In Sweden today it is relatively difficult to recruit high school students and university students to education including science topics. An explanation may be that students experience science education as objective without questions of value (Gustafsson, 2007). We can also discuss it as a response on high schools, universities and teachers traditional and non reflective way to structure and arrange education in other forms than in separated topics (Dimenäs, 2007). There has been some attempts and progress made during the last decades. Examples of this are projects were you try to integrate science and technology in society (Stringer,1992) and more recently, projects which use socioscientific issues (SSI) dealing with ethics in the context of science education (Sadler, Amirshokoohi, Kazempour & Allspaw, 2006). Current examples are genetic engineering and questions about global warming and the greenhouse effect (Hewitt 2002). This study in progress is a re-analyze of different teacher perspectives of how they understand the phenomena justice and water and a discussion of what the consequences are in relation to learning and education in general. From the presented results there is also a discussion in the use of socioscientific issues (SSI) dealing with ethics in context of science education as a new agenda for teaching and learning. Fifty eight teachers who sometimes teach about the phenomena justice (33) and water (25) participated in semi structured interviews. They represent preschool teachers (13), primary and secondary school teachers (17), high school teachers (14) and university teachers (14). The result of the study is presented from an inductive re-analyze perspective to explore emergent patterns relative to the questions how different teachers understand justice and how they understand water and justice and water in relation to teaching and learning. The study also focuses on the question if there is a relation between the two phenomena and the possible critical consequences of that for teaching and learning. Preliminary results from the study show that it is possible to identify how teachers understand the phenomena justice and water. The structure can be described in three dimensions of understanding. You can see towards the phenomena, outwards the phenomena or the phenomena in a mediated way. Spontaneously the teachers also put together and understand justice and water as an ethic problem in an unequal world. Implications of this research for science education is that it can be a dilemma for teachers to choose what and how to teach in those specific topics. Teachers did identify socioscientific issues dealing with ethics in this context of science which could be a new agenda for meaningful teaching and learning and a necessity for learning about sustainability. References DIMENÄS, J. (2007). Undervisningens röda tråd – möjligheter i naturvetenskap. Lund. Studentlitteratur. HEWITT, P. (2002). Conceptual Physics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. GUSTAFSSON, B. (2007). Naturvetenskaplig utbildning för demokrati och hållbar utveckling. Växjö: Växjö universitet SADLER, T. D., AMIRSHOKOOHI, A., KAZEMPOUR, M. & ALLSPAW, K.M. (2006). Socioscience and Ethics in Science Classrooms: Teachers Perspectives and Stategies. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 43 (4), 353-376). STRINGER, J. (1992). Science and technology in Society. Suffolk: The Lavenham Press.

The article presents a study of higher education teachers' view of student participation. The aim of the study is to describe and understand perceptions of student participation on teaching in relation to organisations, processes and contents through statements by a number of teachers. The theoretical framework consists of Foucault's view of power and Arnstein's participation model. The method is a qualitative textual analysis. The results show that student participation can be identified on the basis of the topics governance, activity and evaluation, and that there are six perspectives that show various levels of student participation and degrees of power. The conclusion is that student participation should be demonstrated on the basis of a broader perspective than normally seems to be the case.

Syftet med rapporten har varit att genom ett antal lärares utsagor beskriva och förstå uppfattningar av studentinflytande över lärandet i relation till organisation, process och innehåll.

In higher education for professions, there still seems to be an inherent problem regarding how to integrate academic studies with practical training. There are reasons to highlight the problems for students studying to be engineers, teachers, and nurses, for example. This study aims to describe and explain, from a content perspective, how students understand their own studies where Work Integrated Learning is a part of the education, by using qualitative theory and methodology with data from questionnaires and interviews. The conclusion is that higher education, in such meaning. is an arena where best practice meets scientific argumentation, enabling some students to understand their studies from a dichotomized point of view. On the other hand, we also find that students' can develop into skilled professionals by moving beyond the current dichotomization discourse. The fruitful attachment of practical training demonstrates the idea of multiple perspectives and how education inspired by Worked Integrated Learning could constitute an arena in which situations are reflected on and experienced. It is therefore relevant to discuss the issue within an expanding zone of educational content that develops practical skills through concretization, application, identification, and students adopting a critical approach.

Lärarutbildningen skall genomsyras av ett vetenskapligt förhållningssätt, som också skall knytas till lärares dagliga arbete. Det vetenskapliga förhållningssättet ska löpa som en röd tråd genom lärarutbildningarnas samtliga delar och uppmuntra till kritisk analys. Detta är en bok som studenten ska ha med sig under utbildningens alla terminer. (Beskrivning från förlaget).

Detta nummer av Utbildning & Lärande lyfter olika perspektiv på verksamhetsförlagt lärande och kan med föreliggande sex artiklar bidra med underlag för utmaningar, diskussioner och utveckling kring verksamhetsförlagda utbildningsmoment.

Detta nummer av Utbildning & Lärande lyfter olika perspektiv på verksamhetsförlagt lärande och kan med föreliggande sex artiklar bidra med underlag för utmaningar, diskussioner och utveckling kring verksamhetsförlagda utbildningsmoment. Verksamhetsförlagt lärande är på intet sätt entydigt definierat men inom detta temanummers ram ska det förstås som utbildningsverksamhet som på ett eller annat sätt använder sig av verksamhetsutövning i nära relation till olika yrken. Begreppet som sådant används i många sammanhang också i nära relation till arbetsintegrerat lärande (AIL), verksamhetsintegrerat lärande (VIL) eller verksamhetsförlagd utbildning (VFU).

