Swedish Poet Wins 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature

Through his condensed(凝练的), translucent(透彻的) images he gives us fresh access to reality. ——The Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy     

University–industry relations in Bolivia: implications for university transformations in Latin America

This article examines the implications of how academics respond to the debate on the production of knowledge and its transfer to the productive sector, for the transformation of Latin American universities. The empirical analysis is based on a survey of 349 lecturers from Bolivian public universities, which inquired into aspects of university–industry relations (UIR). Although the results indicate that lecturers are in favour of relations with firms, there are several barriers to such relationships, such as lack of institutional support, generally unfavourable atmosphere in universities, and an industrial structure comprising few firms in knowledge-intensive sectors and firms with low absorptive capacity. In the context of Bolivia, unlike what occurs in developed countries, UIR have been configured around scientifically unimportant activities—technological support and internship schemes to place students in firms—which has had a negative effect on the consolidation of research, an academic activity, to which lecturers devote little of their time. The results of our study show the tensions that exist in efforts to change the university model; there is a reluctance to intensify the commercialisation of research results, and a lack of enthusiasm for introducing complex relationship mechanisms, such as the creation of hybrid structures.

Wayward Warriors: The Viking Motif in Swedish and English Children’s Literature

In this article the Viking motif in children’s literature is explored—from its roots in (adult) nationalist and antiquarian discourse, over pedagogical and historical texts for children, to the eventual diversification (or dissolution) of the motif into different genres and forms. The focus is on Swedish Viking narratives, but points of comparison are established with Viking children’s literature in the English-speaking world. Differences and similarities are pointed out, but more importantly, patterns of reciprocity and influence are examined. Finally, it is shown how international representations of Vikings to a growing extent have replaced the ones that are nationally and regionally determined. The Viking has ultimately become a deracinated and commodified symbol: a free-floating signifier and a wayward warrior.     

Literature Conceptualizing Women in Community Colleges: 1997–2007

Women are playing a major role in community colleges as students, staff, faculty, administrators, and presidents. Yet despite increasing representation, disparities exist between women and men in various roles within these institutions. This study reviewed literature published between 1997 and 2007 to examine the conceptualization of roles of women faculty members or senior-level leaders within the context of the community college. The emergent themes focused on faculty topics, leadership representation, and implications for institutional practices.     

Inequality of opportunity for educational achievement in Latin America: Evidence from PISA 2006–2009

We evaluate how far away six Latin American countries stand from a normative goal of equality of opportunity for educational achievement in PISA 2006–2009. We work with alternative characterizations of types: gender, school type (public or private), parental education, and their combinations. Following Checchi–Peragine's (2010) non-parametric method, we find that inequality of opportunity for educational achievement in Latin America ranges from less than 1% to up to 25%, depending on the year, the country, the subject and the specification of circumstances. These magnitudes are substantial with respect to what is found in comparator countries. Parental education and school type prove to be important sources of inequality of opportunity, contrary to gender. By means of sensitivity analyses, while most results show small to moderate variation in terms of magnitudes, in ordinal terms (rankings) they remain quite stable. Brazil stands out as the most opportunity-unequal country of the sample.     

Ambassadors of the Swedish nation: national images in the teaching of the Swedish lecturers in Germany 1918–1945

This article analyses the teaching of Swedish language lecturers active in Germany during the first half of the twentieth century. It shows the centrality of literature and literary constructions and analyses images of Swedishness and the Swedish nation present in the teaching material of that time in relation to the national image present in Swedish schoolbooks. The importance of language teaching to the transfer of knowledge regarding foreign countries is also discussed, in this case the knowledge and images of Sweden that were transferred to German students via their lecturers.     

