Search

Syftet med mitt examensarbete är att få svar på hur en grupp elever i årskurs 9 i tyska funderar över sin språkinlärning i tyska. Utgångspunkten för min kvalitativa undersökning i klassrummet är två texter från Skolverket (2022a) som kartläggningsmaterial i tyska i årskurs 9 för att utmana elevernas läsförståelse genom textläsning och textrelaterade frågor som är införda i det digitala verktyget Wordwall. Det är i grunden ett gratis digitalt verktyg och enkelt att använda i språkundervisningen. Som lärare skapar man innehåll i form av en eller flera Wordwall-aktiviteter kring det valda materialet. Målet med undersökningen är att eleverna ökar sitt ordförråd i samband med dessa texter och på det sättet får kännedom om vanligt förekommande uttryck i texterna. Genom textläsning kan eleverna lära sig nya ord i ett sammanhang som säkert upplevs mer meningsfullt än att endast plugga med hjälp av ordlistor. Huvudresultatet som framkommit i min studie är att eleverna uttryckte sig skriftligt om sina uppfattningar kring sin språkinlärning och Wordwallprojektet. Insikterna dokumenteras med hjälp av en kvalitativ utvärdering av elevernas enkätsvar för att belysa deras uppfattningar. The purpose of my degree project is to get answers to how a group of Swedish students in grade 9 think about their language learning in German. The starting point för my qualitative investigation in the classroom are two texts from the Swedish National Agency for Education (2022a) as mapping material in German in grade 9 to challenge the students’ reading comprehension through text reading and text-related questions that are introduced in the digital tool Wordwall. It is basically a free digital tool and easy to use in language teaching. As a teacher, you create content in the form of one or more Wordwall activities around the selected material. The goal of the survey is for the students to increase their vocabulary in connection with these texts and in that way gain knowledge of commonly occurring expressions in the texts. By reading texts, students can learn new words in a context that is certainly perceived to be more meaningful than studying only with the help of word lists. The main result that emerged from my study is that the students expressed themselves in writing about their perceptions regarding their language learning and the Wordwall project. The insights are documented using a qualitative evaluation of the students’ survey responses to illuminate their perceptions.

Enterprise Coordinators play a key role in supporting the careers leader in schools and colleges and facilitating their relationships with volunteers from the world of work. This article explores how Enterprise Coordinators understand their work. Taking a phenomenographical approach, four categories of understanding have been developed (‘critical friend’, ‘matchmaker’, collaborator’, and ‘reflective practitioner’) that can be used to guide the training and development of all practitioners tasked with facilitating the relationship between schools and employers. It is hoped that this article can also add to the literature of how to undertake a phenomenographical study.

Curriculum leadership is commonly regarded as an essential element in supporting school development and facilitating curriculum change processes. The study identified the qualitative variation in c...

This paper discusses the uses and applications of the Pedagogy of Experience Complexity for Smart Learning (PECSL), a four-tier model of considerations for the design and development of smart learning activities. Using existing mobile apps and relevant activities as illustrative examples, the PECSL is applied to indicate concepts and mechanisms by which useful pedagogical considerations can work alongside user-centred design principles for the design and development of smart learning in urban hyper-localities. Practical application of the model is discussed using real world examples of activities as a basis to demonstrate the potential for manifold opportunities to learn, and plan for experience complexity in a smart learning activity. Case study approaches reflect on aspects of the PECSL in how it might be a useful and pragmatic guide to some of the issues faced when designing digital citizen learning activities in complex urban environments.

Since visual representations play a particularly important role in the teaching and learning of chemistry, the exploration described in this article focuses on them. This is an explorative study of the qualitatively different ways that visual representations can be unpacked by Swedish upper secondary school chemistry teachers dealing with intermolecular forces. Unpacking is characterized as the ways that visual representations get used to open up the possibility of having the critical aspects and features of an intended object of learning being brought into focal awareness, initially on their own and then simultaneously. The analysis, which combines a phenomenographic and a social semiotic approach, leads to the characterizations of five qualitatively different ways that visual representations may be unpacked. These outcome categories are presented in terms of a conceptual hierarchy, where two of these ways of unpacking are characterized as being teacher-centered and the other three as student-centered. This leads to a case being made that if teachers use student-centered ways of unpacking visual representations, then their students will be more likely to gain greater access to critical aspects and features of the enacted object of learning. We argue that in terms of making theoretical and practical contributions to the phenomenographic perspective on learning, the results can be used as a tool for researchers wishing to explore how visual representations can be used effectively in science education and also provide a useful basis for discussion in teacher education and in teacher professional development programs.

