Extensive research has identified many quality-related challenges in the K-12-practicum. However, no previous literature reviews have synthesised the challenges of the various activities involved in the practicum supervision process (planning, teaching and observation, preparations for supervision, supervision sessions and post-supervision reflection). This review identifies interrelated challenges for the experiential supervision process, such as limited student activity, and qualitative challenges of observation, feedback, reflection and collaboration. The review highlights the lack of research on certain components and the need for a more holistic research focus regarding the interrelationship of activities involved in the supervision process, specifically in terms of quality. © 2024 The Authors.

The practicum supervision process in teacher education comprises various cyclic experiential learning activities (e.g. planning, observation and supervision conversation). Research has documented considerable challenges relating to this process, but also that digital technology can help.In the study, a software program designed for practicum supervision (MOSO) is tested in three Scandinavian teacher education programmes in which groups of student teachers are supervised by a mentor teacher. Throughout this process, the participants continuously alternate between individual reflection, and analogue/digital collaborative reflection. The aim of the study is to contribute knowledge about the experiences of using this technology, and data was collected through qualitative survey and focus groups.The software contributed to improving the quality of the practicum supervision process, for example by: safeguarding supervision on lesson planning; improving observations, feedback and recollection; and facilitating more reflective and collaborative student teachers. The study also identifies important challenges when using such technology.

The aim of this study is to describe and understand the negotiation process within a professional learning community (PLC) for school improvement between principals, students and teachers; and with a particular focus on the principals and students. Wenger’s (1998) social learning theory of community of practice is used as framework in the analysis.

Research has found that successful schools could be described as professional learning communities, PLCs.APLC is characterised by a collaborative culture in which teachers participate in a continual process of creating new knowledge where there is a collective responsibility for supporting each other to improve (Stoll et al., 2006). The principal has an important role in the shaping of this community. Studies have found that there is a need for the principal to practise a leadership which focuses on the learning of the teachers in order to improve teaching (Robinson, 2011; Timperley, 2011). However, we conclude that the students are at the most centred in teachers’ work of planning instruction (Robinson, 2011), they are seldom centred as participators in the community discussing learning matters. They do not seem to be legitimate participators, but rather peripheral to the community, using the terms from Lave and Wenger (1991).

We find this problematic from a democratic point of view and also from the point of the learning of the students. Dysthe (1993) found a clear relationship between high academic performance and student participation and engagement among secondary schools. She also found an apparent relationship between the teachers’ knowledge and experiences in creating learning activities that involved students in meaningful interaction both about the subject matter and about the students’ participation and learning.

PLC research does not provide a strong theory base for how to understand the descriptions and processes in the community. When Stoll et al. (2006) describe a PLC the basis for the account is the most evident data visible in interviews and observations. But how should we understand those data and what is the logic in the relations between the different data? Wenger’s (1998) theory of social learning provides an interesting framework in this respect which we intend to use. Wenger’s hypothesis is that practice cannot be distinguished from community. More accurately he means that individuals appear as actors in a collective, which constitutes the practice.Actors in a specific situation, e.g. in school, shape a community around a practical problem, which they have to solve or manage in order to obtain meaning in the practice or work. Wenger introduces the notion of reification to display how actors’ solutions, or ways of managing, materialise into new concepts, reasoning, understandings, documents, models or tools. Learning, as we interpret it from Wenger, is the negotiation of meaning that takes place among participants experiencing a practical problem. The term “peripheral” describes the condition of the individual when being part of the community but not being legitimated to negotiate the meaning of the work (Lave & Wenger, 1991). In those terms, the students were part of the classroom work but only legitimated as being active participants when invited by the teachers. And concerning the principal the work of Robinson (2011) and Timperley (2011) suggest the principal to practise a leadership which take initiative and become a participator, together with the teachers, in the negotiation of how to improve teaching. 

Method

The research context for the study was a compulsory school involved in a professional learning project planned for five years. The school had identified obvious needs to improve student learning and achievement. Teacher participation in the project was mandatory and decided by the local authority. Every teacher in school was supposed to take an active role in the work, in order to improve the schools’ results. The concept of professional learning was built on teachers’ engagement in collaborative learning and the central part of their actions was based on systematic inquiries in the classroom (cf. Wennergren, 2014). Primary data forming the basis for the analysis consisted of 1) field notes from informal communication during three years, 2) written accounts from two principals, 3) interviews of two principals. Secondary data consisted of observations of teachers. With our theoretical starting point in Wenger the analysis was focusing the negotiations that occurred between the principals, teachers and students. Those were the major parties in the daily school practice. From the basis of the theory of community of practice it became essential to investigate the content in the negotiations and who participated in the communication. It also was essential to assess in what degree the negotiations led to reification(s); that is a result the parties believe could improve the situation. Subsequently we have analyzed the data by identifying 1) negotiations, 2) content of the negotiations, 3) the participators in the negotiations, and 4) reifications. Those data were analyzed in relation to legitimization, that is; how active the principals, the teachers and the students could be in the negotiations and reifications of different content.

Expected Outcomes

We expect that the analysis will result in a description and understanding of the principals’ leadership and students’ participation in the school improvement process. The improvement process will be ununderstood as the negotiation process between the principals, teachers and students. The theoretical basis of this can contribute with an understanding of what promotes or prevents the process. Identifying the experience of being a legitimate or peripheral participator is assumed being a critical issue in the process. Finally we will suggest successful parts in an improvement process as understood as negotiations using the theoretical terms from the social theory of Wenger (1998). 

