Thor-Andre Skrefsrud | Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (original) (raw)

Papers by Thor-Andre Skrefsrud

Research paper thumbnail of Et jevnere utdanningsløp: Reduserte forskjeller eller selvforsterkende marginalisering?

Nordisk tidsskrift for pedagogikk og kritikk, 2024

Med utgangspunkt i utredningen Et jevnere utdanningsløp: Barnehage og skole/SFO som innsats mot u... more Med utgangspunkt i utredningen Et jevnere utdanningsløp: Barnehage og skole/SFO som innsats mot ulikhet blant barn levert av et regjeringsoppnevnt ekspertutvalg i februar 2024, gir artikkelen en
kritisk drøfting av elev- og læringssynet som rapporten bygger på. Vi mener at ekspertgruppen bygger på et til dels deterministisk elevsyn, samt et individualistisk og kognitivt læringssyn. Med utgangspunkt i Bourdieus teorier om habitus og kapital, samt Biestas kritikk av et teknologisk
utdanningssyn, problematiserer vi ekspertgruppens elev- og læringssyn og skisserer en alternativ tilnærming til sosial ulikhet i utdanningssystemet. Avslutningsvis argumenterer vi for at det er behov for pedagogisk forankrede perspektiver på elevene og læring når viktige avgjørelser knyttet til det offentlige utdanningssystemet skal fattes.

Research paper thumbnail of Negotiating Indigenous participation and heritage at a multicultural museum event in Norway

Museum and Society, 2024

This article investigates how Indigenous participation and heritage are negotiated at a multicult... more This article investigates how Indigenous participation and heritage are negotiated at a multicultural festival at the Norwegian Railway Museum. While such events respond to the call for meeting places fostering social inclusion and belonging, researchers within museology and festival research warn against promoting superficial and biased understandings of Indigeneity. Based on fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with festival organizers and Greenlandic contributors, we found that Indigenous participation was negotiated along two lines. First, the organizers and the Greenlanders shared enthusiasm for the festival's inclusive vision, yet they experienced different levels of ownership. The organizers were in charge; one Greenlandic contributor took on an active role while others became more silent consultants. Second, the negotiations revealed contrasting perceptions of Indigeneity, ranging from the organizers' traditional understanding to the Greenlanders' ambivalence toward the term. We argue that for multicultural museum and festival events to succeed in being inclusive, they must adopt critical and reflective approaches to ownership, as well as more complex understandings of Indigenous participation and heritage.

Research paper thumbnail of Multicultural School Events as Rituals

Blog post Wabash Center, 2024

Tags: embodied teaching | What Ritual Does | Multicultural Schools | Marginalized Voices Multic... more Tags: embodied teaching | What Ritual Does | Multicultural Schools |

Marginalized Voices Multicultural school events have become a global phenomenon, offering schools a platform to showcase the diverse cultures and languages within their communities. These events typically feature ethnic food, performances, and presentations from various cultures, serving as important spaces for fostering intercultural understanding and celebrating diversity among students, teachers, and families.

Research paper thumbnail of «Det er så koselig her at jeg tar av meg skoene»: Om betydningen av sted i en flerkulturell barne- og ungdomsfestival

Rom og sted: Religionsfaglige og interdisiplinære bidrag, 2020

In this article, we explore how children and youth participating in a multicultural festival in N... more In this article, we explore how children and youth participating in a multicultural festival in Norway construct space and place. Such events respond to the call to action for reducing prejudice and stereotypes, and they aim to promote inclusion, participation and community. Nonetheless, researchers have criticized such events for instead promoting categorical understandings of cultural identities; as such, some researchers regard multicultural festivals as counterproductive to the aim of promoting inclusion. However, previous research has directed scarce attention to the participants’ perspective, in particular viewpoints of children and youth. Inspired by perspectives on spatial justice (Soja, 1996, 2010), we interpret young people’s experiences and meaning making while attending a multicultural festival. We collected data through an app, which allowed us to conduct structured interviews with children and youths on site. The findings bring out the significance of space and place w...

Research paper thumbnail of The reception of Vygotsky in pedagogical literature for Norwegian teacher education

Forum Oświatowe, 2020

© The University of Lower Silesia owns the proprietary copyright to all materials published in th... more © The University of Lower Silesia owns the proprietary copyright to all materials published in the journal. Articles are made available on the basis of non-exclusive Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 licence.

Research paper thumbnail of Including alternative stories in the mainstream. How transcultural young people in Norway perform creative cultural resistance in and outside of school

International Journal of Inclusive Education, 2016

The development of an inclusive pedagogy takes on new urgency in Norwegian schools as the student... more The development of an inclusive pedagogy takes on new urgency in Norwegian schools as the student body has become increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse. Traditionally, the Norwegian school has been dominated by homogenising and assimilating discourses, whereas alternative voices have been situated at the margins. In response to this tendency, we present two transcultural students' autoethnographic stories produced in alternative spaces to the Norwegian mainstream, that is, in a transition class for newly arrived students and on Facebook. Both spaces are perceived as contact zones in the sense that they are culturally and linguistically complex. This article illustrates how the students perform cultural and linguistic resistance towards dominant homogenising discourses as the transition class and Facebook seem to offer opportunities for constructing alternative stories. Moreover, we contend that these alternative stories offer important knowledge for conventional education contexts since they represent stories of competence in contrast to the assumed limitations of these students.