In this paper, we seek to provide a rich exploration of the conceptions of and approaches to research-teaching linkages (RTL) that are held and undertaken by scholars, researchers and academics within Higher Education (HE). The work we report has been undertaken as part of a longitudinal institutional project to broaden and deepen engagement with RTL in a geographically distributed university that sits within a particular social and economic context. The project has a primary focus on exploring creative new ways to embed RTL principles and practices across a broad range of subject areas, within formal learning and teaching, and curricula, in such a way that the intellectual work our students undertake and produce has a direct value to the needs of the wider communities the university serves. Within this paper, we present key aspects of our work and findings to date in three distinct parts. Part 1 summarises the main findings from an extensive review of the literature related to RTL that we undertook, and in which we synthesise the literature on RTL into four distinct areas comprising: perceptions of RTL; principles of RTL; productivity in RTL, and practice in RTL. In the latter area we consider the concept of the ‘curriculum as praxis’. Part 2 of the paper describes and reports on the emerging findings of our own research, which took the form of a phenomenographic study investigating the conceptions of and approaches to RTL within the range of staff who are participating in the aforementioned institutional project. The phenomenography represents a contribution to a relatively small research base of phenomenographic research concerning RTL. In Part 3 of the paper we consider and look towards how we reconcile the promise and possibilities of RTL, particularly in relation to the ‘curriculum as praxis’, with the perceptions and practices emerging from our phenomenographic study. In doing so we offer a consideration of practical next steps that we are now taking, including recommendations we hope others may find useful.

The internationalisation of higher education is a dynamic and specific process that is continuously shaped by the context in which it occurs. This article reports on a study that explored perceptio...

Academics nowadays are increasingly expected to implement high-quality teaching, what is frequently referred to as ‘excellent teaching’. Understandings of academics’ conceptions of excellent teachi...

By analysing an academic exhibition on the Amazon region made by Year 5 children from an Oxford-based primary school, this qualitative study explores the ways that children perceive a representatio...

The field of Intercultural Communication has attracted attention of specialists from various disciplines, including such distant fields of research as linguistics and international business studies. Most authors, however, focus on the scope of knowledge and skills in terms of learning objectives. Students’ own perspectives and various conceptions they construct with ascribed meanings, as well as the “architecture” of their learning process remain under-researched. This study provides an example of a replicable analysis of the Intercultural Communication learning process, based on subjects’ perspectives. Most participants of this study are first- and second-generation immigrants. Serious issues present in a multicultural setting based on the perception of the “Other” emerged, with implications for communication, collaboration and potential conflict. Two main transformation patterns were identified in the intercultural learning process, conditioned by mono- and multiculturalism. This study reveals a range within the self-conception transition framework, as well as the deep ontological aspect of the phenomenon. The findings extrapolated into a wider context should contribute to a more conflict-free environment in multicultural societies in general. The phenomenographic approach, variation theory and the threshold concept were applied to explore the semantics, the syntax of the learning process and the critical aspects of the transformative learning experience. * This research was supported by the Institute for Environmental Sustainability, Mount Royal University (No. 2013–49a). Initial design was inspired and partly supported through collaboration with The Institute for Teaching and Learning at Mount Royal University. There has been no public presentation, nor publication of any part of this analysis. This is not part of a thesis or dissertation.

This study contends that phenomenography offers both a useful research method and practical tools for developing education and training for career practitioners. After introducing the basic principles of phenomenography, the study reviews previous research on its potential in developing pedagogical practices. It explores how the phenomenographic findings were utilized to design an online skills training programme for career practitioners. The study finds that phenomenographic research serves three practical pedagogical purposes: (1) revealing how learners understand certain concepts or phenomena, (2) elucidating how these understandings differ; and (3) identifying critical aspects in helping learners to widen and deepen their understanding.

