Program theory reconstruction is an often-overlooked aspect of social intervention research. In this paper, we argue that intervention research benefits if the research design is informed by the specific intervention's program theory (i.e., the idea of how the intervention is supposed to lead to the intended outcomes). The purpose of this paper is to offer a comprehensive and accessible guide to program theory reconstruction in research on social interventions and to provide arguments as to how program theory reconstruction can be used to benefit intervention studies. First, we summarize what program theory is and its role in intervention research. Second, we provide a direct “how-to” for researchers, practitioners, and students who may be unfamiliar with the methods of program theory reconstruction but are interested in undertaking a program theory reconstruction. Finally, we conclude with how program theory reconstruction can benefit intervention research.

I följande studie undersöks hur pedagoger beskriver sitt eget lärande och sin identitetsutveckling i ljuset av införandet av en ny typ av föräldrasamtal. Föräldrasamtalen som genomförts har skett på gruppnivå med föräldragrupper istället för de traditionella utvecklingssamtalen. I samtalen riktar pedagogerna in sig på interaktion och kollektivt lärande hos barn och vårt material för den här studien utgörs av texter som pedagogerna har skrivit för att reflektera över den nya samtalsmodellen. Syftet med studien är att förstå samtalen som en aktivitet genom vilken pedagogers lärande och identitet i arbete kan utvecklas. Texterna har analyserats genom innehållsanalys. Genom studien belystes hur förskolepedagogerna utmanas kunskapsmässigt i sammanhang med föräldrar och kollegor, varför det blir viktigt för pedagogerna att reflektera över arbetet och den egna utvecklingen. Resultatet visar hur dessa gruppsamtal bidrar till pedagogernas yrkesidentitet och lärande i arbete.

Background:Although gaming is a common arena where children socialize, an increasing number of children are exhibiting signs of problem gaming or internet gaming disorder. An important factor to the development of problem gaming is parent-child relationships. A cognitive behavioral therapy–based form of treatment, labeled relapse prevention, has been developed as a treatment for child and adolescent problem gaming or internet gaming disorder. However, no study has evaluated the effect of this treatment among Swedish children and youth nor the role of the parent-child relationships in this treatment.

Objective:This study aims (1) to evaluate a relapse prevention treatment for patients showing signs of problem gaming or internet gaming disorder recruited from child and youth psychiatric clinics and (2) to test whether the quality of parent-child relationships plays a role in the effect of relapse prevention treatment and vice versa—whether the relapse prevention treatment has a spillover effect on the quality of parent-child relationships. Moreover, we explore the carer’s attitudes about parent-child relationships and child gaming, as well as experiences of the treatment among the children, their carers, and the clinicians who carried out the treatment.

Methods:This study is a 2-arm, parallel-group, early-stage randomized controlled trial with embedded qualitative components. Children aged 12-18 years who meet the criteria for problem gaming or internet gaming disorder will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either intervention (relapse prevention treatment) or control (treatment as usual), with a total of 160 (80 + 80) participants. The primary outcomes are measures of gaming and gambling behavior before and after intervention, and the secondary outcomes include child ratings of parent-child communication and family functioning. The study is supplemented with a qualitative component with semistructured interviews to capture participants’ and clinicians’ experiences of the relapse prevention, as well as attitudes about parent-child relationships and parenting needs in carers whose children completed the treatment.

Results:The trial started in January 2022 and is expected to end in December 2023. The first results are expected in March 2023.

Conclusions:This study will be the first randomized controlled trial evaluating relapse prevention as a treatment for child and adolescent problem gaming and internet gaming disorder in Sweden. Since problem behaviors in children interact with the family context, investigating parent-child relationships adjacent to the treatment of child problem gaming and internet gaming disorder is an important strength of the study. Further, different parties, ie, children, carers, and clinicians, will be directly or indirectly involved in the evaluation of the treatment, providing more knowledge of the treatment and its effect. Limitations include comorbidity in children with problem gaming and internet gaming disorder and challenges with the recruitment of participants

The Family Stress Model of Economic Hardship (FSM) posits that economic situations create differences in psychosocial outcomes for parents and developmental outcomes for their adolescent children. However, prior studies guided by the FSM have been mostly in high-income countries and have included only mother report or have not disaggregated mother and father report. Our focal research questions were whether the indirect effect of economic hardship on adolescent mental health was mediated by economic pressure, parental depression, dysfunctional dyadic coping, and parenting, and whether these relations differed by culture and mother versus father report. We conducted multiple group serial mediation path models using longitudinal data from adolescents ages 12–15 in 2008–2012 from 1,082 families in 10 cultural groups in seven countries (Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States). Taken together, the indirect effect findings suggest partial support for the FSM in most cultural groups across study countries. We found associations among economic hardship, parental depression, parenting, and adolescent internalizing and externalizing. Findings support polices and interventions aimed at disrupting each path in the model to mitigate the effects of economic hardship on parental depression, harsh parenting, and adolescents’ externalizing and internalizing problems. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many young adults’ lives educationally, economically, and personally. This study investigated associations between COVID-19-related disruption and perception of increases in internalising symptoms among young adults and whether these associations were moderated by earlier measures of adolescent positivity and future orientation and parental psychological control. Participants included 1329 adolescents at Time 1, and 810 of those participants as young adults (M age = 20, 50.4% female) at Time 2 from 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). Drawing from a larger longitudinal study of adolescent risk taking and young adult competence, this study controlled for earlier levels of internalising symptoms during adolescence in examining these associations. Higher levels of adolescent positivity and future orientation as well as parent psychological control during late adolescence helped protect young adults from sharper perceived increases in anxiety and depression during the first nine months of widespread pandemic lockdowns in all nine countries. Findings are discussed in terms of how families in the 21st century can foster greater resilience during and after adolescence when faced with community-wide stressors, and the results provide new information about how psychological control may play a protective role during times of significant community-wide threats to personal health and welfare.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to investigate how general family relations, reported changes in family interaction and involvement with peers during the Covid-19 pandemic, and following rules and recommendations during the pandemic relate to adolescent smoking, alcohol use, inebriation, and use of narcotics during Covid-19.

METHODS: An online national survey of Swedish adolescents (n = 1818) aged 15-19 years was conducted in June 2020. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to predict adolescents' reported change in substance use during the pandemic. Person-oriented analyses, were used to identify clusters of participants characterized by similar patterns of substance use following ANOVA analysis with Scheffe post hoc tests testing differences between clusters in terms of family relations, reported changes in family interaction and involvement with peers during the Covid-19 pandemic, and following rules and recommendations during the pandemic.

RESULTS: Higher general family conflict, increased involvement with peers, a strained relationship with parents, and less compliance with rules and restrictions during the pandemic predicted a reported increase in adolescent substance use during this period. The grouping of scores for adolescent smoking, alcohol use, inebriation, and use of narcotics resulted in a six-cluster solution. One cluster (n = 767) either did not use or had decreased use of substances during the Covid-19 pandemic. Five other clusters, thus risk clusters, had retained or increased use of substances during the pandemic. Poor general family relations, increased peer involvement, and difficulties to conform to the rules and restrictions during the covid-19 pandemic were characteristics of risk clusters.

CONCLUSIONS: Most of adolescents in our study did not increase their substance use during the pandemic. However, adolescents with poor family relations who turn to peers during stressful times and who have difficulty following the government's rules and restrictions, are at risk of increased substance use during the pandemic. This is a potential threat both to adolescents themselves and others in their surroundings which is why at-risk adolescents and their families need more attention from public health and social services during this time of crisis.

Som generation beskrivs dagens unga värdera sociala relationer högre och prioritera välbefinnande och lycka jämfört med tidigare generationer (1). De anses vara öppnare och mer toleranta men också mindre optimistiska då de i stor utsträckning har upplevt negativa världshändelser (2,3). Att ha en positiv syn på framtiden är en viktig aspekt av välbefinnande, men vad innebär positiv syn på framtiden för dagens unga och vad behöver de för att kunna ha en positiv syn på framtiden?

