Wellbeing is a current theme in educational policy. However, responsibility for ensuring student wellbeing is an underexplored aspect of teacher professionalism. Although the scope and boundaries of those responsibilities are becoming to a greater extent defined externally, this does not make teachers' work more straightforward. This article…

Dealing with controversy is highlighted in policy documents as a cornerstone of democracy and education. However, previous research points to several challenges for teachers when dealing with controversial issues (CI) in class. In this article, we apply an ecological conceptualisation of teacher agency and explore the ways in which forum theatre…

This study adopts the methodological lens of narrative ethnography and the concept of key incidents as condensed narratives to examine how narratives of education and cultural normativity emerge in diverse classrooms with migrant adolescents. In focus is how migrant students' experiences and participation in classrooms are framed and assessed by…

Despite the importance of student-adult relationship to students' experiences of school belonging, little is known about the activities that create and sustain these relationships. In the present article, we examine the interpersonal and institutional relationship-building activities described by students and adults following a transitional school…

This work investigated the processes of teacher informal learning focused on building positive teacher-pupil interaction. The conceptual framework "Teacher professional agency for learning" was merged with the "Teaching through interaction" model to compound the exploratory framework of this study: "Teachers learn by…

Prior research has shown that touch has an important role in preschools. However, less is known about early childhood educators' views on touch in their work. Hence, we ask what different views of touch early childhood educators narrate as a part of their work. The research material consists of three multiprofessional group discussions with…

Syllabus-boundness constitutes an important attribute of a so-called surface approach to learning, whereby students are seen as highly assessment-oriented, doing what is minimally required from them, and wanting well-organized courses and clear instructions. When this concept emerged in the late 1960ies, it was linked to a discussion on issues of…

In the context of the contemporary emphasis on the school's role in supporting student wellbeing, this qualitative study explored the teachers' experience of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme, which focused on enhancing teachers' emotional awareness within the context of everyday life. An implicit assumption in this approach is…

The reformed Finnish vocational education and training (VET) system is a competence-based, customer-oriented educational programme with two overarching aims: to develop a skilled labour force and to promote social inclusion. Support and guidance have become increasingly important in Finnish VET in recent decades. This study focuses on how…

While student engagement is important for meaningful learning experiences in school, vocational students are known to perceive general subjects, such as languages, as irrelevant and unengaging. For this reason, general subjects are often taught in a manner adapted to the students' vocational education. In Norway, such teaching is known as the…

Although several studies underline the importance of a successful opening of a school lesson to spur students' interest and facilitate learning, we have limited knowledge about how openings are enacted in classrooms. This study contributes to the sparse research by asking: "What characterizes the openings of 58 reading lessons in Norwegian…

This study examined the association between observers and students' reports of instructional support at the classroom-level, and whether students' off-task behavior predicted their perception of instructional support over time. The sample consisted of 1306 students and 79 teachers. Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling was applied to the…

This study explores the instruction of "equestrian feel" as an interactional accomplishment. Equestrian feel is an embodied knowledge encompassing riders' ability to feel the horse's actions and to act appropriately. Building on ethnomethodological and conversation analytic analyses of video-recordings of riding lessons, we explore how…

The aim of this study was to explore whether the classroom implementation of the International Child Development Programme (ICDP) for secondary school students (grade 9) was linked to better school achievement. The goal of the ICDP is to increase school achievement by promoting positive teacher-student relationships. The study, performed in…

Basic psychological needs and people's experiences affect the choices they make, and further shape the trajectories followed through school. The present study focuses on the perspectives of people who left school without graduating. Through narrative interviewing processes we collected the storied experiences of eleven imprisoned early school…