Research paper thumbnail of Listening to young people's voices: Attempts at developing context-and participant-sensitive approaches

Childhood, 2024

This article explores the methodological impact of sharpening researchers' listening skills as pa... more This article explores the methodological impact of sharpening researchers' listening skills as part of the development of more context-and participant-sensitive approaches to research. The starting point is an analysis of structured app interviews with young people at a multicultural festival. Through the research process, we became increasingly aware of forms of communication we were prone to overlook, such as the here-and-now engagement of the participants, their carnivalesque expressions and associative and fragmented narration. Listening more openly required a reflexive extension of the data analysis and gave us unexpected glimpses into the life world and identity formation of young people.

Research paper thumbnail of Revisiting studies of multicultural school events from the perspective of strategic essentialism

Nordisk tidsskrift for pedagogikk og kritikk, 2021

The article discusses schools' use of multicultural school events as a practice designed to enhan... more The article discusses schools' use of multicultural school events as a practice designed to enhance inclusion and to prevent prejudice and negative intergroup attitudes in school. While prior research has largely criticized such events for promoting cultural stereotypes and essentialist cultural identities, in this article we discuss a more nuanced way of perceiving such practices. Based on our previous empirical work, we apply the idea of strategic essentialism (Spivak, 1996) and discuss how multicultural school events may also represent an opportunity for minority parents to achieve certain objectives by temporarily adopting the image provided by the majority and using it in a strategic manner to act and pursue chosen political advantages. However, we also critically discuss possible limitations and pitfalls of the idea of strategic essentialism as the concept may in fact essentialize the minority group contrary to the intention of the multicultural school event. The contribution of the article is a theoretically informed discussion of how these events may ascribe agency to the participating families, reducing the way critics perceive them solely as victims of a majority-dominated and non-inclusive practice.

Research paper thumbnail of Debating the Practice of Separate Plurilingual Programs in Norwegian Schools From a Spatial Perspective

Inclusive Education in Bilingual and Plurilingual Programs, edited by L. Mañoso-Pacheco, J. E. Chichon, & R. Sánchez-Cabrero, 2024

Applying Edward W. Soja's work on spatial justice as an analytical lens, this chapter discusses t... more Applying Edward W. Soja's work on spatial justice as an analytical lens, this chapter discusses the use of separate introductory programs for newly arrived migrant students in Norway. Although the use of separate programs for newcomers has been criticized for counteracting the aims of inclusion, this chapter suggests that from a spatial perspective, separation in itself is not necessarily a sign of exclusion; rather, it is what happens in an introductory program and how the actual space affects practices that matter. Furthermore, a sensitivity toward place and space can help educators pay attention to newly arrived students' backgrounds and needs without separation from their mainstream peers becoming a perceived barrier to inclusion. Acknowledging Soja's idea that social processes and discursive practices also influence place and space, a spatial perspective warns against letting ideological (and sometimes superficial) ideas about inclusion shape and govern practices.

Research paper thumbnail of Intercultural Dialogue in Diverse Classrooms: Debating the Socratic Dialogue Method from a Postcolonial Perspective

Religions, 15, 98, 2024

This article provides a critical examination of the Socratic Dialogue method, exploring its poten... more This article provides a critical examination of the Socratic Dialogue method, exploring its potential benefits and pitfalls in fostering intercultural and interreligious understanding in the classroom. Drawing on postcolonial theoretical perspectives, the analysis delves into the method’s capacity to amplify marginalized student voices while acknowledging the risk of unintentional silencing. Emphasizing the importance of teachers’ attentiveness to diverse experiences, this article
underscores the need for a nuanced approach that avoids othering opinions and rationales that are different from the mainstream. The study calls for an academic challenge to the idealization of dialogue, urging deeper reflection to identify blind spots and ensure an inclusive intercultural dialogue.

Research paper thumbnail of Critical and Creative Engagements with Diversity in Nordic Education

Critical and Creative Engagements with Diversity in Nordic Education, Lexington Books, 2023

Teacher education in the Nordic European context continues to change rapidly in response to diver... more Teacher education in the Nordic European context continues to change rapidly in response to diversity. However, this context tends to receive less attention globally, despite being a part of the interconnected effort to prepare teachers and students for an increasingly complex and uncertain future. Against this backdrop, the volume presents timely research that identifies and critically explores some of the challenges and opportunities which researchers, educators, and teacher educators may encounter while working in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts of education in Nordic Europe. In doing so, this volume aims to contribute to the broader conversation about diversity and education on a international level, particularly those focused on how to improve and enhance teacher education through more inclusive, responsive, and social justice-oriented practices. Critical and Creative Engagements with Diversity in Nordic Education offers empirical, conceptual, and theoretical contributions on topics such as religion, gender and sex, language, culture, nationality, race and ethnicity that reflect the experiences, concerns, and needs of both teachers and students from primary to higher and teacher education. By recognizing, promoting, and understanding the importance of diversity in the classroom, educators can contribute to the achievement of academic success of every student.

Research paper thumbnail of Skolelederes erfaringer og møte med religiøst mangfold

Prismet 74(4), 255-275 , 2023

Artikkelen undersøker hvordan en gruppe skoleledere i den norske grunnskolen ser på religionsmang... more Artikkelen undersøker hvordan en gruppe skoleledere i den norske grunnskolen ser på religionsmangfoldet i skole og samfunn. Studien viser at skolelederne har en sterk bevissthet om å synliggjøre elevenes mangfoldserfaringer som en ressurs for skolefellesskapet. Samtidig synes det å vaere et sprik i synet på om og eventuelt hvordan religiøst mangfold kan inn lemmes i en inkluderende skole. Skolelederne har begrenset kjennskap til trosopplaerings programmer som elevene deltar i og er usikre på relevansen trosopplaeringsarenaen kan ha for skolen. Slik identifiserer artikkelen et paradoks. På den ene siden er skolelederne opptatt av en ressursorientert mangfoldspedagogikk der elevens livsverden speiles i skolens innhold. På den andre siden signaliseres det usikkerhet om og hvordan religion kan anerkjennes som en erfart dimensjon ved mangfoldet.