Science,education, and republican values: Trends of faith in America: 1750–1830

The history of curriculum debate involving science in the United States has touched all levels and concepts of schooling. It has involved a wide spectrum of competing interests and ideas. It has helped guide the framing of concepts as complex and influential as those of progress, human nature, and the national welfare. It has been a stage on which many players have entered, spoken, left, and returned (not always in the guise of farce). Above all, it is itself something from which a great deal can be learned: for in large part any current situation stands at the apex of this long history and cannot in any sense be divorced from what it reveals about the larger place of science and learning in American consciousness. Eric Hobsbawm once wrote that the progress of schools and universities measures that of nationalism, and that education generally is the most conscious champion of the state. History reveals this to be an enormous oversimplification, woefully expedient, and particularly so in the case of science. Here, in fact, nationalism itself can be revealed as a collision of many conflicting interests, myths, visions, and hopes, all of which at some point took the scientific as legitimating dais. No committed history could be so reductive. It must rather open both inward and outward, toward the past and its continued momentum.     

Education and development in Latin America (1950–1975)

Structural analysis of educational development in Latin America shows the determining effect of economic and social trends. The past 25 years have seen a shift to industrialization and increasing involvement of foreign capital, visible in growing urbanization as well as in modernized agriculture focused on export. The reduction of job opportunities in both traditional and modern sectors has not been offset by the emerging service sector, although social structures have been deeply affected by these trends.The authors place in this context their analysis of education at successive levels. Progress in primary school enrolment has been real in the region, but with market disparities between countries and with little evidence of increased efficiency (i.e. enduring literacy) or equity. The basic fact is that this level of education has lost its economic value and prepares only for activities of low productivity.At secondary level, expansion has been considerable, even in countries with an inadequate primary infrastructure. A growing dichotomy is evident as schools continue to perpetuate classical values and forms while failing to establish links with the labour market. The effect is seen in growing pressure on higher education, where rapid expansion has led to fragmentation of institutions and a depreciation of standards.The relationship of education to development in these past 25 years has brought about a wide perception of the conservative role played by education, as the mechanism for reproducting the dominant cultural models and ideologies. This critical distrust, shared by teachers and students alike, may indeed be a force strong enough to create a new model of development.

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Zusammenfassung Eine strukturelle Analyse der Entwicklung des Bildungswesens in Latein-Amerika zeigt die entscheidende Auswirkung wirtschaftlicher und sozialer Tendenzen. Die Letzten 25 Jahre sahen eine Veränderung in Richtung auf Industrialisierung und zunehmende ausländische Kapitalbeteiligung, was ebenso in wachsender Verstädterung wie in Modernisierung der Landwirtschaft mit Konzentration auf den Export in Erscheinung tritt. Durch den aufkommenden Dienstleistungsbereich wurde der Rückgang der Stellenangebote sowohl in traditionellen als auch in modernen Bereichen nicht ausgeglichen, wenn auch die gesellschaftlichen Strukturen durch diese Tendenzen stark in Mitleidenschaft gezogen wurden.In diesen Zusammenhang stellen die Autoren ihre Analyse der Bildung auf den aufeinanderfolgenden Stufen hinein. Bei der Aufnahme in die Primarschule hat in Latein-Amerika tatsächlich ein Fortschritt stattgefunden, allerdings mit deutlichen Unterschieden zwischen den einzelnen Ländern und wenig erkennbarer Leistungssteigerung (d.h. andauernder Überwindung des Analphabetentums) oder Ausgleich. Es ist eine grundlegende Tatsache, daß diese Bildungsstufe ihren wirtschaftlichen Wert verloren hat und nur auf Aktivitäten mit geringer Produktivität vorbereitet.Auf der Sekundarstufe vollzog sich eine beachtliche Erweiterung, sogar in Ländern mit ungeeigneter primärer Infrastruktur. Deutlich zeigt sich eine zunehmende Dichotomie, da die Schulen fortfahren, klassische Werte und Formen weiterzugeben, und dabei versäumen, Brücken zum Arbeitsmarkt zu schlagen. Dies wirkt sich in zunehmendem Druck auf die höhere Bildung aus, wo schnelle Ausweitung zur Zersplitterung von Institutionen und zur Senkung der Anforderungen geführt hat.Durch die Beziehung zwischen Bildung und Entwicklung in den letzten 25 Jahren wurde die konservative Rolle des Bildungswesens deutlich wahrnehmbar, ist es doch ein Mechanismus zur Reproduktion der herrschenden kulturellen Modelle und Ideologien. Tatsächlich kann vielleicht dieses von Lehrern wie Schülern gleichermaßen gehegte kritische Mißtrauen eine genügend starke Kraft sein, um ein neues Entwicklungsmodell zu schaffen.