Metod

I detta projekt presenteras delar av resultaten från en större studie med syfte att undersöka ungas uppfattningar om psykiska besvär och psykiskt välbefinnande. Individuella intervjuer genomfördes med 33 personer mellan 16 och 25 år och analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys (4,5).

Resultat

Framtid tolkades av de unga som alltifrån det stundande sommarlovet till det som händer om flera år. De relaterade positiv syn på framtiden till en variation av erfarenheter så som: att känna tilltro; inneboende optimism och livslust; att ha mål att sträva mot; och saker utanför den egna makten. Möjligheten att forma framtiden själv och inte styras för mycket av andras förväntningar och krav upplevdes viktigt för att kunna ha en positiv syn på framtiden.

The dialogical self is conceptualized as a dynamically shifting collection of relatively autonomous I-positions. A boundary experience is an event or situation where tension experienced between conflicting I-positions leads to reconfiguration within the dialogical self. In a boundary experience, uncertainty or a challenge can trigger decentering (centrifugal) movements which can disrupt the self’s contingent stability. These movements can be counterbalanced by centering (centripetal) movements aimed at restoring continuity and consistency. Investigating a boundary experience as a process in motion, this individual case study explores centrifugal-centripetal dynamics in the dialogical self of a preservice teacher during a challenging school placement. Data used in the study derives from reflective/reflexive writing in the form of daily contributions to an online discussion between the participant and a dialogue partner. Findings point to the presence of two alternately complementary/conflicting I-positions in the participant’s teacher identity system and shed light on the roles played by meta- and promoter positions in addressing identity tensions. Recognizing how a boundary experience can be distributed across a range of events, each of which can contribute to processes of reconfiguration, the study underscores the importance of investigating transformative experiences in contexts of professional learning.

We examined whether a policy banning corporal punishment enacted in Kenya in 2010 is associated with changes in Kenyan caregivers’ use of corporal punishment and beliefs in its effectiveness and normativeness, and compared to caregivers in six countries without bans in the same period. Using a longitudinal study with six waves of panel data (2008-2016), mothers (N = 1086) in Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Thailand, and United States reported household use of corporal punishment and beliefs about its effectiveness and normativeness. Random intercept models and multi-group piecewise growth curve models indicated that the proportion of corporal punishment behaviors used by the Kenyan caregivers decreased post-ban at a significantly different rate compared to the caregivers in other countries in the same period. Beliefs of effectiveness of corporal punishment were declining among the caregivers in all sites, whereas the Kenyan mothers reported increasing perceptions of normativeness of corporal punishment post-ban, different from the other sites. While other contributing factors cannot be ruled out, our natural experiment suggests that corporal punishment decreased after a national ban, a shift that was not evident in sites without bans in the same period.

The aim of this study is to explore the recognition, communication and discourses in relation to childhood, children and children’s rights in civic orientation programs for newly arrived adults in Sweden. Civic orientation has become one of the dominant immigrant integration policies in western Europe, with the aim of transmitting knowledge, norms, and values, thereby furthering “integration” into the new country (cf. von Brömssen et al. accepted; Council of Europe, 2017; SFS: 2010: 1138; Abdulla & Risenfors, 2013, Milani et al. 2021).  However, there is a not much research regarding how the educational content, e .g. knowledge constructions in the civic orientation programs are communicated,  negotiated and reproduced in practice. This paper is a contribution to this field of research, and in a broader perspective on migration, adult education, and integration.

Discourses on childhood, children and children’s rights are interesting to analyse as they show perceived constructions of norms and values on the family, on children and their upbringing, as well as on the society at large. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (ECHR) is seen as a basis for all international legal standards for children's rights today. There are several other conventions and laws that address children's rights around the world and current and historical documents affect those rights, including “The Convention of the Rights of the Child” (cf. Mattsson, 2020; Vandenhole, 2015).  A Human Rights approach and accordingly a “Rights of the Child” approach is also emphasized in courses on civic orientation from the European Union, as well as in the Swedish policies for this activity (Council of Europe, 2017; SFS: 2010: 1138).

The “Convention on the Rights of the Child” (CRC) was adopted by the United Nations in 1989 and soon thereafter, in 1990 it was signed by Swedish authorities. However, it didn’t become a law in Sweden until 2020 after a lot of investigations and discussions (see f.ex. Åhman, 2011; Stern, 2019).  The CRC currently counts 195 states parties and is the most widely ratified human rights treaty (Vandenhole, 2015). During the time the CRC has existed as a law in different countries around the world, the focus of the CRC has shifted onto the measures being taken at national level to give effect to children's rights, with specific reference to legal incorporation both direct incorporation (where the CRC forms part of domestic law) and indirect incorporation (where there are legal obligations which encourage its incorporation), (Kilkelly, Lundy & Byrne, 2021). Moreover, the legal effect is highly contingent upon the constitutional and legal systems of individual countries and can best be understood by those writing from a specific national context (Ponnert & Sonander, 2019). Therefore, it is interesting to explore discourses on childhood, children, and children’s rights in civic orientation courses for newly arrived adult migrants in Sweden. The overall research question guiding our work is as follows:

1)           What content is communicated, negotiated and reproduced concerning childhood, children  and children’s rights in civic orientation courses for newly arrived adults in Sweden?

Method/methodology 

This paper presents an ethnographic case study (Parker-Jenkins, 2018) of civic orientation courses in Sweden. Civic orientation is regulated by the state but is locally organized by municipalities (SOU 2010:16). Each newly arrived migrant must be offered this orientation which currently includes at least 100 hours (Swedish Government, 2020).  Courses should, if possible, be in the participant's mother tongue or another language that he or she speaks in order to avoid misunderstandings (SOU 2010:16).

Fieldwork was conducted in civic orientation courses in three larger Swedish cities, as courses there are run continuously, thus giving as the possibility to follow them without interruption. We conducted fieldwork on site during spring 2020 in courses in Arabic and English. Several in our research team understand and speak Arabic as well as English, so there was no need for external translators. As researchers we mainly took the position of participant observers.  Occasionally when being asked we took part in discussions but tried to interfere as little as possible during sessions. The participants in the courses had a background from many different parts of the world, even though there is a predominance of data from course participants with Arabic as their mother tongue. Each of the participants gave their consent to the study which follows ethical guidelines in accordance with the Swedish Research Council (2017).  Ethnographic data consisted of fieldwork notes written by hand and an accumulating written record of the observations were compiled. Themes that provided insights into discourses on childhood, children and children’s rights made up one theme and constitutes data for this paper. The analyses were informed by a narrative- and discourse analytic approach which focused the function of talk in terms of its discursive accomplishments and practices of fact constructions. A narrative approach explores the ways in which speakers make use of ‘stories’ as representational devices to position themselves and others (De Fina & Johnstone, 2015). Additionally, the ethnographic data invoke theory rather than being derived from theory. Each of the reflections in the paper are illustrated with quotes from participants and presented verbatim. The study started in real classroom contexts, although it had to be conducted (from April 2020) through Skype due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant that data from two-thirds of our research were produced during classes on Skype.

Expected outcomes 

In the data from the civic orientation courses for newly arrived adult migrants in Sweden we find discursive themes and narrations about childhood, children and children’s rights. Here we give two examples.

Ethnographic Fieldwork Reflections I - Concern for the upbringing of children.

Many of the participants in the courses were parents and expressed several times through the course concern about what the children's upbringing would look like; was it possible to teach the children in an appropriate way in the new country? However, the biggest and most serious concern, expressed by several participants were the fear that the children would be taken care of by the social authorities. As one mother voiced: “My greatest worry is parenting. I come from Africa, and I like Sweden. In Sweden it’s…They might take your child from you. You are criminal. As much as I learn the Swedish way, I want to be African.”

Ethnographic Fieldwork Reflections II – Children’s rights.

Information of the Convention of Children’s rights was included in the courses. The communicator explained: “The convention of the Child is an interesting topic. It’s good to know as a lot of newcomers fear the social services, not knowing what my role as a parent is”. It was further explained that Sweden was one of the very first to sign the convention and in 2020 it became a law in Sweden. The communicator continued that children’s rights “is really on the table, now it’s a basic and praxis”. The communicator explained that “In Sweden it is important that children can express their ideas, for children to learn that they are important and to listen to. This was at first a cultural shock”.