Research paper thumbnail of Multicultural School Festival as a Creative Space for Identity Construction – From a Minority Parent Perspective

Intercultural Education, 2019

In this article, we explore how minority parents construct and promote cultural identities throug... more In this article, we explore how minority parents construct and promote cultural identities through a multicultural school event in Norway. Such events respond to the call for diverse and inclusive initiatives to facilitate learning, belonging, and cohesion in schools. Interestingly, while schools see these events as helping further inclusion, prior research on the subject has criticized such events for promoting essentialist understandings of cultural identities, hence regarding them as counterproductive to the aim of promoting inclusion. This research has directed scarce attention to the participant perspective, among them minority parents. Using the stall of the Kurdish parents as an example, we conducted fieldwork applying the method of Linguistic Landscaping. In addition, we conducted semi-structured interviews with the parents asking questions about the festival and the meaning of the displayed representations in their stall. The findings indicate that the Kurdish parents involved view the event as an important space for creative construction of transnational and diasporic identities, as well as an opportunity for a minority group to strive for acceptance for its cause. We end the article by reflecting on the pedagogical potential in multicultural school events as tools for creating inclusive school practices.

Research paper thumbnail of Multicultural School Events: Possibilities and Pitfalls for Refugee Students and Their Families

Teaching Refugees and Displaced Students, 2023

Multicultural school events have become a useful tool for schools to highlight the different cult... more Multicultural school events have become a useful tool for schools to highlight the different cultures and languages present in the school and draw attention to international solidarity and tolerance of diversity. While prior research has found that multicultural school events play a powerful role in the mobilization of group-based identities—often in ways that promote cultural stereotypes and essentialist cultural identities—much less research has focused on how the events are experienced by the participants, especially by students and families from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds. This chapter examines how refugee students and their families experience the practice. A theoretical lens of belonging and diasporic identity is used to critically discuss the possible limitations of such events as well as their positive potential. The chapter identifies the risk of reducing multicultural education to exotic happenings separated from the everyday activities in school. At the same time, the chapter draws attention to the productivity of multicultural school events by presenting counter-narratives about diasporic identity, belonging, and learning.

Research paper thumbnail of Enhancing Student Teachers’ Professional Development through Active Learning

Education - Annual Volume 2023, 2023

As a contrast to traditional approaches to learning, this chapter explores two examples of active... more As a contrast to traditional approaches to learning, this chapter explores two examples of active learning conducted with student teachers in Norway. In the first example, the chapter reports from a case study on student teachers’ engagement with the Scandinavian Romani exhibit at a local museum. For this example, the chapter discusses student teachers’ possibilities for developing a critical consciousness through immersive experiences. In the second example, the chapter presents and discusses a project using virtual reality (VR) technology designed to build student teachers’ capacity for their future professional role in schools. For this example, the chapter addresses the development of student teachers’ awareness of their own professionality and their active role in home-school cooperation. In both examples, the chapter draws attention to the leading role of the teacher educator, who actively facilitates a collaborative, interactive, and participatory learning environment. Theoretically, the chapter elaborates on student-centered learning from the perspectives of John Dewey and Paulo Freire, underlining the significance of active engagement and critical reflections.

Research paper thumbnail of Vygotsky i forskning og praksis. Hvorfor rette blikket mot et sosiokulturelt læringssyn?

Læring i et Vygotsky-perspektiv. Muligheter og konsekvenser for opplæringen, 2023

The surge of international interest in Lev Vygotsky’s work since the early 1960s suggests that a... more The surge of international interest in Lev Vygotsky’s work since the
early 1960s suggests that a Vygotskyan socio-cultural perspective on education provides important answers to contemporary challenges faced by educators in different contexts. Meanwhile, scholars have indicated that Vygotsky’s theories are often treated in a fragmentary and external way overlooking the need for more in-depth studies of how Vygotsky’s theories can be utilized in educational research. On this background, the chapter presents the overall theme of the book and provides an argument for why the book is important within the field of education
today. We also explain how the book relates to previous relevant research, and what it contributes the field in terms of new insight. The chapter ends with a short presentation of the different chapters in the anthology.

Research paper thumbnail of Å forberede seg på hjem-skole-samarbeid: Lærerstudenters bruk av virtual reality-teknologi i et Vygotsky-perspektiv

Læring i et Vygotsky-perspektiv. Muligheter og konsekvenser for opplæringen, 2023

The chapter explores the pedagogical underpinning of a virtual reality (VR) simulation, using Vy... more The chapter explores the pedagogical underpinning of a virtual reality (VR) simulation, using Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory of learning. In the VR simulation, pre-service teachers were placed in a work-related situation, participating in a virtual developmental conversation between a student and her father. The chapter finds that Vygotsky’s concepts of social interaction and imitation are helpful when reflecting on VR simulation as a teaching method in teacher education. Understood through Vygotsky’s theoretical lens, VR simulation encourages
collaborative interaction and reflection, providing an alternative to traditional teaching methods in teacher education.

