Swedish Comprehensive School Research Articles

Reflection, communication, and learning mathematics: A case study

In recent reform programs in mathematics education it has been advocated, mainly on theoretical grounds, that reflection and communication are to be viewed as important means when children learn mathematics. The aim of this paper is to give an empirical account of how such processes influence learning when children solve a mathematics problem. A case study is presented, where four children (11 years of age) from the fifth form of a Swedish comprehensive school are engaged in laboratory work exploring the nature of numbers and eventually the problem of infinity. The pupils are observed during the learning session and the verbal interaction between the children is tape-recorded and later transcribed. In the analysis the pupils' interpretations of the task are described and so are their attempts to solve the problem. The results show how children make productive use of aspects of the communicative situation as well as personal, idiosyncratic knowledge when solving the task. The results point to the importance of considering the contexts that the learners create when faced with an assigned task and the implicit rules that teachers and pupils take for granted when interpreting a given task.

PROBLEM‐SOLVING, ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND SITUATED REASONING. A STUDY OF JOINT COGNITIVE ACTIVITY IN THE FORMAL SETTING

Summary. The article reports a study of group work in the school context aimed at solving the everyday problem of establishing the postage rate for a letter using a letter‐scale and a postage table. The participants, pupils aged 12–13 years in the sixth form of the Swedish comprehensive school, co‐operated in groups of three that were homogenised with respect to academic ability. The results reveal that all groups draw on school knowledge when solving the task, but that this does not necessarily lead to success in finding the correct postage rate. Furthermore, the higher the academic ability of students, the longer and more roundabout the problem‐solving procedures are. Inappropriate solutions and procedures for handling the table appear just as frequently in all groups as suggestions at some stage of the work, but they are generally rejected during the longer and more elaborate interpretative work among the pupils of high academic ability. It is argued that the relationship between knowledge acquired in the formal setting and the handling of this everyday problem is diffuse. Successful solution of the problem cannot be described as the application of a standardised algorithm but seems more to rely on extensive interpretative work involving the comparison of alternative models of reasoning.

The development of interests in the Swedish comprehensive school

In this study pupils in grades 1 through 9 (ages 7–16) of the Swedish comprehensive school rated their interests in mathematics and Swedish (separately for reading and writing). They also judged other aspects of their school work and situation, such as need for control and challenging tasks, their perception of the teacher, their concern with how well other pupils succeeded, and their well-being at school. Teachers rated their level of achievement in Swedish and mathematics. It was found that interests tended to decrease over time, especially in mathematics. High achievers were more interested but they as well as low achievers showed a drop in interest over the years at school. Need for control rose and general well-being dropped. The developmental trends of the interest variables could not be accounted for by a rising need for control. The decrements in challenge and well-being could explain a part of these trends in Swedish but not in mathematics.

Relationships between Pupils’ Sociocultural Background, Instruction in School and Writing Achievement

Abstract The aim of this study was to explain differences between pupils’ achievements in composition. A theoretic causal model of factors of importance to pupils’ proficiency in writing has been tested with data collected in the Swedish part of the IEA‐study. These data involve the pupils’ sociocultural background, the teachers’ experiences and the teaching of writing. The pupils’ marks for an argumentative composition represent the standard of their achievement in writing. The present analysis includes pupils in grade 9 of the Swedish compulsory comprehensive school. The causal model was verified concerning the relationships between pupils’ sociocultural background and their writing achievement. However, no relationships could be found between teaching in school and pupils’ achievement, a result which is discussed critically.

‘A Spearhead into the Future'—Swedish comprehensive school reforms in foreign scholarly literature 1950‐80

*The findings were first published as a dissertation in Education at the University of Lund, Sweden (Nilsson, 1987). The quotation is from Olof Palme, former Prime Minister and also former Minister of Education (1967‐69).

School Reforms and Local Response: An Evaluation of School Reviews in 35 School Management Areas in Sweden, 1980-1985

This study focuses on 35 Swedish comprehensive school management areas. The initial purpose of the study was to examine the effects of two large-scale in-service training programs on local school development. The two programs were School Leader Education and Team Training.