Some additional themes as well as analyses will be presented at the conference.

Intent of publication

European Journal of Educational Research.

References 

Abdulla, A. & Risenfors, S. (2013). Kursen samhällsorientering för nyanlända: mobilisering och integration för deltagare. [The course civic orientation for new arrivals: mobilization and integration for participants].  In L. Eriksson, G. Nilsson & L. A. Svensson (red.), Gemenskaper: socialpedagogiska perspektiv.  Göteborg, Sweden: Daidalos. In Swedish.

von Brömssen, K., Milani, T., Spehar, A. & Bauer, S. (accepted for FECUN), “Swedes’ relations to their government are based on trust”.  Banal Nationalism in Civic Orientation Courses for Newly Arrived Adult Migrants in Sweden.

Council of Europe. (2017). Adult Migrants: Integration and Education. https://rm.coe.int/recommendations-resolutions-on-adult-migrants-and-education-rev-2017-/168079335c.

De Fina, A. & Johnstone, B. (2015). Discourse Analysis and Narrative. In D. Tannen, H. E. Hamilton & D. Schiffrin (eds.), The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, 2nd.ed. , pp. 152-167. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Kilkelly, U., Lundy, L. & Byrne, B. (ed.), (2021). Incorporating the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into National Law.  Intersentia Ltd.

Lag (2018:1197) om Förenta nationernas konvention om barnets rättigheter [Convention on the Rights of the Child]. https://riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/lag-20181197-om-forenta-nationernas-konvention_sfs-2018-1197 [Retrieved 2022-01-09].

Mattsson, T. (2020). Constitutional Rights for Children in Sweden. In T. Haugli, A. Nylund, R. Sigurdsen & L.R.L. Bendiksen (ed.), Children’s Constitutional Rights in the Nordic Countries, pp. 103-119. Brill.  

Milani, T., Bauer, S., Carlson, M., Spehar, A. & von Brömssen, K.  (2021).  Citizenship as status, habitus and acts: Language requirements and civic orientation in Sweden, Citizenship Studies, 25(6), 756-772, DOI: 10.1080/13621025.2021.1968698.

Parker-Jenkins, M. (2018). Problematising ethnography and case study: reflections on using ethnographic techniques and researcher positioning, Ethnography and Education, 13(1), 18-33, DOI: 10.1080/17457823.2016.1253028.

Ponnert, L. & Sonander, A. (Ed.), (2019). Perspektiv på barnkonventionen: Forskning, teori och praktik. Lund: Studentlitteratur. 

SFS 2010: 1138. (Official Report of the Swedish Government). Förordning om samhällsorientering för vissa nyanlända invandrare. [Ordinance on civic orientation for certain newly arrived immigrants]. Stockholm, Sweden: Swedish Government. In Swedish.

Stern, R. T. (2019). Much Ado about Nothing? The Road to the Incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Sweden, The International Journal of Children's Rights, 27(2), 266-305. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/15718182-02702005.

Swedish Government, 2020. https://www.regeringen.se/pressmeddelanden/2019/12/utokad-samhallsorientering-for-nyanlanda/ [Retrieved 2022-01-20].

Swedish Research Council (2017). Good Research Practice. https://www.vr.se/english/analysis/reports/our-reports/2017-08-31-good-research-practice.html.

Vandenhole, W. (2015). Children’s rights from a legal perspective. In W. Vandenhole, E. Desmet, D. Reynaert & S. Lembrechts (ed.), Routledge International Handbook of Children’s Rights Studies, pp. 27-42.  London: Routledge.

Åhman, K. (2011). Rättsutlåtande om inkorporation av Barnkonventionen. Uppsala Faculty of Law, Working Paper 2011:4. 

Longitudinal data from the Parenting Across Cultures study of children, mothers, and fathers in 12 cultural groups in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the USA; N = 1331 families) were used to understand predictors of compliance with COVID-19 mitigation strategies and vaccine hesitancy. Confidence in government responses to the COVID pandemic was also examined as a potential moderator of links between pre-COVID risk factors and compliance with COVID mitigation strategies and vaccine hesitancy. Greater confidence in government responses to the COVID pandemic was associated with greater compliance with COVID mitigation strategies and less vaccine hesitancy across cultures and reporters. Pre-COVID financial strain and family stress were less consistent predictors of compliance with COVID mitigation strategies and vaccine hesitancy than confidence in government responses to the pandemic. Findings suggest the importance of bolstering confidence in government responses to future human ecosystem disruptions, perhaps through consistent, clear, non-partisan messaging and transparency in acknowledging limitations and admitting mistakes to inspire compliance with government and public health recommendations. © 2022, Society for Prevention Research.

Grounded in ‘expectancy-value’ theory, this paper reports on the psychometric properties of an instrument intended to measure students’ motivation in mathematics. The participants were 2045 third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students from Estonia, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Serbia and Sweden. The Expectancy-Value Scale (EVS) was found to be suitable for early grades of primary education in measuring competence self-perceptions and subjective task values relative to the mathematics field. The results indicate a good model fit aligned with the expectancy-value theory. The EVS dimensions showed good reliability, and scalar invariance was established. However, findings also indicated high correlations between some of the EVS dimensions, which is well documented for students at this age. The findings are discussed relative to the ‘expectancy-value’ theory framework and students’ age.

The background for this study is the lack of well-defined and distinct theories on didactics in school-age educare centres (SAECs). Therefore, in this study, we investigated and compared perceptions among nine professional groups employed in the field. The participants included 390 females and 102 males in Sweden, and their beliefs about didactics in SAECs were measured through a questionnaire consisting of 24 items on a 4-point Likert scale, which researchers and those related to the didactics in SAECs proposed. Descriptive statistics presented an overall picture of the various claims on a group level. The Mann–Whitney test investigated the distinctions between occupational categories. The results indicated that most of the items were relevant. Furthermore, the pupils' orientation was not taken into account enough. Didactics should be translated into SAEC practices but the transfer into practice remains unclear. Many respondents appeared to agree with all of the items to varying degrees, but least that SAEC didactics should not be related to school activities. An important result was that principals' perceptions diverged largely from those of other groups, especially regarding the relationship of didactics to the school's activities. The results partly explain that different professions the SAECs affect see the role of didactics differently.

Early interventions that foster the participation, engagement, and development of children attending preschools, including those in economically disadvantaged (low-income) neighborhoods, are of high priority. One such intervention is a universal socioemotional learning (SEL) program called Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS®) which aims to promote social emotional competence and positive adjustment in children, in general, and may have unique benefits for children attending preschool in low incomes areas. In the SEL field, areas in need of exploration include the possible role that neighborhood income level (i.e., all residents’ income in a postal code that a preschool is located in) could have for children’s social emotional competence and positive adjustment and how neighborhood income level may relate to benefits of an intervention such as PATHS. The study aims were to investigate 1) the baseline group differences in social emotional competence and adjustment depending on the neighborhood income level and 2) to determine if neighborhood income level moderated the effects of PATHS on children’s social emotional competence and adjustment from pre to posttest. Participants were 275 children aged four to five years old, from the preschools randomized into an immediate intervention (n = 145 children) or a wait-list control group (n = 130 children). Overall, 42.9% (n = 118) of the children attended preschools in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods and 57.1% (n = 157) of the children attended preschools in economically advantaged neighborhoods. Children’s social emotional competence and adjustment were assessed through child tasks, child observations and teacher reports. The moderation of intervention effects by the preschools’ neighborhood income was tested in a series of just-identified structural equation models (SEM) that explored interaction effects (income*PATHS interactions). At baseline, relative to children attending preschool in economically advantaged preschools, children attending preschool in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods showed lower levels of inhibitory control, working memory, task orientation and higher levels of inattention. Children attending preschools in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods participating in PATHS also showed reductions in inattention, social withdrawal and anxiety compared to control group children also attending preschool in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Additionally, PATHS children from advantaged neighborhoods improved their prosocial behavior, but not their social independence, relative to control group children who also attended preschool in advantaged neighborhoods. Offering PATHS as an SEL intervention in early childhood education and care settings could help to reduce disparities among children in a number of key outcomes.

