Monetary organization and national identity: a review and considerations

This article develops a detailed overview of literature on the relationship between monetary organization, understood as currencies and central banks, and issues of national identity and nationalism. It demonstrates how the literature on this subject for the past 20 years has developed into a distinct research field and the article sketches a set of different methodological approaches as well as geographical and thematical variations within the field. In particular, the overview points to a recent shift in focus from a preoccupation with the identity-cultivating qualities of monetary organization to an emphasis on how collective identities legitimize monetary organization. Based on the literature review, the article points to two underdeveloped themes for future research to investigate: (1) further studies on the interrelation between the legitimacy of monetary organization and national identity, (2) an increased focus on central banks and monetary authorities, as well as the historical development in which monetary organization evolved in concert with ideas of the national identity and nationalism.     

The Transfer of Chemical Knowledge: The Case of Chemical Technology and its Textbooks

This paper is a study of textbooks in chemical technology in Sweden during the industrialisation in the 19th century. In this period, teaching in technological education in general became more and more founded on science. However, there existed very few textbooks in chemical technology, and it is argued that the reason was that the essentials of the knowledge used for developing chemical industry were of a tacit and local character. Such knowledge could only with difficulty be transferred through textbooks with scientific ambitions. Thus the textbooks written or translated by scientists were not as widely used as the ones written or translated by chemical engineers. The usefulness of the latter group can be explained by the fact that they had been adapted to local circumstances, and expressed generalisations, not as scientific laws, but as rules of thumb. Finally, a model for the diffusion of knowledge is suggested, by which the role of textbooks in chemical technology better can be understood.     

The Paradigm Shift – Rhetoric or Reality?

This article discusses changes in working life and other aspects of life and their significance for counselling and guidance. It focuses on a shift in research, international debate and goal documents rather than in counselling practice. The paradigm shift refers to the change from a modern to amore post-modern view, which means that counselling should be oriented more towards the whole person and his or her life projects. The aim in this perspective is to make clients more proactive in constructing their own lives. Some clients, however, are still stuck in a passive and helpless role. This is a great challenge for counsellors who are striving to develop more holistic working methods. The transition from a modern to a more post-modern society requires a counsellor with a wide arsenal of interventions and many working tools, i.e. a multi-instrumentalist. The conclusion is that counsellors have to be more aware of the different situations, expectations and forms of behaviour faced by clients. Counsellors have to develop new methods centred round the clients’ self-activity. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Emergence and constructvalidation of the big five factors in early childhood: a longitudinal analysis of their ontogeny in Sweden

Researchers have shown that the five major dimensions of personality (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience) and two additional factors (irritability and positive activity) are evident from adolescence. This study attempted to replicate and extend these results in a longitudinal study of 102 Swedish children, followed from 2.3 to 15.2 years of age. Item analyses revealed consistently reliable irritability, conscientiousness, and positive activity factors, whereas the internal reliability of the extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness to experience factors increased over time. Irritability and positive activity were not independent of the other factors. Scores on most of the personality factors were fairly stable over time. Over time, children became less extraverted, more agreeable, and more conscientious. Neuroticism and openness to experience increased in Phase III, although openness then decreased in Phase V. Validity of the original factors was demonstrated by correlations with independent assessments of the children's cognitive performance and adjustment to school.     

Inside the Black Box: On the Concepts “Teaching” and “Learning” and the Connections Between Them

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I discuss the concepts “teaching” and “learning” and investigate the connections between them. Starting from the perspective on teaching and learning expressed in The European Qualifications Framework (EQF), I analyse three theses on the concept of teaching: the Dewey-thesis, the Standard-thesis and the Hirst-thesis, identifying problems in the established definitions. Following Hirst, I contend that teaching is an intention, hence a potential, having learning as its possible realization. That the learning is only possible is the papers main argument, since it explains how and why (the quality of) input is vitally important in educational settings. This idea is in direct opposition to the view in the EQF. In consequence, I argue that the connection between teaching and learning is teleological as opposed to mechanical. By way of contrast, I distinguish my understanding from Ryle-like analyses of teaching as task and learning as achievement, and argue that on a teleological understanding, teaching might be considered an achievement in its own right.     

Student performance on argumentation task in the Swedish National Assessment in science

The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of content knowledge on students’ socio-scientific argumentation in the Swedish National Assessment in biology, chemistry and physics for 12-year-olds. In Sweden, the assessment of socio-scientific argumentation has been a major part of the National Assessment during three consecutive years and this study utilizes data on student performance to investigate (a) the relationship between tasks primarily addressing argumentation and tasks addressing primarily content knowledge as well as (b) students’ performance on argumentation tasks, which differ in relation to content, subject, aspect of argumentation and assessment criteria. Findings suggest a strong and positive relationship between content knowledge and students’ performance on argumentation tasks. The analysis also provides some hypotheses about the task difficulty of argumentation tasks that may be pursued in future investigations.     

What Kind of Theory Should Theory on Education for Human Flourishing Be?

In this article we defend the claim that theory on education for flourishing should also include nonideal theory. We observe that recent theory on education for flourishing takes the ideal of flourishing as a starting and central point of the theory, and should be seen as ideal theory. While this serves a purpose, the practical value of ideal theory is limited. In order to have a greater bearing on, and relevance for educational practice, nonideal theorizing should be encouraged.     

Impact of Process Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care on Academic Outcomes: Longitudinal Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis studies the association of pedagogical processes in early childhood care and education with outcomes in two academic domains: language and literacy as well as mathematics. It synthesizes evidence from 17 longitudinal studies in nine European countries with 16,461 children in regular center-based care spanning the period between ages 3 and 16. Results of a three-level meta-analysis provided small overall effect sizes for both global and domain-specific process quality, and indicated lasting associations with academic development over children’s school career (ES = .11, Cohen’s d = .22, and ES = .10, Cohen’s d = .20). Effects varied by outcome domain, type of process measure, and differences in adopted analyses, with important implications for pedagogical practice and future research.