To Örebro University

Only 4% of ECE staff in Sweden and Brazil are men, despite significant differences in gender equality policies and views on male caregiving. To address this gender imbalance, this study aims to explore the experiences of male preschool teacher students in Sweden and Brazil. What challenges do these students encounter, and which factors contribute to successfully completing preschool teacher education?

While previous research often focuses on practicing professionals (Hedlin et al, 2019; Warin, 2015) and masculinity theories (Heikkilä & Hellman, 2017; Haddad & Marques, 2022), fewer studies center on male ECE students, the diversity within this minority group and their sense of belonging in higher education (Grimshaw et al., 2023). To address this gap, this study combines various minority theories (Frost & Meyer, 2023; Diamond & Alley, 2022; Moss Kanter, 1977). Thematic data analysis is performed using an abductive approach within a qualitative interpretative paradigm. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen male students at the end of the preschool teacher training program in Sweden and Brazil. The students gave informed consent, and pseudonyms were used to protect their identities. To ensure voluntary participation, the interviewing researchers had no examining role toward the students and emphasized their right to withdraw consent at any time without affecting their education.

The results highlight the importance of male representation, mentorship, social network support, positive work experience in preschools, and the impact of intersecting categories like ethnicity and age. Also, several strategies for developing an inclusive and supportive environment for male preschool teacher students are suggested.

While a rich body of research links veganism and animal consumption with masculinity, empirical studies connecting masculinity and animal consumption with sustainability are much more limited. To emphasize the environmental consequences of consuming animal products, this study examines upper-secondary male students’ responses to their school’s decision to serve vegan food exclusively. Informed by the concept of vegan ecofeminism and previous research, three main arguments for eating plant-based food have been used to analyze male students’ responses to vegan school food: (1) the contribution to global sustainable development, 2) concern for animal welfare, and (3) improvement of one’s health. In contrast to previous research showing a connection between climate change skeptic opinions and young (often conservative) men, the participants of this study did not express any opinions that could be considered examples of climate change denialism. Instead, the male students’ ideas about their own well-trained and muscular bodies caused resistance to vegan school food.

This article is based on a fieldwork study that explored a 1-year-long process of integrating children's human rights-respecting practice in a preschool through a project with a popular culture theme. Drawing on John Dewey's educational theory, educative participatory experience is suggested as a useful concept to further understand and develop different forms of participation practices. The twofold aim of the article is to demonstrate the children's educative participatory experiences and relate these to the teacher's acknowledgement of both children's collective agency and their individual capacity to participate. The methods used are semi-structured interviews and video-documented and participatory observations. The data mainly consists of field notes, video recordings, photographs and transcripts. The results show that the teachers are viewing the children, and providing possibilities for them to act, as knowledgeable experts, competent conflict-solvers and reflective and caring practitioners. Furthermore, they consider both the children's individual and collective rights and responsibilities when creating a rights-respecting preschool environment. 

Peaceful societies are viewed as both the goal and means of sustainable development. In Swedish preschool teacher education, conflict management has been one of the examination objectives since 2011. However, the need for a more comprehensive and adequate peace education remains, as successful teaching for peace that provides a sustainable commitment needs to be transformative and include both intellectual, emotional, and practical aspects.

This study aims to highlight the transformative potential of teacher education by exploring students' learning processes in the field of ​​conflict management. What structural conditions, including teaching methods, can promote students' transformative learning in conflict management? What altered perspectives emerge, and how and why do they occur?

The study combines theories of positive peace and peacebuilding with Jack Mezirow's theory of transformative learning, which both focus on social relations as a prerequisite for personal transformation and collective action. The data consists of documents produced within the frame of a course in a preschool teacher program, such as teaching materials, course evaluations, and 103 students' critical self-reflecting journals and argumentative texts.

The multi-staged data analysis is partly based on the different phases of transformative learning. It includes a) self-examination, b) critically reflecting and reconsidering one's and others' assumptions and actions, c) exploring new roles, and d) describing or applying new ways of acting.

The results show how preschool teacher education can contribute to peacebuilding by stimulating transformative learning. The course's design encouraged the students to reconsider previous beliefs and actions through scenario-based workshops focusing on problem-solving using consensus decision-making processes, nonviolent communication, and role-playing. There were apparent shifts in perspectives regarding students' i) the concept of conflict, ii) self-identification concerning different conflict styles, iii) leadership style, iv) self-believed ability to handle conflicts constructively, and v) understanding of and response to children's acts of resistance.

The aim of this study is to explore the educator’s role in enhancing young children’s participation while developing their artistic expressions, knowledge, and skills in dance education. According to research, EC educators’ limited knowledge and skills to teach dance leads to focusing on the joy of movement at the expensive of broadening children’s repertoire of movements and awareness of aesthetic qualities (Pastorek Gripson et al. 2022:351). The study is drawing on the work of Isadora Duncan (1928) and Rudolf Laban (1948) as well as the Deweyan concept of aesthetic experience (Dewey 1987). The data is based on interviews with three EC educators and their long-standing documentation of dance teaching. It consists of films, photographs, and transcripts. The analysis of data was a multi-staged process. It was conducted together with the educators through an abductive theme analysis, as a part of a learning evaluation within an action research paradigm (Svensson et al. 2009). All the children’s guardians signed consent forms. Attending dance sessions was voluntary. All the filming and photographing were made by the participants as a part of their everyday practice. The participants’ names are replaced with pseudonyms. The findings demonstrate how the teaching evolves from and challenges children’s interests. Various dance genres were systematically introduced to inspire and educate. Children and educators were mirroring each other in dance improvisations. They choreographed dance tales together based on toddlers’ movements. Finally, an open-ended model for teaching dance is presented, consisting of five parts: Introduction - Inspiration – Improvisation - Instruction – Involvement.

This chapter focuses on the pedagogical potential of the school meal. The qualitative study presented is based on data from a three-year research project. The aim of the study is to examine how the school meal can be integrated into teaching various subjects in primary school. The following research questions are answered: Which food-related themes and content areas are highlighted in teaching different school subjects, and how are these connected to school food and meals? How can the teaching contribute to the development of different types of food literacy? Thirty-seven teachers from four different primary schools in Sweden were interviewed twice about their experiences in using the school meal and food in their teaching. The results show that learning about, of and through (school) food took place during lessons in the classroom and in the school’s restaurant. The character of the school subject and its central content, as well as interdisciplinary cooperation between teachers and the restaurant staff, provide various possibilities for contributing to the development of pupils’ functional, interactive, and critical food literacy.