Research paper thumbnail of Perezhivanie og elevens subjektive opplevelse av læringsmiljø

Læring i et Vygotsky-perspektiv. Muligheter og konsekvenser for opplæringen, 2023

In 2017, the Norwegian Parliament made amendments with respect to school environment to section 9... more In 2017, the Norwegian Parliament made amendments with respect to school environment to section 9A of the Education Act. In so doing, the Parliament placed greater emphasis on the student's subjective experience, allowing the student to assess and define a good and safe learning environment for himself/ herself. In this chapter, I ask how Vygotsky's concept of perezhivanie, understood as "emotional experiences", can shed light on the subjective turn in the Education Act. This chapter shows how the child's subjective experience is acknowledged in the concept of perezhivanie, while also allowing for several interpretations of the same reality. In addition, attention is drawn to the interaction between the subject and the situation, which challenges an understanding where the situation defines the child.

Research paper thumbnail of Rethinking the Intercultural Potential of Religious Education in Public Schools: Contributions from Intercultural Theology

Religions 13(2), 2023

This paper asks how intercultural theology can inspire a critical and constructive reflection on ... more This paper asks how intercultural theology can inspire a critical and constructive reflection on the intercultural potential of non-confessional religious education (RE). Taking the Norwegian non-confessional RE subject as a starting point, the paper draws attention to the tendency to present religions, worldviews, and denominations as single entities with distinct characteristics. As emphasized by Jackson, Jones and Meyer, and others, a systemic-oriented approach will largely capture the institutionalized sides of religion. Consequently, in schools, the intercultural dimension of RE can easily be reduced by emphasizing students’ need for encyclopedic knowledge about different traditions, overlooking how religion is embedded in social life and transforms, develops, and interconnects through everyday practices outside of institutionalized religious life. This line of argument sets the stage for the next part, examining how intercultural theology can create critical awareness of the inner diversity and interconnectedness of denominations and religious traditions. The paper argues that the descriptive and normative framework of intercultural theology can inspire educators to reflect critically on the intercultural dimension of a non-confessional RE.

Research paper thumbnail of A Proposal to Incorporate Experiential Education in Non-Confessional, Intercultural Religious Education: Reflections from and on the Norwegian Context

Religions 13(8), 2022

In Norway, religious education (RE) is a non-confessional and common core subject that should be ... more In Norway, religious education (RE) is a non-confessional and common core subject that should be taught in an objective, critical, and pluralistic manner. As a primary school subject, students learn about a variety of religions and worldviews together in the same classroom. The inclusive framing intends to provide an intercultural space in which the students can enhance their understandings of the beliefs of people whose worldviews differ from their own. Consequently, the subject has privileged an outsider approach, wherein students should learn about religion in a non-partial way, that is, not from religion. However, the claim for objective, critical, and pluralistic teaching still calls into question the role of learning from religions. First, an outsider approach has been criticized for promoting a dated view on learning, ignoring pedagogical knowledge on how students learn. Second, the latest national curriculum states that RE should not only provide students with in-depth knowledge about world religions, but also foster personalized learning experiences. Against this background, the paper asks how the concept of experiential learning in the tradition of Freire, Dewey, and Vygotsky invites a reflection on the ways by which the Norwegian RE subject is passed on most meaningfully in a diverse learning context.

Research paper thumbnail of Et jevnere utdanningsløp: Reduserte forskjeller eller selvforsterkende marginalisering?

Nordisk tidsskrift for pedagogikk og kritikk, 2024

Med utgangspunkt i utredningen Et jevnere utdanningsløp: Barnehage og skole/SFO som innsats mot u... more Med utgangspunkt i utredningen Et jevnere utdanningsløp: Barnehage og skole/SFO som innsats mot ulikhet blant barn levert av et regjeringsoppnevnt ekspertutvalg i februar 2024, gir artikkelen en
kritisk drøfting av elev- og læringssynet som rapporten bygger på. Vi mener at ekspertgruppen bygger på et til dels deterministisk elevsyn, samt et individualistisk og kognitivt læringssyn. Med utgangspunkt i Bourdieus teorier om habitus og kapital, samt Biestas kritikk av et teknologisk
utdanningssyn, problematiserer vi ekspertgruppens elev- og læringssyn og skisserer en alternativ tilnærming til sosial ulikhet i utdanningssystemet. Avslutningsvis argumenterer vi for at det er behov for pedagogisk forankrede perspektiver på elevene og læring når viktige avgjørelser knyttet til det offentlige utdanningssystemet skal fattes.

Research paper thumbnail of Negotiating Indigenous participation and heritage at a multicultural museum event in Norway

Museum and Society, 2024

This article investigates how Indigenous participation and heritage are negotiated at a multicult... more This article investigates how Indigenous participation and heritage are negotiated at a multicultural festival at the Norwegian Railway Museum. While such events respond to the call for meeting places fostering social inclusion and belonging, researchers within museology and festival research warn against promoting superficial and biased understandings of Indigeneity. Based on fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with festival organizers and Greenlandic contributors, we found that Indigenous participation was negotiated along two lines. First, the organizers and the Greenlanders shared enthusiasm for the festival's inclusive vision, yet they experienced different levels of ownership. The organizers were in charge; one Greenlandic contributor took on an active role while others became more silent consultants. Second, the negotiations revealed contrasting perceptions of Indigeneity, ranging from the organizers' traditional understanding to the Greenlanders' ambivalence toward the term. We argue that for multicultural museum and festival events to succeed in being inclusive, they must adopt critical and reflective approaches to ownership, as well as more complex understandings of Indigenous participation and heritage.