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Résumé L'analyse structurale du développement de l'éducation en Amérique Latine montre l'effet déterminant des courants sociaux et économiques. Ces dernières vingt-cinq années ont vu un glissement vers l'industrialisation et une intervention croissante des capitaux étrangers. Ceci est visible dans l'urbanisation grandissante et dans la modernisation de l'agriculture axée sur l'exportation. La réduction des chances de travail dans le secteur traditionnel aussi bien que dans le secteur moderne, n'a pas été compensée par une ouverture dans celui des services en formation, bien que les structures sociales aient été profondément affectées par ces courants.C'est dans ce contexte que les auteurs placent leur analyse de l'éducation à des niveaux successifs. En ce qui regarde la fréquentation de l'école primaire, le progrès a été indéniable dans toute l'Amérique Latine, avec toutefois des inégalités marquées selon les pays, et sans grand évidence d'efficacité croissante (c'est-à-dire alphabétisation persistante) ou d'équité. Un fait certain est que ce niveau d'éducation a perdu sa valeur économique et ne prépare qu'à des activités de basse productivité.Au niveau secondaire, l'expansion a été considérable, même dans les pays dont l'infrastructure primaire est inadéquate. Il est certain que la dichotomie va aller en s'amplifiant puisque les écoles continuent de perpétuer les valeurs et les formes classiques sans parvenir à établir des rapports avec le marché du travail. On en constate l'effet dans la pression grandissante qui s'exerce sur l'éducation supérieure, où l'expansion rapide a conduit à la fragmentation d'institutions et à une dépréciation des normes.Les relations entre l'éducation et le développement, au cours de ces vingt-cinq dernières années, ont conduit à une prise de conscience largement répandue du rôle conservateur de l'éducation, en tant que mécanisme de reproduction des idéologies et des modèles culturels dominants. Cette méfiance critique, partagée par les enseignants et les étudiants, peut devenir une force suffisamment puissante pour créer un nouveau modèle de developpement.

     

Do the Conditions Exist for Pedagogic Development in the Swedish University?

During recent years the need for pedagogic development in the Swedish university has been given great prominence in the public discussion of higher education. The present article indicates how the conditions for such development can be studied from various perspectives. There is a more thorough presentation of studies based on the rationalistic perspective, the system perspective or the anarchistic perspective. In conclusion there is a discussion of the possibilities for, and obstacles to, pedagogic development.     

Authenticity,Past and Present in Ghanaian Children’s Literature

In this paper we explore the portrayal of the “authentic” past in children’s literature in Ghana, as well as the problems it poses for the achievement of the broader goal of moulding children to fit into tomorrow’s society. We look at two main aspects: the social and moral settings portrayed in selected books. The social order refers to the time and place in which the story is set, as well as the nature of social organization pertaining to this setting. The moral order denotes the moral and psychological implications of the physical and social environment. Based on these criteria, we examine some unsuccessful texts and contrast them with successful ones. Our aim is to explore how tradition, more broadly conceived, can be effectively used in children’s books in order to combine the goal of cultural preservation and transmission with other equally lofty ones such as stimulating children’s imagination, arousing and sharpening their perception, developing their sense of observation and critical thinking, and shaping their emotional potential.     