In the present study, we studied young adults who think work and family are equally and highly central – those with dual-centric work/family identities. Using a mixed-method approach, we explored their characteristics, costs, benefits, and strategies of dual-centric work/family identities. The sample consisted of 124 participants, of which 36 participants (50% female) had dual-centric work/family identities. They reported higher levels of work satisfaction compared to those without dual-centric identities. Thematic analyses of interviews showed intra- and inter-individual costs and benefits. Strategies to handle the dual-centric identities included time management, communication approaches, and cognitive tactics. Thus, dual-centric identities are individual, but also relational as others are part of consequences and strategies. Practical and theoretical implications of dual-centric identities are discussed.

 This study examined parental warmth as a mediator of relations between mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of dyadic coping and adolescent externalizing outcomes. Data from 472 adolescents, mothers, and fathers were collected over a three-year period from families in China, Kenya, Sweden, and Thailand. For mothers in all four sites and fathers in three sites, better parental dyadic coping at youth age 13 years predicted higher levels of parental warmth at youth age 14 years. For mothers in all four sites, higher levels of maternal warmth were in turn related to less youth externalizing behavior at the age of 15 years, and higher levels of dyadic coping at youth age 13 years were related to less youth externalizing behavior at the age of 15 years indirectly through maternal warmth. Emotional Security Theory helps explain the process by which dyadic coping is related to adolescent externalizing behavior. The results have important implications for parent- and family-based interventions.

 This planned presentation relates to the invitation of a round table discussion for one hour on the topic “Emergency Education”. The discussion will present cases on “Emergency Education” related to Ethiopia in East Africa. The concept of “emergency education” has a reference to education programmes that are organised “in situations where children lack access to their national and community education systems due to occurrence of complex emergencies or natural disasters” (Kagawa, 2008, p. 494). Emergencies can be caused by armed conflict and instability, disasters and threats, pandemics and the effects of global climate change (UNESCO, 2022). Such emergencies disrupt education and leave millions of children and youth out of school. In countries and regions affected by emergencies and protracted crises, young people suffer the loss not just of homes, parents and relatives, but also of access to education and a safe learning environment. This of course impact on the children's and young people's future life chances and overburden societies. Due to devastating natural and man-made circumstances in Ethiopia the last years, a number of schools have been destroyed and the education sector is very affected. Many students along with their families are displaced. However, also many educational initiatives are taken to support children and youth in emergency and questions arise about ways of teaching, language (Demissie & Kenea Boru, 2021) and who is responsible for teaching and its costs. References Demissie, E. A. & Kenea Boru (2021). Curriculum Choice for Refugee Children at Jawi Refugee Camp, Ethiopia. Transnational Curriculum Inquiry, 28(1). Kagawa, F. (2008). Whose emergencies and who decides? Insights from emergency education for a more anticipatory Education for Sustainable Development. International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2(3-4). UNESCO (2022). Education in emergencies. https://www.unesco.org/en/education/emergencies. This suggested round table discussion will focus on “emergency education” in Ethiopia.

This study examines the content of family identity among people in Sweden, a country often portrayed as relatively free from traditional family norms. More specifically, we investigated the types of family-related narratives that individuals shared, narratives of deviation from the master narrative of what was expected and accepted in Swedish society. In addition, the identity centrality of the themes was investigated. The data covered 462 participants, 170 of whom–139 women, 30 men, and one non-binary (M age = 20.11, SD = 4.85)–had family-related narratives. We identified six themes of deviating narratives, of which the family-related narratives had significantly higher identity centrality than did the non-family-related narratives. Not only do the present findings emphasize the importance of family for people’s identities, but they also illustrate the complex and multilayered aspects of family identity. The master narrative discernable in the participants’ narratives of deviation portrays ideals of the happy, white, secular, middle-class, heteronormative nuclear family, even though this does not always correspond to the actual lived situations of families in contemporary Sweden. © 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Group work can provide students with valuable opportunities for cooperative learning both of knowledge and abilities related to academic factors and of collaborative skills. However, the requirement from the curriculum to assess students’ knowledge andability individually in group work is a challenging and complex task for teachers. In addition, research on group work assessment in educational context is a neglected research area, and especially individual group work assessment. Accordingly, little theoretical knowledge or useful tools have been provided to assist teachers in this important but difficult task. A special challenge, compared to traditional assessment in education, seems to be how to discern individual knowledge from the joint work when assessing. One way for teachers to assess students during group work, and simultaneously promote their further work and learning, is to provide them with individual formative assessment, by employing feedback. Recent studies indicates that teachers’ feedback to the students also may support individual accountability,i.e., facilitates students’ ability to work more independently in group work where everyone is responsible for their part of the work but also for the group's joint assignments. Against this backdrop, the aim of this presentation is to explore and problematize in what way teachers’ formative written feedback, on students’ individual work during group work promotes or impedes collaboration and individual accountability.

Social Interdependence Theory emphasizing positive interdependence as means for promoting collaboration as well as individual accountability for well-functioning groupwork, together with Shute’s (2008) guidelines for useful feedback, are utilized as overarching theoretical perspectives. Shute claims that there are several types of feedback that can be delivered and a large variability of the effects for the students. Useful feedback depends, according to Shute (2008), on motive, opportunity and means, that is, meet the student’s needs and is given when the student is prepared to use the feedback. 

The study focuses on written formative feedback as means for formative assessment. Data were obtained through 149 feedback documents from six teachers. Feedback was given during a group work assignment when students were working on the individual part of the common group task. The teachers were asked to use their own.

The results display that the written feedback to the students includes comments on following levels: individual (“you”), group (“your group) and “not distinct” (not possibleto discern which level). Furthermore, the results display that the teachers convey feedback in manageable units, focusing on the task to enhance the quality of the work or to promote collaboration and individual accountability. Thus, the paper contributes with relevant Nordic educational research by presenting theoretical knowledge on the sparsely researched area concerning written individual feedback as a means for formative assessment in connection with group work assessment.

Gender inequality is a problem in western music education, but efforts to solve this problem in practice have thus far been insufficient. By adopting a post-human theoretical framework, this pilot study explores how music practitioners’ visions of a gender-equal classroom can be used to question, reverse, and reconstruct gendered traditions within music as an educational field. The aim is to increase knowledge about how gender-equal options for musical becomings could be realized in the future music classroom. As there is a lack of post-human studies in music education inspired by an explorative design, the current project offers a new methodological approach. The findings reveal entanglements of gender-equal identities through diverse socio-material and material representations. This gives recognition to the students in representing identity and gender, genre and style, enabling liquid self-images and identities to be shaped and re-shaped seamlessly.

Few studies exist on the impact of interdisciplinary co-teaching in Higher Music Education. The aim of the present study is to compare and analyse the findings from two pioneer interdisciplinary co-teaching studies involving music/drama and music/physics co-teaching partnerships, conducted independently in Sweden and Ireland. Elements of Vygotskian scholarship informed the theoretical framework and a reflexive and thematic analytic methodology was employed. Four themes emerged similar to those from interdisciplinary scholarship in diverse disciplines. These include: a heightened awareness of subject synergies, problem solving as a catalyst for creativity, new/deeper insights into collaboration and expanded professional identity. In conclusion, didactical implications are addressed, related to potential challenges.

Background:

The prevalent, neuropsychiatric, deficit perspective on childrenand youth diagnosed with ADHD prohibits a multidimensional approach wheresocio-economic status, family stress and relationships within the familiesare relevant factors to examine. Assessments of ADHD through the use ofrating scales and short-term interventions may lead not only to overdiagnosis but also to a reductionistic approach in the psychiatric field. This literaturereview aims to address research outside the prevailing discourse on ADHD as an organic brain dysfunction and broaden the perspectives on children’s behavioral difculties.

Methods:

The articles included in this applied, mixed-method, systematic review includes 26 peer-reviewed articles, both English and French, with a search focus on ADHD in children and youth related to Attachment stylesand relationships.

