In this paper, we investigate how elite coaches reflect on their practice and interact with each other, as part of their informal professional development. We use observations of 14 coach meetings, over a period of two years, where coaches came together to share their experiences of coaching elite athletics, and to discuss ways for continuous…

Mental health problems are increasingly common risk factors for chronic pain, while stressors in school are associated with persistent and recurrent pain among students, and negatively associated with educational achievements. Clearly, it is important to identify elements that influence frequencies or intensities of mental health problems. To…

The purpose of this review is to investigate cross-cutting research themes and issues related to access and stratification in Nordic higher education (H.E.) (Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden). We synthesise how recent changes in H.E. policy, practise, and appropriations have influenced educational opportunities along social class,…

Disability studies in education (DSE) is an interdisciplinary field derived from the need to re-conceptualise special education dominated by a medical perspective on disability. In this article we identify what characterises DSE research and consider whether there is a case for arguing for a specific field of DSE in Finland and Iceland. Our…

The question of how students' sense of membership and connectedness to their school can be supported through school practices concerns educational contexts internationally. According to the Programme of International Student Achievement test, students' experiences of school belonging have decreased and polarized in many of the participating…

An earlier study showed that the changes in teachers' classroom practice, after participation in a professional development program in formative assessment, significantly improved student achievement in mathematics. The teachers in that study were a random selection of Year 4 teachers in a Swedish mid-sized municipality. In the present study, we…

Today's evaluation society makes teachers participate in a stream of external evaluations. How teachers experience evaluation in school and how this affects their work and professionalism is the focus of this article. Teachers' views of external and internal evaluations and of the consequences for school practice are described and analysed. The…

The implementation of pedagogical entrepreneurship in schools from the perspective of lifelong learning is of significant concern at policy levels, and research is an important source of information on this process. This review article focuses on the challenges revealed by research, examines the implementation of pedagogical entrepreneurship in…

Although inclusion has been a value set forth in international policy arenas and a focus for school development research indicate the problems in establishing more inclusive practices. Although teachers may favor an inclusive model of education, they may experience difficulties in the implementation of inclusive practices. The aim of this article…

Swedish leisure-time centres were formerly part of Swedish social and family policies but were transferred to an educational context in the 1990s. This transfer was accentuated by both the Education Act of 2010 and the new teacher training established in 2011, which also included education particularly directed for leisure-time centres. The…

In this article Foucault's theoretical concept of governmentality is used to scrutinise the ways in which the ideal pupil is constructed, governed and positioned in and through teacher training in Sweden. The analysis focuses on the construction of subject positions as well as governing technologies and techniques operating in the shaping of the…

This article presents a case study of the internationalisation of an Engineering School at a leading Swedish University. The case study is an attempt to sketch out a more qualitative analytical approach to the study of internationalisation, focusing on the interplay between agency and structure and policy and practice as constructed by actors on…

This article reflects on the fabrication of austerity in the Italian education system during the recent financial crisis and the resulting economic stagnation in the economic outlook. In particular, it describes the construction and emerging configuration of a mode of educational governance where standards, data analysis and performances play a…

This is a small-scale qualitative study of gender equality discourses as constructed and employed by pedagogues in three Swedish preschools. The aim of the study is to describe and analyse the preschool pedagogues' constructions of work on children's gender equality, while also examining local variations and the influence of societal discourses…

This paper aims to understand an emergent social practice of solidarity, that of voluntary shadow education ('social frontistiria'), in its socio-economic context. Perceiving the welfare state as the institutionalized form of solidarity, this paper attempts to analyze its specific nature and the process of political legitimisation stemming from…