Ninni Wahlström - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Books by Ninni Wahlström

Bridging educational leadership, curriculum theory and didaktik - Non-affirmative theory of education., 2017

Uljens, M. &,Ylimaki, R. (2017). (Eds.). Bridging Educational Leadership, Curriculum Theory and ... more Uljens, M. &,Ylimaki, R. (2017). (Eds.). Bridging Educational Leadership, Curriculum Theory and Didaktik. Non-affirmative Theory of Education. Dordrecht: Springer.

http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319586489

Recent neoliberal policies and transnational governance practices point toward new tensions in nation state education. These challenges affect governance, leadership and curriculum, involving changes in aims and values that demand coherence. Yet, the traditionally disparate fields of educational leadership, curriculum theory and Didaktik have developed separately, both in terms of approaches to theory and theorizing in USA, Europe and Asia, and in the ways in which these theoretical traditions have informed empirical studies over time. An additional aspect is that modern education theory was developed in relation to nation state education, which, in the meantime, has become more complicated due to issues of ‘globopolitanism’. This volume examines the current state of affairs and addresses the issues involved. In doing so, it opens up a space for a renewed and thoughtful dialogue to rethink and re-theorize these traditions with non-affirmative education theory moving beyond social reproduction and social transformation perspectives.

Papers by Ninni Wahlström

Linnaeus University Press, 2019

Sahlström, F. (1999). Up the hill backwards. On international constraints and affordances for equ... more Sahlström, F. (1999). Up the hill backwards. On international constraints and affordances for equity-construction in the classrooms of the Swedish comprehensive school. Uppsala: Acta Universitetis Upsaliensis.

Kommuner viktiga aktorer i skolreformerKommuner ar viktiga aktorer i genomforandet av skolreforme... more Kommuner viktiga aktorer i skolreformerKommuner ar viktiga aktorer i genomforandet av skolreformer, ett faktum som ofta gloms bort i forskning om implementering av utbilningsreformer. I en ny IFAU-rapport konstateras att kommunerna generellt sett har varit mycket lyhorda for signaler fran nationell niva nar det gallt att infora den senaste laroplanen for grundskolan, Lgr 11.ResultatResultatet visar att Skolverket har varit mycket aktiva i implementeringsfasen av laroplansreformen Lgr 11 och tydligt kommunicerat ut till kommuner och skolor hur de ska forsta reformens olika delar. Pa sa satt har kommunerna huvudsakligen fatt rollen som genomforare av reformen. Det innebar att kommunens kommunikation om reformen framst har varit samordnande, med inriktning pa att genomfora reformen pa ”ratt satt”. Det galler sarskilt for reformomraden som att skapa enhetlighet i arbetet med att bedoma elevers kunskaper och satta betyg, att fokusera pa amneskunskaper och att genomfora ett systematiskt ...

European Educational Research Journal

In this article, the central question is how the relationship between democracy and education can... more In this article, the central question is how the relationship between democracy and education can be understood in terms of civic literacy. By taking as a point of departure John Dewey’s basic understanding of democracy in terms of communication and experience, which also forms the basis for the pragmatist knowledge concept of transactional realism, this study explores transactional realism in relation to how this concept of knowledge can promote a democratic stance in the teaching of different school subjects. Thus, the focus is on how a democratic stance is an important part in the selection of teaching content and teaching activities in the classroom in a time when democracy is challenged from different angles. The concept of civic literacy is here understood as developing knowledge about the world, learning to act responsibly in the world and realising oneself in the world. Civic literacy is both about knowledge of facts and events and about a classroom discourse opening for res...

European Educational Research Journal, 2009

This article examines how the universal human right to education can be understood in terms of wh... more This article examines how the universal human right to education can be understood in terms of what Seyla Benhabib considers ‘democratic iterations’. Further, by referring to the concept of jurisgenerative politics, Benhabib argues that a democratic people reinterpret guiding norms and principles which they find themselves bound to, through iterative acts, so that they are not only the subjects but also the authors of laws. By examining the use of the Article of the universal right to education in the European Convention on Human Rights, not as an Article with an unambiguous meaning, but as an Article which from its very start was the subject of different interpretations and desires, the author argues for an understanding of the process of transforming universal rights into national law and norms as democratic iterations. This way of conceiving democratic iterations is examined empirically, with Sweden as an example, by analyses of three different discursive arenas: a political/lega...