Results:

In the studies reported, researchers approached correlations between ADHD and attachment in different ways, and in most cases, there was a caution to address causality. The role of parents was found to be both buffering and aggravating for the appearance of ADHD. In the French case studies, the diagnosis was conceptualized as a relational phenomenon where the child’s behavior was inseparable from family member’s suffering.

Discussion:

This review article illustrates how children’s difficulties in terms of ADHD symptoms can be addressed through a paradigm where emotional and cognitive dysregulation is understood through psychosocial factors rather than as a neurological condition. In our view, to avoid an overly reductionistic and medicalized approach to children’s behavioral difficulties, it is time to reiterate the value of the biopsychosocial perspective.

Conclusion:

Professionals and researchers need to acknowledge that becoming diagnosed with ADHD has a strong connection to economic disadvantage, social status, and familial care. The academic discourse of addressing brain dysfunctions might serve the unintended purpose of masking emotional stress and social disadvantage that manifests across generations. A biopsychosocial approach to ADHD including family, emotional history, and socio-economic issues could imply a lesser focus on medical treatment as a first choice.

Även om läxor inte är föreskrivna i skolans styrdokument betraktas de ofta som en självklar del i skolanstradition, både för elevernas kunskapsutveckling och som ett sätt för skolan att få kontakt med hemmen.Fenomenet läxor har undersökts i forskning utifrån olika aspekter, men också ifrågasatts utifrån forskningsom visar att de skapar stress och på sikt en ojämlik skola. För att råda bot på detta har läxhjälp ökat iomfattning - privat, ideell och skolornas egen organiserade läxhjälp.Denna kunskapsöversikt sätter fokus på läxhjälp utifrån tre övergripande forskningsfrågor:

1. Vilken typ av läxhjälp ges utanför skoltid, internationellt och i Sverige, och vad leder den till?

2. Hur är läxhjälp organiserad och finansierad i Sverige?

3. Når läxhjälpen de elever som bäst behöver den i Sverige och i så fall på vilket sätt?

Insamling av data har gjorts på relevanta databaser som fångar upp såväl svensk som internationell forskning. I Sverige utvärderas och diskuteras läxhjälp i relation till organisation, ekonomi, pedagogik och utifrån sociala faktorer. Internationell forskning visar en lång tradition av läxhjälp, som kan vara intressant att jämföra med svenska förhållanden. Men det framkommer också att det saknas forskning, bland annat om elevernas inställning till läxhjälp. 

Även om läxor inte är föreskrivna i skolans styrdokument betraktas de ofta som en självklar del i skolans tradition, både för elevernas kunskapsutveckling och som ett sätt för skolan att få kontakt med hemmen. Fenomenet läxor har undersökts i forskning utifrån olika aspekter, men också ifrågasatts utifrån forskning som visar att de skapar stress och på sikt en ojämlik skola. För att råda bot på detta har läxhjälp ökat i omfattning - privat, ideell och skolornas egen organiserade läxhjälp.Denna kunskapsöversikt sätter fokus på läxhjälp utifrån tre övergripande forskningsfrågor:

1. Vilken typ av läxhjälp ges utanför skoltid, internationellt och i Sverige, och vad leder den till?

2. Hur är läxhjälp organiserad och finansierad i Sverige?

3. Når läxhjälpen de elever som bäst behöver den i Sverige och i så fall på vilket sätt?Insamling av data har gjorts på relevanta databaser som fångar upp såväl svensk sominternationell forskning. I Sverige utvärderas och diskuteras läxhjälp i relation tillorganisation, ekonomi, pedagogik och utifrån sociala faktorer. Internationell forskning visar en lång tradition av läxhjälp, som kan vara intressant att jämföra med svenskaförhållanden. Men det framkommer också att det saknas forskning, bland annat omelevernas inställning till läxhjälp.

Previous studies have found that phonological processing and vocabulary predict word reading. However, their predictive powers may vary according to reading experience and across scripts with different levels of transparency. In this study, the relationship between phonological processing, decoding, vocabulary and word reading was explored in two different alphabetic languages: Persian (a non-Latin script) and Swedish (a Latin script). Standardised tests in both languages were used. Participants comprised 26 Persian-Swedish bilingual (biscriptal) children in school grades 4–9. Rapid automatic naming (RAN), phonological and semantic fluency, non-word reading and vocabulary were all significantly associated with word reading in Persian, whereas phonemic awareness, RAN, phonological fluency and non-word reading were significantly associated with word reading in Swedish. The findings have been compared with previous research and the educational implications are discussed.

I ett samverkansprojekt mellan BUV och Grästorps kommun har ungas tillit till Grästorp som plats och organisation studerats. Tillit för med sig stora samhälleliga vinster, både i form av högre trygghet hos medborgarna men också starkare ekonomiskt tillväxt; kort sagt är en hög tillit en förutsättning för ett gott samhälle. Tidigare forskning visar att tilliten grundas i de tidigare tonåren, varför det är av nytta att se till hur tilliten ser ut just bland unga. Följande frågeställningar ställdes upp gemensamt med kommunrepresentanter och forskare: 

•    Vad skapar tillit bland Grästorps unga invånare?

•     Hur kan tilliten till kommunen utvecklas och stärkas bland Grästorps unga invånare?

Med hjälp av lärare på Grästorps högstadieskola skapades kontakt med nionde klass-elever. 14 anmälde sig till fokusgruppintervjuer, vilka pga. pandemin förlades till e-plattformen Zoom. Till intervjuerna ombads de unga att ta med sig bilder på platser de tyckte om att vara på och platser som de upplevde otrygga på olika sätt. Resultaten visar att de unga har en stark lokalsamhälletillit: de känner sig trygga i Grästorp och med de invånare de känner igen och känner till. Däremot har de svag generell tillit, de känner låg tillit till främmande personer. De upplever även att samhället är starkt normativt och att de inte alltid blir hörda då de behöver ha med en vuxen som för deras talan.

Denna kunskapsöversikt har som primärt syfte att ge vägledning i arbetet med att organisera och utforma läxhjälp i skolan. Här presenteras hur olika former av läxhjälp bedrivs, främst nationellt men till viss del även internationellt, och i vilken mån läxhjälp får effekter på elevers skolprestationer. Når läxhjälpen de elever som bäst behöver den? En kunskapsöversikt har emeller tid en vidare vetenskaplig ambition än så, och här redovisas också inom vilka vetenskap­liga fält det finns ett intresse för läxhjälp, vilka metoder och teorier som används i forskningen och på verkar mediedebatten samt vilken förförståelse det finns för relevanta frågeställningar om läxhjälp i konkreta förändringsarbeten på skolor.Till stora delar saknas europeiska studier om läxhjälp, men däremot finns relevant forskning, inte minst i relation till metod och kunskapsresultat, globalt sett. Sådan läxhjälp går under benämningen skugg undervisning (shadow education) och är särskilt framträdande i en del asiatiska länder. I Sverige finns några få studier om privatundervisning, med handledningspolicyer och handledningspraktik i fokus. Ett exempel är Forsberg et al. (2021) som analyserar läxhjälp på mikronivå och låter läsaren följa relationen mellan handledare och elev replik för replik.Ett kort svar på frågan i vilken mån läxhjälpen når de elever som bäst behöver den är att eleverna inte fångas upp tillräckligt väl. Det finns emellertid forskning som pekar på lyckade projekt, bland annat en studie av Dietrichson et al. (2017) som visar att det går att väsentligt förbättra resultaten för mål­gruppen ”elever som kommer från familjer med låg socioekonomisk status” genom handl edning, tydlig feedback, läraransvar för framstegen och kooperativt lärande. Här framkommer också att till och med ett kortsiktigt program, med flera olika lärare och handledare som arbetar med elev­erna under en kortare tid, kan ge goda resultat. I övrigt visar forskning att läxhjälp inte bara innebär ett akademiskt stöd, utan även ett socialt och emotionellt – och inte bara av lärare utan även från hemmen och kamratkretsen, vilket gör elevernas nätverk viktiga.En grupp som upplever extra stora utmaningar är nyanlända elever som, förutom att de måste till­godogöra sig ämneskunskaper, måste lära sig ett nytt språk. För denna grupp visar studier på ett behov av språkstärkande undervisning av utbildade lärare, tillsammans med en stöttande hem­ och kamrat miljö. Även lovskola kan spela stor roll i språkstärkande syfte.Sammantaget visar forskning och andra undersökningar att läxhjälpen bör integreras i skolans ordi­narie arbete och vara anpassad till hur undervisningen är upplagd på respektive skola. Lovskolor fungerar bättre under lov på terminstid än under sommarlovet efter årskurs 9, utom möjligen för nyanlända elever. Tydliga, relevanta och lagom avgränsade uppgifter och återkoppling från läraren är viktigt för alla elever. Somliga elever behöver extra mycket stöd, inte bara kunskapsmässigt utan även socialt och emotionellt, och för somliga behöver stödet även vara språkstärkande. År 2021 presenterades en utredning (SOU 2021:30) med förslag på hur skolan ska kunna ge eleverna bättre förutsättningar att uppnå behörighet till gymnasieskolans nationella program. Den ledde till ett riksdagsbeslut med två förändringar i skollagen: utökad studietid för alla elever i anslutning till skoldagen samt utökad tid till lovskolor för elever som inte når upp till godkända betyg.