Research paper thumbnail of Multicultural School Events as Rituals

Blog post Wabash Center, 2024

Tags: embodied teaching | What Ritual Does | Multicultural Schools | Marginalized Voices Multic... more Tags: embodied teaching | What Ritual Does | Multicultural Schools |

Marginalized Voices Multicultural school events have become a global phenomenon, offering schools a platform to showcase the diverse cultures and languages within their communities. These events typically feature ethnic food, performances, and presentations from various cultures, serving as important spaces for fostering intercultural understanding and celebrating diversity among students, teachers, and families.

Research paper thumbnail of «Det er så koselig her at jeg tar av meg skoene»: Om betydningen av sted i en flerkulturell barne- og ungdomsfestival

Rom og sted: Religionsfaglige og interdisiplinære bidrag, 2020

In this article, we explore how children and youth participating in a multicultural festival in N... more In this article, we explore how children and youth participating in a multicultural festival in Norway construct space and place. Such events respond to the call to action for reducing prejudice and stereotypes, and they aim to promote inclusion, participation and community. Nonetheless, researchers have criticized such events for instead promoting categorical understandings of cultural identities; as such, some researchers regard multicultural festivals as counterproductive to the aim of promoting inclusion. However, previous research has directed scarce attention to the participants’ perspective, in particular viewpoints of children and youth. Inspired by perspectives on spatial justice (Soja, 1996, 2010), we interpret young people’s experiences and meaning making while attending a multicultural festival. We collected data through an app, which allowed us to conduct structured interviews with children and youths on site. The findings bring out the significance of space and place w...

Research paper thumbnail of The reception of Vygotsky in pedagogical literature for Norwegian teacher education

Forum Oświatowe, 2020

© The University of Lower Silesia owns the proprietary copyright to all materials published in th... more © The University of Lower Silesia owns the proprietary copyright to all materials published in the journal. Articles are made available on the basis of non-exclusive Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 licence.

Research paper thumbnail of Including alternative stories in the mainstream. How transcultural young people in Norway perform creative cultural resistance in and outside of school

International Journal of Inclusive Education, 2016

The development of an inclusive pedagogy takes on new urgency in Norwegian schools as the student... more The development of an inclusive pedagogy takes on new urgency in Norwegian schools as the student body has become increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse. Traditionally, the Norwegian school has been dominated by homogenising and assimilating discourses, whereas alternative voices have been situated at the margins. In response to this tendency, we present two transcultural students' autoethnographic stories produced in alternative spaces to the Norwegian mainstream, that is, in a transition class for newly arrived students and on Facebook. Both spaces are perceived as contact zones in the sense that they are culturally and linguistically complex. This article illustrates how the students perform cultural and linguistic resistance towards dominant homogenising discourses as the transition class and Facebook seem to offer opportunities for constructing alternative stories. Moreover, we contend that these alternative stories offer important knowledge for conventional education contexts since they represent stories of competence in contrast to the assumed limitations of these students.

Research paper thumbnail of Listening to young people's voices: Attempts at developing context-and participant-sensitive approaches

Childhood, 2024

This article explores the methodological impact of sharpening researchers' listening skills as pa... more This article explores the methodological impact of sharpening researchers' listening skills as part of the development of more context-and participant-sensitive approaches to research. The starting point is an analysis of structured app interviews with young people at a multicultural festival. Through the research process, we became increasingly aware of forms of communication we were prone to overlook, such as the here-and-now engagement of the participants, their carnivalesque expressions and associative and fragmented narration. Listening more openly required a reflexive extension of the data analysis and gave us unexpected glimpses into the life world and identity formation of young people.

Research paper thumbnail of Revisiting studies of multicultural school events from the perspective of strategic essentialism

Nordisk tidsskrift for pedagogikk og kritikk, 2021

The article discusses schools' use of multicultural school events as a practice designed to enhan... more The article discusses schools' use of multicultural school events as a practice designed to enhance inclusion and to prevent prejudice and negative intergroup attitudes in school. While prior research has largely criticized such events for promoting cultural stereotypes and essentialist cultural identities, in this article we discuss a more nuanced way of perceiving such practices. Based on our previous empirical work, we apply the idea of strategic essentialism (Spivak, 1996) and discuss how multicultural school events may also represent an opportunity for minority parents to achieve certain objectives by temporarily adopting the image provided by the majority and using it in a strategic manner to act and pursue chosen political advantages. However, we also critically discuss possible limitations and pitfalls of the idea of strategic essentialism as the concept may in fact essentialize the minority group contrary to the intention of the multicultural school event. The contribution of the article is a theoretically informed discussion of how these events may ascribe agency to the participating families, reducing the way critics perceive them solely as victims of a majority-dominated and non-inclusive practice.

Research paper thumbnail of Debating the Practice of Separate Plurilingual Programs in Norwegian Schools From a Spatial Perspective

Inclusive Education in Bilingual and Plurilingual Programs, edited by L. Mañoso-Pacheco, J. E. Chichon, & R. Sánchez-Cabrero, 2024

Applying Edward W. Soja's work on spatial justice as an analytical lens, this chapter discusses t... more Applying Edward W. Soja's work on spatial justice as an analytical lens, this chapter discusses the use of separate introductory programs for newly arrived migrant students in Norway. Although the use of separate programs for newcomers has been criticized for counteracting the aims of inclusion, this chapter suggests that from a spatial perspective, separation in itself is not necessarily a sign of exclusion; rather, it is what happens in an introductory program and how the actual space affects practices that matter. Furthermore, a sensitivity toward place and space can help educators pay attention to newly arrived students' backgrounds and needs without separation from their mainstream peers becoming a perceived barrier to inclusion. Acknowledging Soja's idea that social processes and discursive practices also influence place and space, a spatial perspective warns against letting ideological (and sometimes superficial) ideas about inclusion shape and govern practices.

