Purpose: The aim is to qualitatively explore Civics teachers' assessment decisions regarding content, skills, and methods in Swedish upper secondary schools. Methodology: Thematic analyses of assignments and interviews of thirteen Civics teachers in Swedish upper secondary school. Findings: The open Swedish curriculum and Civics syllabus enables…

This paper discusses how Bernsteinian concepts ('pedagogic rights', 'discursive gaps' and 'pedagogic code') from the field of sociology of education can be used as didactic tools to illuminate how different ways of organising teaching in VET has implications for citizenship preparation. The paper is based on results from a five-year research…

Purpose: Investigate first- to third-graders' understandings of the police. Design/methodology/approach: Phenomenography is used to analyze elementary students' understandings of the police as a social institution Findings: The results indicate three qualitatively different ways of understanding the police. The police as: attributes, activities…

Purpose: This article's purpose is to examine the manifestations of the evolving modern society and what we now identify as civics or other contemporary social issues in the final examination questions from 1914 to 1937 at four teacher education institutions in Uppsala, Falun, Lund, and Landskrona. Design/methodology/approach: The method can be…

Internal and external factors influence teachers' daily assessment decisions. The purposes of teachers' assessments are crucial, as these purposes guide the assessment process. Still, little is known about teachers' assessment purposes. The aim of this study is to identify and describe the different purposes of assessments that Civics teachers…

Purpose: The study examines students' conceptions of power and important aspects of teaching for developing the ability to analyse power relations in social science. Methodology: Phenomenography is used in the analysis of 155 student essays, to identify different ways of analysing societal power issues. Findings: When conducting a qualified…

This article examines Swedish civics teachers' perspectives on difficulties and opportunities that their second-language (L2) students encounter when reading textbook texts in civics. The study is based on individual semi-structured interviews with teachers in Grade 9. Civics teachers report uncertainty about identifying the source of difficulties…

This article focuses on how Grade 6 students interactionally make meaning out of subject-related language encountered in civics textbook material by searching for synonyms and engaging in discussions. Employing ethnographically-inspired methods, data was collected through observations and audio recordings of civics teaching in two linguistically…

Purpose: We intend to bring into debate what seems to be a paradoxical relation between the lack of youth civic and political participation, and the current disinvestment in the effective implementation of citizenship education policies. Design: A comparative framework between four European countries concerning youth civic and political…

Gender equality constitutes a central aspect of sustainable development. Education is commonly viewed as crucial for achieving both sustainable development and gender equality, and many argue that fostering action competence is a key element in such educational efforts. This article directs attention to the ways in which textbook content about…

Studies on youth participation tend to characterize youth as either active and trustful or as passive and alienated. This cross-national and longitudinal study examines patterns of citizenship orientations characterized by both manifest and latent involvement differentiated by one's position toward institutional politics (trustful or distrustful)…

Purpose: This article examines teachers' reflections during and after their participation in a teaching experiment focusing on how different teaching methods affect student learning in the social studies/civic education. Method: In the field experiment, classes and teachers were randomly assigned to a teaching syllabus based on the theoretical…

Purpose: The aim of this article is to critically explore the complex relations among the triad comprising standards-based curriculum, the curriculum concept of 'competences' and the subject of civics in Swedish curricula. Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical framework is based on Bernstein's (2000) two models of pedagogy, the competence…

Drawing theoretically on the Didaktik tradition, this paper examines teaching and learning content in teacher-planned human rights education with eleven- year-old pupils in two Swedish classrooms. The results suggest that the principle aim for the teaching and learning of rights is to enable good interactions with other human beings. The findings…

Surges of migration into Sweden and other European countries have raised needs to adjust civic education to provide Bernsteinian pedagogic rights of enhancement, participation and inclusion, both generally and in VET specifically. However, associated issues have received little research attention even in countries with colonial histories and…