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Johansson, Emelie, Doctoral studentORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0003-0827-9715
Publications (9 of 9) Show all publications
Buskqvist, U. & Johansson, E. (2024). From digital competence to digital capacity: A socio-material perspective on digitalization in preschool. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 19(1), 39-51
Open this publication in new window or tab >>From digital competence to digital capacity: A socio-material perspective on digitalization in preschool
2024 (Norwegian)In: Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, E-ISSN 1891-943X, Vol. 19, no 1, p. 39-51Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

In 2019 digital technology was included as a compulsory knowledge content and educational tool in the Swedish national preschool curriculum. This study was conducted to examine preschool practices challenged by that policy, by analysing socio-material intra-actions at a preschool between humans, digital tablets, and other artefacts. The data, consisting of 170 minutes of film, were collected by video observations. The aim of the study is to explore digital technologies embedded in preschool practices by answering two research questions: What affordances are made in the intra-actions of children, teachers and digital technology within preschool practices? How can digitalization in preschool practices be described and understood from a socio-material perspective? The findings show two significant affordances, identified as multimodalities and mobilities, further used to describe the practices. The findings reveal how the settings of digital systems prerequisites intra-actions of humans and the digital devices. The finding also indicates a need to challenge the hegemony of digital competence as something learners merely acquire as users of digital tools and applications. The concept of digital competence becomes insufficient to describe the potentialities created in the meeting between humans and technology.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Universitetsforlaget, 2024
Keywords
Affordances, Digitalization, Digital competence, Early childhood education, Socio-materiality
National Category
Pedagogical Work Pedagogy
Research subject
Educational Work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-99359 (URN)10.18261/njdl.19.1.4 (DOI)001306993300004 ()2-s2.0-85193498322 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2024-04-18 Created: 2024-04-18 Last updated: 2024-10-04Bibliographically approved
Johansson, E. & Forssten Seiser, A. (2024). Principals’ Professional Learning as Praxis-Oriented Change – Leading Digitalisation in Preschool Education. Research in Educational Administration and Leadership, 9(1), 1-38
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Principals’ Professional Learning as Praxis-Oriented Change – Leading Digitalisation in Preschool Education
2024 (English)In: Research in Educational Administration and Leadership, E-ISSN 2564-7261, Vol. 9, no 1, p. 1-38Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This article takes a practice perspective on professional learning to contribute through an empirical example of how professional learning can be arranged to enable change in and for professional practice, as well as for nurturing praxis. The theory of practice architectures is used to analyse the process of an action research (AR) in which principals investigated and changed their ways of leading digitalisation in preschool education. The theorising of the co-production of practices was used to visualise how the changes were enabled in this process, as the practices for professional learning and leading became interdependent through shared practice architectures. The findings describe how such a co-production of practices enabled a process in which the principals went from a technical to a practical approach to change, when leading digitalisation, which further resulted in a critical stance. This was a process that manifested professional learning as praxis-oriented change in which the principals’ professional judgement increased. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Dokuz Eylul University, 2024
Keywords
co-production of practices, digitalisation, leading, preschool principals, theory of practice architectures
National Category
Pedagogy
Research subject
Educational Work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-99280 (URN)10.30828/real.1416955 (DOI)001220545700001 ()2-s2.0-85195285060 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2024-04-09 Created: 2024-04-09 Last updated: 2024-06-26Bibliographically approved
Buskqvist, U. & Johansson, E. (2023). Digitaliseringens utmaningar. In: Åsa Söderström; Anette Forssten Seise (Ed.), Etiska perspektiv på skolledares arbete: (pp. 57-71). Lund: Studentlitteratur AB
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Digitaliseringens utmaningar
2023 (Swedish)In: Etiska perspektiv på skolledares arbete / [ed] Åsa Söderström; Anette Forssten Seise, Lund: Studentlitteratur AB, 2023, p. 57-71Chapter in book (Other academic)
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Lund: Studentlitteratur AB, 2023
National Category
Pedagogy
Research subject
Education
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-97527 (URN)978-91-44-15993-5 (ISBN)
Available from: 2023-11-27 Created: 2023-11-27 Last updated: 2023-12-07Bibliographically approved
Buskqvist, U., Johansson, E. & Hermansson, C. (2023). Inbetween Literacy Desirings and Following Commands: Rethinking Digitalization in Swedish Early Childhood Education. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 9(2), 210-220
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Inbetween Literacy Desirings and Following Commands: Rethinking Digitalization in Swedish Early Childhood Education
2023 (English)In: Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, ISSN 2002-0317, Vol. 9, no 2, p. 210-220Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This article is an empirically grounded contribution to the understanding of how digitalization in education is interpreted and made into being by actors in everyday lives, in this case children and teachers in Swedish early childhood education. The focus is on interactions in an early childhood classroom upon and around a digital interactive floor setting. Drawing on the theoretical concept of socio-spatiality, this literacy event is understood as an enactment of policy where both teacher and children become actors and subjects. Using observations and video recordings as a methodological approach, the study shows how the literacy event in the digital setting is enacted and constituted as a relational process between literacy desirings and education policy regarding digitalization. The authors suggest that engaging with both children’s processes of literacy desirings and educational commands in ECE digital activities serves as a productive way to investigate how digitalization is enacted in contemporary ECE.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis, 2023
Keywords
digitalization, early childhood education, socio- spatiality, literacy, policy enactmen
National Category
Pedagogy
Research subject
Educational Work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-96060 (URN)10.1080/20020317.2023.2229021 (DOI)2-s2.0-85162944209 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2023-07-07 Created: 2023-07-07 Last updated: 2023-12-11Bibliographically approved
Johansson, E. (2023). Leading digitalization in preschool education: Principals' professional development through action research. In: : . Paper presented at ECER 2023, 22-25 August, Glasgow Scotland.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Leading digitalization in preschool education: Principals' professional development through action research
2023 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation only (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Diversity and differentiation are in various ways critical aspects of education. Equality was one of the driving forces of establishing a unified school system in Sweden during the 60’s, as well as the formation of the public preschool and the formation initiatives towards the (Richardson, 2010). Further, problems in differentiation was one of the reasons for decentralizing the Swedish school system during the 90’s. The idea was to move the power closer to the local schools, to take the local context and needs into account when leading schools. Diversity in leading was supposed to increase equivalence through differentiation (Jacobsson, 2017). Contrary to the ambition, differences in the local contexts has come to be consider a threat to equivalent education. The decentralization, and succeeding reforms, have affected the role of the school leader, by regulations of the school leader’s work as well as regulations of the schools in which they lead. In response to the European commission’s (2014) initiatives for entrepreneurship education, the Swedish government adopted a national digitalization strategy for the Swedish school system (2017), with visions of the Swedish schools at the forefront of using the opportunities of digital technology. The policy expresses expectations on principals to lead digital development at their local schools. In addition, the revised version of the Swedish preschool curricula also clarifies principals’ responsibility of leading school development and create conditions for teachers to enact the new policy in educational practice. This indicates that principals are the ones responsible to develop education, by using the opportunities of digital technology.Researchers, as well as political representatives, implies that school leaders, in their roles as facilitators of educational reforms and policy, are the ones with possibilities to develop future education (Huber & Muijs, 2010; Leithwood, Sun, & Pollock, 2017; Pont, Nusche, & Moorman, 2008). Competent school leaders are said to be the ones who meet political requirements with a focus on education, a work that requires that school leaders continuously develop their own leading practice to adapt policy to the prerequisites of the local schools. Interpreting policy in educational practice requires professional knowledge and connects to school leaders’ professional development. Although research on school leaders’ professional learning has increased, it mainly concentrate on training programmes for new principals and crucial aspects of learning in these programmes. Research on school leaders’ continuous professional development is insufficient (Aas & Blom, 2017) and more knowledge is required about the processes, in which school leaders develop their understandings of leading in relation to societal changes. Not least, research on continuous professional development in collaboration with other school leaders. This study focuses on school leaders’ professional development in a collaborative action research project, aiming to develop knowledge of how to lead digitalization in preschool education.The theory of practice architectures (Kemmis et al. 2014) is used to examine what happens in the professional development practice when the principals develop their knowledge of how to lead digitalization in preschool education. The theory of practice architectures encompasses arrangements of three different kinds. Cultural-discursive arrangements are the sayings of a practice, mediated through language and discourses, used in and about a practice. Material-economic arrangements are resources that shape the doings of a practice, mediated in activity and work as doings. It includes the physical environment, human and non-human entities, schedules, money and time.  Social-political arrangements are shaping how people relate to other people and to non-human objects, mediated in the social space as rules, hierarchies, solidarities and other relationships.  