Research paper thumbnail of Intercultural Dialogue in Diverse Classrooms: Debating the Socratic Dialogue Method from a Postcolonial Perspective

Religions, 15, 98, 2024

This article provides a critical examination of the Socratic Dialogue method, exploring its poten... more This article provides a critical examination of the Socratic Dialogue method, exploring its potential benefits and pitfalls in fostering intercultural and interreligious understanding in the classroom. Drawing on postcolonial theoretical perspectives, the analysis delves into the method’s capacity to amplify marginalized student voices while acknowledging the risk of unintentional silencing. Emphasizing the importance of teachers’ attentiveness to diverse experiences, this article
underscores the need for a nuanced approach that avoids othering opinions and rationales that are different from the mainstream. The study calls for an academic challenge to the idealization of dialogue, urging deeper reflection to identify blind spots and ensure an inclusive intercultural dialogue.

Research paper thumbnail of Critical and Creative Engagements with Diversity in Nordic Education

Critical and Creative Engagements with Diversity in Nordic Education, Lexington Books, 2023

Teacher education in the Nordic European context continues to change rapidly in response to diver... more Teacher education in the Nordic European context continues to change rapidly in response to diversity. However, this context tends to receive less attention globally, despite being a part of the interconnected effort to prepare teachers and students for an increasingly complex and uncertain future. Against this backdrop, the volume presents timely research that identifies and critically explores some of the challenges and opportunities which researchers, educators, and teacher educators may encounter while working in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts of education in Nordic Europe. In doing so, this volume aims to contribute to the broader conversation about diversity and education on a international level, particularly those focused on how to improve and enhance teacher education through more inclusive, responsive, and social justice-oriented practices. Critical and Creative Engagements with Diversity in Nordic Education offers empirical, conceptual, and theoretical contributions on topics such as religion, gender and sex, language, culture, nationality, race and ethnicity that reflect the experiences, concerns, and needs of both teachers and students from primary to higher and teacher education. By recognizing, promoting, and understanding the importance of diversity in the classroom, educators can contribute to the achievement of academic success of every student.

Research paper thumbnail of Skolelederes erfaringer og møte med religiøst mangfold

Prismet 74(4), 255-275 , 2023

Artikkelen undersøker hvordan en gruppe skoleledere i den norske grunnskolen ser på religionsmang... more Artikkelen undersøker hvordan en gruppe skoleledere i den norske grunnskolen ser på religionsmangfoldet i skole og samfunn. Studien viser at skolelederne har en sterk bevissthet om å synliggjøre elevenes mangfoldserfaringer som en ressurs for skolefellesskapet. Samtidig synes det å vaere et sprik i synet på om og eventuelt hvordan religiøst mangfold kan inn lemmes i en inkluderende skole. Skolelederne har begrenset kjennskap til trosopplaerings programmer som elevene deltar i og er usikre på relevansen trosopplaeringsarenaen kan ha for skolen. Slik identifiserer artikkelen et paradoks. På den ene siden er skolelederne opptatt av en ressursorientert mangfoldspedagogikk der elevens livsverden speiles i skolens innhold. På den andre siden signaliseres det usikkerhet om og hvordan religion kan anerkjennes som en erfart dimensjon ved mangfoldet.

Research paper thumbnail of Multicultural School Festival as a Creative Space for Identity Construction – From a Minority Parent Perspective

Intercultural Education, 2019

In this article, we explore how minority parents construct and promote cultural identities throug... more In this article, we explore how minority parents construct and promote cultural identities through a multicultural school event in Norway. Such events respond to the call for diverse and inclusive initiatives to facilitate learning, belonging, and cohesion in schools. Interestingly, while schools see these events as helping further inclusion, prior research on the subject has criticized such events for promoting essentialist understandings of cultural identities, hence regarding them as counterproductive to the aim of promoting inclusion. This research has directed scarce attention to the participant perspective, among them minority parents. Using the stall of the Kurdish parents as an example, we conducted fieldwork applying the method of Linguistic Landscaping. In addition, we conducted semi-structured interviews with the parents asking questions about the festival and the meaning of the displayed representations in their stall. The findings indicate that the Kurdish parents involved view the event as an important space for creative construction of transnational and diasporic identities, as well as an opportunity for a minority group to strive for acceptance for its cause. We end the article by reflecting on the pedagogical potential in multicultural school events as tools for creating inclusive school practices.

Research paper thumbnail of Multicultural School Events: Possibilities and Pitfalls for Refugee Students and Their Families

Teaching Refugees and Displaced Students, 2023

Multicultural school events have become a useful tool for schools to highlight the different cult... more Multicultural school events have become a useful tool for schools to highlight the different cultures and languages present in the school and draw attention to international solidarity and tolerance of diversity. While prior research has found that multicultural school events play a powerful role in the mobilization of group-based identities—often in ways that promote cultural stereotypes and essentialist cultural identities—much less research has focused on how the events are experienced by the participants, especially by students and families from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds. This chapter examines how refugee students and their families experience the practice. A theoretical lens of belonging and diasporic identity is used to critically discuss the possible limitations of such events as well as their positive potential. The chapter identifies the risk of reducing multicultural education to exotic happenings separated from the everyday activities in school. At the same time, the chapter draws attention to the productivity of multicultural school events by presenting counter-narratives about diasporic identity, belonging, and learning.

