Reshaping the Nordic education model in an era of efficiency. Changes in the comprehensive school project in Denmark,Norway, and Sweden since the millennium

The Nordic Education Model was an important part of the social democratic welfare state for many years in the second half of the 20th century. Since the millennium, transnational agencies have drawn education from the realm of politics into a global market place by advocating strategies such as efficiency, competition, decentralisation, governing by detailed objectives, control, privatisation, and profile schools. This article gives brief accounts of major trends in current school development policies, discourses, and practices in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden since the millennium, and explores how the values of the Nordic model are affected by the new policies. It is argued that the Nordic model still exists as the predominant system for the large majority of Scandinavian children at a national level, but that a number of new technologies aiming to increase the efficiency of teaching and learning are gradually undermining the main values of the Nordic model.     

Gemeinsamer Unterricht Behinderter und Nichtbehinderter

Seit über 25 Jahren gibt es in deutschen allgemeinbildenden Schulen den gemeinsamen Unterricht von behinderten und nichtbehinderten Kindern. Diese Praxis unterscheidet sich von der „normalen“ Einbeziehung leistungsschwacher oder k?rperlich beeintr?chtigter Kinder, die es früher schon gab, dadurch, dass Sonderschullehrer mit Grundschullehrkr?ften oder Fachlehrern der Sekundarstufe I gemeinsam unterrichten. Innerhalb der Sonder-wie der allgemeinen Schulp?dagogik wird diese Entwicklung im Begriff der „Integrationsp?dagogik“ (Eberwein 1988), im neueren internationalen Sprachgebrauch im Begriff der „Inclusive Education“ (Hausotter 2000) zusammengefasst. Der gemeinsame Unterricht von Kindern mit und ohne Behinderungen und die damit verbundene neue Zusammenarbeit zwischen Lehrern unterschiedlicher Ausbildung und Orientierung hat Folgen für die Lehrerrollen, für das Lernen und die Sozialbeziehungen der Kinder mit und ohne Behinderungen, für die Organisation des Lernens und nicht zuletzt für Sonder-wie Schulp?dagogik. Die Frage ist, ob die integrative P?dagogik L?sungen für eines der zentralen schulp?dagogischen Probleme anbietet: Wie k?nnen unter den Bedingungen von Heterogenit?t in den kognitiven, sozialen, ethnischen und physischen Voraussetzungen innerhalb der Klassen soziales und fachliches Lernen wirksam miteinander verbunden werden, so dass alle Kinder davon profitieren? — Diese Frage schl?gt sich auch in einer Reihe sonder-und schulp?dagogischer Ver?ffentlichungen der letzten Jahre nieder, etwa in „Gemeinsamkeit und Vielfalt“ (Demmer-dieckmann/Struck 2001), „Heterogenit?t in der Schule“ (Hinz 1993), „Gleichheit und Differenz“ (Lenzen/Tillmann 1996), „P?dagogik der Vielfalt“ (Prengel 1993) oder „Grundschule — Schule der Vielfalt und Gemeinsamkeit“ (Schmitt 2001). Fast durchweg wird dabei Integrationsp?dagogik mit den Differenz-und Heterogenit?tsdiskursen der interkulturellen und Genderbezogenen P?dagogik verbunden. Der gemeinsame Diskurs wird seit Anfang der neunziger Jahre intensiv geführt (Lersch/Vernooij 1992). K?nnte Integration Schul-wie Sonderp?dagogik in eine integrierte P?dagogik für alle Kinder — einschlie?lich aller Kinder mit Erschwernissen — zusammenführen?     

Number magnitude processing and basic cognitive functions in children with mathematical learning disabilities

The study sought out to extend our knowledge regarding the origin of mathematical learning disabilities (MLD) in children by testing different hypotheses in the same samples of children. Different aspects of cognitive functions and number processing were assessed in fifth- and sixth-graders (11–13 years old) with MLD and compared to controls. The MLD group displayed weaknesses with most aspects of number processing (e.g., subitizing, symbolic number comparison, number-line estimation) and two cognitive functions (e.g., visual–spatial working memory). These findings favor the defective approximate number system (ANS) hypothesis, but do not fit well with the access deficit hypothesis. Support is also provided for the defective object-tracking system (OTS) hypothesis, the domain general cognitive deficit hypothesis and to some extent the defective numerosity-coding hypothesis. The study suggests that MLD might be caused by multiple deficits and not a single core deficit.     

Sociocultural Settings Influence the Emergence of Prelinguistic Deictic Gestures

Daily activities of forty‐eight 8‐ to 15‐month‐olds and their interlocutors were observed to test for the presence and frequency of triadic joint actions and deictic gestures across three different cultures: Yucatec‐Mayans (Mexico), Dutch (Netherlands), and Shanghai‐Chinese (China). The amount of joint action and deictic gestures to which infants were exposed differed systematically across settings, allowing testing for the role of social–interactional input in the ontogeny of prelinguistic gestures. Infants gestured more and at an earlier age depending on the amount of joint action and gestures infants were exposed to, revealing early prelinguistic sociocultural differences. The study shows that the emergence of basic prelinguistic gestures is socially mediated, suggesting that others' actions structure the ontogeny of human communication from early on.     

THE LEARNING AND RETENTION OF TEACHING SKILLS BY OLDER ADULTS: A TIME SERIES ANALYSIS

Comparative analysis of time series data (T1 = preprogram; T2 = postpro‐gram; T3 = 6‐month followup) collected for the first year class of an older adult teacher training program (N = 35; mean age = 69.1 years) documents that the elderly learn and retain materials learned at different rates. Variables such as age, sex, teaching experience, education, and race/ethnicity all potentially play a role in differentiating the learning process. Evaluation results further confirm that the initial acquisition of leadership skills by older adults is no guarantee that those skills will be maintained successfully over time. There may also be a false sense of confidence in some older learners that is gained simply by their having successfully completed an organized course of training. Study findings lead to recommendations emphasizing the importance of promoting resilient skills capacity in the teaching domain by older adults by means of a variety of skills‐preservation program techniques inlcuding the provision of educational seminars, “retooling” sessions, and reunion programs subsequent to the offering of the initial teacher training program.