Linnaeus University Press, 2019

Equity, Teaching Practice and the Curriculum, 2022

Closing the gap between high-and low-performing schools is an aim of countless local, national an... more Closing the gap between high-and low-performing schools is an aim of countless local, national and international educational policy documents. However, as demonstrated in the introductory chapters, there is often a great deal of undertheorisation, if not outright conceptual confusion, surrounding theories of knowledge and definitions of equity that undergird these policy documents. Given the pressing nature of the problem and the reality that students in low-performing schools are not receiving the educations they deserve, it is tempting to dismiss philosophical and theoretical investigations as irrelevant to addressing a problem that has real and immediate consequences. But this would be a mistake. Even the best-intentioned policy or practice will have unintended negative consequences when key conceptssuch as equity-are understood differently by key constituencies tasked with implementing the policies. Those most impacted by the policies-students, parents, communities-may also have different understandings of ideals such as equity than the parties implementing or constructing the policies, and this can lead to further unintended negative consequences, such as a widened performance gap and deepened distrust (Schultz, 2019). This volume has also emphasised how even good policies can lead to constrained agency, which also often has negative consequences. If we want to close the gap between high-and low-performing schools, then teachers and principals in schools labelled low performing must feel like they have a voice and that they can exercise agency. Overzealous policy implementation can silence the insight of experienced school personnel and undercut their agency. This can lead to cycles of distrust and demoralisation that will often only widen the gap between high-and low-performing schools (Santoro, 2018; Schultz, 2019). One way to empower school personnel is to facilitate conversations about the purposes of education so that members of a school community can have a say in how school goals are developed, making it far more likely that these goals will align with their own values and aspirations. Doing this cultivates voice and agency. Philosophical and theoretical conversations are not sufficient to closing the elusive performance gap, but they are necessary. Given the enormity of the problem, the reality that each child has only one childhood, and many are not receiving an education that will open them to a future of possibility,

Evidence and Expertise in Nordic Education Policy, 2022

This chapter examines the use of evidence in legitimating national school reforms in a globalized... more This chapter examines the use of evidence in legitimating national school reforms in a globalized context. Although international policy knowledge is becoming increasingly important in legitimating national school reforms, the national context still seems to affect whether and how it is used. This chapter draws attention to the selective use of international policy knowledge in domestic policy agendas and the increasingly important role of people and institutions acting as intermediaries in selecting, interpreting, and presenting useful policy knowledge to politicians. By taking the complexity of context seriously, this chapter provides valuable insights into the multidirectional policy process that filters the expert knowledge that is ultimately used by politicians as evidence in legitimating school reforms.

Surveyjournalen

Under 1900-talets andra hälft genomfördes två genomgripande reformer inom skolområdet, reformen o... more Under 1900-talets andra hälft genomfördes två genomgripande reformer inom skolområdet, reformen om grundskola respektive reformen om en decentralisering av skolans styrning. Dessa båda reformer utgör samtidigt varandras motsatser vad gäller reformernas respektive innehåll och argumentation. Även reformprocesserna skiljer sig åt, vilket illustrerar hur utredningsväsendet och statens beslutsprocesser förändrades från slutet av 1950-talet till slutet av 1980-talet. Jag kommer att i denna inledning ägna visst utrymme åt dessa båda reformer, eftersom Maktutredningen från 1990, som står i fokus för föreliggande studie, blev en viktig vattendelare för två helt olika sätt se på styrningen av svensk skola, liksom på innebörden av begreppet "en likvärdig skola". I grunden handlar brottet, som det kom till uttryck i Maktutredningen (SOU 1990:44), om två olika sätt att förstå begreppet demokrati.