References

Dysthe, O. (1993). Writing and talking to learn. A theory-based interpretative study in three classrooms in the USA and Norway (Diss: Rapport nr 1 APPUs skriftserie). Tromsø: School of Languages and Literature University of Tromsø. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning. Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Robinson, V. (2011). Student-Centered Leadership. San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Stoll, L., Bolam, R., McMahon, A., Wallace, M. & Thomas, S. (2006). Professional learning communities: A review of the literature. Journal of Educational Change 7, 221-258. Timperley, H. (2011). Realizing the power of professional learning. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice : learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wennergren, A. (2014). The power of risk-taking. In: K. Rönnerman & P. Salo (Eds), Lost in Practice: Transforming Nordic Educational Action Research (pp. 133-151). Rotterdam: Sense Publisher.

From 2004 to 2007, developmental research was performed at the Department of Music and Media in Piteå, a part of Luleå University of Technology (LTU), Sweden. The aim was to improve higher-level seminars with a focus on text-related responses. Due to Sture Brändström’s open-mindedness towards new ideas, this work took the form of an action research project in which PhD-students, senior lecturers and professors were involved. The project received internal financial support from LTU, and was thoroughly documented (Wennergren 2007b). In a Festschrift dedicated in honour of Sture, it has been a matter of course to write about ‘response seminars’, or ‘the Piteå model’, which has become the alternative name of the seminar model in question.In the following, we will portray the response model and highlight issues, which emerged within the heterogenic research community in Piteå. We will also describe and reflect upon some developmental strains of the model together with their consequences. Above all, we will discuss different kinds of generic skills that were utilised and developed within the frames of the academic seminar. Finally, we will discuss relevant challenges, which need to be confronted when a research community wants to avoid becoming trapped in routine-like traditions. We think our findings could serve as both inspiration and a basis for discussion.

Detta kapitel handlar om seminarier som används för att diskutera och förbättra texter av olika slag. Arbetssättet prövades ursprungligen i en forskningsmijö och har sedan under en tioårsperiod utvecklats vidare i olika forskningsmiljöer och högskoleutbildningar. Den bakomliggande tanken är att samtliga seminariedeltagare formulerar skriftlig respons inför seminariet och att författaren väljer vilka frågor som ska vara föremål för en fördjupad bearbetning under seminariet. Vår text beskriver seminarieformen samt deltagares erfarenheter av arbetssättet i en magister- och forskarutbildning undr 2014. Vi som skrivit texten har båda erfarenheter av rollen som deltagare och ledare av arbetssättet. En central utgångspunkt för oss har varit att utveckla alternativa former för textseminarier som vilar på vetenskaplig grund.

The impact of a critical friend, an external agent who acts as a supportive yet challenging facilitator, is widely acknowledged as a significant factor in school development and professional learning. A critical friendship is characterised by trust, and enacted through conversations where provocative questioning is used to enhance reflection and challenge participants’ practice-related assumptions and viewpoints.  

This paper is the result of an international collaboration between two academics who each work closely with local schools as critical friends.  The paper aims to illustrate possibilities and pitfalls of impact and engagement, using accounts of Professional Learning Community (PLC) conversations about purposes, tools and practices to enhance teaching and learning.

A selection of conversation transcripts from two separate PLCs were explored to generate insights about classroom applications of collegial learning among teachers. The PLCs consisted of ten teachers at a primary school in the south of Sweden and ten teachers at a primary school in regional Victoria, Australia. Each researcher was familiar with one set of PLC conversations, but not the other. This provided another dimension of critical friendship by challenging the researchers’ own viewpoints about ‘their’ PLC, and generated alterative interpretations of the data.

The analysis was guided by three core considerations: What? Why? How? Of these, ‘what’ constituted content that aligned with the PLC’s purpose; ‘why’ articulated the PLC’s purpose and its shared goals; and ‘how’ referred to the repertoire of systematic methods, tools and strategies which the PLC applied to achieve its purposes.

Findings indicated three main themes. First,the PLC’s purpose (to enhance students’ learning) appeared to be implied rather than explicit in the conversations. In instances when why-questions in relation to educational content were discussed – the conversation was sharpened and provided a rationale to the context. Second, teachers’ monitoring of students’ learning featured strongly, addressing considerations such as ‘What do we expect our students to learn?’ and ‘How do we know when students have learnt?’ Third,general and specific comments relating to how evidence about students’ learning may be collected dominated the conversations.

We conclude that the conversations about learning in the two PLC-teams mainly focused on ‘what’ was going to be improved and ‘how’ changes in practice may occur, rather than ‘why’. This implies a missing link in PLC-teams’ conversations, which critical friends may help teachers overcome by prompting them to articulate the application of ‘why’ in relation to the specifics of their students’ learning. 