Det här examensarbetet undersöker sex lärares uppfattningar kring skiss- och ritteknik på högstadiet. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur lärare uppfattar undervisningsmetoder kopplade till skiss- och ritteknik inom teknikämnet på högstadiet. Undersökningen besvarar följande två frågor:1. Hur undervisar lärarna i skiss- och ritteknik i grundskolans teknikämne, åk 7–9? 2. Hur erfar och uppfattar lärarna undervisningen? För att ta reda på vilka uppfattningar lärarna har i ovanstående frågor ställdes fem frågor till sex lärare från olika skolor som undervisar i teknik för åk 7–9. Uppsatsens syfte är att analysera tekniklärares olika uppfattningar, beskrivningar, synpunkter och erfarenheter av ritteknikundervisningen snarare än att analysera deras kunskaper om ritteknik. Metoden är kvalitativ med semistrukturerade intervjuer och materialet behandlas genom en fenomenografisk analysmodell.Resultatet visar att tre av de intervjuade tekniklärarna undervisar skiss- och ritteknik så att eleverna arbetar både för hand och digitalt via program på datorn. Resterande intervjudeltagare använde främst rittekniken för hand men vid enstaka tillfällen digital handritning. Lärarnas erfarenheter och uppfattningar om metoderna visar att både ritning för hand och digitalt bör kombineras i undervisningen för att uppnå lärandemålen utifrån centrala innehållet för åk 7–9. Enligt lärarna är det viktigt att väcka elevernas tekniska intresse genom att låta de använda sig av olika metoder vid skiss- och ritteknik. Slutligen framkommer även att lärarna har gemensamma uppfattningar om båda teknikernas för- och nackdelar. De påpekar bland annat att eleverna upplever liknande svårigheter i undervisningen, vilket påverkar elevernas lärande. This degree project investigates teachers’ perceptions of sketch-drawing techniques in secondary schools. This study aims to examine how teachers perceive teaching methods linked to sketch-drawing techniques within technics classes in secondary schools. The purpose of the study is to answer the following questions:1. How do teachers in technic class teach sketch-drawing techniques in secondary schools, grades 7-9? 2. How do the teachers experience and perceive the teaching? To find out which perceptions teachers have about sketch-drawing techniques, five questions were asked to the teachers who teach technics classes in grades 7-9. The purpose of the study was not to analyze teachers´ knowledge rather it was to analyze the technics teachers’ perceptions, descriptions, views, and experiences when they teach different sketch-drawing techniques in secondary classes. Six different technic class teachers who work at different schools were interviewed, and a phenomenographic analysis model was implemented to process the collected data from the interviews. In addition, a qualitative interview is used with the interviewees. According to the teachers' descriptions, most teachers teach sketching and hand drawing, but fewer teachers teach both hand and digital drawing. All the teachers agree that hand and digital drawing must be combined in teaching to achieve the learning outcomes based on the central content for grades 7–9. According to the teachers, it is important to arouse the students' technical interest by letting them use different methods for sketching and drawing techniques. Finally, it also appears that the teachers have common perceptions about the advantages and disadvantages of both techniques. They point out, among other things, whether the students experience similar difficulties in teaching and how this affects the students' learning.

This study investigates how students explain 20th century political history in relation to their textbook and their teacher’s picture-slide presentations. The study is based on theory’s relating to historical literacy and phenomenography and envisages to contribute to history didactics science concerning assessment of student text. The results show a variety of ways in which students explain facts. Students either drop facts with or without being able to explain them. The results also show that some students are able to explain causational connections using connecting markers. Furthermore, the result show that students are able to independently express opinions about events in history with little or more arguments to back up their choice. Lastly, the study establishes that the contents of the textbook and picture-slide presentations reflect the contents of the students’ answers to a large extent. The study also claims to be helpful with assessment of student texts. The aspects in which the students write about history can be useful when assessing text to keep the teachers’ focus on the same things while assessing. This in turn can decrease the risk of irrelevant construct variances to affect the teachers’ assessments, as well as, benefit reliability and equality.

Examining how learners ascribe meaning to different aspects of their university life is a necessary undertaking in higher education. This article aims to investigate university students’ conceptions of engineering and explore how these conceptions relate to the context of their experience. Our data collection method and data analysis are informed by the techniques of the phenomenographic approach and the Implied Identity Framework. Fifteen engineering students in a course about sustainability participated in the study. Results revealed eight categories of participants’ conceptions: (1) engineering as a practice for designing solutions; (2) engineering as a pragmatic practice for the welfare of people; (3) engineering as a knowledge-based practice; (4) engineering as a communicative practice; (5) engineering as a technology-mediated practice; (6) engineering as thinking; (7) engineering as an independent practice; and (8) engineering as learning. These conceptions had cognitive, technological, or social orientations and were related to three aspects of engineering: outcome-focused; process-focused; and person-focused. Also, findings demonstrated that different contexts of the university, workplace, and society prompt different ways of thinking about engineering. The findings place a greater emphasis on personal agency and the development of student identities as lifelong learners.

