To Örebro University

This study aimed to explore parents' and teachers' meaning making of children's learning in transitions from preschool to school, for 5-7-year-old children with intellectual disability (ID). Although educational transitions is a growing area of research there is limited research about educational transitions of children with ID. These children often need individual adaptations in pedagogical settings and children with ID are most dependent on supportive persons for learning. In a Swedish context, the transitions from preschool to school of eight children with ID were studied during one year. Forty-seven interviews with parents, preschool- and school teachers were performed on three occasions pre- and post-transition. The interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results showed that the master themes 'Organising for Child Well-being', 'Adapting Strategies for Learning', and 'Processing Time' constituted how parents and teachers perceived and responded to the children's learning. Individualisation of transitions is needed and should be built up by close and tentative adaptations that prevail over transitions. This study shows that for children with ID learning is a social process where close partners are very important for child well-being, and thus learning.

The Swedish school system is currently undergoing a change, one in which issues of inclusion for students with ID are at stake. Policy documents mirror ideas, beliefs and value systems that are expressed in the society. In order to better understand the processes of in(ex)clusion of students with ID there is a need to analyze policy. In this study we have analyzed 61 parliamentary texts, such as propositions, decisions and investigations from 2011- 2021 considering compulsory school for students with intellectual disabilities, CSSID (Grundsärskola). Specifically, the analysis focused on how inclusion and students with intellectual disability were fabricated by contemporary policy discourses. Findings indicated that inclusion was fabricated as equal rights to schooling, as the right to be assessed and accountability and as being closer to the norm. Furthermore, the results show a strive for alignment of the structure of schools for children without ID and children with ID to synchronize the work between the school forms, and that much emphasis is put on students’ equal participation in the assessment of knowledge. This seems to mean “sameness” regarding hours, and systems in place for assessment. From this our conclusion is that inclusion is above all to be an active neoliberal subject and the most important thing is then that the organizational structures are in alignment. Hence/ this is example on what Allan (2015) calls the Stealth bureaucracy in Sally Tomlinsson’s irresistible rise of the SEN industry. 

Allan, J. (2015).  Stealth bureaucracy in Sally Tomlinsson’s irresistible rise of the SEN industry. In (Eds.), Chris Forlin, Phyllis Jones & Scott Danforth, Foundations of inclusive education research, International perspectives on inclusive education vol 6, p37-52. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. 

The Open Parliament Laboratory (2021). Örebro universitets analystjänst för riksdagsdata. www.riksdagsdata.oru.se

Discourses on Inclusion in Media. This article explores discourses on inclusion in articles about education in Sweden’s four largest newspapers, and how these discourses position children, students, teachers, and schools. The findings indicate that the journalistic practices of agendization, accountabilization, factualization, emphasizing, and sensationalization have impacted arguments and increased the newsworthiness of the subject. Inclusion is often discussed in a sporadic and inconsistent way and students and teachers are often positioned out of a deficit perspective. Discourses were demarcated on three interrelated levels: an individual level, an organisational level, and a societal level. 

Coronapandemin är en ny samhällskris som är sparsamt beforskad varför olika perspektiv på coronaviruset behövs. Denna artikel bidrar till att fördjupa kunskapen om barns uttryck om coronaviruset bland annat genom att analysera personalens beskrivningar av barns uttryck kring coronavirusets utbrott i Finland och Sverige i daghems- och förskolekontext i mars 2020. Det empiriska materialet består av 79 enkätsvar från personal i förskola och daghem. Begreppen del-tagande och resiliens har använts som teoretisk bakgrund och dessa diskuteras i artikeln. Barnen visar på fyra olika former av deltagande i daghem och förskola. Artikeln bidrar till att sätta barns deltagande i relation till en samhällskris som coronapandemin samt visar på ett mångfacetterat deltagande. Resultatet av studien kan få implikationer både på förhållningssätt och arbetsmeto-der i samband med kriser.

The corona pandemic is a new social crisis that is sparsely researched, and different perspectives on the corona virus are needed. This article helps to deepen the knowledge of children’s expres-sion of the corona virus. It highlights staff’s descriptions of children’s expressions regarding the coronavirus outbreak in Finland and Sweden in early childhood education contexts in March 2020. The empirical material consists of 79 questionnaires from early childhood education staff. The concepts participation and resilience have been used as theoretical background and these are discussed in the article. The analysis highlights four different forms of participation in relation to the outbreak of the virus. The article contributes to putting children’s participation in relation to a social crisis like the corona pandemic and shows a multifaceted participation. This can have implications both on attitudes and working methods in relation to crises.

Swedish leisure time centres (LTCs) are included in the Swedish Education Act and are used by almost every pupil in the age range of 6–9 years. They are governed by national policy documents with a certain emphasis on social learning. This article aims to highlight the LTC staff’s perspectives on their work of promoting social learning in the Swedish LTC. The article is based on a qualitative study, with data from group interviews with 21 LTC staff. The data are analysed with an abductive approach, with Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory as a theoretical point of departure. Our results show that the work is directed both by the staff’s beliefs and by the structural conditions of the activities, which the staff seldom feel able to influence. This causes frustration among staff and, owing to a lack of didactic reflections, social learning among pupils is not optimised. We argue that the LTC needs to be further explored, at the municipal and local management levels, to enable optimised social learning for pupils in the LTC.

The first Swedish preschool for young children was established in 1836 to provide a practical solution to the problem of child supervision during the Industrial Revolution. During this period of intense industrialization, women began working in urban factories and thus required daytime childcare. A century later, in the 1930s, the Swedish idea of family policy was challenged by sociologists Alva and Gunnar Myrdal. They had a political vision of public childcare and championed a scientific approach to child development. A social pedagogical preschool was developed, emphasizing children’s right to an inspiring environment outside of the home. National reforms were implemented, establishing child health centers, child benefits for all children, and municipal grants for preschool teachers’ salaries.

Research about transitions in early childhood education has had an upsurge especially in the last 15 years. Much attention has been directed to what constitutes and builds up positive transitions. Although, as learning is one of the main tasks in educational settings, there is a need for more explicit research discussions in the transition research field about children’s learning in transition. The aims of this article are to discuss and unravel the theoretical concept ‘learning journey’ and to propose a conceptual framework for analyzing children’s learning in early educational transitions. The article gives a review of the concept learning journey and related terms: learning, continuity/discontinuity, change, collaboration and time. A conceptual framework of learning journey is proposed and a model presented. The model is discussed in relation to the PPCT-model of Urie Bronfenbrenner and a final discussion set the proposed conceptual framework of learning journey in the context of application to early childhood education.