Address upon Receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature STOCKHOLM,DECEMBER 10,1950

I feel that this award was not made to me as a man,but to mywork—a life's work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit,not for glory and least of all for profit,but to create out of thematerials of the human spirit something which did not exist before,sothis award is only mine in trust.It will not be difficult to fred a dedi-cation for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose andsignificance of its origin.But I would like to do the same with the ac-claim too,by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might belistened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same     

Multicultural Children’s Literature as a Context for Teaching Mathematics for Cultural Relevance in Urban Schools

This article reports on a teacher-research study that used multicultural texts as a context for teaching mathematics for cultural relevance during an elementary mathematics methods course. The results of the study reveal that 28 % (5 out of 18) of the teacher candidates (TCs) chose books that were culturally contextual or culturally amenable. However, 89 % (16 out of 18) of the TCs chose texts that were mathematically robust or mathematically peripheral. Four focal TCs were selected to examine how they used the texts with children to teach mathematics concepts. Math lessons fostered academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness. Overall, the results of the study are mixed. We conclude that some TCs’ choice of texts may reflect indifference, passive resistance, low self-efficacy, school culture, and mixed messages from the teacher–researcher. Additional studies that include follow-up interviews and classroom observations are needed to determine the factors that influence TCs’ selections of multicultural texts and their implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy with students.     

Why forest gardening for children? Swedish forest garden educators' ideas,purposes, and experiences

Utilizing forest gardens as urban settings for outdoor environmental education in Sweden is a new practice. These forest gardens combine qualities of a forest, e.g., multi-layered polyculture vegetation, with those of a school garden, such as accessibility and food production. The study explores both the perceived qualities of forest gardens in comparison to other outdoor settings and forest garden educators' ideas, purposes, and experiences of activities in a three-year forest gardening project with primary school children. The data were collected through interviews and observations and analyzed qualitatively. Four reported ideas were to give children opportunities to: feel a sense of belonging to a whole; experience self-regulation and systemic dependence; experience that they can co-create with non-human organisms; and imagine possible transformation of places. Four pedagogical forest garden features are discussed.     

A curriculum tailored for workers? Knowledge organization and possible transitions in Swedish VET

A key feature of the Swedish upper secondary school reform of 2011 (GY11) is the new direction it sets out for the organization of vocational education (VET) and the role it plays in youths’ transitions from school to work. This study analyses the GY11 reform in terms of its impact on the organization of knowledge in VET and its implications for students’ prospects of transitioning from VET to work or higher education, and for their roles as citizens. To understand its likely consequences, GY11 is analysed in the context of practices in a school class for the Vehicle programme steered by the curriculum prior to GY11. The theoretical concepts used are drawn from Basil Bernstein and his distinctions between knowledge organized into horizontal and vertical discourses. The findings of the study suggest that GY11 reinforces an already strong emphasis on horizontally organized knowledge in VET by placing great importance on strongly context-bound, skill-oriented knowledge. This implies a stronger exclusion of VET students, primarily with working-class backgrounds, from vertical discourses and limits the possible transitions of youths taking the VET-route by reducing their access to higher education and their capacity to function as both workers and citizens.     

State Control and Governance of Schooling and Their Effects on French,German, and Spanish Learning in Swedish Compulsory School, 1996–2011

In Swedish compulsory school, students can choose to study a modern language in addition to English, i.e., French, Spanish, or German. Since 1994, instruction time for modern languages has been extended, the learning objectives have been made more attainable, and national assessment materials have been introduced. The government made these changes so that more students would study modern languages and achieve the syllabus goals. Existing statistics, however, indicate that these changes have been ineffectual compared to earlier years. Sixteen modern language teachers were interviewed about why state policies have failed. The results suggest that political intentions have not been realized for several interacting reasons. First, the state lacks a central school administration to translate political intentions into concrete goals. Second, teachers have not perceived the reforms as important. Third, government actions are not aligned with research explanations of why students do not choose to study modern languages.