Peter Erlandson

Teachers’ implicit theories of intelligence: influences from different disciplines and scientific theories

A sample of 226 Swedish high school teachers from various knowledge domains completed self-report measures of intelligence regarding implicit theories and scientific theories of intelligence. A mixed ANOVA showed that teachers from language, social science and practical disciplines had a significant preference for an incremental theory of intelligence compared to an entity theory of intelligence whilst the teachers in mathematics did not. One of the conclusions was that entity theories of intelligence may be more pronounced among teachers in mathematics. Second there is a significant relation between naïve beliefs in intelligence as fixed and inborn, entity theories, and the scientific g-factor theory. Last, it was the oldest and most experienced and youngest and least experienced teachers who preferred an entity theory of intelligence the most.

The ambivalence of reflection : rereading Schön

There are two sides to the concept of ambivalence. One concerns contradictory attitudes, expressions or feelings that are simultaneously directed toward an object, person or action, the other concerns undecidability and a fluctuation of meaning between a thing and its opposite. Both of them concern an aspect of uncertainty. In this article we argue that reflection and reflection projects are caught up within ambiguity between two discourses on human thinking and action: one which conceives humans as rational intellectual beings who elaborate practical actions by following certain procedures and one where human practice is changeable, complex and follows its own logic (or rather un‐logic). These discourses have different genealogies and social agendas. However, they also meet, not only in different reflection projects in education but also in classical reflection texts. The example we are going to use to illustrate this is Schön’s The reflective practitioner. We claim that the discursive struggle over reflection makes the theoretical basis for the reflection projects confusing and even fragile, as well as potentially dynamic, creative and productive.

Giving up the ghost: the control‐matrix and reflection‐in‐action

The matters of mind are not easily solved. Even if most philosophers and educationalists of today are convinced of the wrongness of the dualistic theory articulated by Descartes (following a line with ontogenesis from Plato), it continues to infect discussions of learning and teaching, often in a subtle manner. The questions involved are multiple. For instance, questions concerning the relation between consciousness and control, the relation between desire and control, but also the question of how the categories ‘body’ and ‘soul’ function in language and in society. In this text the author uses the theoretical framework of Merleau‐Ponty to discuss the ‘Cartesian ghost’ of Ryle in the form it is revealed in Newman’s analysis of Schön’s reasoning and exemplifications of reflection‐in‐action.

A taxonomy of motives to cite.

In this study, we explicate citing behavior in the writing of scientific papers by presenting a taxonomy of motives to cite. The suggested taxonomy consists of four main categories, which are purely descriptive: Argumentation, Social Alignment, Mercantile Alignment, and Data. These categories are divided into a suggested set of subcategories. We argue that the complexities of citing practice show how little can be assumed about actual citing behavior when studying a finished paper. The discussion supports the claim that it might be misleading to treat all citations as equal in quantitative citation analysis.

Ironising with intelligence

This article is part of a project that seeks in part to explore how students understand and use the concept of intelligence. It is based on an ethnographically contextualized study of linguistic events and was conducted in an inner-city upper secondary school in Sweden. The article shows that the concept of intelligence is not spontaneously used by students but is given meaning by them when they are asked, and that this meaning is given in relation to future expectations, hopes, ambitions and the grades and performances in school that are seen as a means to attain them. When doing this the students also appear to describe their education, the demands it places on them and their performances with a sense of irony. Indeed, on closer analysis, irony seems to be an important communicative strategy for these students more generally.

From trust to control – the Swedish first teacher reform

Abstract In this study, the implementation of the Swedish first teacher reform, where especially skilled teachers get an opportunity to advance in their careers, is examined. The scene is an upper secondary school, Baxter High, in the southwest of Sweden. In this particular school, a new system with first teachers replaces an old system of so-called head teachers. The teachers’ response to this is multilayered: at the same time as it reveals an unwillingness to change everyday work rhythms, it is also a response to cultural change, and to change in the discourse of political life in Baxter High. The implementation of the first teacher reform results not only in a change in administrative categories, but also in a change in ideology, intertwined with and embedded in the cultural and social life of the school. In this article, the authors connect the first teacher reform to the neoliberal transformation process that the Swedish educational system has undergone over the last three decades.

Facilitators in ambivalence

ABSTRACT This is part of a larger ethnographical study concerning how school development in a local educational context sets cultural and social life in motion. The main data in this article consists of semi-structural interviews with teachers (facilitators) who have the responsibility of carrying out a project about formative assessment in upper secondary schools in the south of Sweden. The focus of the study is how the teachers make meaning of their position as facilitators and leaders, how they handle their fellow teachers’ criticism and resistance, how power transforms professional and human relationships, and how complex and weakly articulated power results in conflicting and ambivalent possibilities for action. From our perspective, the resistance the facilitators meet, although the project makes use of a concept that has proved to be successful, reveals an ambivalent structure where the facilitators have to face contradictory demands from different stakeholders.

A tale from the pit – educational work at the university

Abstract Universities have their own particular ways of doing things. They have their own histories, their titles, their policy documents to attend to, and their own practices that have often evolved and taken form over centuries. The overall aim in this article is to illustrate an individual’s complex growth into becoming a proficient university teacher from being a novice. With a phenomenological point of departure I analyze the embodied working conditions that a newcomer to university teaching carries around and gradually becomes familiar with – and even relatively proficient in – over a period of about three years. The focus in the article is the newcomer’s reflective struggle with understanding her/himself and the social and cultural demands and possibilities that s/he is confronted with.

Academic misconduct in teaching portfolios

Within academia, clear and standardised communication is vital. From this point of departure, we discuss the trustworthiness of teaching portfolios when used in assessment. Here, misconduct and fraud are discussed in terms of fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism, following the literature on research fraud. We argue that the portfolio’s unclear academic status and confusing standards makes it difficult to define misconduct. We see a risk that the practice of portfolio writing for assessment can lead to misconduct, including downright lies about accomplishments. We conclude that the trustworthiness of teaching portfolios is a responsibility for the academic community as a whole.

Reflection and Perception in Professional Practice

Abstract For the last decade, reflection has been a major theme in discussions about professional skillfulness and the development of the competence of practitioners such as nurses and teachers. The intellectual pattern that has structured ambitions in relation to reflection is found mainly in Schön’s (1983) The Reflective Practitioner and the epistemological turn suggested there. In this text, however, I focus on a dimension that is often forgotten when professional practitioners are conceived of as being reflective, namely, perception. From the framework of Merleau-Ponty, I argue that Schön’s theoretical account is highly problematic and that perception is the key to shaping practitioners’ skillfulness.