Journal of Curriculum Studies, 2018

As an overview in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Curriculum Studies (JCS)... more As an overview in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Curriculum Studies (JCS), this article begins with John Dewey's notion that all educational actions carry philosophical implications. The tension between different education-research philosophies, between non-social and social education philosophies in Dewey's terms, becomes visible in an overview of articles published during the past 50 years of the JCS. Therefore, the purpose here is to explore in what different forms and in what different spaces the political takes shape in curriculum research. Policies on education always address fundamental political questions in the sense that debates on education inevitably include alternative views of good education and good society. Instead of looking for the political, it seems to be more fruitful to look for different ways of expressing the political. This, in turn, might contribute to a more nuanced debate on which political perspectives will be most productive in developing the curriculum research field. Three views on 'the political' are identified. The first is a personal, 'over-socialized' view based on personal experiences, the second is a 'social' view that focuses on social interactions and societal implications, and the third is an impersonal, 'under-socialized' view based on 'science'.

Journal of Curriculum Studies, 2018

The purpose of this article is to explore how education policy that is both enabled and constrain... more The purpose of this article is to explore how education policy that is both enabled and constrained by transnational policy flows and national policy built up by social, cultural and historical traditions are enacted through curriculum at the classroom level. The focus is on how policy rationality embedded in the structure and content of curriculum is transformed into certain rationalities in classroom teaching. By understanding lessons as 'curriculum events', the study reveals a dominant classroom discourse of recitation and similar triadic communication patterns, which is in accordance with other classroom studies. However, in the article it is argued that the version of teaching that emerges in this study, interpreted in a broader context of an international standards movement, can be understood in terms of directed exploration based on the teacher's role as an explorer of what the students know, think and understand in relation to the acquisition of knowledge prescribed in the curriculum's knowledge requirements. Even though the form of recitation is well known, the reason for choosing this teaching repertoire is somewhat new and can be related to the teacher authoring a basic oral text in accordance with assessment standards.

European Educational Research Journal, 2012

In this article, the authors examine the development of the Swedish educational reform of 1991 fr... more In this article, the authors examine the development of the Swedish educational reform of 1991 from an international and European perspective, and from the perspective of what counts as knowledge in a recently implemented Swedish curriculum reform. With effect from 2011, the Swedish Government has significantly reshaped the curricula for pre-school, compulsory school and upper secondary school education, but in terms of governing principles for schools, these curriculum reforms can be regarded as a continuation of the 1991 reform. The authors argue that this latest reform, as part of an international policy discourse, can be said to represent a denationalised and instrumental conception of education, and that the implications for the formation of knowledge within this conception can be understood as a standards-based curriculum shaped by two powerful international influences: a technical-instrumental discourse of curriculum, emphasising the form, structure and function of the curric...

I kapitlet, som utgar fran John Deweys kommunikationsbegrepp, riktas uppmarksamheten mot ett av k... more I kapitlet, som utgar fran John Deweys kommunikationsbegrepp, riktas uppmarksamheten mot ett av kommunikationens villkor, namligen lyssnandet och lyssnarens roll. Foljande tva fragor diskuteras: Hu ...

Journal of Education Policy

Equity, Teaching Practice and the Curriculum

Equity, Teaching Practice and the Curriculum

In this paper, I have tried to examine classroom conversations as a site for expressions of cosmo... more In this paper, I have tried to examine classroom conversations as a site for expressions of cosmopolitization. The concept allows for an understanding of cosmopolitanism as an ongoing and dynamic interaction between different societies at the same place and time. Thus, cosmopolitanism is not a goal or a distant ideal, but something societies and individuals must relate to; creating situations that they handle - of course - in different ways (Beck & Grande 2010). With the notion of ‘critical cosmopolitanism’, self-understanding and self-reflexivity are highlighted (Delanty 2006), and with the displacement from ‘translation’ to ‘transaction’ as the process for cosmopolitization, I want to emphasize the inter-subjective and transactional character of the reflexivity in a cosmopolitan perspective. I take my starting point from a cosmopolitan view that we are inhabitants of the same world (albeit in very different ways) rather than being citizens of the world (c.f. Hansen 2011). To under...

Utifran vilka grunder motiveras ratten till undervisning i Europakonventionen? Hur kan detta ratt... more Utifran vilka grunder motiveras ratten till undervisning i Europakonventionen? Hur kan detta rattfardigande forstas i termer av barns ratt, som en social rattighet, och foraldrars ratt, som en civi ...