Styrs undervisningens innehåll av slentrian och tradition eller utifrån en tydlig struktur? Planerar lärare med tanke på progression och kvalitetssäkring av utbildningen? Undervisningens röda tråd handlar om motiv bakom val av i huvudsak naturvetenskapligt innehåll i olika utbildningar, från förskola via grundskola, gymnasieskola till universitet. Boken behandlar ämnesinnehållets betydelse för lärande i relation till metoder och undervisningsstrategier samt organisering av lärandemiljöer som sätt att möjliggöra förbättrad och effektiviserad undervisning. Resultat från forskning kring innehållets betydelse för lärande och hur det kan följas upp genom dokumentation och utvärdering utvecklas och diskuteras. Flera konkreta exempel illustrerar undervisning i skolor och vid universitet. (Beskrivning från förlaget)

With regard to education, traditional environmentally-related issues have been intertwined with courses in natural sciences, which could entail opportunities as well as difficulties. The study concerns two knowledge matters that are usually divided into two different subject traditions - water and justice. In this article, we focus on the way teachers consider instruction within the frameworks of these two discourses and how teaching is related to sustainable development. The findings suggest that water and justice are two examples that are suitable for the problematisation of sustainable development with respect to holistic education. Current educational policies in Sweden advocate a tendency towards a more closed and subject-centred discourse, which means that the ability to successfully teach about sustainable development is made even more problematic.

This study aims to investigate the concept of proven experience, which is being increasingly used and emphasised in documents relating to the education of student teachers and nurses as well as in the training of these two professions. The study is aimed at academic vocational training (AVT) and is based upon interviews with the tutors of student teachers and nurses during their periods of AVT. The purpose of this study is to understand what constitutes the essence of proven experience, arising from the verbal statements given by AVT tutors in the field. The conclusion of this study is that the concept of proven experience should be considered at three levels: experience, tested experience and proven experience. Furthermore, those who use it without further consideration should understand the complexity of the concept. From a critical perspective it seems that government agencies use a concept that we assume is more characterised by ideological rhetoric than by conceptual precisenes

Till Sverige sker det idag en stor invandring av akademiker. Det visar sig att svårigheterna för denna grupp att få arbete är större än för motsvarande grupp med svensk bakgrund. För att underlätta integrationen med den svenska arbetsmarknaden finns på flera högskolor speciella kurser för dessa utländska akademiker. Det finns förväntan från personer i denna grupp och från samhället att de ska integreras i en svensk yrkeskultur och få utöva samma yrke som i hemlandet. I mötet med svensk yrkeskultur identifierar vi två huvudsakliga hinder för denna integration, nämligen språket och skillnader i förhållningssätt och yrkesutövning. Under de kurser som relateras till denna studie finns det också verksamhetsförlagd tid. Föreliggande studie är fokuserad mot invandrade akademikers högskolestudier under verksamhetsförlagd utbildning. Under sitt första år på en svensk högskola får studenterna en verksamhetsförlagd placering som motsvarar den yrkesutbildning de har från hemlandet. Syftet med undersökningen är att beskriva och förstå invandrade akademikers lärande i mötet mellan den egna yrkeskulturen och den svenska yrkeskulturen. I projektet uppmärksammas särskilt frågan vilka kunskaper i relation till sin yrkesroll dessa studenter anser sig utveckla under den tid som den verksamhetsförlagda utbildningen skrivs fram som en förberedande introduktion i utbildningen. Datainsamlingens första steg har skett i form av fokusgruppsintervjuer. Preliminära resultat visar att mötet med den svenska yrkeskulturen både berikar och berikas. Den kompetens man erövrat i landet man kommer ifrån kan användas och delges på arbetsplatsen där man haft verksamhetsförlagd tid. De studerande uppfattar också ett annat perspektiv på det egna yrket i mötet med den svenska yrkeskulturen. Språket uppmärksammas som ett yrkesspråk och man tillägnar sig också nya specifika kunskaper i yrket. Det går också att förstå ett ökat hos självförtroende bland undersökningspersonerna då de finner att den egna kompetensen och förhållningssätt är annorlunda men väl kan integreras i den nya yrkeskulturen.

This article is focused on the higher education studies of immigrant academics’ during internship. These students obtain an internship that corresponds to the vocational and educational training they received in their homelands, during their first year at a Swedish university. The purpose of this investigation is to describe and understand the learning of immigrant academics in the clash between their former work culture and the Swedish. Particular attention is drawn to the issue concerning what knowledge in relation to their professions, these students find they have gained during placement. This is a qualitative study; assumptions and analyses are related to sociocultural theory on learning during internship that draws attention to the students’ ability to distinguish between different situations and their contents in professional practice. The results reveal that the encounter with the Swedish work culture has a twofold benefit. Firstly students share the knowledge knowledge obtained during their professional practice in their former home countries with their current placement. Secondly, they gain knowledge about Swedish professional culture, its language, management and work environment, as well as the language and Swedish language in general. Finally, the students gain better self-esteem, as they discover that they can be integrated into the new culture, despite their own different competences and approaches. We can obviously here understand the result from the sociocultural theory’s way of regarding that learning occurs in a social and cultural context. The value of the practical placement period is therefore of crucial significance when the same proximity to the professional culture is not available during the university placed period of the education. In order to facilitate integration, universities should open their doors and adjust current rules to meet the attributes of this group.