Maria Hjalmarsson

Confirming and resisting an underdog position – leisure-time teachers dealing with a new practice

The article focuses on how leisure-time teachers (LtT) in Sweden both confirm and resist the array of new demands related to leisure-time centres (LtC). The data consist of interviews with six LtTs. The results are interpreted as representing different parts of the LtTs professionalism and show that the LtTs through their tellings constructs certain children, problems and solutions as a response to the demands in their work, thereby both confirming and resisting an underdog position. By constructing a manageable child they legitimise their professionalism and vice versa: constructing a child they are not capable of handling underlines their work conditions and offers a response to the discussion of insufficient quality, thereby confirming the low status of LtTs.

Gendered aspects of Leisure-time teachers’ care – social and physical dimensions

ABSTRACT This article aims to gain knowledge on how gender and profession are accounted for and expressed in leisure-time teachers’ (LtTs) work in Sweden, with a specific focus on the caring aspects of the profession. Our results show that LtTs take up various positions in navigating between aspects connected to managerialism and external auditing as well as trust and internal valuation. We argue that the need exists for an expanded understanding of care in order to recognise and reward various gendered actions and activities in teachers’ caring orientation. The article provides knowledge to both researchers and practitioners on gendered nuances of care that by tradition have been connected to women.

A Sport for All Programmein School : Girls’ Experiences

Abstract This article examines a Swedish Sport for All Programme (SAP) in school. We use a case study to discuss girls’ debut in alternative sports programme organized in collaboration between school and the sports movement. The empirical data are derived from repeated focus group interviews with one group of seven 10-year-old girls participating in one SAP. The analyses focus on their subjective experiences and how broader gender structures influence these experiences. Drawing on the results of this study, we argue that certain sports can be interpreted as oppressive activities that produce asymmetric power relationships between different groups of children. Simultaneously, the girls see the idea of sports as joyful activities, without male abuse and oppression or hierarchical gender relationships. Based on the girls’ accounts, we claim that both the leaders and the children actively reproduce gender stereotypes in the SAP.

At your service 24/7: preschool managers on their tasks and daily work

This article focuses on Swedish preschool managers’ views of their tasks and daily work: activities, conditions, challenges and ideas on leadership. Five preschool managers were asked to write diar ...