Bridging educational leadership, curriculum theory and didaktik - Non-affirmative theory of education., 2017

Uljens, M. &,Ylimaki, R. (2017). (Eds.). Bridging Educational Leadership, Curriculum Theory and ... more Uljens, M. &,Ylimaki, R. (2017). (Eds.). Bridging Educational Leadership, Curriculum Theory and Didaktik. Non-affirmative Theory of Education. Dordrecht: Springer.

http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319586489

Recent neoliberal policies and transnational governance practices point toward new tensions in nation state education. These challenges affect governance, leadership and curriculum, involving changes in aims and values that demand coherence. Yet, the traditionally disparate fields of educational leadership, curriculum theory and Didaktik have developed separately, both in terms of approaches to theory and theorizing in USA, Europe and Asia, and in the ways in which these theoretical traditions have informed empirical studies over time. An additional aspect is that modern education theory was developed in relation to nation state education, which, in the meantime, has become more complicated due to issues of ‘globopolitanism’. This volume examines the current state of affairs and addresses the issues involved. In doing so, it opens up a space for a renewed and thoughtful dialogue to rethink and re-theorize these traditions with non-affirmative education theory moving beyond social reproduction and social transformation perspectives.

Linnaeus University Press, 2019

Sahlström, F. (1999). Up the hill backwards. On international constraints and affordances for equ... more Sahlström, F. (1999). Up the hill backwards. On international constraints and affordances for equity-construction in the classrooms of the Swedish comprehensive school. Uppsala: Acta Universitetis Upsaliensis.

Kommuner viktiga aktorer i skolreformerKommuner ar viktiga aktorer i genomforandet av skolreforme... more Kommuner viktiga aktorer i skolreformerKommuner ar viktiga aktorer i genomforandet av skolreformer, ett faktum som ofta gloms bort i forskning om implementering av utbilningsreformer. I en ny IFAU-rapport konstateras att kommunerna generellt sett har varit mycket lyhorda for signaler fran nationell niva nar det gallt att infora den senaste laroplanen for grundskolan, Lgr 11.ResultatResultatet visar att Skolverket har varit mycket aktiva i implementeringsfasen av laroplansreformen Lgr 11 och tydligt kommunicerat ut till kommuner och skolor hur de ska forsta reformens olika delar. Pa sa satt har kommunerna huvudsakligen fatt rollen som genomforare av reformen. Det innebar att kommunens kommunikation om reformen framst har varit samordnande, med inriktning pa att genomfora reformen pa ”ratt satt”. Det galler sarskilt for reformomraden som att skapa enhetlighet i arbetet med att bedoma elevers kunskaper och satta betyg, att fokusera pa amneskunskaper och att genomfora ett systematiskt ...

European Educational Research Journal

In this article, the central question is how the relationship between democracy and education can... more In this article, the central question is how the relationship between democracy and education can be understood in terms of civic literacy. By taking as a point of departure John Dewey’s basic understanding of democracy in terms of communication and experience, which also forms the basis for the pragmatist knowledge concept of transactional realism, this study explores transactional realism in relation to how this concept of knowledge can promote a democratic stance in the teaching of different school subjects. Thus, the focus is on how a democratic stance is an important part in the selection of teaching content and teaching activities in the classroom in a time when democracy is challenged from different angles. The concept of civic literacy is here understood as developing knowledge about the world, learning to act responsibly in the world and realising oneself in the world. Civic literacy is both about knowledge of facts and events and about a classroom discourse opening for res...

European Educational Research Journal, 2009

This article examines how the universal human right to education can be understood in terms of wh... more This article examines how the universal human right to education can be understood in terms of what Seyla Benhabib considers ‘democratic iterations’. Further, by referring to the concept of jurisgenerative politics, Benhabib argues that a democratic people reinterpret guiding norms and principles which they find themselves bound to, through iterative acts, so that they are not only the subjects but also the authors of laws. By examining the use of the Article of the universal right to education in the European Convention on Human Rights, not as an Article with an unambiguous meaning, but as an Article which from its very start was the subject of different interpretations and desires, the author argues for an understanding of the process of transforming universal rights into national law and norms as democratic iterations. This way of conceiving democratic iterations is examined empirically, with Sweden as an example, by analyses of three different discursive arenas: a political/lega...

