This paper is designed to contribute to the discussion on how to conceptualise and study contextual influence in local school development. We propose a theoretical framework and an empirical illustration to supplement former research on rural school research. Focusing on what the school perceives as important in its community may explain why…

In the 1980s, Norwegian researchers pioneered efforts towards developing school support for bereaved children. Eighteen years later, a Danish approach was created based on these foundations. This article explores the Danish school bereavement response plans (b-plans) and investigates their ability to support both teachers and bereaved children.…

The Nordic Education Model was an important part of the social democratic welfare state for many years in the second half of the 20th century. Since the millennium, transnational agencies have drawn education from the realm of politics into a global market place by advocating strategies such as efficiency, competition, decentralisation, governing…

In Sweden educational technology (EdTech) prospered during the 1960s and 1970s inspired by US experiences from primarily programmed instruction. The Departments of Education at the universities started different activities of research and other bodies developed EdTech products for commercial use. In some business firms in-service training of staff…

Discusses the connection between type of control structure for a school system and type of strategy for change that may be chosen. Shows that the mandator-controlled Swedish school system best corresponds to the "Developing the Organization" model of educational change. Describes a Swedish training program based on the model. (SB)

Describes a procedure, called a full Bayesian procedure, for making decisions in connection with criterion-referenced measurements. The procedure uses continuous utility functions instead of a dichotomized utility structure and combines the posterior distribution for a certain person with utility functions for "advance" and "retain" decisions…

Presents concepts and research problems dealing with education governance and social inclusion and exclusion. Considers education restructuring, as a recent international movement, as a combination of transitions in governing and new managerialism. Makes the case that it is necessary to understand the system of reasoning in order to capture the…

Describes changes in governance discourse and practices in Icelandic primary and secondary education in the late 1990s. Budget reform, curriculum changes, and school-based self-evaluation aimed at a greater financial and pedagogical accountability of school professionals, especially principals, has changed the role of principals and teachers in…

Discusses how current changes in the system of reasoning about education in Finland, Iceland, and Sweden are characterized by culturally woven patterns in high marketization strategies are introduced as technically effective devices both for educating the best and to increase inclusion. The system of reason presupposes that the neo-liberalist…

This article discusses the contacts between Swedish and Polish educational theory and points to the influence of the Swedish educationalist Ellen Key on the thinking of the Polish pediatrician and educationalist Janus Korczak. Different approaches to Korczak's works are identified in international research. (SLD)

Expands the description of the teaching-learning process to a teaching-studying-learning process that emphasizes the active role of the student. Suggests that interaction is the central concept in this process and considers direct and indirect interaction. (SLD)

Explores the educational implications of cognitivism and Aristotelianism in the field of emotional research and discusses attempts to translate these ideas into educational practice. Uses a "post-Kohlbergian" perspective (L. Kohlberg, 1971, 1981) to consider the feasibility of moral education and emotion education in a school setting.…

Shows that education change depends on level of policy formation and level of policy transformation and on what P. Bourdieu has termed the repertory of actual and virtual possibilities and relations of symbolic force within the base arrangements of a civilization. Discusses teacher education reform in the context of the Swedish Teacher Education…

Describes the evolution and organization of foreign language teaching in Sweden and the status and images related to the languages taught. Policy initiated in 1994 made teaching of a second foreign language compulsory in addition to the English mandated since 1962. Stresses the place of honor of foreign languages in the Swedish curriculum. (SLD)

Discusses conflicts and tensions related to teacher autonomy in the context of the Swedish comprehensive school system. Presents two models for strengthening the relative autonomy of teachers that can help them meet the challenges inherent in change. (SLD)