The aim of this article is to investigate how children perceive and experience their opportunities to create meaningful leisure time in Swedish school-age educare. In this study, children’s perspectives on meaningful leisure time are investigated through interviews with 170 children aged 6-11 years in 45 groups. The theory of structuration is used to analyse children’s agency in relation to structure, and the findings are presented as four different practices and themes: Strategic actions in collective practices, Shared meaningful leisure time in normative practices, The struggle for meaning in individual practices, and Lack of affordance in meaningless practices. The results are discussed in relation to children’s agency and the conditions for daily practice, which show that children use both individual and collective strategies as well as resistance to create meaningful leisure time. In addition, the study also shows that in a collective organization, friends are the children´s most important resource in school-age educare. The result is interpreted with help from a dualistic perspective on how meaningfulness is created.

Background: Most studies of the effects of parental religiousness on parenting and child development focus on a particular religion or cultural group, which limits generalizations that can be made about the effects of parental religiousness on family life.

Methods: We assessed the associations among parental religiousness, parenting, and children’s adjustment in a 3-year longitudinal investigation of 1,198 families from nine countries. We included four religions (Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, and Islam) plus unaffiliated parents, two positive (efficacy and warmth) and two negative (control and rejection) parenting practices, and two positive (social competence and school performance) and two negative (internalizing and externalizing) child outcomes. Parents and children were informants.

Results: Greater parent religiousness had both positive and negative associations with parenting and child adjustment. Greater parent religiousness when children were age 8 was associated with higher parental efficacy at age 9 and, in turn, children’s better social competence and school performance and fewer child internalizing and externalizing problems at age 10. However, greater parent religiousness at age 8 was also associated with more parental control at age 9, which in turn was associated with more child internalizing and externalizing problems at age 10. Parental warmth and rejection had inconsistent relations with parental religiousness and child outcomes depending on the informant. With a few exceptions, similar patterns of results held for all four religions and the unaffiliated, nine sites, mothers and fathers, girls and boys, and controlling for demographic covariates.

Conclusions: Parents and children agree that parental religiousness is associated with more controlling parenting and, in turn, increased child problem behaviors. However, children see religiousness as related to parental rejection, whereas parents see religiousness as related to parental efficacy and warmth, which have different associations with child functioning. Studying both parent and child views of religiousness and parenting is important to understand the effects of parental religiousness on parents and children.

Under två år med start våren 2020 pågick det så kallade Vi-projektets arbete med att hjälpa 1000 unga i åldrarna 15–24 år som var eller riskerade att bli UVAS (unga som varken arbetar eller studerar). Projektägare var Folkhögskoleförvaltningen Västra Götalandsregionen och medfinansiärer var Europeiska socialfonden (ESF). Budgeten var nästan 100 miljoner kronor och projektet hade som övergripande mål att UVAS ska ”äga sin egen framtid, förbättra sin hälsa och närma sig jobb eller studier”. Arbetet involverade samverkanspartners som kommunalförbunden i Fyrbodal och Sjuhärad, Rädda Barnen, fem folkhögskolor, vuxenutbildningen i Borås, Trollhättan och Vänersborg samt 19 kommuner. I denna rapport presenteras resultatet från en del av projektet, nämligen bemötande. I Vi-projektet benämndes bemötande som möten i ögonhöjd, och det stod i fokus redan från början. Enligt projektbeskrivningen ska man i ett möte i ögonhöjd försöka bortse från de maktaspekter som finns i möten mellan till exempel handläggare och unga vuxna och tillgodose individens behov genom att lyssna till vad hen har att säga och medvetandegöra hens roll och aktörskap i samhället. Detta med förhoppningen att möjliggöra en förändring i den unga vuxnas liv. Då möten i ögonhöjd blev ett återkommande inslag i projektet växte intresset för vad sådana möten egentligen syftar till. Med andra ord: hur beskriver medarbetare möten i ögonhöjd och, inte minst, vad har sådana möten betytt för de unga vuxna i Vi-projektet?I rapporten kan du ta del av både medarbetarnas och de unga vuxnas beskrivningar av vad bemötande betyder för dem och hur ett bra möte kan leda till livsförändringar.

Under två år med start våren 2020 pågick det så kallade Vi-projektets arbete med att hjälpa 1 000 unga i åldrarna 15–24 år som var eller riskerade att bli UVAS (unga som varken arbetar eller studerar). Projektägare var Folkhögskoleförvaltningen i Västra Götalandsregionen och medfinansiärer var Europeiska socialfonden (ESF). Projektet hade som övergripande mål att UVAS ska ”äga sin egen framtid, förbättra sin hälsa och närma sig jobb eller studier”. Arbetet involverade samverkanspartners som kommunalförbunden i Fyrbodal och Sjuhärad, Rädda Barnen, fem folkhögskolor, vuxenutbildningen i Borås, Trollhättan och Vänersborg samt 19 kommuner.

Resultatet från en del av projektet, nämligen bemötande presenteras i detta pass. I Vi-projektet benämndes bemötande som möten i ögonhöjd, och stod i fokus redan från början. Enligt projektbeskrivningen är ett möte i ögonhöjd att försöka bortse från de maktaspekter som finns i mötet mellan till exempel handläggare och unga vuxna och tillgodose individens behov genom att lyssna till vad hen har att säga och medvetandegöra hens roll och aktörskap i samhället. Detta med förhoppningen att möjliggöra en förändring i den unga vuxnas liv. Men hur beskriver medarbetare möten i ögonhöjd och, inte minst, vad har sådana möten betytt för de unga vuxna i Vi-projektet?

Det är ännu ovanligt med studier av den pedagogiska praktiken i särskolan (jfr Östlund, 2012). Det ville vi i projektet bakom den här rapporten råda bot på genom att studera träningsskolans undervisning med fokus på ämnesområdet kommunikation. I den del av särskolan som kallas träningsskolan är kommunikation såväl ett verktyg för delaktighet och social samvaro som en förutsättning för lärande, vilket Östlund också påpekar. Traditionen av omsorg är framträdande i träningsskolans vardag, då en väsentlig aspekt av praktiken är elevernas stora behov av assistans. Tidigare har det inte varit särskilt stort fokus på kunskapsinnehåll, men under senare år har det lyfts fram tydligare (Ineland m.fl., 2019). Målet med det här projektet har varit att belysa, och i förlängningen bidra till att utveckla, undervisningen inom ämnesområdet kommunikation inom träningsskolan. Vi ville också pröva om och i så fall hur kunskapsinnehållet kan preciseras i specifika lärandemål för eleverna. Studien visar att undervisningsmetoderna kan kategoriseras i tydliggörande, lyhört samspel samt pröva och se. Vidare fann vi att fördjupade samtal om elevernas förväntade lärande kan bidra till mer preciserade lärandemål och leda till att undervisningen utvecklas.