This article is the result of an international collaboration between two academics who work closely with local schools as critical friends, each in their own PLC setting. This exploratory study aims to apply an analytical model in order to illustrate possibilities and clarify silences or missing links in collegial learning conversations. The analytical model is applied to analyse collegial learning conversations from two PLC settings, along with collegial conversations between the two researchers. The analysis was guided by three core considerations: What? Why? How? Two purposely selected transcripts of conversations with two separate PLCs, along with anecdotal notes from our conversations as research colleagues, provided the base for analysis. Findings generated by the application of the analytical model indicated that teachers’ PLC conversations were most explicit in relation to identifying what elements of practice to improve and how to improve teaching and learning, rather than articulating why change initiatives to develop professional knowledge were needed or on what basis they were chosen. In turn, this prompted the researchers to become more aware of ‘why’ considerations in their own work as researchers ©2021 Anna Fletcher & Ann-Christine Wennergren

Elevers förmåga att resonera ska genomsyra alla ämnen i grundskolan. Man kan se förmågan som en demokratisk aspekt i ett flerstämmigt klassrum och som oerhört väsentlig ur ett samhällsperspektiv. Vårt fall visar att elevers förmåga att resonera kan utvecklas på relativt kort tid när lärare samtidigt studerar sin egen praktik. I kapitlet diskuteras fallet ur perspektiv som: bedömning, kommunikation, ämnesdidaktik och skolutveckling. 

Skolinspektionens granskning av svenska skolor från 2010 visar att tyst arbete premieras och att elever inte ges möjligheter att lära tillsammans eller reflektera kring sitt eget lärande. Analysen ger en dyster bild av undervisning som ofta gynnar elevers individuella projekt, där tid för gemensamma upplevelser har minskat och där innehållet i det gemensamma samspelet har förändrats. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att utveckla kunskap om hur lärare systematiskt kan basera sin undervisning på samtal som utgår från elevernas förståelse. Nio lektioner i matematik i årskurs fyra har videofilmats. I analysen framkom tre kategorier. Först och främst använder sig läraren av olika sätt att ställa följdfrågor där kontrollerande frågor var vanligt förkommande. Läraren förstärkte också elevsvar genom att både lyfta fram det som var rätt och visa på vad som blev fel. Slutligen följdes elevsvar upp för att föra lektionen framåt. Resultaten indikerar att det i elevernas ”fel-svar” ligger en potential för lärande. Studien ger därmed implikationer att lärarens förmåga att ta tillvara elevsvar som underlag för undervisning i hög grad påverkar elevers möjligheter att lära.

Detta kapitel tar upp det som inom 3O-modellen kallas för input och som innebär inspiration och påfyllnad av kunskap och idéer. Input är ett av de så kallade benen i modellen, där de två andra behandlas separat i nästkommande kapitel. Input har som mål att ge energi och motivation i arbetet med Modellskolan där nya tankar och idéer lanseras parallellt med att det innehåll som är själva Modellskolans mål tas upp systematiskt och konsekvent. Kompetensutvecklingen inom Modellskolan följer att på förhand uppgjort program – som är en kurs – som ska leda till en skola på vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet, med forskande lärare och full måluppfyllelse. Inspirationen ska röra sig kring olika delar som tillsammans lägger grunden till att målen uppfylls. Det är i tur och ordning: didaktikens idéhistoria, vetenskapsbegreppet i skola, forskning, teorier och metoder samt beskrivningar av forskningens konkreta tillämpning i Modellskolan. Inspiration har vanligtvis formen av en föreläsning. Den ges i allmänhet under en halv eller hel kompetensutvecklingsdag där samtliga rektorer och lärare deltar.  

Allt fler utbildningar på svenska lärosäten ges i dag under mer flexibla former. Många universitetslärare upplever därför att det finns ett behov av att utveckla de metoder som används i distansundervisning, då närvaro och aktiviteter blir annorlunda jämfört med campusförlagd undervisning. Detta kapitel handlar om hur ökad struktur och ökad interaktion för distansstudenter kan främja uppsatsskrivande. I centrum för kapitlet står en didaktisk metod, så kallade responsseminarier, som visar sig vara mer än en modell för att främja studenters lärande. © Författarna och Studentlitteratur.

We will present a study in progress. The aim is to generate insights about thecontent-related feedback student teachers receive within the context of mathematicsteaching during their practicum period. Students perceive feedback as an importantprompt for developing their further knowledge within disciplines and courses that arepart of their programme. Similarly, lack of feedback has a negative impact on students’motivation. For feedback to be of relevance, it needs to both relate to course contentand provide guidance for future tasks. The main challenge faced by the provider offeedback is to ensure that feedback is explicit, since vague or unclear feedback iseither ignored by students or experienced as frustrating. Thus, mentors tend toobserve student teachers so they can provide explicit feedback that will guide studentteachers as they develop their teaching practice. Being able to provide feedback toa student teacher in the context of a lesson requires the observer to not only havepractitioner knowledge, but also a command of the relevant content knowledgerelating to the discipline. So far, we have established that that student teachers tendto seek generalised feedback, and that mentors rarely provide feedback that targetsdiscipline specific teaching considerations. Based on relevant research, we seek toinfluence mentors’ discipline specific feedback to student teachers, since that in turnenhances the learning outcomes for their students. The present study explores howmentor articulate feedback to student teachers who teach mathematics in the primaryyears, to pupils aged 6-9. To improve feedback both mentor and student teachersundertook a series of action research cycles as a part of their professional developmentinto providing and receiving discipline specific feedback. The emerging findings will bediscussed with mentors and students after the practicum period has been completed.

Denna artikel beskriver ett ULF-projekt där sjuförskollärare på övningsförskolor har lett och spelat in professionsseminarier med lärarstudenter. På högskolan har förskollärarna utforskat inspelningarna tillsammans med tre forskare. Syftet har varit att förbättra kvaliteten och likvärdigheten i seminarier där ett teoretiskt analysredskap med tre dimensioner av praktiskt yrkeskunnande användes. I projektet har bland annat förändringar i ledarskapet av seminarierna undersökts. Resultatet synliggör förändringar i ägarskap av analysredskapet, tillit till det egna professionella omdömet och professionellt mod att undersöka egna tillkortakommanden. Förändringarna har påverkat kvaliteten i seminarierna.

