In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, teacher education has been subject to comprehensive reforms over the past few years. Central governmental documents are forming the basis for these reforms, and in the documents concerning Norway and Sweden, the task of training pupils’ skills in critical thinking are emphasized as an overall aim for teaching processes and education.

We will address the question of how the policy documents in Norway and Sweden give the necessary preconditions for developing skills in critical thinking in schools.  This question will be discussed comparatively, based on the analysis of policy documents and official reports on observations from the outcome of the aforementioned reforms, in Norway and Sweden. The theoretical and methodological basis for this study will be critical discourse analysis (CDA), developed by Norman Fairclough (1995) and Ruth Wodak, among others. This will, in turn, raise questions such: What kind of differences can be highlighted between Norway and Sweden? Can possible differences be related to differences in political climate? If not, what can they be related to? How do texts communicate to readers, and why do they communicate the way they do?

From a critical discourse analysis perspective, a text can be described, analyzed and interpreted on three levels; a descriptive linguistic level, a discourse level and a societal level (Fairclough, 1995 p. 133). The data being examined and analyzed are the two policy documents: “Teacher: Role and Educational” (Norway) and “A Sustainable Teacher Education” (Sweden). A qualitative content analysis consists of a close reading of the documents, focusing on the respective country’s ambitions for teacher education. Preliminary our analyzing shows that a specific definition of the term “critical thinking” seems to be lacking in the documents from both countries.

I den här boken presenteras deltagarorienterat och kollaborativt lärande för hållbar utveckling i förskolan. Utöver en introduktion till teoretiska utgångspunkter bjuds läsaren in att ta del av konkreta exempel på aktiviteter i förskolan med fokus på olika aspekter av hållbar utveckling och hur det går att använda sig av såväl språk och kommunikation som IKT, matematik, naturvetenskap och teknik i detta arbete.

Läsaren får ta del av hur viktig utformningen av miljöer och aktiviteter i förskolan är för barns förutsättningar att lära och skapa mening inom hållbar utveckling och hur barns lärande i det dagliga arbetet med hållbar utveckling i förskolan kan synliggöras. Här tydliggörs allt det fantastiska som sker i barns lek och då barn arbetar med resurser som görs tillgängliga för dem i aktiviteter som planeras av förskollärare. Boken presenterar även hur forskare och förskollärare behandlar processer i det professionella lärandet med fokus på barns lärande. Boken vänder sig till studerande och lärare på såväl förskollärar- som F-3 lärarprogrammen, till verksamma förskollärare och lärare för skolans tidigare år samt verksamhetsansvariga.

Both in Sweden and Norway, teacher education has been subject to comprehensive reforms during the last years. Central governmental documents are forming the basis for these reforms, and in these documents, the task of training pupil’s skills in critical thinking is emphasised as an overall aim for teaching processes and education. However, a more specific definition of the term “critical thinking”, i.e. how skills in critical reflection is encouraged in practice, in the classroom and among the students, seems to be lacking in the documents from both countries. In this paper, we will address the question of how far the policy documents give the necessary preconditions for developing skills in critical thinking in school. The question will be discussed comparatively, and on the basis of analysis of policy documents as well as on official reports on observations from the outcome of these reforms, both in Norway and Sweden. The theoretical and methodological basis for this study will be critical discourse analysis (CDA) as it is developed by Norman Fairclough and Ruth Wodak, among others. This will, in turn, raise questions such as: are there any differences between Norway and Sweden? If so, what differences can be highlighted? Can possible differences be related to differences in political climate? If not, what?

 Thus, the question of how texts communicate to the readers will be crucial to our presentation.

The paper is part of a larger project aiming to shed light on the mutual relation between practice and theory in teacher education. The project will be done in cooperation between Halmstad University and Telemark University College, as well as teacher education universities in Denmark (Via University, Aalborg).

As this paper is a part of a project in its initial phase, concrete research results are still to be seen. Our preliminary thesis, is, however, that policy documents, both in Sweden and Norway, tend to be driven by political goals rather than goals emphasising improvements of skills in critical thinking and education.

The aim of the study was to describe and analyse the design of learning environments and how children in preschool, preschool class and primary school create meaning and learn from the teaching aids offered to them in scientific activities planned by teachers.

The theoretical reference frame was obtained from multimodal and design-oriented theory, with its focus on the creative dimensions of learning and detailed aspects of how learning takes place. The study is based on video-observations and constituted an in-depth study of a limited number of occasions spent in preschool, preschool classes and the first year of primary school when science lessons were in progress. Four children’s groups, thirty-six children and five teachers took part in the study, from different schools and municipalities. The children are aged between three and seven. The video-observations have been transcribed as text and analysed with analytical concepts found within the theoretical framework.