Syftet med denna studie är att bidra till mer kunskap om högläsningen i förskolan samt få en inblick om förskollärares uppfattningar om ämnet. En kvalitativ metod har använts för att samla in den information som behövts till denna undersökning. Denna studie tar stöd från förskollärares uppfattningar och åsikter. Den fenomenografiska metoden har använts för att analysera materialet. Resultatet visar att förskollärarna ansåg att högläsningen i förskolan främst bidrog till barnens språkutveckling. Förskollärarna och barnskötarna i studien beskrev att högläsningen var en rolig och lärorik aktivitet som planerades in i verksamheten dagligen. De beskriver vidare att barnlitteraturen var lättillgänglig för barnen. Skillnaden utifrån intervjuerna visade att en av förskollärarna inte hade någon uppföljning när de genomfört en högläsningsaktivitet, samt att 4 av 6 förskolepersonal menade att högläsningen ofta skedde på ett oplanerat sätt medan de resterande nämnde att högläsningen planerades dagligen i verksamheten. Slutsatsen visar att samtliga respondenter medvetet väljer högläsning i verksamheten som en daglig aktivitet för att dels främja språkutveckling hos barnen, dels som en trivsam stund tillsammans. Barnen ges möjlighet till att utveckla kunskaper och lärande enligt läroplanen för förskolan med högläsning som en del av det aktiva arbetet hos förskolepersonalen. Det framgår att merparten av de svarande högläser vid spontana stunder under dagen, medan resterande planerat in aktiviteten vid specifika tider under dagen. The purpose of this study is to contribute to more knowledge about reading aloud in preschool and to get an insight into preschool teachers’ perceptions of the subject. A qualitative method has been used to gather the information needed for this survey. This study draws on the views and opinions of preschool teachers. The phenomenographic method has been used to analyse the material. The result shows that the preschool teachers considered that reading aloud in preschool mainly contributed to the children´s language development. The preschool teachers and the nannies in the study described that reading aloud was fun and educational activity that is planned in the activities on a daily basis. They further describe that the children´s literature was easily accessible to the children. The difference based on the interviews showed that one of the preschool teachers did not have any follow-up when they carried out a reading aloud acivity, and that 4 out of 6 preschool staff thought that the reading aloud often took place in an unplanned way, while the rest mentioned that the reading aloud was planned daily in the business. The conclusion shows that all respondents consciously choose reading aloud in the activity to promote language development in the children, as well as a pleasant time together. The children are given the opportunity to develop knowledge and learning according to the curriculum for the preschool with reading aloud as part of the active work of the preschool staff. It appears that the respondents read aloud at spontaneous moments during the day, while the rest planned the activity at specific times during the day.

Studien utgår från en ansats bestående av kombinationen fenomenografi och policy enactment med syfte att undersöka hur lärare uppfattar likvärdig utbildning. Fenomenografi belyser variation i uppfattningar av fenomen, särskilt inom utbildningskontext (Marton & Booth, 2000; Uljens, 1989), medan policy enactment lyfter fram vilka handlingar som gör policy och vilka faktorer som påverkar uppdraget likvärdig utbildning (Ball m.fl., 2012). Genom att tillföra lärarperspektivet kan studien bidra till ny kunskap i diskussionen och öka förståelsen av likvärdig utbildning. I studien genomförs fjorton intervjuer med grund- och gymnasielärare utifrån Scherps (2013) metod fältkarta. Utsagorna är sammanställda utifrån en fenomenografisk analysmetod där tre beskrivningskategorier utkristalliserats. Inom kategorierna inryms en bred variation av uppfattningar och spridning av hur lärare uppfattar likvärdig utbildning. Beskrivningskategorier utgör studiens utfallsrum och där policy enactment ansatsen ger de begreppsliga verktygen för analysen. Policy enactment ansatsen handlar om hur policys tolkas och omsätts i praxis och hur lärare blir till policyaktörer genom rekontextualisering som synliggörs i policyhandlingar (Ball m.fl., 2012). Resultatet ger en förståelse för variationerna i uppfattningar av innebörden av likvärdig utbildning som främst utgår från skollagen (SFS 2010:800) och för de omfattande policyhandlingar som gör policyn likvärdig utbildning. Resultatet för fram vilka kontextuella faktorer som påverkar uppdraget likvärdig utbildning. En del lärare uppfattar inte att de påverkas av externa kontexten styrdokument även om utsagorna grundar sig i styrdokumenten vilket skulle kunna tyda på att styrdokumenten är naturaliserade hos lärarna, det vill säga blivit en ideologisk och allmänmänsklig legitimering av lärarna som visas i diskursen. The study uses a combined phenomenographic and policy enactment approach which aims at giving voice to teachers’ understandings of what it means to work with educational equity. Phenomenography highlights variation in perceptions of phenomena, especially within an educational context (Marton & Booth, 2000; Uljens, 1989), while policy enactment highlights the actions that make policy and the factors that influence the mission of equity in education (Ball et al., 2012). Understanding how teachers perceive educational equity can provide us with new knowledge towards achieving equity in education. In the study, fourteen interviews were carried out with compulsory and upper secondary teachers, using Scherp’s (2013) method field mapping. The interviewees' perceptions are compiled using a phenomenographic analysis method in which three descriptive categories emerged. The categories include a wide variety of perceptions and spread of how teachers perceive equity in education. Descriptive categories constitute the outcome space of the study and policy enactment approach provides the conceptual tools for the analysis. The policy enactment approach focuses on how policies are interpreted and translated into local practice where teachers are regarded as policy actors through recontextualization visible in various policy acts (Ball et al., 2012). The study provides an understanding of the various perceptions of the meaning of educational equity, primarily based on the Education Act (SFS 2010:800) and extensive policy acts that make the policy equity in education. The results bring out the contextual factors that influence teachers’ mission. However, some teachers do not perceive themselves to be influenced by external factors policy documents even though the statements are based on them, which may be due to a naturalization among teachers, having become an ideological and general human legitimization of the teachers as shown in the discourse.

