Medical teachers' professional development – perceived barriers and opportunities

This paper explores medical teachers' perceived barriers and opportunities for educational and professional development. Data has been gathered through 19 semi-structured interviews with participants on a staff development course 1 year after their participation. The analysis shows that most perceived barriers are found on an organisational level, whilst motivation for development is found on an individual level and often related to the notion of teaching as a ‘private business’. However, what some respondents perceive as barriers are by others seen as opportunities. Some of these differences in perception may be explained by self-efficacy beliefs.     

Three theses on teaching and learning in higher education

In our article, we explore the possibility of formulating theses about teaching as one way to use research as a basis for educational action. The theses are formulated from current educational research on teaching and learning in higher education. We also explore the potential for action and the consequences derived from the theses. With our theses, we criticise less complex ways of using research for educational purposes. Through theses we can suggest directions for action without prescribing certain methods or procedures and provide answers without reducing the teachers' possibilities for choice or diminishing their responsibility for their actions. Our exploration is an invitation to a collaborative exploration of theses on teaching and learning in order to broaden and deepen our shared basis for educational action.     

Learning for an unknown context: a comparative case study on some Swedish and Polish Political Science students' experiences of the transition from university to working life

This comparative small‐scale (Swedish and Polish sample) longitudinal qualitative study investigates political science students' conceptions of their studies, their future profession and their workplace learning. The students (10 in Sweden and 11 in Poland) were interviewed twice, first when they were at the end of their studies and a second time when they had worked for approximately one year. The questions asked were designed to try to understand the transition from higher education to work life. The results indicate that they bring with them a set of academic generic skills from their education when they enter working life. Furthermore, the students in the two countries have very different perceptions of the subject Political Science, and the expectations they have regarding their studies and future working life also differ considerably.     

Students as Journeymen between Cultures of Higher Education and Work: A Comparative European Project on the Transition from Higher Education to Working Life1

This paper addresses the feasibility of higher education in relation to the demands of work life. The research is a comparative study involving four European countries: Sweden, Norway, Poland, and Germany. The research focuses on the view of freshmen, senior students and later graduates in Psychology and Political Science. Data were obtained by semi‐structured interviews, which were subjected to qualitative analyses. The results indicate that higher education, with some exceptions, seems to produce a discipline‐based identity among the students. These findings may be indicative of the value for employability of classical academic generic skills.     

Pupils’ perceptions of grades: a narrative analysis of stories about getting graded for the first time

The starting point for this article is changes in the Swedish assessment system which stated that pupils are to receive grade reports in school year 6 (12–13 years old) during the academic year 2012–2013. Since the 1970s, compulsory school pupils have received their first grade reports in grade 7 and/or 8. The issue here is to present pupils’ narratives about the possible future significance of grade reports in school year 6. Pupils were interviewed about their experiences of getting their first grade reports, and a narrative analysis was conducted. More specifically, we investigated pupils’ conceptions of themselves as pupils and of their future possibilities, as described in their stories of getting their first grade report. The findings show that pupils perceive grades in year 6 differently, showing both adaption and resistance to the new grading discourse. Our conclusion concerns pupils’ learning and well-being when national assessment policies are changed.     

Survival responses to incest: Adolescents in crisis

Twenty-seven incest victims, aged 12-18, responded to their experiences with self-destructive behaviors such as substance abuse, suicide attempts, perfectionism, isolation, or depression in attempts to alleviate stress or assert some control over helplessness created by the incest. Therapy focused on the premise that such adolescent behaviors are logical and predictable survival responses rather than simply clues to sexual abuse. Treatment goals included establishing trust, helping the victim re-define his or her role in the incest, view destructive behaviors as predictable responses, and understand that present behaviors are a continuation of these past survival responses. Such self-awareness encourages the adolescent to better manage or discontinue now inappropriate behaviors.     

Gamifying programming education in K-12: A review of programming curricula in seven countries and programming games

An increasing number of countries have recently included programming education in their curricula. Similarly, utilizing programming concepts in gameplay has become popular in the videogame industry. Although many games have been developed for learning to program, their variety and their correspondence to national curricula remain an uncharted territory. Consequently, this paper has three objectives. Firstly, an investigation on the guidelines on programming education in K-12 in seven countries was performed by collecting curricula and other relevant data official from governmental and non-profit educational websites. Secondly, a review of existing acquirable games that utilize programming topics in their gameplay was conducted by searching popular game stores. Lastly, we compared the curricula and made suggestions as to which age group the identified games would be suitable. The results of this study can be useful to educators and curriculum designers who wish to gamify programming education.     

Learning Practices in Vocational Education

The article describes the learning practices created by 12 vocational teachers from five programmes by the tasks they give their students to work with. 'Classroom tasks' were observed and analysed according to their content, their forms, and the tools used. Further, the texts used for/written in connection with the tasks were classified. Three types of tasks were identified: school tasks, simulation tasks and vocational tasks. Many tasks in all three categories required the students to read quite a lot. The texts the students were to read were of two kinds: school texts and vocational texts (manuals, handbooks etc.). Most of the texts were vocational and were part of the tools the students were supposed to use in their daily work. This indicates that vocational education is often assumed to be 'practical'--as opposed to 'theoretical' programmes that prepare for further studies--also increasingly rely on texts. The texts you read and how you read them are, however, specific for each vocational area. The different learning practices, represented by the tasks in this study, can be described as bridging from one social practice, that of the school, to another--that of the vocation.