Teachers are expected to develop and follow up their practices in order to create thebest possible opportunities for student learning and growth. Action research providesprocesses and tools for such an approach and for this reason, some universities inthe Nordic countries have integrated action research into their teacher educationand in-service programs. Action research is not primarily technical when it comes toinvestigating practices but rather strives for critical thinking and thereby empowermentfor teachers. Expectations and traditions collide under those circumstances and thequestion is what action research education leads to.

In this symposium we want to explore (1) if and how teachers, through studyingand practicing action research, develop their practices and knowledge, (2) How theeducation itself and the schools where the teachers work nurture or constrain teachers’development work.

In Sweden, we have interviewed teachers participating in master programs givenat two universities (Gothenburg and Halmstad). The focus in the interviews was onwhether their practices in schools have changed and if so how the education hasinfluenced those changes. In Finland, teachers, who have conducted action researchas part of an in-service course at Åbo Akademi University, have been interviewedwith the same research focus. In Sweden, one teacher, who participated in the masterprogram in Gothenburg, has studied herself in her new role as teacher educator/facilitator at the University and present results from this study.

Our results contribute with knowledge on how educational action researchemerges, sometimes easily and sometimes with more difficulties, in two Nordiccontexts as a way for teachers to become owners of their own development work.

Syftet med denna text är att bidra med kunskap om vad som prioriteras och genomförs på en gymnasieskola när visionen är att bli en ”hjärnsmart skola”. I texten delges tankarna bakom konceptet hjärnsmart och hur det tillämpats i praktiken med hjälp av tio-goda-vanor, från 2013 och framåt. De tio vanorna handlar om hälsofrämjande insatser kring: mat/näring, fysisk aktivitet, positiva tankar, hantera stress, lära sig nya saker, repetition, omväxling, ta egna beslut, vänner och relationer samt vila/sömn. Skolan har börjat etablera konceptet både på elev- skol- och huvudmannanivå. För elever och lärare har utbildning och insatser i undervisningen bidragit med redskap för att lära sig hantera sin hjärnhälsa. På skolnivå har samarbetet med elevhälsan bidragit till ett gemensamt språk kring hjärnsmarta insatser både i undervisning, elevhälsoarbete och individuella samtal. Även utformningen av en ny skolbyggnad kommer att genomsyras av tankarna bakom hjärnsmarta miljöer. Under arbetet har skolan haft kontinuerligt stöd från skolhuvudman. För att nå framgång med en vision, eller ett gemensamt koncept, har det krävts kollektiva strukturer och redskap i skolans utvecklingsorganisation. Några har etablerats men de behöver ytterligare prövas och granskas för att inkludera all personal och alla elever.

The study was conducted in a school for special education with small classes of six to 12 students. The aim was to illuminate how students’ understanding of written assessments could be related to assessment for learning. Twenty-nine students were asked to describe their understanding of written assessment in three different subjects and, further, to describe their perceptions in follow-up interviews. The two-step analysis first focused on individual understanding. Thereafter Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD) was used as analytical tool. In the first analysis three categories were identified. Students’ understandings were related to subject matter knowledge, generic skills and attitudes. The findings of the second analysis indicated that written assessment often lacked formative features and cannot be seen as learning in the ZPD. Difficulties with schoolwork were seen as problems of the individual and the measures were directed towards the student. Even though the guidelines ask for a relational perspective a categorical perspective sometimes was adopted in the assessments. The implications of the study relate to the ways teacher’s assessment competences can encompass students’ understanding and how this can be translated into action.

Bokens kapitel är skrivna av författare som alla ingår i ett samarbetande team kring frågor som berör verksamhetsförlagd utbildning (VFU). Utöver bokens två inledande och ett avslutande kapitel har vi valt att fördela texterna på tre teman som riktar sig mot tre centrala kompetenser som utgör grunden för en skicklig handledare: observationskompetens, samtalskompetens och bedömningskompetens. Boken kan antingen läsas som en helhet eller delarna var sig beroende på läsarens intresse. Vi vill betona att bokens budskap och innehåll är användbart för samtliga lärarprogram. Eftersom de data som använts kommer från grundlärarprogrammen används oftast begreppen skola och elever. Vi menar dock att förskolan inkluderas även när vi skriver enbart elever snarare än barn/elever. VFU-perioden som det hänvisas till handlar om studenternas sista VFU-period på sin övningsskola. Boken vänder sig i första hand till VFU-handledare inom alla lärarprogram. Men vi vill understryka att bokens innehåll berör kompetenser som alla handledare behöver utveckla, såväl VFU-handledare och lokala VFU-ledare som handledare inom högskoleförlagd utbildning (HFU). Därmed har vi valt att betrakta all handledning med intentionen att utveckla studenters praktiska yrkeskunnande som handledning.

The overall aim of this action research study was to investigate how communication quality could be improved for hard of hearing students in a classroom setting. The study focused on changes of the technical system, the arrangement of furniture and teachers’ attitudes towards teaching and learning. All changes were intended to create a learning situation with a high learning potential. Eight hard of hearing students, ages 13-16, were involved in the study over a period of three years. The empirical material was generated from group interviews and individual evaluations. It was found that most important factors regarding the technology were mobility, flexibility and the ability to handle background noise. With these changes, it is possible for these students to participate actively in the dialogue, to co-operate and to learn together. The results show how important it is for hard of hearing students to participate in more “natural” conversations.