School Reforms and Local Response: an evaluation of school reviews in 35 school management areas in Sweden 1980‐1985

This study focuses on 35 Swedish comprehensive school management areas. The initial purpose of the study was to examine the effects of two large-scale in-service training programs on local school development. The two programs were School Leader Education and Team Training.

Teachers’ basic philosophies and the curriculum

Abstract This article gives an account of a study concerning the relationship between the teachers’ basic views and the basic philosophy of the curriculum for Swedish comprehensive schools, the Läroplan of 1969. The study, based on interpretations of texts and verbal statements, finds the concept of solidarity in the curriculum important. An analysis of common features in the categories that are in favour of this basic philosophy shows it is the idea of a pupil‐centred school that attracts teachers with a socialist ideology. It supports solidarity. The main reason for the negative attitude of the teachers is that they see a pupil‐centred school as a shift of power reducing the teachers’ traditional role and disturbing the professional code. Those categories have strong naturalistic elements, wanting the pupils to be in many ways like boy scouts. Teachers with a so called partial ideology‐poorly developed outlook on society and on man ‐ seem to be dominated by their professional code. The vaguer the ideology or philosophy of life, the more dominant the professional code.

Teacher stress: Exploratory model building

The present paper introduces a conceptual model of teacher stress, two data sets are employed to discover variables relevant to the model, and the interrelationships between the variables are studied through a structural equations method, LISREL. A pupil‐related stressor is shown to be the most important antecedent to a state of general strain, mental disorders, and psychosomatic symptoms. The role of time‐ and management‐related stressors is more ambiguous. Swedish comprehensive school teachers show high levels of work‐related strain and are, to a very large degree, dissatisfied with their work. It is concluded that the inclusion of individual characteristics other than biographical ones, and of factors related to salary, career structure and occupational status, would probably increase the explanatory power of the presented models.

Group Problem Solving: Ability Level, Group Size, and Subsequent Individual Performance

Summary The purpose of this investigation was (a) to test problem solving models empirically on groups of different ability levels and (b) to study the individuals' ability to learn from the group problem situation. The investigation was made in two steps, a problem solving and a retention measure. The Ss were 166 10- and 11-year-old boys and girls from Grades 4 and 5 in the Swedish comprehensive school. A 3 × 3 (ability levels high, middle, and low × group sizes individual, dyad, and triad) design was used. To determine the retention, only individual performance was recorded. The main conclusion drawn was that different problem solving models were appropriate for high ability level versus middle and low ability levels. Furthermore, high ability students benefitted more from the group situation than middle and low ability students. However, there were no significant differences in the retention measure for those who had worked in different size groups.

Spectral eye fatigue in a school environment

The eye fatigue information was expressed in writing by a randomly selected group of pupils in five Swedish comprehensive schools in winter and in spring. Simultaneous measurements of mixed electric light and daylight were made of spectral power distribution and illuminance at the classroom centre at pupil desk height. It is concluded that in this northern classroom environment of mixed electric light and daylight, the expressed eye fatigue was significantly higher in the experimental schools with mere skylight (monitor) windows as compared with the control schools with the regular side-view windows at eye-level height at sitting position. Also this fatigue was significantly higher among boys than among girls in classrooms with monitor windows as the only source of daylight and view. In a mild climate, this type of expressed eye fatigue was almost non-existent even in windowless schools and was totally non-existent in schools with side-view windows.

Mathematics education in the Swedish basic comprehensive schools

Mathematics education in the Swedish basic comprehensive schools

A study of emotional reactions to light and colour in a school environment

A field study was made of five Swedish comprehensive schools. Two classrooms per school were used for testing in the darkest season and the same ones were reused in spring. A total sample size of 400 pupils averaging 16 years of age was taken during two seasons. The overhead window test group consisted of 160 pupils in four classrooms. The other group with common eye-level windows consisted of 240 pupils in six classrooms. It is concluded that the observed sensation of colour changed with the quality and quantity of light. There was a relationship between the quality of light and the pleasantness of the observed environment. Warm was associated with the pleasantness and cold with the unpleasantness in this cold climate for both light and colour.

