This thesis examines teachers’ voices on the latest curriculum reform and how teachers experience the impact of the reform on their teaching. The aim of this study is to contribute to knowledge about the conditions of the implementation of a new reform and how the reform controls and empowers teachers’ teaching. I examine the issue using the concepts from curriculum theory and implementation theory as well as visible and invisible pedagogy. Primary school teachers, Grades 1-3 (n=224) within an entire municipality responded to an extensive questionnaire concerning their relation to the reform. The questionnaire was developed from qualitative interviews and questionnaires with open questions. The new curriculum reform tends towards increased control but the results show that the majority of teachers consider both the curriculum and the national examinations for Grade 3 as a support in their teaching and assessment. Most teachers express that the recent curriculum increases their professionalism. Yet there is a tension between positive and negative experiences of the reform, as some teachers express that the new curriculum and the national tests limit their professional freedom while other teachers express that they would like even more detailed support and guidance. There are also teachers who think it is too early to introduce goals, in the form of knowledge requirements and national tests, because it violates the students’ right to develop at their own pace based on their prerequisites. Further, most teachers in the study state that they have been affected by the goals and the national tests, but at a school level a common plan in mathematics and routines to discuss the goals of mathematics education is often lacking. The study also shows that national tests are not used in order to improve the mathematics results of the whole school. The factor analysis shows that there are differences between teachers’ voices depending on their age, their teaching experience, and if they are graduated before or after the reform of 1994. The different expressions can be linked to teachers’ voices of teacher professionalism, of student learning and maturity. The results of the study are of interest for various actors at different educational levels like politicians, curriculum authors and principals. By taking part of the study they have the opportunity to gain more knowledge of how to create good conditions to support teachers to enact the curriculum in their classrooms.
The overall aim of this thesis is to use a curriculum theoretical perspective to contribute knowledge about the impact of recent reforms on teachers’/preschool teachers’ teaching, with a special focus on mathematics. The thesis takes its starting point in a licentiate thesis that was completed in 2014. The further doctoral studies are based on two articles. These articles answer specific research questions. Substudy 1 was a systematic literature review that focused on the role of the preschool teacher in teaching mathematics in preschool. Substudy 2 explored how preschool teachers interpret their teaching mission based on the curriculum’s directives and how they describe the meaning of the concept of preschool teaching. The data from Substudy 1 consisted of 68 research articles, and Substudy 2 was based on 50 preschool teachers’ reflection texts. The theoretical underpinnings of the thesis are two theoretical perspectives: curriculum theory and Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic practice. The results from the two substudies show the importance of preschool teachers having both subject knowledge and didactic competence to carry out teaching in spontaneous situations and planned activities. The results from Substudy 1 show two different roles that preschool teachers adopt when teaching mathematics in preschool education guided by social pedagogical or pre-primary curriculum traditions; these are the role of instructor and the role of an interactor. In the research studies, preschool teachers provide instruction with planned subject content or interact with the children’s play and other everyday situations to promote children’s mathematics learning. The results from Substudy 2 show an education that is guided by invisible pedagogy within the social pedagogical curriculum tradition. The preschool teachers describe teaching taking place spontaneously in play and other everyday situations based on children’s own interests and needs. The preschool teachers also have a purpose with the teaching, and they plan activities together with the children. These reveal teaching governed by visible pedagogy, which is characteristic of the pre-primary curriculum tradition. Furthermore, there are indications that a new curriculum tradition is emerging bearing some similarities to previous traditions, an approach that is both play-based and goal-oriented. Children’s participation and influence are central in the teaching, which means that the teaching conforms to the children’s interests, and that goals from the curriculum are woven into the everyday work. The preschool teacher consciously shapes the environment in the preschool and uses materials to promote children’s learning, and the teaching has more distinct subject content. Together with the licentiate study, the two substudies show that teachers and preschool teachers have difficulty transforming a new curriculum text into practically applicable form. The curricula leave room for interpretation, and the uncertainty that arises in the transformation arena shows that they need support to realize the curriculum’s new guidelines.
The purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge about how teaching in preschool can be understood in relation to how teaching is described by preschool teachers. The following research questions were posed:How do preschool teachers describe teaching and its meaning in preschool? and What didactic questions appear in preschool teachers’ descriptions of teaching in preschool? The empirical data consist of reflective texts that were analysed through content analysis with the help of Bernstein’s concepts: classification and framing, and visible and invisible pedagogy. The results show that the preschool teachers in the study perceived the introduction of the concept of teaching in preschool as an opportunity, which allowed them to become more aware of their actions in different learning situations. That the preschool teachers described teaching taking place through play and in everyday situations based on children's interests and needs hints at an organization with invisible pedagogy, weak classification and weak framing. Strong classification and strong framing, on the other hand, became manifest when the preschool teachers described that they plan what they do with the children and use materials, organize children’s groups and design environments to promote children’s learning. Furthermore, the preschool teachers focused mainly on the didactic questions of how and why, while the what-question received less attention.
The aim of the study is to find similarities and differences concerning the new formulations on teaching in revised curriculum in Swedish preschool and international research in early childhood education, Teaching is more clarified in the revised curriculum. Swedish preschool education is moving towards a more formalized approach where teaching is more visible (Helenius, 2018). There is a consensus that early mathematics is important in policy and research but there is no agreement on how mathematics education should be implemented. There are differences between and within countries, a clear difference is the relation between play and teaching (Palmér & Björklund, 2016). The concepts of classification and framing are used to discuss the visibility of pedagogics in the formalization of teaching mathematics in preschool (Bernstein, 2000). This is a literature review regarding research on teaching mathematics in early childhood education. It draws from a number of scholarly research article conducted between 2014 and 2019. The data collection is in progress. Qualitative and quantitative content analysis will compare emerged codes. The expected results will consist of empirical research. Ethical consideration is met by showing respect and responsiveness to other researchers work. This literature review is based on peer-reviewed articles. Preliminary findings indicate differences in how teaching mathematics in preschool is described. Preschool in Sweden has a tradition of a play-based pedagogy and no formal assessment of children as many other countries. Perhaps, the change may push teaching to become more visible and formal (Helenius, 2018). Implications for policy and practice will be discussed.
This paper reports the results of a quantitative study on primary teachers' (n=253) views on the introduction of steering documents and national examinations for Grade 3. While the majority of the teachers experience the reform as empowering, some teachers feel the new curriculum and the national examination restrict their teacher professionalism. We found differences in how teachers viewed the reform depending on whether they had graduated before or after the reform in 1994. The differing views can be connected to teachers' beliefs about teacher professionalism and the relation between teaching, learning and maturing. We discuss our findings also in the light of curriculum development during the last four decades.
Previous research shows that many prospective and early childhood teachers have negative attitudes and low self-confidence in mathematics. These negative attitudes affect their teaching and children’s opportunities to learn mathematics. It is crucial that early childhood teacher education (ECTE) address students’ attitudes and work to promote positive attitudes towards mathematics. The aim of this study is to investigate prospective teachers’ attitudes towards mathematics, whether and how their attitudes change during ECTE and what might cause the changes. Students in three stages of the program participate – in semester 1, semester 3 and semester 5. A two-dimensional definition of attitude is adopted and a short version of the Attitudes Towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI) is used together with open-ended questions and interviews. The results show that the students’ attitudes are negative within the affective component and neutral to positive within the cognitive component. Most of the students in semester 5 experience a positive change in attitude during education due to positive and accessible teachers, increased knowledge of what mathematics in preschool can be and developed subject knowledge.