In classes for hard-of-hearing pupils there are children and young people with different degrees of impaired hearing, all of whom need hearing aids and technical equipment inthe environment. The initial problem area of the present thesis concerned the pattern of communication in the classroom. Previous research has shown that such communication is strongly affected by the chosen technical solution. The research questions developed successively from the assumption that it is only the teachers that can change the learning environment. In order to achieve a combination of scientific results and improvement,this study has an action research study approach. The overall aim was to illuminate and describe dialogues between different actors in a national school improvement project. Actors in the context were teachers, their pupils and the researcher. The thesis is based on improvement work in which the researcher cooperated with fifty teachers from five schools located in different parts of Sweden. This work involved parallel processes of change, for the pupils in the classrooms and for the participating teachers. The thesis comprises three substudies, two of which are focused on the teachers’ dialogues and one on the pupils’ listening environments. In the last-mentioned substudy, 165 pupils were asked to draw and describe their best listening environment at school. The result showed that the listening role required different environmental conditions, such as a cleaned upsound environment, visual support, conversation rules and comfortable surroundings. A central conclusion was that pupils need to be offered opportunities to verbalise their individual needs in the school environment. The result further showed that the teachers worked in different ways to improve the learning environment and that they introduced structures to support the dialogue between pupils. This happened at the same time as the teachers were trying out tools for their own learning in order to take part in dialogues with colleagues based on confirmations and challenges. Tools used in the learning processes were a logbook, shadowing, facilitating and a net-based dialogue. The analyses showed explicit differences between using the tools and learning through them in the zone of proximal development. In their improvement processes the teachers depended on critical friends in order to be challenged as knowledge developers. Difficulties in giving a balanced response were evident from the net-based forum in which the teachers reported different attempts at change. The study has drawn on sociocultural perspectives on learning in which dialogue competence have been central to learning in the classroom and in the teachers’ occasional communities of practice. The results indicate that teachers, for their professional improvement, require critical friends in alternative forms of learning processes and that pupils as actors require alternative listening environments.

The aim of this paper is to describe how tools used in action research can promote learning in relation to Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development (zpd). In the study, Vygotsky’s (2001) theory of the zone of proximal development was used to describe how knowledge development can be manifested in a work of change. The data production took place in a school improvement project where fifty teachers participated over a period of three years. Tools for data production, and at the same time tools for learning, were: facilitation, shadowing and individual log book writing. The tools were initially analysed from three aspects: as used individually, as used in pairs or in a group, and in relation to the zone of proximal development. The responses were divided into confirmations and challenges. Although the participants expressed a need for challenges, they were in practice more prone to confirm one another. This gap showed the importance of analysing and openly talking about the difference between confirmation and challenge in zpd. In the joint analysis work, differences were elucidated between using tools outside zpd and learning through tools within zpd. Knowledge was developed in both situations but at different levels of reflection. In relation to zpd, the importance of colleagues was emphasised. In her/his competence development, a teacher is dependent on one or several critical friends (cf Handal, 2007) to be challenged as a knowledge developer. Giving response proved more difficult in virtual meetings than in physical meetings.

Begreppet en skola för alla har kommit att bli ett slagord för den inkluderande skolan, ett uppdrag som gäller i svenska skolor, likväl som i andra länder. Rektor har huvudansvaret. Men pedagoger och specialpedagoger har ansvaret för att konkretisera och omsätta olika former av inkluderade arbetssätt tillsammans med eleverna.

I fem regioner i Sverige samlas elever med hörselnedsättning i hörselskolor där en kommun står som värd för elever från flera kommuner. Dessa geografiskt utspridda praktiker är beroende av hörselteknisk utrustning, vilket till viss del bidragit till ett specifikt och envägsbaserat kommunikationsmönster i klassrummet. För att bedriva skolutveckling i samverkan mellan dessa skolor startades ett nationellt projekt som planerades med en aktionsforskningsinriktad ansats. Olika förändringsförsök genomfördes och kommunicerades mellan skolorna i fysiska och nätbaserade möten. Syftet med denna artikel är att belysa den kommunikation som utvecklades via nätet när en skolutvecklingsgrupp skriftligt utbytte erfarenheter gällande klassrumsbaserade förändringsförsök. Resultat visar att alla deltagare var aktiva på olika sätt och att det relationella och det professionella utbytet varit ömsesidigt beroende av varandra. De inledande inläggen visade på låg grad av mottagarmedvetenhet som dock utvecklades över tid. Som redskap för denna praxisgemenskap har skrivandet synliggjort en potential för lärande och utveckling där tid, motivation, mottagarkompetens och stödstrukturer har påverkat utfallet.

Detta kapitel handlar om skuggning som en interaktiv observationsmetod. Intresset för att dokumentera och kritiskt granska den egna praktiken startade på 1990-talet när jag fick möjlighet att arbeta i partnerskap med en kollega på grundskolan. Det visade sig dock i våra kollegiala samtal att vi ofta hade olika bilder av samma undervisning. Successivt började vi inse vinsten med systematisk dokumentation och att använda varandra som kritiska vänner. I mitt nuvarande arbete som lärarutbildare och aktionsforskare är skuggning en användbar metod för utveckling och forskning med lärare. Det är dock inte tillräckligt med dokumentation för att utveckla praktiker, en kritisk vän är oumbärlig för att ny kunskap även ska kunna omsättas i handling.

