MALMÖ HÖGSKOLA 205 06 MALMÖ, SWEDEN WWW.MAH.SE What happens with the aims and purposes of education when sustain
ability issues of complexity, uncertainty, risk and necessity are to be handled in educational practises? In this thesis Helen Hasslöf analyses how secondary and upper secondary school teachers discuss aims and purposes of their teaching practices in the light of sustainable development as an overarching perspective. Conflicting aims are pro ble matised to discuss purposes of education. The included articles thus elaborate on students’ possibilities to develop as political subjects, how to value what is seen as qualification of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), and emerging myths of social change in relation to sustainability. Furthermore, the concept of sustainable development is elaborated from a conflict perspective in an educational setting. Theories and ideas from Bakhtin, Wertsch, Biesta and Laclau & Mouffe are important theoretical foundations. Analytical methods, inspired by discourse theory, are developed to be used for analysis of teachers’ meaningmaking discussions.
isbn 9789171046277 (print)
isbn 9789171046284 (pdf)
issn 1651-4513/1652-5051
HELEN HASSLÖF
THE EDUCATIONAL CHALLENGE IN
‘EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT’
Qualification, social change and the political
MALMÖ S TUDIES IN EDUC A TION AL SCIEN CES N O 7 6, DOCT OR AL DISSERT A TION IN EDUC A TION HELEN HASSL ÖF MALMÖ UNIVERSIT Y 20 1 5 THE EDUC A TION AL C HALLEN GE IN ‘EDUC A TION FOR SUS TAIN ABLE DEVEL OPMENT’ MALMÖ S TUDIES IN EDUC A TION AL SCIEN CES N O 47 , DOCT OR AL DISSERT A TION IN EDUC A TION ANNETTE JOHNSSON MALMÖ UNIVERSIT Y 2009 MALMÖ UNIVERSITY 205 06 MALMÖ, SwEDEN www.MAH.SE
ANNETTE JOHNSSON
DIALOGUES ON THE NET
Power structures in asynchronous discussions in the
context of a web based teacher training course
Students’ background characteristics were found to strongly affect the patterns of communication observed in the net based discussions that are the topic of this thesis. When the group was analysed as a whole, older students were found to be more active in the discussions than younger. Students born outside of Sweden and/or speaking another language than Swedish at home, played a less prominent role in the discussions, than students born in Sweden or speaking Swedish at home.
Communication patterns were also seen to be influenced by group composition. The presence of a larger number of male students in a group seemed to influence female students’ contributions negatively. Female students posted fewer contributions and fewer words in total, when the share of males in the group was higher. The discussion style was also affected; the higher the share of males in a group the more agreements and supportive remarks were made. In groups with a high share of students who were born in Sweden, or speaking Swedish at home, more contributions were posted; contributions were also shorter, involving fewer disagreement remarks on average.
Participants in the study were students in their first term on teacher education, unit Nature, Science and Society (NMS) at Malmö University. A total of 147 students, randomly divided into 29 groups, were included in the study. The net based group discussions analysed in this thesis were part of the regular course work for Sustainable development and learning, which is conducted entirely on the Net. The primary group task for the students was to decide which of two given alternative sites would be preferable for the location of a central refuse disposal plant, and present ideas on how to reduce the environmental impact. The discussions lasted two weeks and in total 2077 contributions were sent by the 29 groups.
isbn 978-91-977100-9-1, issn 1651-4513/ 1652-5051 DIAL OUGES ON THE NET
F o n t D
The Swedish National Graduate School in Science and Technology Education
Linköping University, Department of Social and Welfare Studies
