Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs

This paper explores the possibility that early childhood institutions can be, first and foremost, places of political practice—and specifically of democratic political practice. The case for the primacy of democratic political practice in early childhood institutions is made more urgent by two developments apparent in many countries today: the growth of policy interest in early childhood education, leading to an expansion of services, and the need to revive democratic politics. As well as bringing democratic practice into the nursery, what this would mean and what conditions might enable it, the paper also considers democratic practice at other levels: not just the institutional, but also the national or federal, the regional and the local, and how each level can create ‘democratic space’ at other levels. The paper ends by considering four issues related to democracy in early childhood education including paradigmatic diversity and the European level. Dans cet article nous précisons l’idée selon laquelle les institutions de la petite enfance peuvent être avant tout des lieux de pratique politique, et en particulier de pratique démocratique. La question de la primauté de la pratique démocratique dans les institutions de la petite enfance devient urgente en raison de deux phénomènes présents aujourdh’ui dans de nombreux pays : l’intérêt politique grandissant pour l’éducation des jeunes enfants qui mène à une augmentation des services de la petite enfance, et le besoin de ranimer les politiques démocratiques. Cet article porte sur la pratique démocratique dans les services de la petite enfance, sa signification et les conditions qui la rendent possible, mais aussi à d’autres niveaux : pas seulement au niveau institutionel mais aussi au niveau national ou fédéral, régional et local, en se demandant comment chaque niveau peut créer de l’’espace démocratique’ à d’autres niveaux. Il se termine avec quatre questions liées à la démocratie dans l’éducation de la petite enfance, dont le paradigme de la diversité et le niveau de l’Europe. Es wird die Möglichkeit erörtert, wie frühpädagogische Einrichtungen vor allem auch Orte politischer Praxis sein können – und insbesondere demokratischer politischer Praxis. Den Vorrang demokratischer politischer Praxis in frühpädagogischen Einrichtungen zu thematisieren, ist aufgrund zweier aktueller Entwicklungen in vielen Ländern dringlicher geworden: das Anwachsen von politischem Interesse in der Frühpädagogik, das zu einer Ausweitung des Angebotes geführt hat, und die Notwendigkeit demokratische Politik wieder zu beleben. Außer dem, was das Hineintragen demokratischer Praxis in den Kindergarten bedeutet und welche Bedingungen dies ermöglichen, befasst sich der Beitrag auch mit demokratischer Praxis auf anderen Ebenen, nämlich neben der institutionellen Ebene mit der nationalen oder föderalen Ebene, der regionalen und der lokalen Ebene, sowie damit, wie jede einzelne Ebene ,demokratischen Raum’ auf anderen Ebenen schaffen kann. Der Beitrag schließt mit der Betrachtung von vier Fragen zu Demokratie in der Bildung der frühen Kindheit einschließlich der paradigmatischen Diversity und der europäischen Ebene. Este artículo explora la posibilidad que las instituciones parvularias puedan ser, en primer lugar y sobre todo, lugares de prácticas políticas – y especialmente de prácticas políticas democráticas. La necesidad de una primacía de las prácticas políticas democráticas en las instituciones parvularias adquiere urgencia a partir de dos desarrollos presentes hoy día en muchos países: el creciente interés gubernamental en la educación parvularia, conducente a una expansión de los servicios; y la necesidad de revitalizar las políticas democráticas. Junto con la introducción de las practicas democráticas en las guarderías, lo que esto significaría y cuales condiciones se requieren, el articulo también considera las prácticas democráticas en otros niveles: no solo el institucional, sino también el nacional o federal, el regional y el local, y como cada nivel puede crear “espacios democráticos” para otros niveles. El artículo finaliza considerando cuatro temas relacionados con la democracia en la educación parvularia infancia incluyendo la diversidad paradigmática y el nivel europeo.

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Bringing Politics into the Nursery: Early Childhood Education as a Democratic Practice. Working Papers in Early Childhood Development, No. 43.

Given the current demands of Swedish vocational education and the withdrawal of the requirement for formal teacher competence in vocational subject teachers, the aim of this article is to develop knowledge of what it means to be a vocational subject teacher in an upper secondary school, i.e. how vocational subject teachers describe their vocational teacher identity. Drawing on a sociocultural perspective, this study analysed data from 22 interviews. The vocational subject teachers describe their relationship with students and the fostering work of teaching for studies, life and work as distinctive characteristics of vocational teacher identity. The fostering work is focused on students’ behaviour, i.e. the relational and normative aspects of a social practice. The study results suggest that the identity of vocational teachers includes guiding students towards memberships in various social practices. The benefit of both high-quality teacher competence and vocational competence in vocational teachers is dis...

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How vocational teachers describe their vocational teacher identity

The idea that mathematics is needed for our mundane everyday activities has raised the question of how people deal with mathematics outside the school walls. Much has been written in mathematics education research about the possibility of transferring knowledge from and into school. Whereas the majority of this literature commends the possibility of transfer, thus assuming both the desirability of transfer and the importance of school mathematics for the professional and mundane lives of individuals, I am interested in developing an ideology critique on the beliefs underpinning the research on this issue. It will be argued that the use-value attributed to school mathematics disavows its value as part of a political and economic structure, which requires school mathematics to perform other roles than the one related with utility. This critique will be illustrated through the exploration of a typical transfer situation between school and workplace.

Transferring mathematics from and into school: An ideology critique of the use-value of mathematics

During the last decade, entrepreneurship education has become a central curricular topic in many locations in the world. In Sweden, entrepreneurship education was implemented in the curriculum for ...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00220272.2018.1488998

How do teachers interpret and transform entrepreneurship education

This article analyses what students attending four Swedish upper secondary school programmes with different social class profiles tried and wanted to influence in relation to mathematics teachers' ...

Does social justice count? ‘Lived democracy’ in mathematics classes in diverse Swedish upper secondary programmes

This article is based on ethnographic studies in the context of vocational education: two in Sweden and one in Finland. The Swedish data originate from the Vehicle programme and the Child and Recre ...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2304/eerj.2010.9.2.245

Time, Space and Young People's Agency in Vocational Upper Secondary Education: a cross-cultural perspective

The aim of this study is to acquire knowledge regarding democratic education in upper secondary school programmes with different gender and social class profiles. It covers the teaching in and abou ...

/pdf/leva-och-lara-demokrati-en-etnografisk-studie-i-tva-3q3tiqpksw.pdf

Leva och lära demokrati? : En etnografisk studie i två gymnasieprogram

Vocational education has a historical legacy of being low-status and aimed at producing skilled workers. Students with low marks in comprehensive school are still often guided to the vocational edu ...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1474904116669154

Staying in the comfort zones – Low expectations in vocational education and training mathematics teaching in Sweden and Finland:

The aim of this article is to acquire knowledge regarding children’s influence and the construction of gender during free play situations in preschools in different local contexts. Attention is foc ...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/20004508.2020.1724585

Carina Hjelmér

Papers

Does social justice count? ‘Lived democracy’ in mathematics classes in diverse Swedish upper secondary programmes

Time, Space and Young People's Agency in Vocational Upper Secondary Education: a cross-cultural perspective

Leva och lära demokrati? : En etnografisk studie i två gymnasieprogram

Staying in the comfort zones – Low expectations in vocational education and training mathematics teaching in Sweden and Finland:

Free play, free choices? – Influence and construction of gender in preschools in different local contexts