Professional learning is intended to improve teaching, benefit student learning and in the longer term improve achievement of targets in schools. When teachers take responsibility not only for their own learning but also for their colleagues’, it can lead to a shift in attitudes towards collaborative learning. This study presents an example of a professional learning community (PLC) based on teachers’ engagement in systematic inquiries. The aim of the study was to explore crucial factors during the process of critical friendship that could be related to a PLC. The research context was a series of shadowing sessions where teachers were expected to document teaching and provide feedback. The analyses are mainly based on documentation, in the form of shadowing logs produced when teachers study each other in action. Findings indicate that the role of critical friend was hard to internalise and that most of the teachers did not use it to its full potential for learning, according to the Vygotskian concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Three crucial factors for learning in a PLC are addressed: Active choices related to teachers’ and students’ learning during different phases in the inquiry, the complexity of mastering several skills in action research at the same time, and the teachers’ attitudes to professional learning. © 2015 Educational Action Research

Denna artikel beskriver genomförandet av ett utvecklingsprojekt där fokus legat på responsarbete i anknytning till textbaserade seminarier inom en forskningsmiljö. Utifrån teorier om dialog, samspel och lärande utarbetades ett arbetssätt med sikte på gemensam förståelse, delaktighet, bekräftelse och utmaning. Arbetssättet innebar att texter skickades ut till deltagarna minst en vecka i förväg. Alla deltagare gav skriftlig respons via e-post enligt en gemensamt utarbetad struktur. Inför seminariet sammanställde och bearbetade författaren responsen och valde ut vad som skulle diskuteras. Genom att reflektera över arbetet har processen fångats upp. Reflektionerna förmedlade en ökad medvetenhet om de olika rollerna, responsgivare och mottagare, vilket upplevs ha bidragit till att deltagare utvecklat sin responskompetens. Slutligen diskuteras deltagandet som en lärande praxisgemenskap där ökad medvetenhet och delaktighet varit tydliga komponenter i utvecklingsarbetet.

The aim of this study was to illuminate the listening strategies which are revealed when pupils described their choice of the “best listening environment” in school. The study comprises 165 hard-of-hearing pupils from five compulsory schools in Sweden. The results are mainly based on the pupils’ drawings and their attached written explanations. The pupils’ explanations are analysed in the form of four different needs associated with being a listener: a “cleaned-up” sound environment, visual support, conversation rules and comfortable surroundings. The explanations can be seen as reflective knowledge and experiences of listening strategies. Not every pupil in this study has a verbalised awareness of listening strategies in all categories but, as a community, they describe a lot of experiences and knowledge to be shared. How to take the role of listener and continuously develop new strategies might be a matter of self-image. © 2008 Taylor & Francis

The author of this chapter is engaged as a teacher and researcher at the University of Halmstad in Sweden, and has a special interest in professional learning based on action research. The chapter draws on experiences from a professional learning project conducted as a partnership between two municipalities and the University. The local authorities decided that two schools would participate in the project. © Springer International Publishing AG, Part of Springer Science+Business Media

The author of this chapter is engaged as a teacher and researcher at the University of Halmstad in Sweden, and has a special interest in professional learning based on action research. The chapter draws on experiences from a professional learning project conducted as a partnership between two municipalities and the University. The local authorities decided that two schools would participate in the project. The schools in question had, from national evaluations, identified obvious needs for improving student learning and achievement. The situation for the teachers and the author can be described as frustrating, but with a little spark of curiosity when thinking of the next step. The author, in the role of the researcher, did not know where to start; there was compass and a direction, but no local map. The situation can be described as being lost in a new and shared practice, where there was an urgent need to draw a map based on observations of practice. From this point of departure, all the participants set out on a collaborative journey, with the compass directed towards researched-based teaching and increased achievement among the students. © 2014 Sense Publishers

Som doktorand i ämnet pedagogik hade jag förmånen att ingå i en aktiv forskningsmiljö på Musikhögskolan i Piteå under åren 2002-07 där Sture Brändström var vetenskaplig ledare, tillika min handledare. I forskningsmiljön diskuterades kontinuerligt frågeställningar om: mästarlärartraditioner, lärande som imitation men framför allt lärandesituationer där tyst kunskap var för-givet-tagen. När jag under min forskarutbildning började analysera empiri från olika klassrum i grundskolan visade det sig att även dessa praktiker innehöll olika föreställningar som byggde på tyst kunskap. De femtio pedagoger som deltog i forskningsprojektet använde ett aktionsforskande arbetssätt för att studera och utveckla sitt vardagsarbete med eleverna (Wennergren, 2007). För att kunna utmana traditioner om elevers delaktighet och kommunikation observerade pedagogerna varandras handlingar i klassrummet. På så sätt formulerades en första berättelse om klassrumspraktiken. I detta skede underskattade jag betydelsen av omformuleringar. Senare har jag förstått att om förändring skall leda till förbättring behöver rådande traditioner både formuleras och omformuleras mellan kollegor. Utan att gå vidare in i avhandlingsprojektet nämner jag detta för att lyfta fram hur åren på Musikhögskolan påverkat mitt intresse för praktikens tysta kunskaper och framför allt väckt frågor om hur verksamheter med stor tyst kunskap kan förenas med aktivt utvecklingsarbete.