Introduction We sought to understand the relation between positive parenting and adolescent diet, whether adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors mediate relations between positive parenting and adolescent diet, and whether the same associations hold for both boys and girls and across cultural groups. Methods Adolescents (N = 1334) in 12 cultural groups in nine countries were followed longitudinally from age 12 to 15. We estimated two sets of multiple group structural equation models, one by gender and one by cultural group. Results Modeling by gender, our findings suggest a direct effect of positive parenting at age 12 on a higher quality diet at age 15 for males (beta = .140; 95% CI: 0.057, 0.229), but an indirect effect of positive parenting at age 12 on a higher quality diet at age 15 by decreasing externalizing behaviors at age 14 for females (beta = .011; 95% CI: 0.002, 0.029). Modeling by cultural group, we found no significant direct effect of positive parenting at age 12 on the quality of adolescent diet at age 15. There was a significant negative effect of positive parenting at age 12 on internalizing (beta = -.065; 95% CI: -0.119, -0.009) and externalizing at age 14 (beta = -.033; 95% CI: -0.086, -0.018). Conclusions We founder gender differences in the relations among positive parenting, adolescents’ externalizing and internalizing behaviors, and adolescent diet. Our findings indicate that quality of parenting is important not only in promoting adolescent mental health but potentially also in promoting the quality of adolescents’ diet.

Parent and child endorsement of reactive aggression both predict the emergence of child aggression, but they are rarely studied together and in longitudinal contexts. The present study does so by examining the unique predictive effects of parent and child endorsement of reactive aggression at age 8 on child aggression at age 9 in 1456 children from 13 cultural groups in 9 nations. Multiple group structural equation models explored whether age 8 child and parent endorsement of reactive aggression predicted subsequent age 9 child endorsement of reactive aggression and child aggression, after accounting for prior child aggression and parent education. Results revealed that greater parent endorsement of reactive aggression at age 8 predicted greater child endorsement of aggression at age 9, that greater parent endorsement of reactive aggression at age 8 uniquely predicted greater aggression at age 9 in girls, and that greater child endorsement of reactive aggression at age 8 uniquely predicted greater aggression at age 9 in boys. All three of these associations emerged across cultures. Implications of, and explanations for, study findings are discussed.

Didaktik som teori och forskningsområde i relation till undervisning är vedertaget inom många discipliner (exempelvis naturvetenskap och förskolepedagogik) men inte för fritidspedagogik. Trots detta ska studenter på grundlärarprogrammet med inriktning fritidshem uppfylla ett av examensmålen som explicit uttrycker kunskaper om didaktik och ämnesdidaktik inom det fritidspedagogiska området. Därtill är forskningen ganska osynlig. Denna studie lyfter fram hur didaktik explicit behandlats i både vetenskapliga artiklar och forskningsbaserad litteratur med inriktning mot fritidshem. Syftet med litteraturöversikten är att a) identifiera och beskriva fokus och inriktning i åren 2000–2021, b) jämföra, diskutera och problematisera resultaten, samt c) peka ut framtida forskningsinriktningar. Metoden är en systematisk litteraturöversikt (SLR) med en kvalitativ och kvantitativ innehållsanalys. Resultaten visar att intresset för och med­vetenheten om didaktikbegreppet har vuxit fram de senaste tio åren och att de allra flesta texterna utgår från en kvalitativ ansats med diskuterande, argumenterande och reflekt­erande analyser. Ett mindre antal studier bygger på empiriska underlag. Innehålls­mässigt fångar studierna några av de traditionella didaktiska begreppen såsom läraren, ledarskap, ämnesdidaktik, men även olika teoretiska utgångspunkter. Användningen av begreppet didaktik i fritidshemmet pekar på att området behöver utvecklas, att didaktik­begreppet används i förhållande till fritidshemmets verksamheter och att det nyttjas som tolkningsram för empiriskt material. Studien påvisar förvisso medvetenheten om olika didaktiska aspekter, men det saknas studier som införlivar den didaktiska komplexi­teten.

Parenting is arguably the most critical factor in protecting teenagers from problem behaviours, such as delinquency and substance use. For immigrant mothers, however, the ability to care for their children might be negatively affected by challenges related to acculturation and area deprivation. The aim of this study was to raise this issue by examining parenting challenges and needs among immigrant mothers of teenagers living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Sweden. Such knowledge is crucial for society to be able to adequately support families in promoting their teenagers well-being. Based on an intersectional framework and qualitative interviews with 14 mothers, four themes related to challenges and needs emerged: structural challenges, cultural transition, psychosocial problems, and social support. The themes were highly intertwined and demonstrated substantial distress among immigrant mothers in relation to their parenting and protecting their children. Mothers’ were, therefore, highly engaged in parenting and expressed a desire and motivation to improve their parenting through social support. The introduction of culturally sensitive parenting support specifically aimed at this marginalized group of parents is encouraged.

Contribution

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of how newly arrived parents construct and reconstructed parenthood post-migration; of challenges and opportunities they see in regard to the upbringing and education of their children in a new host-society; how they navigate to provide the best conditions and support for their children given the resources they have access to. Based on the parents’ views, the paper further suggests how parental support might be tailored to meet the needs of newly arrived parents

The paper draws on theories and concepts from research on parenthood in the context of migration and ethnic diversity and on parental engagement in school.

Ochocka & Janzen (2008), explain that international (especially forced) migration involve reconstructing oneself as a parent under new social, cultural, political and existential conditions, a process that entails interpreting and assessing norms and practices in the new context as well as reinterpreting and reassessing notions of parenting that might have been taken more or less for granted in the home-country. What are seen as “natural” and “right” ways to act as a parent in different situations relates to (mostly implicit and taken for granted) ideas about children, family and parenthood, “parental ethno-theories“. These are formed in the cultural contexts of which the parents are part (Harkness & Super (2013). Further, the same kind of parental support may be valued equally but expressed differently in various cultural contexts. Neely & McBarber (2010) conclude from a cross-cultural study that “(s)tudies of supportive parenting based on measures developed, typically, by majority, middle-class scholars in the United States may ignore or misinterpret ethnotheories present in other cultures” (p. 606).

Parents’ engagement in their children’s education has been found in several studies to benefit children’s academic results (Wilder, 2014), especially for children with migration or ethnic minority background (Sibley & Dearing, 2014; Epstein, 2011), and improves children’s attitudes to education and sense of belonging in school (Suarez-Orozco, Onaga, de Lardemelle, 2010). Immigrated parents generally, across educational levels and national backgrounds, consistently show higher educational aspirations for their children and value education higher than native-born parents (Areepattamannil & Lee, 2014).  Even so, studies from different high GPD countries indicate that the relationship between school and parents with migration or minority is often laden with complications Schneider & Arnot, 2018 a; Antony-Newman, 2019). Research on parental engagement across countries shows that the expected and rewarded forms for parents’ involvement in school are typically modelled on the values, life-circumstances and communication-styles of a white national resident middle-class patterns parents (Antony-Newman, 2019). Parents who do not share these circumstances have been found to frequently fail to get their parental resources, support and interaction-modes recognized and validated by school staff (Schneider & Arnot 2018 a; Kim, 2009; Dahlstedt, 2009). On a societal level, due to patterns of downward mobility often associated with migration, migrant parents’ school engagement is oftentimes mitigated by school-segregation and under-resourced communities, as well as by economic scarcity, long shifts and extensive travel time (Antony-Newman, 2019). While these conditions are shared not only by many migrant parents, but also by many in-born ethnic minorities and working-class parents, linguistic obstacles, loss of social networks in connection with the migration process and lack of knowledge about the national education system and cultural norms exacerbate the effects (ibid.). For parents who arrived as refugees, the capacity to support their children’s education may in addition be adversed by pre- peri and post-migration trauma, including the consequences of state migration policies (e.g. deportability, extended asylum-processes, obstacles for family-reunification, undocumentedness (Martin et al., 2018; Wahlström Smith, 2018).