Linnaeus University Press, 2019

Equity, Teaching Practice and the Curriculum, 2022

Closing the gap between high-and low-performing schools is an aim of countless local, national an... more Closing the gap between high-and low-performing schools is an aim of countless local, national and international educational policy documents. However, as demonstrated in the introductory chapters, there is often a great deal of undertheorisation, if not outright conceptual confusion, surrounding theories of knowledge and definitions of equity that undergird these policy documents. Given the pressing nature of the problem and the reality that students in low-performing schools are not receiving the educations they deserve, it is tempting to dismiss philosophical and theoretical investigations as irrelevant to addressing a problem that has real and immediate consequences. But this would be a mistake. Even the best-intentioned policy or practice will have unintended negative consequences when key conceptssuch as equity-are understood differently by key constituencies tasked with implementing the policies. Those most impacted by the policies-students, parents, communities-may also have different understandings of ideals such as equity than the parties implementing or constructing the policies, and this can lead to further unintended negative consequences, such as a widened performance gap and deepened distrust (Schultz, 2019). This volume has also emphasised how even good policies can lead to constrained agency, which also often has negative consequences. If we want to close the gap between high-and low-performing schools, then teachers and principals in schools labelled low performing must feel like they have a voice and that they can exercise agency. Overzealous policy implementation can silence the insight of experienced school personnel and undercut their agency. This can lead to cycles of distrust and demoralisation that will often only widen the gap between high-and low-performing schools (Santoro, 2018; Schultz, 2019). One way to empower school personnel is to facilitate conversations about the purposes of education so that members of a school community can have a say in how school goals are developed, making it far more likely that these goals will align with their own values and aspirations. Doing this cultivates voice and agency. Philosophical and theoretical conversations are not sufficient to closing the elusive performance gap, but they are necessary. Given the enormity of the problem, the reality that each child has only one childhood, and many are not receiving an education that will open them to a future of possibility,

Evidence and Expertise in Nordic Education Policy, 2022

This chapter examines the use of evidence in legitimating national school reforms in a globalized... more This chapter examines the use of evidence in legitimating national school reforms in a globalized context. Although international policy knowledge is becoming increasingly important in legitimating national school reforms, the national context still seems to affect whether and how it is used. This chapter draws attention to the selective use of international policy knowledge in domestic policy agendas and the increasingly important role of people and institutions acting as intermediaries in selecting, interpreting, and presenting useful policy knowledge to politicians. By taking the complexity of context seriously, this chapter provides valuable insights into the multidirectional policy process that filters the expert knowledge that is ultimately used by politicians as evidence in legitimating school reforms.

Surveyjournalen

Under 1900-talets andra hälft genomfördes två genomgripande reformer inom skolområdet, reformen o... more Under 1900-talets andra hälft genomfördes två genomgripande reformer inom skolområdet, reformen om grundskola respektive reformen om en decentralisering av skolans styrning. Dessa båda reformer utgör samtidigt varandras motsatser vad gäller reformernas respektive innehåll och argumentation. Även reformprocesserna skiljer sig åt, vilket illustrerar hur utredningsväsendet och statens beslutsprocesser förändrades från slutet av 1950-talet till slutet av 1980-talet. Jag kommer att i denna inledning ägna visst utrymme åt dessa båda reformer, eftersom Maktutredningen från 1990, som står i fokus för föreliggande studie, blev en viktig vattendelare för två helt olika sätt se på styrningen av svensk skola, liksom på innebörden av begreppet "en likvärdig skola". I grunden handlar brottet, som det kom till uttryck i Maktutredningen (SOU 1990:44), om två olika sätt att förstå begreppet demokrati.

Journal of Curriculum Studies, 2018

As an overview in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Curriculum Studies (JCS)... more As an overview in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Curriculum Studies (JCS), this article begins with John Dewey's notion that all educational actions carry philosophical implications. The tension between different education-research philosophies, between non-social and social education philosophies in Dewey's terms, becomes visible in an overview of articles published during the past 50 years of the JCS. Therefore, the purpose here is to explore in what different forms and in what different spaces the political takes shape in curriculum research. Policies on education always address fundamental political questions in the sense that debates on education inevitably include alternative views of good education and good society. Instead of looking for the political, it seems to be more fruitful to look for different ways of expressing the political. This, in turn, might contribute to a more nuanced debate on which political perspectives will be most productive in developing the curriculum research field. Three views on 'the political' are identified. The first is a personal, 'over-socialized' view based on personal experiences, the second is a 'social' view that focuses on social interactions and societal implications, and the third is an impersonal, 'under-socialized' view based on 'science'.

