Early childhood education and care (ECEC) provision can have long-lasting positive effects on children's learning and development. A key feature in fostering educational outcomes is the enhancement of parental involvement. This article builds on critical concerns with the emergent 'schoolification' of ECEC and corresponding orientations of…

In Sweden, there is concern about fewer students taking chemistry courses in higher education, especially at university level. Using a survey, this study investigates the reasons upper secondary school chemistry students choose to follow the Swedish Natural Science Programme. In addition, students' views about their chemistry education are sought…

"An International Study in Competency Education: Postcards from Abroad" seeks to highlight components of competency education in international practice, to inform US policymakers and decision makers seeking to implement high-quality competency pathways at the state or local level. Other countries are studying our innovations, and we are…

In this paper, we report on how teachers in Higher Education enact policy. Outcome-based education (OBE) serves as an example of a governmental educational policy introduced with the European Bologna reform. With a hermeneutic approach, we have studied how 14 teachers interpreted this policy and re-designed their courses. The findings show…

In universities around the world, plagiarism management is an ongoing issue of quality assurance and risk management. Plagiarism management discourses are often framed by legal concepts of authorial rights, and plagiarism policies outline penalties for infringement. Learning and teaching discourses argue that plagiarism management is, and should…

This phenomenographic study opens the classroom door to investigate teachers' experiences of students learning difficult computing topics. Three distinct themes are identified and analysed. "Why" do students succeed or fail to learn these concepts? "What" actions do teachers perceive will ameliorate the difficulties facing…

This research project describes an attempt to move towards a more student centered and participatory approach on learning through problem-based storyboards (themes/scenarios) and a unique opportunity for students to have an academic cross-cultural exchange. The purpose of the study was to analyze students' conceptions of this approach on learning…

This article provides evidence that it is worthwhile to reconsider the traditional research circle method as a means of involving people in the third age in fulfilling their needs to participate in learning activities and make their voices heard. The findings are based on three cases of research circles consistently driven by the interests of the…

A study investigated the effectiveness of the "News Read" project in which reading was taught using an analytic procedure (where understanding is a prerequisite for correct decoding) using newspapers as the sole reading materials. Subjects, about 300 students in three classes from each of the three levels of Swedish comprehensive schools…

Forty teachers were surveyed in order to determine their level of support for the official curriculum of Sweden, Laroplan 69. Laroplan 69 puts the student at the center of schooling and promotes an egalitarian view of social relationships. Teachers who favored the official curriculum shared socialist beliefs; those who were least sympathetic held…

This paper presents an experientially oriented approach to learning in preschool and describes a research project designed to: (1) develop a theoretically and scientifically based curriculum; (2) systematically describe what happens in the groups where this curriculum is applied; (3) evaluate children's development in preschool in regards to the…

In recent years the OECD has undertaken the evaluation of early childhood education and care (ECEC) on behalf of ministers of education in a number of countries in order to support quality improvement in this field. This article is based on a workshop for the national coordinators of early childhood policy in Sweden, 2003, which dealt with…

A series of discussions on the present and possible future of education in Sweden is presented. The major themes covered are: the boredom of school; school and the life-cycle; the problem of examinations; a comparison of schooling and eating; a pupil centered school; experimental schools in Sicily and Oslo; the university; distinctions among the…

This study evaluated a project for integrating preschool- and school-age children in a joint educational program. The integration project (SKOBO) has been implemented in all education units in the investigated municipality. Each school has, however, had a considerable degree of freedom in carrying out the program with the potential to find its…

This paper discusses classroom life in formal adult education, specifically rhetoric concerning the idea of the adult learners' own interest as a driving force for learning. Its two objectives are to describe social interaction as related to this andragogical ideal and the conditions for learning and to raise some methodological standpoints in the…