Introduction -- The Concept and Context of Critical Thinking in Higher Education and Labour Market -- -- Analysing the Concept of Critical Thinking in Higher Education: Systematic Literature Review -- Critical Thinking as a Unique Competence: Evidence from Higher Education Studies -- Critical Thinking in Study Process and Labour Market: Phenomenographic Study -- Critical Thinking Competence in Study Process and Labour Market: A Quantitative Study -- Linking Critical Thinking Development in Higher Education and Demand in Labour Market -- Conclusions and Recommendations for Higher Education -- Summary -- Zusammenfassung -- List of Tables -- List of Figures. This book presents the comprehensive investigation of critical thinking in higher education from the perspectives of the study and labor market. It looks for an answer to the vibrant question of what and to whom critical thinking is. The study brings together findings from systematic literature review, analysis of descriptions of higher education study programs and study subjects, phenomenographical research and survey and supplements the existing perceptions of critical thinking with novel data-driven insights. The book reveals how critical thinking manifests itself in the contexts of higher education and the labor market and advocates for the significance of the critical thinking at personal, interpersonal, and social levels.

An important role in socialising first-year students into universities is initiating them into different conventions of academic writing. Support programmes, such as writing centres, have been established in several South African universities to help students with this objective and the broader issue of academic literacy. The assumption is that such interventions bridge the articulation gap between basic and higher education phases and expedite academic success. This article draws from a larger PhD study that explored nursing students’ experiences of developing their academic writing skills at the writing centre. The focus of this article is on understanding first-year nursing students’ experiences of learning academic writing through the integrated writing interventions of language and discipline practices at a writing centre based at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). These students were regarded as relevant because their curriculum incorporates a more structured academic writing component with the writing centre. The study adopted the Academic Literacies Model (ALM), which fosters a social view of academic writing and advocates for integrated support to the teaching and learning of academic writing. Guided by the qualitative constructivist paradigm, phenomenography was adopted as a research methodology. Data were analysed according to phenomenographic categories. Whilst the study uncovered various factors influencing the development of academic writing amongst the target population, there was a clear need for shifting from interdisciplinary (at least two disciplines) to a transdisciplinary (more than two disciplines) academic literacy approach to students’ learning experiences. As such, the article recommends the intentional inclusion of various stakeholders (writing centre practitioners, discipline lecturers, clinical and academic support staff) to mitigate students’ writing challenges and develop sustainable and relevant academic literacy practices.

The Pedagogy of Experience Complexity for Smart Learning (PECSL) is a four-tier model of considerations for the design and development of learning activities situated in real world hyperlocal locations, mediated by smart enough technologies. Learner experience is placed at the centre of learning design, focusing on the complex interrelated experiences that may be possible. A wider awareness of types of learning may enhance potential for gaining value for learners and offer more flexibility for instructors or others. Learning is considered as any potential object of vital interest for the learner, and may include making connections with others, dialogic space expansion between learners and wider relevance of topic or location as much as any intended learning outcome.Taking inspiration from digital artefact user centred design, the PECSL adopts a position of flexible layers of considerations that impact stages of design for complex smart learning activities. Each tier being interrelated to the others, these iteratively adapting as a result of decisions being made throughout the design and development process. Categories of learner experience variation derived from a phenomenographic study of smart learning journeys inform the foundation of the PECSL, providing concepts of experience relevance structures leading to related pedagogies, further pedagogical relevance considerations and deeper epistemological reflections. Acknowledging significance of the context, process and content of learning in these activities, considerations expand to enable pragmatic support for much of value towards effective learning. This paper seeks to provide a means for learners to learn from each other as much as any specified learning goals or assessment.