Journal of Curriculum Studies, 2018

The purpose of this article is to explore how education policy that is both enabled and constrain... more The purpose of this article is to explore how education policy that is both enabled and constrained by transnational policy flows and national policy built up by social, cultural and historical traditions are enacted through curriculum at the classroom level. The focus is on how policy rationality embedded in the structure and content of curriculum is transformed into certain rationalities in classroom teaching. By understanding lessons as 'curriculum events', the study reveals a dominant classroom discourse of recitation and similar triadic communication patterns, which is in accordance with other classroom studies. However, in the article it is argued that the version of teaching that emerges in this study, interpreted in a broader context of an international standards movement, can be understood in terms of directed exploration based on the teacher's role as an explorer of what the students know, think and understand in relation to the acquisition of knowledge prescribed in the curriculum's knowledge requirements. Even though the form of recitation is well known, the reason for choosing this teaching repertoire is somewhat new and can be related to the teacher authoring a basic oral text in accordance with assessment standards.

European Educational Research Journal, 2012

In this article, the authors examine the development of the Swedish educational reform of 1991 fr... more In this article, the authors examine the development of the Swedish educational reform of 1991 from an international and European perspective, and from the perspective of what counts as knowledge in a recently implemented Swedish curriculum reform. With effect from 2011, the Swedish Government has significantly reshaped the curricula for pre-school, compulsory school and upper secondary school education, but in terms of governing principles for schools, these curriculum reforms can be regarded as a continuation of the 1991 reform. The authors argue that this latest reform, as part of an international policy discourse, can be said to represent a denationalised and instrumental conception of education, and that the implications for the formation of knowledge within this conception can be understood as a standards-based curriculum shaped by two powerful international influences: a technical-instrumental discourse of curriculum, emphasising the form, structure and function of the curric...

I kapitlet, som utgar fran John Deweys kommunikationsbegrepp, riktas uppmarksamheten mot ett av k... more I kapitlet, som utgar fran John Deweys kommunikationsbegrepp, riktas uppmarksamheten mot ett av kommunikationens villkor, namligen lyssnandet och lyssnarens roll. Foljande tva fragor diskuteras: Hu ...

Journal of Education Policy

Equity, Teaching Practice and the Curriculum

Equity, Teaching Practice and the Curriculum

In this paper, I have tried to examine classroom conversations as a site for expressions of cosmo... more In this paper, I have tried to examine classroom conversations as a site for expressions of cosmopolitization. The concept allows for an understanding of cosmopolitanism as an ongoing and dynamic interaction between different societies at the same place and time. Thus, cosmopolitanism is not a goal or a distant ideal, but something societies and individuals must relate to; creating situations that they handle - of course - in different ways (Beck & Grande 2010). With the notion of ‘critical cosmopolitanism’, self-understanding and self-reflexivity are highlighted (Delanty 2006), and with the displacement from ‘translation’ to ‘transaction’ as the process for cosmopolitization, I want to emphasize the inter-subjective and transactional character of the reflexivity in a cosmopolitan perspective. I take my starting point from a cosmopolitan view that we are inhabitants of the same world (albeit in very different ways) rather than being citizens of the world (c.f. Hansen 2011). To under...

Utifran vilka grunder motiveras ratten till undervisning i Europakonventionen? Hur kan detta ratt... more Utifran vilka grunder motiveras ratten till undervisning i Europakonventionen? Hur kan detta rattfardigande forstas i termer av barns ratt, som en social rattighet, och foraldrars ratt, som en civi ...

Kapitlet belyser pa vilka satt Sveriges undertecknande av internationella konventioner, framst da... more Kapitlet belyser pa vilka satt Sveriges undertecknande av internationella konventioner, framst da Europakonventionen, har anvants i den svenska debatten om fristaende skolor fran mitten av 1900-tal ...