Lärarutbildningen i Halmstad ingår i en försöksverksamhet med övningsskolor/förskolor tillsammans med huvudmännen i Falkenberg, Halmstad, Laholm och Ängelholm samt en fristående skola 2014-2019.

De bakomliggande tankarna om övningsskolor handlar om att koncentrera lärarstudenters VFU på några få skolor och därmed öka kvalitén på den verksamhetsförlagda delen av utbildningen. Minst lika viktigt är att ett intensifierat samarbete mellan skolor och högskolan ska bidra till utveckling och att lärares kompetensutveckling ska vila på vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet. I Halmstad har modellen för övningsskolor följande tre hörnstenar: En lokal organisering av VFU genom lokala VFU-ledare, regelbundna VI-dagar (verksamhetsintegrerade dagar) utöver VFU där studier genomförs på övningsskolan samt att lärare och studenter ingår i samundervisning (co-teaching) under VFU eller VI-dagar.

Syftet med utvärderingen av projektets första år i grundlärarprogrammet har varit att dra lärdomar och identifiera förbättringsområden för kommande år. Sex kritiska faktorer har identifierats som särskilt viktiga för utfallet: 1) De lokala VFU-ledarna har haft en avgörande roll för kvalitet både i VFU och VI-dagar. 2) Bättre framförhållning och tydliga riktlinjer för VI-dagar behövs för att stärka likvärdigheten mellan skolorna. 3) Skolledarnas inställning och delaktighet har haft en avgörande betydelse för att projektet uppfattas som hela skolans angelägenhet. 4) Praktiska frågor, särskilt på små skolenheter, har inneburit merkostnader. 5) De flesta skolor har tagit vikten av handledarutbildning på allvar och det har gjort skillnad när fler än en lärare från varje skola deltagit i samma kursomgång. 6) Ökad närhet till Högskolans personal har bidragit till ett ömsesidigt samarbete med skolorna, där allas röster tagits på allvar.

En central slutsats är att ömsesidigheten påverkat lärarnas och skolledarnas sätt att se på studenternas utbildning. Redan efter ett år är inställningen att övningsskolorna och Högskolan tillsammans representerar lärarutbildningen.

Skolövertagning är en form av verksamhetsförlagd utbildning hämtat från Norge. Konceptet översatt till svenska sammanhang går ut på att lärarstudenter under sin sista verksamhetsförlagda utbildning (VFU) “tar över” hela eller delar av ett arbetslag på en skola. Skolövertagningsprojektet i Kalmar, som ligger till grund för denna utvärdering, hade som syfte att göra den verksamhetsförlagda delen av lärarutbildningen mer verklighetstrogen. Syftet var också att öka samarbetet mellan Högskolan i Kalmar och VFU-skolor.

För att låta sig inspireras och få nya idéer om progression och kvalitetsaspekter av VFU startade 2007 ett erfarenhetsutbyte mellan Högkolan i Agder (Norge) och Högskolan i Kalmar. Utbytet resulterade i att lärarstudenter som gick sin sista termin erbjöds att genomföra två veckors VFU i form skolövertagning i Kalmar hösten 2009. Deltagandet var frivilligt för både skolor och studenter. Förutom projektets explicita syften fanns bakomliggande frågeställningar om kvalitet, progression och utveckling av VFU samt frågor om samarbete gällande kompetensutveckling. I bakgrunden låg även tankar om att skolövertagning skulle bidra till att alla upplevde sig som vinnare: Högskolan, skolorna, studenterna, eleverna och föräldrarna. En extern utvärderare fick uppdraget att analysera och värdera utfallet av projektet. Datamaterialet bestod av loggböcker, intervjuer samt studenternas bedömningsunderlag. Deltagare var 29 studenter, deras handledare, två skolledare samt tre lärare från högskolan.

Resultatet visade att projektets ena syfte, att göra VFU mer verklighetstrogen, uppfyllts. Alla parter gav liknande budskap men hade lite olika värderingar om vad som varit verklighetstroget eller inte. Studenterna ansåg att övertagningen varit en ovärderlig del av deras totala lärarutbildning. Många hade först i detta skede av sin utbildning insett och förstått helheten i läraruppdraget. Deras berättelser antydde att de ingått i en socialisering in i yrket och börjat införliva en identitet som lärare. Handledarna och Högskolans lärare gav en mer differentierad bild av skolövertagningsveckorna. På Sundskolan (F-6) var lärarna positiva till själva idén om övertagning och kunde ge många exempel på hur studenterna tagit stort ansvar både i och utanför undervisningssituationen. På Dalskolan (6-9) fanns också många exempel på hur studenterna tagit ansvar med lyckade utfall. Däremot var lärarna skeptiska till konceptet och till hur pilotprojektet inledningsvis hade genomförts.

Syftet att öka samarbetet mellan högskolan och skolorna, uppnåddes inte inom ramen för projektet. Utvärderingen har dock resulterat i olika 6 förbättringsförslag vilka ger signaler att VFU i form av skolövertagning har potential för att tydliggöra innebörden av läraruppdraget och läraryrkets kunnande. Handlednings- och bedömningssituationen var två centrala delar som behövde granskas och utvecklas vidare.

Topic, aim and framework

A professional learning community (PLC) is characterised by teachers sharing and critically reviewing their practices in an on-going collaborative, inclusive and learning-orientated way. Students represent the majority of a school organisation although they are rarely considered as participants in the PLC. The aim of our study was to explore an extended version of a PLC with a focus on participation of teachers and students working together in the classroom. The social theory of Wenger was used as a framework of the study. We have also made an explicit connection between PLC and the classroom as a community of practice (CoP). According to Wenger learning occurs as a function of legitimate participation in the negotiation of the work.