Phenomenography is a qualitative research methodology that is often adopted by researchers to investigate people’s lived experience of the phenomena around them. Within the phenomenographic research tradition, there has been much discussion of the influence of the context on the phenomenon under study. Time and again, both phenomenographers and critics of phenomenography have stressed the importance of the researcher being mindful of the context when using phenomenography as a research methodology. In this paper, two phenomenographic studies of the learning of adults under the context of parental learning are reported. We attempt to illuminate empirically the consequences of ignoring the cautionary advice about context in the pilot study and contrast its outcomes with the quality of the research results of the subsequent main study that heeded the advice. It is important to clearly delimit the phenomenon in question by taking careful consideration of the relevant context, as this ensures that phenomenography is conducted on the same, target phenomenon, rather than on different phenomena.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on the approaches teacher candidates (TCs) took to craft the object of learning and the critical aspects when applying variation theory, in planning science lessons. It addresses the difficulty TCs often face in determining what students could learn when crafting the objects of learning and the critical aspects. Design/methodology/approach A total of 27 science TCs from an initial teacher education (ITE) were introduced to variation theory and collaborated in groups of four to five to plan lessons. Data included recordings of the lesson planning session and fieldnotes, TCs’ lesson plans and individual semi-structured interviews. Phenomenography as a methodology was employed to capture the variation in the TCs’ approaches in crafting the objects of learning and the critical aspects, resulting in categories of description that illustrated the complexity of the lesson planning process the TCs engaged with. Findings Arranged in hierarchical order, the three categories of description include TCs: analysing content knowledge in order to promote conceptual learning; reflecting on personal experiences and beliefs about teaching and learning; and drawing on external resources to develop knowledge about students. Practical implications The ways the TCs engaged with lesson planning constituted valuable resources to build their capacity to differentiate between superficial content engagement and deep conceptual learning. Originality/value The study reports on the potential of framing ITE discourse using variation theory to support TCs’ engaging with science teaching that is more conceptual-based, while increasing their sensitivity to students’ common conceptions that constrained the learning of canonical science.

Science teacher education has long sought to educate new science teachers to more fully understand “Science-for-all” and prepare them to effectively navigate diverse contexts. To adopt this “Science-for-all” mantra, we need to address what the labeling (i.e., categorical labeling and/or mislabeling) of students with disabilities means for science teacher education. This paper provides a critical inquiry to ground the claim that disability operates subversively and unrecognized as a marker of difference similar to labels that produce exclusion in science education (e.g., race, class, and gender). Using a phenomenographic design, this research studied graduate students’ conceptualizations of disability as they progressed through the only required diversity course at a large, urban university in the American northeast. Primary data sources included in-depth, pre-/post-course interviews with supplemental data collected from biweekly course reflections. Phenomenographic data analyses addressed to what extent these graduate students embraced a disability studies perspective relative to disability—i.e., viewing disability beyond merely individual deficit. Findings suggest that the course sustained the relatively static conceptualizations about disability held by the participants related to individual deficiency rather than pushing for more critical views of disability beyond deficiency. Implications are discussed in relation to multicultural science teacher education course goals.

Classroom practitioners are expected to facilitate effective learning under the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in South Africa. During this facilitation process, educator...

Over the last two decades, one can notice a considerable turn to the reflective qualitative inquiry. However, in phenomenographic research design, the role and value of reflection are often neglected. This paper elaborates on the Reflective Practice Framework for phenomenographic method of data analysis developed as a result of undertaking an empirical phenomenographic research. The paper considers genealogy of the concept reflection and models for reflection in qualitative research to discuss the theoretical foundations of the proposed Framework. Two levels and five steps of the Framework are explained, and an example of how the Framework can advance analysis of unstructured phenomenographic data is provided.