The results show that considering the number of children in the children’s groups, relatively few children take part in the scientific learning contexts. Changes in the balance of power were evident in the learning settings and followed the interaction patterns that were identified in the children’s groups.  The results also show that children create representations – both individually and corporately – in new or different ways that are made up of analogies expressed in terms of equivalent, existential, expressive and figurative analogies. The children’s verbal expressions that corresponded with the responses expected by the teachers were highly valued, were paid attention to and were recognised as know-how. This meant that many of the potential meanings that exist in children’s meaning-making in science become invisible. The results have educational implications for teachers’ work at the local level and for teacher training.

Hur ser vi på barns lärande? Vad säger deras nyfikenhet oss? Och hur bekräftar vi den kunskap de själva kommit fram till? Hur kan vi tolka barns uttryck så att de hjälper oss förstå hur vi ska vägleda dem i deras spontana sökande efter kunskap? De konkreta exemplen i Design för lärande i förskolan är inriktade på språk och kommunikation, naturvetenskap och matematik. Genom inspirerande analyser som är kopplade till exemplen, ger boken en inblick i allt det lärande som ständigt pågår i barns vardag. För att ta vara på de oändliga möjligheterna som finns i förskolan, behöver vi förstå hur lärande går till och hur det kommer till uttryck. På samma sätt måste vi uppmärksamma vår egen roll i barnens lärande – hur interaktion med barnen, vårt utformande av resurser, miljöer och aktiviteter får betydelse för barnens möjligheter att engagera sig, lära och förstå. Design för lärande i förskolan vänder sig till blivande och verksamma förskollärare och förskolechefer.

Syftet med det här forskningsarbetet är att öka förståelsen av hur mönster i interaktionsprocesser påverkar barn och lärare i samtidiga skeenden. Studien syftar även till att öka insikten om hur naturvetenskapligt innehåll väljs ut och gestaltas i samspel mellan såväl barn som barn och lärare i en förskola och förskoleklass. De övergripande forskningsfrågorna är: Vilka interaktionsmönster dominerar när naturvetenskapligt innehåll behandlas? Vilka handlingar påverkar händelseförloppet? Hur väljs det naturvetenskapliga innehållet ut? Hur gestaltas det naturvetenskapliga innehållet i de specifika situationer som studeras? Därutöver syftar arbetet till att genomföra en metodstudie i avsikt att diskutera metodologiska val och analysprocessen. Teoretiska utgångspunkter tar avstamp ur konstruktionistisk teori med förankring i sociologisk interaktionsforskning. Undersökningen genomfördes i en förskola och en förskoleklass. På en förskoleavdelning medverkade en lärare och sex barn i åldern två till fyra år. I förskoleklassen medverkade två lärare och fjorton barn i åldern fem till sex år. De olika situationerna har dokumenterats med hjälp av videokamera och därefter analyserats i ett videoanalysprogram. Begreppen språkbruk och naturvetenskapliga aktiviteter har använts som raster för att strukturera och systematisera materialet. Resultatet visar att naturvetenskapliga aktiviteter som utgörs av observation och undersökning samt frågor som behandlar djur och natur dominerar i de specifika sammanhang som studerats. Interaktionsmönstret visar på konstellationer av barn som återkommande bildar team i olika situationer. Lärarna och vissa team avbarn väljer och styr därmed hur de innehållsliga aspekterna gestaltas i de naturvetenskapliga aktiviteterna.

These two booklets are structured as Volumes 1 & 2. The working team responsible for researching and writing them come from five member states within the European Union: Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Spain & Sweden. This book explores which specific competencies in Citizenship Education and Identity might be included in 1st & 2nd cycle courses that educate/train professionals who will work with children/young people. A secondary aspect of the booklets was to show how the ‘Tuning Principles’1 could be applied to develop Specific Competencies for undergraduate and graduate cycle programmes that relate to Citizenship Education & Identity with respect to young people. Volume One takes a wider, theoretical and more sociological perspective primarily relating to the Bologna Process and the Tuning Principles in a European and National context. It also examines the broader concepts of Teacher Education relating to Citizenship and Identity.

These two books are structured as Volumes 1 & 2. The working team responsible for researching and writing them come from five member states within the European Union: Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Spain & Sweden. This book explores which specific competencies in Citizenship Education and Identity might be included in 1st & 2nd cycle courses that educate/train professionals who will work with children/young people. A secondary aspect of the booklets was to show how the ‘Tuning Principles’1 could be applied to develop Specific Competencies for undergraduate and graduate cycle programmes that relate to Citizenship Education & Identity with respect to young people. Volume Two relates closely to specific country contexts and examines comparables and competencies generated from the research data as well as discussion about the research process. Each Volume can be read independently, but for a greater understanding of the themes and key concepts it is advised that both are read together.