Research paper thumbnail of Enhancing Student Teachers’ Professional Development through Active Learning

Education - Annual Volume 2023, 2023

As a contrast to traditional approaches to learning, this chapter explores two examples of active... more As a contrast to traditional approaches to learning, this chapter explores two examples of active learning conducted with student teachers in Norway. In the first example, the chapter reports from a case study on student teachers’ engagement with the Scandinavian Romani exhibit at a local museum. For this example, the chapter discusses student teachers’ possibilities for developing a critical consciousness through immersive experiences. In the second example, the chapter presents and discusses a project using virtual reality (VR) technology designed to build student teachers’ capacity for their future professional role in schools. For this example, the chapter addresses the development of student teachers’ awareness of their own professionality and their active role in home-school cooperation. In both examples, the chapter draws attention to the leading role of the teacher educator, who actively facilitates a collaborative, interactive, and participatory learning environment. Theoretically, the chapter elaborates on student-centered learning from the perspectives of John Dewey and Paulo Freire, underlining the significance of active engagement and critical reflections.

Research paper thumbnail of Vygotsky i forskning og praksis. Hvorfor rette blikket mot et sosiokulturelt læringssyn?

Læring i et Vygotsky-perspektiv. Muligheter og konsekvenser for opplæringen, 2023

The surge of international interest in Lev Vygotsky’s work since the early 1960s suggests that a... more The surge of international interest in Lev Vygotsky’s work since the
early 1960s suggests that a Vygotskyan socio-cultural perspective on education provides important answers to contemporary challenges faced by educators in different contexts. Meanwhile, scholars have indicated that Vygotsky’s theories are often treated in a fragmentary and external way overlooking the need for more in-depth studies of how Vygotsky’s theories can be utilized in educational research. On this background, the chapter presents the overall theme of the book and provides an argument for why the book is important within the field of education
today. We also explain how the book relates to previous relevant research, and what it contributes the field in terms of new insight. The chapter ends with a short presentation of the different chapters in the anthology.

Research paper thumbnail of Å forberede seg på hjem-skole-samarbeid: Lærerstudenters bruk av virtual reality-teknologi i et Vygotsky-perspektiv

Læring i et Vygotsky-perspektiv. Muligheter og konsekvenser for opplæringen, 2023

The chapter explores the pedagogical underpinning of a virtual reality (VR) simulation, using Vy... more The chapter explores the pedagogical underpinning of a virtual reality (VR) simulation, using Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory of learning. In the VR simulation, pre-service teachers were placed in a work-related situation, participating in a virtual developmental conversation between a student and her father. The chapter finds that Vygotsky’s concepts of social interaction and imitation are helpful when reflecting on VR simulation as a teaching method in teacher education. Understood through Vygotsky’s theoretical lens, VR simulation encourages
collaborative interaction and reflection, providing an alternative to traditional teaching methods in teacher education.

Research paper thumbnail of Perezhivanie og elevens subjektive opplevelse av læringsmiljø

Læring i et Vygotsky-perspektiv. Muligheter og konsekvenser for opplæringen, 2023

In 2017, the Norwegian Parliament made amendments with respect to school environment to section 9... more In 2017, the Norwegian Parliament made amendments with respect to school environment to section 9A of the Education Act. In so doing, the Parliament placed greater emphasis on the student's subjective experience, allowing the student to assess and define a good and safe learning environment for himself/ herself. In this chapter, I ask how Vygotsky's concept of perezhivanie, understood as "emotional experiences", can shed light on the subjective turn in the Education Act. This chapter shows how the child's subjective experience is acknowledged in the concept of perezhivanie, while also allowing for several interpretations of the same reality. In addition, attention is drawn to the interaction between the subject and the situation, which challenges an understanding where the situation defines the child.

Research paper thumbnail of Rethinking the Intercultural Potential of Religious Education in Public Schools: Contributions from Intercultural Theology

Religions 13(2), 2023

This paper asks how intercultural theology can inspire a critical and constructive reflection on ... more This paper asks how intercultural theology can inspire a critical and constructive reflection on the intercultural potential of non-confessional religious education (RE). Taking the Norwegian non-confessional RE subject as a starting point, the paper draws attention to the tendency to present religions, worldviews, and denominations as single entities with distinct characteristics. As emphasized by Jackson, Jones and Meyer, and others, a systemic-oriented approach will largely capture the institutionalized sides of religion. Consequently, in schools, the intercultural dimension of RE can easily be reduced by emphasizing students’ need for encyclopedic knowledge about different traditions, overlooking how religion is embedded in social life and transforms, develops, and interconnects through everyday practices outside of institutionalized religious life. This line of argument sets the stage for the next part, examining how intercultural theology can create critical awareness of the inner diversity and interconnectedness of denominations and religious traditions. The paper argues that the descriptive and normative framework of intercultural theology can inspire educators to reflect critically on the intercultural dimension of a non-confessional RE.