Methodology/research design

The qualitative design was based on interviews with eleven teachers at a compulsory school working within a school wide project of professional learning. Teachers selected for the interviews had earlier in the project showed a close collaboration with students during their improvement work in the classroom. Three themes constituting the legitimate participation in the negotiation were used as an analytical tool: shared repertoire, mutual engagement and joint enterprise.

Findings

A shared repertoire was in the interviews expressed in terms of how teachers introduced and developed different tools for learning. The use of temporary and permanent tools seemed to change customary teaching into positive learning experiences. A mutual engagement was expressed in terms of how to establish relations and an atmosphere as well as respect for learning among students. A joint enterprise was expressed in terms of how students’ associations and experiences were used to illuminate the content knowledge in planning for learning. Collaboration between teacher and students were initially dependent on the teacher inviting the students to participate. However, gradually transferring invitations into negotiations shaped a community of teachers together with students.

Conclusion

We conclude that the CoP is a useful theory for describing and explaining the level of participation and engagement in a PLC for teachers together with students. Enterprise, engagement and repertoire have been essential components when planning and organising teaching, but to encourage democracy and participation those components need to be combined qualities of togetherness – joint, mutual and shared.

Vi som skrivit detta kapitel har ett gemensamt intresse för redskap, strukturer och metoder som används i förskolors och skolors förbättringsarbete. Handledning är ett sätt att rikta förbättringar mot undervisning och elevernas behov. I texten presenteras olika modeller och former för kollegial handledning. Vi delger även exempel från handledningspraktiker samt diskuterar möjligheter och hinder för handledning som professionsutveckling. Genomgående lyfter vi fram ett praktikperspektiv på handledning, där lärares och skolledares handlingar blir synliga. Tanken är att skolledare ska få stöd och inspiration att initiera handledning som en del av skolans kollegiala lärande.

Kollegialt lärande har blivit ett modeord framför andra när det gäller arbetssätt för skolutveckling. Kollegialt lärande är dock inget nytt påfund utan handlar helt enkelt om att lärare behöver samarbeta när undervisningen ska förbättras. Där är forskningen samstämmig! Framgångsrika skolor där elever når målen i hög grad har en god lärmiljö som lärarna har skapat tillsammans. På dessa skolor finns lång erfarenhet av hur det går till i praktiken när lärare förbättrar undervisningen och vilka specifika strukturer och processer som krävs. I det här kapitlet beskriver vi vad som behövs för att kollegialt lärande ska kunna ses som en praktikgemenskap och hur skolor kan organisera för gemensamma innehållsprojekt. Därefter följer ett avsnitt som handlar om eleverna – att det gemensamma projektet behöver utgå ifrån elevernas behov och att de behöver involveras och delta i skolans kollegiala lärande. Vi delar också med oss av exempel från skolor där vi varit involverade som forskare och handledare för att utveckla det kollegiala lärandet.

A professional learning community (PLC) has increasingly appeared as an ideal image for school leaders when shaping a successful school organisation. A PLC is characterised by teachers sharing and critically reviewing their practices in an on-going collaborative, inclusive and learning-orientated way. Students represent the majority of a school organisation although they are rarely considered as participants in the PLC. The aim of our study was to explore an extended version of a PLC with a focus on participation of teachers and students working together in the classroom. The social theory of Wenger was used as a framework of the study. We have also made an explicit connection between PLC and the classroom as a community of practice. According to Wenger learning occurs as a function of legitimate participation in the negotiation of the work. 

Data was based on interviews with eleven teachers at a compulsory school working within a school wide project of professional learning. Teachers selected for the interviews had earlier in the project showed a close collaboration with students during their improvement work in the classroom.

Three themes constituting the legitimate participation in the negotiation were used as an analytical tool: shared repertoire, mutual engagement and joint enterprise. 1) A shared repertoire was in the interviews expressed in terms of how teachers introduced and developed different tools for learning. The use of temporary and permanent tools seemed to change customary teaching into positive learning experiences. 2) A mutual engagement was in the interviews expressed in terms of how to establish relations and an atmosphere as well as respect for learning among students. 3) A joint enterprise was in the interviews expressed in terms of how students’ associations and experiences were used to illuminate the content knowledge in planning for learning.

Collaboration between teacher and students were initially dependent on the teacher inviting the students to participate. However, gradually transferring invitations into negotiations shaped a community of teachers together with students. Knowledge of what constitute a PLC is most relevant for school leaders when planning for improvement, especially how PLCs interact with and engage students in the learning process. To promote the building of a PLC our findings showed important qualities for school leaders to be considered in organising teachers´ work and learning.

Students represent the majority of the people in a school organisation, but are rarely considered as participants in literature on professional learning communities (PLC). This article explored a PLC with the legitimate participation of students in the classroom. Data was based on interviews with eleven teachers. Community of practice theory provides three dimensions that were used as analytical tools: shared repertoire, mutual engagement and joint enterprise. Shared repertoire refers to how teachers introduce and develop tools for learning; mutual engagement to how to establish relationships and atmosphere with a respect for learning; and joint enterprise to how students’ associations and experiences are used to shape content knowledge in planning for learning. We conclude that the theory of community of practice is useful to describe and understand the formation of a PLC. © 2015 Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research.