This study examines five preschool teachers' narratives about using the outdoor environment as a pedagogical resource for children's play, learning and experiences in Swedish preschools. Participants were asked to reflect on both opportunities and challenges in outdoor play and learning. The present study responds to the need for further research on how the outdoor environment is used in daily pedagogical practice through the lens of preschool teachers' own descriptions. The study is built on interpretive qualitative research, a form of narrative inquiry that uses concepts such as place and didactic sensitivity in the analysis. The findings show how the participants highlight many opportunities for children to engage in play and learning activities in the outdoor environment. The importance of educators' involvement and pedagogical commitment is also emphasised. However, constraints related to lack of variation, access, and teacher commitment are clearly identified as hindering the use of the outdoor environment as a pedagogical resource.
Researchers emphasise the importance for early childhood teacher education (ECTE) to promote positive attitudes towardsmathematics (Hollingsworth & Knight McKennas, 2018). The aim of this study is to investigate preservice teachers' attitudes totowards mathematics, whether and how attitudes change during ECTE and what might cause the changes. Previous research showsthat many preservice and early childhood teachers have low self-confidence and negative attitudes towards mathematics (Gresham& Burleigh, 2019; Hollingsworth & Knight McKenna, 2018; Linder & Simpson, 2018; Palmer, 2010). These negative attitudesinfluence their teaching of mathematics, which in turn affects children’s possibilities to learn (Geist, 2015; Knaus, 2017; Linder &Simpson; 2018; Youmans et al., 2018). We use the concept of attitude and adopt a multidimensional definition, where cognitive aswell as affective and behavioral components are included (Wen & Dube, 2022). We will use a short form of Tapia and Marsh's (2004)Attitudes Towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI) questionnaire, developed and tested by Lim and Chapman (2013), together withcomplementing open questions. Ethical considerations are made according to the guidelines of the Swedish Research Council (2017).Based on the results, we will describe preservice teachers' attitudes towards mathematics during different parts of their education,as well as what influences these and how ECTE can contribute to promoting positive attitudes. The study can provide knowledgeabout how ECTE can support the development of positive attitudes towards mathematics, with the ultimate aim to enable earlychildhood education teachers to teach mathematics using children’s curiosity and interest.
Developing sustainable early childhood education (ECE) demands competent staff. For this, regular professional development (PD) is significant. This study aims to problematise choices about scientific basis for PD-programs for ECE teachers. A concept for PD that has drawn attention the last years is massive open online courses (MOOC). Although researched and found promising for PD (e.g Herranen et al. 2021), the concept is not entirely compatible with other research on effective PD (Desimone, 2009). We draw on Desimone’s (2009) program theory for effective PD which include five core features: content focus, coherence, active learning, duration and collective participation. This will be discussed in relation to the results and problematised in relation to MOOC. This ongoing study is conducted within a qualitative research paradigm. Through a qualitative content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) of the 14 participants' written and oral evaluations of a PD-program designed with inspiration from the MOOC-concept, we study their perceptions of the form of the PD-program. In line with the guidelines of the Swedish research council (2017) consent was collected after the participants had been informed in writing about the aim of the research, valuntary participation and confidential treatment of personal data. Early results show the participants even before starting the PD-program recognized the lack of one core feature - collective participation - as they themselves organized meetings to discuss the course content. The results will contribute knowledge about whether the MOOC inspired PD-program is perceived to provide an effective learning environment for early childhood teachers.
The aim of this article is to scrutinize education for sustainability (EfS) in Swedish preschools, and especially how preschool teachers have articulated their work with economic sustainability objectives in practice. In this study we used an action-research methodology, and six preschool teachers from three preschools participated in the study. The theoretical framework was guided by critical theory, which was also used as a conceptual tool to explore agency and shared understandings as different ways of dealing with economic sustainability. The findings demonstrated that at the beginning of the project the preschool teachers did not view economic sustainability as part of the preschool’s objectives and activities, or the children’s learning. Nevertheless, in the dialogues between preschool teachers and researchers it became clear that the preschool teachers worked with these issues daily in their routines and in children’s activities and play.