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This study aims to increase our knowledge about how the main ideas in a national educational project concerning mathematics are implemented into ordinary activities. The original model included having a leadership form in common that involves local politicians, municipality administration, school leaders and teachers; creating joint routines; andadopting a common perspective that places high expectations on all pupils. In contrast to the original project, which was only for compulsory school, the selected local organizer engaged with preschool, compulsory school and upper-secondary school. The idea of having a common theme running throughout all school forms functioned for preschool and compulsory school but was hampered by the variety of choices of programs in upper-secondary school. The common perspective hat high expectations should be placed on all pupils was accepted, but it was difficult to reach a common understanding of the concept, and there were continuous discussions of what it meant in practice. Results from this exploratory study suggest that the local organizers created organizational ownership in different ways. However, a challenge was posed by the conceptual, didactic ownership of placing high expectations on the pupils. There were no problems with grasping the general idea, but during discussion it was difficult to reach a useful and relevant joint understanding of the concept. When a didactic perspective is included in a national change initiative, personnel in the education system need to translate the national perception, if any, into local terms.

The aim of the paper is to increase our knowledge of the transition from being a classroom teacher to becoming a Teacher Educator in a university-based Teacher Education program. The data collection consists of interviews with teachers from compulsory school who have some years of experience being Teacher Educators. Just as earlier results show, the Teacher Educators felt comfortable with their previous teaching experience and sought credibility as teachers. However, in contrast to earlier studies the Teacher Educators did not find the transition troublesome in general, even if they had suggestions for improvement of the support given. All perceived that they were engaged in their own learning, mainly through self-study and seminars, not through their own research. Their self-understanding is focusing on being a teacher and is to a less degree completed with any activity or thought of research.  The conclusion is that a group of Teacher Educators may not develop a complementary self-understanding including research. Neither this study nor earlier studies show that sufficient time during the recruitment process or in-service of Teacher Educators is used to discuss the balance between teaching and research. 

The expectations placed on practice teaching in initial teacher education are high. During practice, student teachers should combine theory with practice, make themselves familiar with multicultural classrooms in general, and become aware of different factors that affect learning and teaching. The aim of this study is to increase our knowledge about how work is carried out within practicum placements to help student teachers to understand differing cultural and socioeconomic characteristics of educational settings as a basis for discussing social justice. Staff at practice schools, the practicum team at a university and student teachers were asked about their definitions of different factors that condition learning and teaching, and routines for visiting preschools characterized by different educational conditions. Staff at practice school and university gave examples of different factors, but there was a general lack of organized work with this issue, such as visiting different preschools and holding discussions afterwards. This was confirmed by student teachers, few of whom had visited other preschools and had subsequent discussions. Instead some had experienced variation in work routines, children with special needs and multilingual groups in different sections of their own unit. Experiencing educational environments with different cultural and socioeconomic conditions was considered valuable by the student teachers but was not always given priority. It is concluded that individual variations and needs are understood and formulated by staff and student teachers, but less attention is given to how group belongings and structural frameworks such as socioeconomics are affecting social justice.

The background to the study is increased demands for skills in mentoring as one possibility to increase quality in ITE. A way to achieve the goal is professional development for mentors, but few studies are carried out to study such courses. As a case study, a formal course for mentors offered at university is presented and critically discussed. The central content in the course was theories about learning and mentoring and formulating an individual practical professional theory (PPT). The content aligns well with earlier research about mentoring and the mentors gave mainly positive comments about the content of the course and the form. What they questioned was the academic level approach when lectures were not relevant and academic writing became a problematic issue. In addition, the pre-requisites for participating in the course varied too much. A proposition is that design of course for mentors needs to have clarity about its aims, form and pre-requisites for participants, not to create expectations among stakeholders, which cannot be fulfilled.

When designing and working in an educational learning situation in higher education, the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is often a basic requirement. The aim of this study is to increase our knowledge about responses to expectations of using ICT in higher education settings. Data collection was carried out to investigate responses on different levels at one university in Sweden. The result showed responses from different levels, from the central level to the internal workshop level. Based on the results, even though limited, the conclusion is that there is an active response, but workshops and courses offered were, until recently, more technology focused than learner focused. A shift in didactical approach has led to an increased teacher-driven and learner-centred approach.