The study aims to contribute to the understanding of the significance of the historical development of institutionalised extended educational (EE) services, with reference to welfare state policies. The comparison is made in relation to the current state of EE services in three different countries in connection to an international research collaboration between Switzerland, Sweden and Australia, To make the invisible visible (TIV). The aim of the TIV project is to provide a greater understanding of global institutionalised extended educational services for primary-age children, with a focus on children’s care, play and leisure.

The present sub-study is an exploration of the historical developments in the three countries that, despite some substantial differences, nevertheless seem to have led to many similarities (e.g. challenges) in the present EE-services, as is presented in a first comparative article from the project (Hurst et al, in press).

Initially, the historical development of each of the countries is reviewed related to social, educational and family policy and summarized briefly. In the next step, selected developments (e.g. origins, education of the workforce) are compared by identifying similarities and differences across the three countries. Finally, an overview of the development in terms of similarities and differences in the three countries against the backdrop of welfare state policy is presented and a discussion of the implications for the present state of the services are discussed. This study is thought to add to the understanding of the results of the TIV-project as a whole. 

Fokus i denna artikel är på lärarbrist i de svenska fritidshemmen under de senaste femtio åren, med ökande problem under de senaste trettio åren. Studien, baserad på tidigare forskning, reformer och statistiska data, använder beskrivande statistik och kritisk policyanalys. Resultaten visar att många reformer har flertydiga och ibland kontraproduktiva effekter på lärartillgången. Ofullständiga statistiska data och osystematisk planering av fritidshemmens expansion, kompetensförsörjning och lärarutbildning bidrar till den kroniska bristen. Bristen på kvalificerade lärare i fritidshemmen tillskrivs bristande samhällsplanering.

Professionalization is the process by which an occupation becomes a recognized profession. This involves setting standards, qualifications, and practices. It includes education, training, and social processes that turn workers into professionals. Key aspects are standards, professional associations, knowledge base, certification, occupational closure, and ethical guidelines (Englund & Solbrekke, 2015). Professionalization can be driven from the bottom-up by workers, top-down by employers or the government, or a mix of both.

The outcome is establishing satisfactory capabilities and recognition as a profession (Brante, 2013). Relevant professionalization research for staff in Swedish SAEC is scant (Holmberg, 2021), but there have been many changes for this professional group (Boström & Orwehag, 2025). Therefore, we examine in this study the reforms carried out in Sweden over 50 years in relation to professionalization theory (Brante 2013). It is based on statistical data between 1971 and 2021, key figures for the SAEC, and document analyses of completed reforms. Empirical data is analyzed based on a top-down perspective with deductive content analysis (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004) based on basic concepts in professionalization theory.

Preliminary results show, firstly, that during the epoch, around 25 reforms were carried out concerning organizational structure, curriculum, and educational level. The requirements for entering education have been raised, the content has changed substantially but the needs of the labor market have not been synchronized with the real need, leading to an accelerating shortage of qualified personnel. On the other hand, the profession has been significantly reshaped through standards, credentialing requirements, and curriculum content, which are important steps in professionalization. However, a solid knowledge base (research) and occupational closure, as well as ethical guidelines, remain. We conclude that the reforms were two-edged regarding the professionalization of the staff. Examples of different directions in the reforms, increasing e.g. certification, regulated content (in curricula) and (indirectly) decreasing: e.g. reduced autonomy through subordination under the school, reduced proportion of certified/qualified staff at SAEC.

Fritidshemmet ska ge barn möjlighet till lärande, delaktighet och tillgång till en meningsfull fritid. Denna bok erbjuder teoretiska, historiska och praktiska perspektiv på fritidshemmets verksamhet, och ger läsaren en unik inblick i dess särskilda pedagogik...[Bokinfo] 

I fritidshemmet har under det senaste decenniet en förskjutning skett från en socialpedagogisk tradition till en ökad betoning på lärande och undervisning. Fenomenet undervisning är tämligen nytt i fritidshem och flera studier visar att fritidshemslärare upplever en osäkerhet i hur detta ska tolkas och omsättas i praktiken. I denna forskningsöversikt ligger fokus på undervisning och hur det är belyst i relation till svensk fritidshemspraktik.

Syftet med studien är att beskriva vad som karaktäriserar undervisning i fritidshem i svensk forskning under tjugo år. Metoden är en systematisk forskningsöversikt (Systematic Literature Review, SLR) med en kvantitativ innehållsanalys och en kvalitativ tematisk analys. Den tematiska analysen genererade tre innehållsliga teman: undervisningsområden, förutsättningar för undervisning, och aktörsperspektiv på undervisning.

