Research on Teachers and Teacher Education in Scandinavia: a retrospective review

The important role in learning and upbringing played by teachers has been acknowledged for a long time. However, research on this question belongs with few exceptions, to the post‐war area in all the Nordic countries. During the last few decades a extensive research within a variety of studies have addressed the question. And, in accord with realistic expectations, the research conducted within this area since the middle of the 1950ties reflects a change in the interest of researchers similar to that found outside the Nordic countries, from studies of teacher behaviour to research on teacher cognition and analyses of the interactions between students and teachers in the classroom. The review also reveals a clear and significant change in the use of research methods: quantitative methods have declined while qualitative methods have expanded. It seems characteristic of research within this area that a great number of studies have been explorative in nature and that few of them have been followed up by more intensive and theoretically grounded research. It is the authors' opinion that, considering the great number of unanswered questions and the importance of solid knowledge of the questions related to teachers' qualifications and to teacher education, it seems that research within this area is still in its infancy stage.     

Governance Initiatives Creating a Demand-Driven E-Commerce Approach: The Case of Denmark

The Danish e-commerce strategy is a highly ambitious effort to become the world's leading IT nation. Instead of a production-led approach aimed at stimulating domestic hardware and software production, Denmark has pursued a demand-oriented approach focused on promoting the widespread adoption of e-commerce in the Danish society. The Danish government has developed a number of e-commerce initiatives via public-private sector partnerships--an approach we refer to as "governance." So far, it appears that Denmark has been successful in promoting business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce, with a number of Danish companies being global leaders in the use of B2B applications. On the other hand, Denmark has had less success in achieving widespread use of business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce. This article analyzes the Danish national environment for e-commerce, discusses four sets of governance initiatives aimed at the development of e-commerce, and analyzes the reasons for its success in B2B and relative failure in B2C adoption.     

Rankings,Diversity and the Power of Renewal in Science. A Comparison between Germany,the UK and the US

Rankings are part and parcel of the neoliberal agenda in science aiming at increasing the competitive allocation of funds among universities. This article focuses on the decreasing power of renewal in science as a result of this agenda particularly because of its increasingly consolidated stratification of the academic system into élite and mass institutions. A comparison based on data from the Academic Ranking of World Universities of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University between the less stratified German system, the more strongly stratified British system, and the most strongly stratified, though at its heart still diverse US-American system provides a first test of the hypotheses.     

Playful hyper responsibility: toward a dislocation of parents’ responsibility?

Over the past 10–15?years, state-funded schools have begun to require parents to assume an undefined and infinite personal responsibility. In this article, we investigate how schools organize responsibility games to respond to this challenge and how these games affect the concept of responsibility. We point to a dislocation in the way parents are assigned responsibility, because the definition of responsibility is not only a question of formulating rules or providing advice. We argue that what emerges is a kind of playful hyper responsibility that identifies responsibility as the participation in a process of public exploration by parents of the definition of their specific responsibilities. This has several consequences, one of which is that it becomes difficult to have a political discussion about what can reasonably be expected of parents.     

Curriculum debate and policy change

This article investigates the underlying themes and principles that inform curriculum debate and how they are articulated in current school policy discussions. This topic is approached with the help of a case study covering the debate on which subjects should be mandatory for students at the upper secondary school curriculum in Sweden. The focus is on the arguments for and against the inclusion of History among these core subjects. The aim is to order and structure this debate and to link the arguments found to basic underlying principles. Why was History considered important or unimportant? What arguments are found about the best way to teach History? This study employs a 4-fold distinction which distinguishes between perennialism, essentialism, progressivism, and reconstructivism as four schools of thought, each outlining its own particular view on what kind of knowledge is important and how such knowledge should be taught. One major finding is that two of the schools—progressivism and essentialism—completely dominate the debates under study. There existed a major fault line between those who emphasized the instrumental value of History as a tool for fostering good citizens, and those who considered History part of essential general knowledge about society.     

University Teaching Taught to Teachers

Mr. Ole B. Thomsen is one of those very rare university professors, who not only admit that even university teaching can and should be learned, but who also do something about it.

The present contribution describes the problems and ways and means for solutions. It also gives an account of two experimental courses for university teachers organized at the University of Copenhagen. In this account he carefully points out the still persisting problems and unanswered questions. Aside of his apparent gift for writing the author is obviously quite good at solving the problems caused by mislaying one's photographs.