Method

The study is based on data from qualitative interviews with 11 newly arrived parents, 5 women and 6 men, who took part of a five-week study-circle organized by the municipal integration office with the aim to offer parents information about the Swedish school-system and policies that bear on parents’ responsibilities and children’s rights in the family, as well as opportunity to discuss with other parents, and thus strengthen the parents’ capacity to support their children constructively, especially in regard to school. They had resettled in Sweden between 2015 and 2018 and came from Iraq (1), Syria (7), Eritrea (1), and Afghanistan (2). The interviews were semi-structured, based on an interview-guide with open questions, and followed an active mode of interviewing, inviting the participants to reflect and elaborate further on their experiences and views (see e.g. Holstein & Gubrium, 2016). With Dari-speaking participants, interviews were carried out in Persian by researcher 1. For interviews with Arabic-speaking participants, an interpreter was involved. The group-interview was supported by an Arabic-/English-speaking assistant and carried out in mixed languages (Swedish, Arabic and English). All interviews were transcribed and translated into Swedish. The names of participants in our study are pseudonyms. The material was analyzed using a qualitative approach: Both researchers read all transcripts in order to grasp the major themes and variations within themes; in this process we both wrote analytic memos; several meetings were held where the interpretations and outcomes were compared and assessed in regard to the data and to previous research; a common coding scheme was worked out as a result and tested on the material and modified to capture the complexity of the material; the themes were described through accounts of variations and sustained by exemplary quotes from the participants.

Expected Outcomes

The findings reflect that the migration process induces reflections about what it means to be a good parent. These reflections on parenting were paralleled by reflections on the school-system. The parents’ accounts show that they struggled to balance “traditional” norms (e.g. strict parental/teacher control, emphasis on discipline and respectability) which they associated with the former home country, and liberal norms (bi-directional parent-child relationships, child-centered pedagogy, emphasis on independence and democracy) which they attributed to the new. Parents took different positions in this, talking about the normative and political context for education and upbringing as either aligned or opposed to their own parental belief-systems; as either allowing them to relate to their children in a deeper and more authentic way, or alienating the children from their parents and original culture. The parents showed a strong commitment to develop working parental strategies for the new context, but also concern about how losses of economic, social and cultural capital (e.g. downward social mobility, leaving significant parts of social networks behind, lacking adequate linguistic skills and knowledge about the education-system) adversed their capacity. In addition, the parents worried that their children (1) did not get sufficient linguistic support to keep up in the subjects, (2) met low teacher expectations, (3) lacked peers and risked bullying. These concerns reflect real and general challenges that newly arrived families from the global south and with refugee-background typically face in Sweden and other high-gpd countries, well documented through research. Recognizing parents’ engagement and the forms of support they do provide, while also realizing the impact of structural and linguistic conditions on children’s educational situation and parents’ capacity to provide productive support, is fundamental for understanding and defeating observed achievement gaps in the Swedish school-system and in tailoring parental support.

This book directly addresses three interrelated global events and their implications for education as seen from Scandinavian perspectives: migration flows, increased cultural diversity, and (post)nationalism; the erosion of the welfare state and the global rise of neoliberalism; and the Anthropocene and environmental challenges arising in the wake of the global exploitation of natural ecosystems. In case studies, theoretical articles, and reflective studies, researchers from Nordic countries explore how education, education policy, and educational thinking in these countries are affected by these global trends, bringing to the fore the different roles education can play in addressing the various issues and different ways of reimagining education.

Bokens sammanfattning:

Den utbildning och fostran som barn möter under den första delen av livet har betydelse för deras utveckling, lärande och framtida livsvillkor. Förskolan är det första steget i utbildningen och därför är dess roll viktig. I förskolans uppdrag framgår att alla barn har rätt till gemenskap. Barnen har också rätt till en undervisning som är organiserad utifrån deras behov. I den här antologin är därför frågor om alla barns inflytande, delaktighet och perspektiv tongivande. Boken tar upp specialpedagogik, inkludering och likvärdighet och utgår från ett historiskt och samtida sammanhang. Specialpedagogik och specialpedagogisk verksamhet problematiseras samtidigt som relevanta områden som rör förskolan presenteras. 

English as a lingua franca (ELF) is a well-known concept for English used as an international contact language among people from diverse linguacultural backgrounds. Using a questionnaire, we explored the attitudes of Spanish and Swedish pre-service primary school teachers towards English and its users after their collaboration on a virtual platform, during which they were ELF users. The findings showed that the ELF user attitudes of the two European student cohorts tended to be ambivalent, mixed, and self-contradictory. After discussing factors for participants’ attitudinal tendencies, we conclude that the ambivalence in their overall attitudes seems to mirror the ambivalence of the ‘double’ definitions of English in educational policy documents, which may affect the goals of teaching English in the classroom. We suggest that university teaching help pre-service teachers develop critical perspectives towards English and English users, as well as reflecting on why they teach English to their future pupils.

Background: Immigrant parents of adolescents experience challenges in their role as parents in the new country and express a need for parental support. Still, they are underrepresented in existing parenting programs and when they do attend, their parenting practices improve less than what they do among native parents. Self-assured parents (SAP; Swe. Trygga Föräldrar) targets immigrant parents living in deprived areas in Sweden who worry about their adolescents’ adjustment. This study’s purposes are to examine if SAP is a feasible intervention in Swedish municipalities and if SAP is effective in reaching its aims, namely to promote parental self-efficacy and parent-adolescent communication and to reduce parents’ worries in the target group. Methods: SAP will be evaluated when implemented by social workers in three Swedish municipalities using a culturally-informed mixed design procedure. Parents will be recruited to the program by local social workers. Groups leaders will be interviewed, observed, and they will fill out self-reports to measure implementation quality, including fidelity and acceptability. A group of parents will be interviewed to better understand their perceived challenges and needs in their parenting in Sweden and their experience of participating in SAP. An interrupted time series design with three measurements before, two measurements during, and two measurements after the intervention has ended will be employed using self-reports of parental self-efficacy, parent-child communication, and parents’ worries. Informed consent will be collected from all study participants. Discussion: Immigrant parents living in deprived areas is an understudied and marginalized population. There is a lack of culturally-informed, evidence-based parenting programs aimed at this group in Sweden. The need for specifically developed programs for immigrant parents living in deprived areas with teenage children, has been voiced by both immigrant parents themselves and the Swedish government. Thus, this study will contribute not only to the scientific literature, but also to social service practice and potentially policy making. © 2022 The Authors

Civic orientation has become one of the dominant immigrant integration policies in western Europe, with the aim of transmitting knowledge, norms, and values, thereby furthering “integration” into the new country. However, there is a not much research regarding how the educational content is communicated and negotiated in civic orientation courses in practice. This article aims to bring more empirically based knowledge in this field. The case study discussed in this article explores one specific module, entitled “nature and environment”, in civic orientation courses for newly arrived adults in Sweden. This is done through participatory observations in the courses, both in classrooms in real life and on the internet and exploring in detail the negotiations between the civic orientation communicators and the course participants. The analyses show how a real “success story” of Sweden and its citizens is constructed through an overall discourse of Swedes high awareness of the environment and nature, not least through comparisons between geographical spaces in the world. The analyses also re-veal antagonistic voices about the content, although these are not particularly strong. We suggest that there is an urgent need to critically reflect on the aim, content, and teaching practices of civic orientation courses for newly arrived migrants, as these more seem to contribute to the Swedish nation’s reproduction of “banal nationalism”.

Denna rapport presenterar resultatet av en studie som har bedrivits i samverkan mellan Högskolan Väst och Västra Götalandsregionen. Regionen har valt att verkställa barnkonventionen bland annat genom att utbilda om den och uppmana förvaltningarna att utse ombud för barnets rättigheter i samtliga verksamheter. Syftet med studien är att undersöka ombudens upplevelser av möjligheterna att arbeta för efterlevnad av barnkonventionen. Att studien har skett i form av ett samverkansprojekt innebär att problemformulering, syfte, övergripande metod och teoretiska ramverk har arbetas fram i dialog mellan parterna. Huvudpoängen med det är att studiens resultat ska bidra till både det akademiska kunskapsbygget och den praktiska verksamheten i största möjliga mån (se t ex Nilsson & Sorbring 2019 och Johansson 2019 för en diskussion om denna forskningsform samt exempel på genomförda studier)