Resultatet visar att ett intresse för undervisning som fenomen har vuxit fram de senaste åren men att det finns få studier som på ett explicit sätt berör detta. I stället behandlar en majoritet av studierna undervisning implicit och berör områden som kan ses vara relaterade till fritidshemmets undervisning. Studien visar på vikten av att mer forskning, utifrån olika perspektiv och ansatser, genomförs i relation till undervisning i fritidshem. 

Title: Traditions and Change: A Review Article on Swedish School-age Educare Practice

Over the last decade, there has been a shift in the Swedish school-age educare (SAEC) from a social-pedagogical tradition to an increased emphasis on learning and teaching. The phenomenon of teaching is fairly new in SAEC, and several studies show that SAEC teachers experience uncertainty in how this should be interpreted and put into practice. In this research overview, the focus is on teaching and how it is elucidated in relation to Swedish SAEC practice.

The purpose of the study is to describe what characterizes teaching in SAEC in Swedish research over twenty years. The method is a systematic literature review (SLR) with a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative thematic analysis. The thematic analysis generated three substantive themes: teaching areas, conditions for teaching and actors’ perspectives on teaching.

The results show that an interest in teaching as a phenomenon has emerged in recent years, but that there are few studies that explicitly address this. Instead, a majority of the studies deal with teaching implicitly and touch on areas that can be seen to be related to SAEC teaching. The study shows the importance of more research, based on different perspectives and approaches, being carried out in relation to teaching in SAEC. 

Syftet med den här studien är att bidra med kunskap om svenska rektorers upp-fattningar om didaktikbegreppets innebörd i fritidshemmet. En tidigare studie har visat särskiljande uppfattningar hos rektorer i relation till andra aktörer inom fritidshemmet, varför behovet av en fördjupad studie av rektorers uppfattningar är relevant. Det empiriska materialet består av en webenkät besvarad av 51 rektorer omfattande öppna och slutna svarsalternativ. Det har analyserats med inferentiell och deskriptiv statistik samt innehållsanalys. Studien synliggör upp-fattningar rektorer har om innehållet i begreppet didaktik i fritidshem. Rektorer anser sig generellt sett ha goda kunskaper om begreppet, men deras beskrivningar av begreppet är relativt knapphändiga. Inga tydliga samband föreligger mellan rektorernas svar och deras ålder eller år inom yrket. Vidare visar resultatet få skill-nader mellan dem som anser sig ha goda kunskaper inom fältet och dem som an-ser sig ha mindre kunskaper. Den kvalitativa analysen av svaren genererade några olika teman om didaktik och undervisning med viss anknytning till didaktisk teoribildning. Slutsatsen är dock att rektorerna inte beskriver begreppet didaktik ingående eller mångfacetterat, men att det i viss mån sammanlänkas med under-visning, särskilt i skolmiljön. Gällande undervisningsbegreppet gör rektorerna mer explicita uttalanden, men dessa kan tolkas som tydligare länkade till rektors-rollen i grundskolan. Inga spår av didaktik i relation till fritidshemmets omsorgs-perspektiv kan skönjas. Ska rektorer leda verksamheten i fritidshemmet på ett framgångsrikt sätt krävs en samsyn mellan dem och personalen om hur upp-dragen ska förstås och genomföras. Där spelar didaktiken en avgörande roll. Av detta skäl ser vi behovet av intensifierad forskning på fältet som stort.  

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.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on approaches that could build a didactic framework for school-age educare centres (SAECs). As a theoretical basis and a research field, didactics exists within many disciplines (e.g., education in natural sciences and preschool). This is not the case within the SAEC. While a lot of research has been devoted to subject didactics, there is a lack of research on didactics in SAECs, and the marginal research that exists shows a fragmented picture of what it could consist of. However, researchers in the field agree that didactics in SAECs is something else than subject didactics and differs from general didactics. Our aim in this paper is to suggest and discuss how a didactic framework in SAECs could be conceptualised with an intention in the near future to find the specific didactics that distinguishes the work in SAECs. The proposed design involves theory building/testing with a bottom-up perspective and various data collection methods. Because building a didactic theory for SAECs is the intention, the research process will take informed grounded theory (GT) as its methodological starting point. The empirical material will be related to the two dominant didactic frameworks: the German and the Anglo-Saxon. These frameworks will also be critically reviewed in relation to the activities in SAECs. The results will contribute important knowledge to the development of a relevant and useful didactic theory for SAECs. The practical implications are directly relevant to every stakeholder affected by the SAECs’ activities: policy actors, staff, students, and researchers. In the long term, we will be able to find a legitimate platform for didactics in SAECs, which will have concrete importance for professionals and researchers in particular.