Väl genomförda övergångsstrategier kan bidra till ett bättre utfall i vuxen ålder för elever med Austismspektrumdiagnos (ASD). Med övergångsstrategier menas i denna studie insatser som genomförs för att underlätta övergången för en elev med ASD från gymnasieskolan vidare till eftergymnasiala verksamheter. Syftet med studien var att identifiera övergångsstrategier i vetenskapliga artiklar. Syftet var även att undersöka vilka uppfattningar gymnasiepersonal med erfarenhet av övergångar för elever med ASD har om dessa övergångsstrategier. För att identifiera övergångsstrategier genomfördes en litteraturöversikt i vilken 22 artiklar inkluderades. Två synteser av innehållet i artiklarna gjordes, dels grupperades innehållet kring vilka uttryck övergångsstrategier kan ta sig, dels försågs varje identifierad grupp med strategier med ett namn och en definition. Detta resulterade i att nio distinkta övergångsstrategier definierades. Data samlades in från gymnasiepersonal genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Fynden i litteraturstudien låg till grund för utformningen av intervjuguiden. Fem informanter med erfarenhet av arbete med elever med ASD rekryterades genom ett strategiskt urval från fyra olika skolor. Fenomenografisk metod användes vid dataanalysen. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten var Bronfenbrenners ekologiska modell samt Rimm-Kaufman och Piantas ekologiska och dynamiska modell för övergångar. Analysen resulterade i ett utfallsrum för varje forskningsfråga. Utfallsrummet avseende informanternas uppfattningar av övergångsstrategier utgjordes av tre beskrivningskategorier. Dels aktiv och generell medverkan, dels behovsanpassa övergångsstrategierna, dels andra aktörer bör vara drivande. I studien undersöktes också vad som framträder i informanternas beskrivningar av sina erfarenheter kring övergångsstrategier. Tre beskrivningskategorierna framträdde, nämligen inget aktivt arbete med de beskrivna övergångsstrategierna, ad hoc-lösningar samt systematiskt arbete. Vilka möjligheter och hinder personalen såg för ett genomförande var också en frågeställning. Utfallsrummet avseende möjligheter utgjordes av två beskrivningskategorier: gynnsam organisation samt nätverk familj-skola-andra aktörer. Även två beskrivningskategorier avseende hinder framträdde: Bristande förståelse för ASD och/eller stöd kring ASD på olika nivåer samt fokus på övergångar saknas på organisations- och systemnivå. När det inbördes förhållandet mellan utfallsrummen analyserades identifierades olika former av stöd och incitament som faktorer med generellt inflytande. Well conducted transition strategies can lead to better outcomes in adulthood for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In this study, transition strategies are defined as interventions that are carried out in order to facilitate transition from upper secondary school to post school settings. The purpose of the study was to identify transition strategies in scientific articles The purpose was also to investigate what perceptions upper secondary school staff with experience of transition of students with ASD have about those transition strategies. In order to identify transition strategies, a literature study was carried out in which 22 articles were included. Two synthetises of the content in the studies were carried out. Firstly, the content was grouped under what expressions the transition strategies can take. Secondly, each identified group of strategies was given a name and a definition. As a result, nine different transition strategies were identified. Data was collected from upper secondary school staff by semi structured interviews. The findings in the literature study were used for the design of the interview guide. Five informants with experience of working with pupils with ASD were recruited by strategic sample from four different schools. The phenomenographic method was used to analyse data from the interviews. Both Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model and Rimm-Kaufman and Pianta’s ecological and dynamic model for transitions were used as a theoretical framework. The analysis resulted in one outcome space for each of the research questions. The outcome space concerning the informant’s perceptions about transition strategies resulted in three descriptive categories: active and general participation, adapt the strategies to the needs and other adequate providers should be the driving force. The study also investigated what appears in the informants’ descriptions of their experiences of transition strategies. Three different description categories were identified. No active work with transition strategies was practically implemented, ad hoc solutions and systematic implementation. Another point of research was what staff identified as possibilities and obstacles for implementation. Two descriptive categories concerning the informants’ perceptions of possibilities were identified: favourable organisation and an established network consisting of family, school and other adequate providers. Two descriptive categories concerning obstacles appeared as discouraging: comprehension for ASD and/or support for ASD on different levels was inadequate and lack of focus on transition on an organisational and systemic level. When the internal relationships between the outcome spaces were analysed, different forms of support and incentives were identified as factors with general influence.

Den här artikeln fokuserar på studenters referathantering i examinerande uppgifter i högre utbildning och vad studenterna behöver urskilja för att utveckla detta kunnande. Dataunderlaget består av intervjuer och studenttexter. Resultatet bygger på två typer av analyser. Genom en fenomenografisk analys framkom fyra kategorier som beskriver kvalitativt skilda sätt att erfara och hantera referatet. Via en variationsteoretisk analys, utifrån skillnaderna mellan kategorierna, påvisades sedan fyra aspekter som kan anses kritiska för att lära sig referathantering. De beskriver att studenter behöver urskilja att A) textens innehåll kan separeras från dess form, B) det finns ett idéinnehåll i hela källtexten och i längre textavsnitt, C) källans idéinnehåll ska fylla en funktion i relation till den egna textens idéinnehåll och D) referathantering placerar in den egna texten i ett vetenskapligt sammanhang. De kritiska aspekterna som framkommit i studien kan användas som underlag för att planera undervisning i akademiskt skrivande i högre utbildning. This study investigates students’ ability to cite and reference in their higher education coursework, and more particularly what needs to be made visible for students to develop this ability. The data consists of interviews and student texts. The results are based on two types of analyses. Through a phenomenographical analysis, four qualitatively different approaches to referencing were identified. Using the variation theory, an analysis of the differences between the approaches then identified four critical aspects for learning how to reference. Students need to see that a) the content in a text can be separated from its form, b) there are some main ideas present in the whole source text and in longer sections of the text, c) the ideas from the source text have to be relevant to the student’s own text, and d) referencing places a text in an academic context. The critical aspects identified in this study can be used for planning the teaching of academic writing in higher education.

