with reading and writing difficulties/dyslexia and five comparison children; the observations concerned accessibility, taking part in and engagement with two types of classroom activities, namely basic skills training and practice of higher‐level language skills as a means of thinking at a higher level. The results are presented in relation to quality criteria for teachers’ effective literacy teaching. Results found that the instruction was concerned more with the practice of basic skills in reading and writing than practice of the language as a means of thinking at a higher level for all children, and the children with reading and writing difficulties were less engaged in reading and writing skills training than the comparison children, but took part equally well in activities focused on practice of the language at a higher level. Most of the teachers had lower expectations regarding those children with reading and writing difficulties than children without reading and writing difficulties. The results are discussed in relation to the goals in the subject Swedish.

Classroom Niches for Skilled Readers and for Children with Reading and Writing Difficulties.

A longitudinal study is reported aiming at analysing niche characteristics in the classroom of skilled readers and children with reading and writing disabilities. Thirteen children are studied during their 1st and 4th years at school. The result is described using the concepts capacity, opportunity and interest. Capacity means the childrens abilities, opportunity means the environments inclination to support the children and interest means the childrens will to engage in school activities. Each child is appointed/acquires a specific niche in the classroom: some children are in niches with the same characteristics both during their 1st and their 4th year, and some children move between niches with different characteristics from the 1st to the 4th year. The result is discussed in relation to the two goals in Swedish schools: “goals to attain” and “goals to aim for”.