How can we understand the uncertainties in high-stake measures such as PISA in relation to the claims that different authorities make from them? In this paper, we use a rather remarkable case from Sweden involving conflicting interpretations of the PISA 2018 results at a national political level and a fight over statistics between two national…

Lately, theme parks have emphasized the learning and edutainment aspects of their business. This has created new opportunities for theme parks and schools to cooperate. Research has shown that learning at science centers, a similar form of learning arena, tends to be out of context and that the learning outcomes are meager. High Chaparral, in…

The condom plays a vital part in safe sex, the ideal outcome of mainstream Swedish sex education. As researchers have pointed out, however, the condom is not a neutral object; rather, it plays a part in shaping, in different ways, both sexual practices and the idea of what sex is. This paper focuses on sex education television programmes produced…

Today, there is a widespread idea that parents need to learn how to carry out their roles as parents. Practices of parental learning operate throughout society. This article deals with one particular practice of parental learning, namely nanny TV, and the way in which ideal parents are constructed through such programmes. The point of departure is…

Studies within the field of rural geography have lately to a noticeable extent enriched the theme of the creation of masculinities and femininities focussing on social constructions of the rural, as well as social constructions of gender. In this study I aim to discuss some expressed discourses of the rural in order to illuminate the power…

Intervention studies show that if children with disabilities play motion-controlled TV and computer games for training purposes their motivation increases and their training becomes more intensive, but why this happens has not been explained. This article addresses this question with the help of ethnographic material from a public project in…

Expectations of parenting are highly prescribed and the media is an important channel for adults learning what this role entails. The pedagogical role of the media involves making judgements on what counts as valid and desirable parenting practices and suggest goals to be(come) the "good parent"--a construct which appears to take no…

This article is based on a questionnaire study of the media habits of Swedish youth aged 17-18. It examines the time they spend on using fictional texts through various media forms as well as in relation to mode (production/consumption), context (spare time/school), and gender (male/female). It further analyses these media habits and, using media…

Parenting is a recurring topic in books, newspapers, magazines and TV shows in Western societies. Often it involves experts giving advice to adults. Hence, parenting is made visible, categorised, evaluated and corrected in public. Judgements on what is desirable are demonstrated, and objectives to be achieved are pointed out. In the present study,…

A long-range Swedish research project is attempting to describe the role of broadcast media in society as seen by both communicator and receiver. The first section of the study, now taking place, is examining television audiences to determine what they watch, why they watch it, what they think of what they see, and what kind of audience, in terms…

To inform Swedish program policy discussions, this study traced patterns in fictional television programing for children and young adults in Sweden. Three sets of questions were central to the inquiry. First, what does "the TV world" look like? Who lives there? Who are the dominant figures? What settings are depicted? How are socially…

This report provides a detailed analysis of the video use and preferences of Swedish adolescents based on data drawn from the Media Panel project, a three-wave, longitudinal research program on video use conducted at the Department of Sociology, The University of Lund, and the Department for Information Techniques, the University College of Vaxjo,…

This report is one in a series dealing with Swedish adolescents' uses of video based upon the Media Panel research program, a three-wave, longitudinal research program on video use conducted at the Department of Sociology, the University of Lund, and the Department for Information Techniques, the University College of Vaxjo, Sweden. Data were…

This paper examines the developmental background of the video "revolution" and reviews the availability and use of video in Sweden in 1981. A summary and discussion of the results of various recently published studies of video use focuses on research by Hulten and Wachtmeister (1981) and Wall and Cederblad (1981). A summary is also…

A look at a unique case applying the rules of freedom of expression for mass media in Sweden. (HB)