Research paper thumbnail of A Proposal to Incorporate Experiential Education in Non-Confessional, Intercultural Religious Education: Reflections from and on the Norwegian Context

Religions 13(8), 2022

In Norway, religious education (RE) is a non-confessional and common core subject that should be ... more In Norway, religious education (RE) is a non-confessional and common core subject that should be taught in an objective, critical, and pluralistic manner. As a primary school subject, students learn about a variety of religions and worldviews together in the same classroom. The inclusive framing intends to provide an intercultural space in which the students can enhance their understandings of the beliefs of people whose worldviews differ from their own. Consequently, the subject has privileged an outsider approach, wherein students should learn about religion in a non-partial way, that is, not from religion. However, the claim for objective, critical, and pluralistic teaching still calls into question the role of learning from religions. First, an outsider approach has been criticized for promoting a dated view on learning, ignoring pedagogical knowledge on how students learn. Second, the latest national curriculum states that RE should not only provide students with in-depth knowledge about world religions, but also foster personalized learning experiences. Against this background, the paper asks how the concept of experiential learning in the tradition of Freire, Dewey, and Vygotsky invites a reflection on the ways by which the Norwegian RE subject is passed on most meaningfully in a diverse learning context.

Research paper thumbnail of Løven i havet: Om forliset ved Husevågøy i 1903

Løven i havet: Om forliset ved Husevågøy i 1903, 2024

Å leve tett på havet har vært et liv under marginale forhold. Havet gir utsyn mot verden, liv og ... more Å leve tett på havet har vært et liv under marginale forhold. Havet gir utsyn mot verden, liv og velstand, men også tap og savn. Historier om kystbefolkningens kår og hverdag er en fortelling om overlevelse, tilpasninger og brottsjøer.

1900-tallet innebar en brytningstid der tradisjonelle kystsamfunn møtte nye tanker og teknologier. Skipsfart og fiske endret seg med overgangen fra seil til motor. Utvandringen til Amerika forandret befolkningssammensetningen. Det samme gjorde økende urbanisering. Nye politiske vinder og dype religiøse vekkelser endret folket.

Oldefaren til Thor-André Skrefsrud het Kristoffer Husevaag, men alle kalte ham bare for Chris. Boka følger Chris i Sør-Dakota og Minnesota. Han er nyforlovet og har akkurat kjøpt jord – så mye at gården ville utgjort den største på Vestlandet. En dag leser han halvårsgamle aviser fra hjemlandet og ser at en far og tre sønner har forsvunnet på sjøen. Ei som han hadde et godt øye til, sitter igjen som enke.

Boka plasserer seg innenfor fagtradisjonen mikrohistorie, en tilnærming der enkelthendelser og lokalsamfunn danner utgangspunktet for å si noe om kulturell brytingstid, sosial klasse og mangfoldet som preget Norge på denne tida.

Research paper thumbnail of Læring i et Vygotsky-perspektiv: Muligheter og konsekvenser for opplæringen

Læring i et Vygotsky-perspektiv: Muligheter og konsekvenser for opplæringen, 2023

Dette verket omfattes av bestemmelsene i Lov om opphavsretten til åndsverk m.v. av 1961. Verket u... more Dette verket omfattes av bestemmelsene i Lov om opphavsretten til åndsverk m.v. av 1961. Verket utgis Open Access under betingelsene i Creative Commons-lisensen CC-BY 4.0. Denne tillater tredjepart å kopiere, distribuere og spre verket i hvilket som helst medium eller format, og å remixe, endre, og bygge videre på materialet til et hvilket som helst formål, inkludert kommersielle, under betingelse av at korrekt kreditering og en lenke til lisensen er oppgitt, og at man indikerer om endringer 6 INNHOLD Kapittel 9 Soner for naer skriveutvikling: Ei utviklings-og danningsorientert tilnaerming til responsdialogar.

Research paper thumbnail of The Intercultural Dialogue. Preparing Teachers for Diversity

The speed, scale and spread of international migration and globalisation have firmly placed the i... more The speed, scale and spread of international migration and globalisation have firmly placed the issue of intercultural dialogue at the top of the educational agenda in Europe and elsewhere. In this book, Skrefsrud sheds light on intercultural dialogue as a key competence for teachers working in changing and diverse classrooms. In the first part, the notion of dialogue is explored with the theory of culture, religion and communication as the focus. In the second part, Skrefsrud analyses the government-initiated curriculum framework for teacher education in Norway and discusses the preconditions for intercultural dialogue in educational policies. The analysis illustrates how difficult it is to make issues of difference permeate all aspects of teacher preparation.

Research paper thumbnail of Å være lærer i interkulturell kontekst

Research paper thumbnail of Hermeneutikken som metode og vitenskapsteori: Om forskeren og forforståelsen

Et forskningsarbeid som involverer tolkning av tekster står alltid i fare for å være desisjonisti... more Et forskningsarbeid som involverer tolkning av tekster står alltid i fare for å være desisjonistisk. Det betyr at forskerens lesning er bestemt på forhånd. Teoriene velges slik at forskeren setter sin egen «løsning» mot eventuelle negative funn, en løsning som forskeren satt inne med allerede før analysen. Dermed ytes ikke forskningsmaterialet tilstrekkelig rettferdighet, men underlegges forskerens subjektive agenda og sier mer om forskeren selv enn om forskningsobjektet. I artikkelen drøfter jeg denne kritikken ved hjelp av hermeneutikken som metode og vitenskapsteoretisk perspektiv. Spørsmålet som stilles er: Hvordan kan hermeneutikken som metode og vitenskapsteoretisk refleksjon hjelpe forskeren mot en sakssvarende tolkning av teksten?