Practical Vocational Orientation in the Comprehensive School

This description of practical vocational orientation in the Swedish comprehensive schools has been excerpted from Pryo i Samverkan (1971), a publication of the Arbetsmarknadens Yrkesrad (Vocational Council of the Labor Market).

Social Studies in the Swedish Comprehensive School

Social Studies in the Swedish Comprehensive School

Recruitment to the Gymnasium in Sweden

Abstract Ljuno, B.‐O. & Jansson, S. (1970). Recruitment to the Gymnasium in Sweden. A study of the influences of socioeconomic factors on recruitment to the gymnasium for a year group in the county of Vastmanland. Scand. J. Educ. Res. 14, 1‐14. Lines of study through the upper (secondary) department of the Swedish compulsory comprehensive school are studied in a population of 3,656 students divided into three socioeconomic (social) groups. Through the choice of lines of study and alternative courses made at the end of the middle department (grades 4 to 6), more than half of the students belonging to social group 3 are, in practice, excluded from possibilities of applying for gymnasium studies. The corresponding proportion for social group 1 is 12 per cent. Dropouts from lines of study leading to the gymnasium reduce the proportion of students in social group 3 qualified for gymnasium studies to 36 per cent, while no dropouts can be observed among students belonging to social group 1. Of the students quali...

The Swedish Comprehensive School. Sixten Marklund , Pär Söderberg , A. Read

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsThe Swedish Comprehensive School. Sixten Marklund , Pär Söderberg , A. Read John MalleaJohn Mallea Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Comparative Education Review Volume 13, Number 1Feb., 1969 Sponsored by the Comparative and International Education Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/445400 Views: 4Total views on this site Citations: 1Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1968 The Comparative Education SocietyPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:J. E. Macintyre, F. M. Daniel, V. M. Stirling Dictionary of Inorganic Compounds, (Jan 1992): 1–1208.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-4638-6_1

Correspondence Instruction and the Use of Self‐instructional Media in Schools

INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS based on the study of correspondence courses are being made in some English schools co-operating with the National Extension College at Cambridge. These experiments have much in common with work done in Swedish grammar schools and comprehensive schools since the beginning of the 1940's. Correspondence education enjoys much prestige in Sweden. The biggest school, Hermods, founded in 1898, is a non-profit-making foundation which is also an official examining body under the supervision of the National Board of Education. It annually enrols more than oo00,000ooo new students. The only other Swedish correspondence schools that are of any consequence are, apart from a small school belonging to the armed forces, owned by the trade unions and other organizations. They are all responsible institutions between which there is some co-operation. Only a small proportion of the work done by Swedish correspondence schools concerns the official school system, but nevertheless it is of some interest as it has opened new ways towards individualization and has proved very useful in several respects. Today we find two separate applications of correspondence course material in schools, namely supervised correspondence study and the use made of correspondence course units as self-instructional media without written work being submitted to the correspondence school. SUPERVISED CORRESPONDENCE STUDY

The Swedish Comprehensive School Reform: A Selected Annotated Bibliography

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Swedish Comprehensive School Reform: A Selected Annotated BibliographyRolland G. PaulstonRolland G. Paulston Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Comparative Education Review Volume 10, Number 1Feb., 1966 Sponsored by the Comparative and International Education Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/445194 Views: 4Total views on this site Citations: 3Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Joakim Landahl De-scandalisation and international assessments: the reception of IEA surveys in Sweden during the 1970s, Globalisation, Societies and Education 16, no.55 (Oct 2018): 566–576.https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2018.1531235 Sweden, European Education 5, no.22 (Dec 2010): 163–272.https://doi.org/10.2753/EUE1056-4934050203163Stewart E. Fraser Chapter V: International and Comparative Education, Review of Educational Research 37, no.11 (Jun 2016): 57–73.https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543037001057