This paper contributes to a pedagogical model for smart learning by establishing a framework of some considerations based on learner experience of smart learning journeys. Phenomenography is used to investigate variation of learner experience in smart learning journeys. Learners participate in ‘Literary London’, situated in London, UK, and 'Malta Democracy’, situated in Valletta, Malta. An inclusive relational hierarchy of experience complexity is demonstrated with vertical, horizontal and diagonal relationships between four categories of experience variation for a smart learning journey. A pedagogical relevance structure for smart learning is discussed, supporting connectivist-inspired participatory pedagogies for smart learning environments. Sample participants consist of Education degree university students, with one other discipline represented (English Literature and Creative Writing). Various levels of study, cultural and international backgrounds are represented. Understanding learner experience of these kinds of activities may help to support today’s growing culture of learning cities, to "promote lifelong learning opportunities for all" (Unesco SDG4), within a context of the European Commission 2018 Digital Competence Framework for Citizens.

This reflective paper narrates my research journey from a naïve researcher to a critic and from a behaviorist to a post-structuralist. It highlights the different philosophical, methodological, and theoretical dilemmas I faced in conceptualizing students’ experiences in an English as a Second Language program in higher education during my doctoral studies. This journey is divided into three phases: construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. In the construction phase, I conceptualized students’ experiences from my own established knowledge, which was grounded in my presumptions about teaching and learning. During the deconstruction phase, I questioned my understanding of knowledge and social realities. In the reconstruction phase, I interacted with Phenomenography, Activity Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, Communities of Practice, and Bourdieusian Structuralism. This paper narrates these interactions, focusing mainly on the dilemmas I faced as a researcher. These reflections could be highly beneficial for new researchers who may face the same situations at different stages of their research careers.

The development of doctoral students as university teachers has received substantially less attention compared with their development as researchers, with a similar deficit extending to research on how they experience and understand university teaching. This article reports the results of a phenomenographic study of education doctoral students’ conceptions of teaching in higher education. Using samples from two education departments in England and Sweden, we conducted interviews to identify variation in doctoral students’ experiences of university teaching. Analysis of the transcripts produced six qualitatively different conceptions of teaching: doctoral students conceptualised university teaching as a means of (A) transmitting knowledge, (B) presenting contrasting concepts of education, (C) communicating and engaging with students, (D) enabling students to apply knowledge and skills, (E) enabling students to interpret and compare concepts of education, and (F) promoting personal, professional and societal development and change. While in broad agreement with previous studies on university teachers’ conceptions of teaching, the study offers a unique insight into how the subject of education is understood by doctoral students who teach. The findings also underline the need to introduce common frameworks of academic development for academics and doctoral students alike that prioritise ways of representing and engaging with the structure of the subject, rather than the acquisition of teaching skills.

El objetivo de este trabajo fue establecer un marco de competencias laborales para orientar la gestión de puestos clave en empresas de restauración. Tuvo un enfoque de dos dimensiones: competencias ocupacionales y personales. El diseño de la investigación fue de tipo fenomenográfico de corte trasversal; se llevó a cabo durante mayo y agosto de 2018 en la provincia de Imbabura (Ecuador). La unidad de análisis correspondió a restaurantes de primera y segunda categoría. La técnica de muestreo utilizada fue una muestra por criterio; el instrumento fue una entrevista semiestructurada. La pregunta de investigación fue la siguiente: ¿cuáles son las competencias laborales que las empresas del sector de la restauración requieren para una gestión eficiente de puestos clave de trabajo? Los resultados muestran que existe reducido personal con formación en competencias. Las competencias que tienen más significancia para procesos de gestión son las personales. The objective of this work was to establish a framework of labor competences to guide the management of key positions in restoration companies. A two-dimensioned holistic approach was employed focusing on occupational and personal competences. The design of the research was a cross-sectional study in phenomenography. It was carried out during the months of May and August 2018, in the province of Imbabura, Ecuador. The analysis unit corresponded to first and second category restaurants. Sampling criteria was used, and consisted of a semi-structured interview. The research question was: What are the job competences that catering companies require for the efficient management of key jobs? The results show that there are few people with skills training; the competences seen as the most important for management processes are personal skills.

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020. This article is to examine how emotions affect the doctoral student’s journey by analyzing diverse aspects of the information behaviour that emerged from their narratives through a phenomenographic perspective. Narratives are a rational way of communication that focuses on how people perceive different phenomena regarding themselves, their inner thoughts, their states of mind, and how it affects their lifeworld’s. This phenomenographic study employs interview data from 36 doctoral students. The data collected from the narratives were studied drawing from the variation theory and iterative data analysis resulted in categories of doctoral student experiences and their emotional journey. The holistic phase of the thematic analysis revealed a relatively balanced interplay of positive and negative emotions. The rich data obtained in the phenomenographic approach exposed significant links between participants’ heightened emotions in five common themes during looking for information, their interactions with key individuals (supervisors and peer) and situations in their doctoral lives. Whilst this paper focuses on the approach taken to explore the narratives, recommendations are made based on the findings and to further explore the information-seeking behaviour patterns of doctoral students.