Method

This study is part of a collaborative action research project about leading digitalization in preschool education. The researcher and 14 principals, working in a municipality in Sweden, participated in the two-year project. The work followed the cyclic process of action research, alternating actions in the principal’s leading practices, as well as the researcher’s actions of communicating analyzes of the process, and conversations in focus groups. A process aiming to generate practice-oriented knowledge. The theory of practice architecture model by Kemmis et al. (2014) was a transformative resource in the work process, as a tool used in the ongoing analyzes of the communicative practice between the meetings. The theory of practice architectures was also used in the analysis of the empirical data, consisting of recordings of focus group conversations. The conversations were transcribed and analyzed to identify changes in the (sayings, doings, relatings) of the action research practice and to analyze how different arrangements affected the practice.Intended outcomes

Results

The tentative results describe leading as relational practice. In order to understand how to lead digitalization in preschool education, the principals had to develop their understandings of digitalization as phenomena. They did so by relating to a book that used digitization and digitalization as a pair of related concepts to help distinguish between technical and social aspects of technological development. Further, the principals discussed how the technological development might change preschool practice in the future. Reflecting back on how technology have changed other practices through history made the principals re-think digitalization as a technological process, instead of a programme to insert in preschool education. This in turn changed the ways the principals related to the preschool teachers. It also changed how the principals understood the leading practice and how they organized for educational change.The results of the study also analyzes how different arrangements enabled and constrained the professional development. The principals also described their leading practice as constituted by other practices, for example, the municipality management, municipal and national politics, the action research practice, as well as experiences from practices of their private life.Leading as a practice is aiming to create conditions for other practices. School leaders need to develop their understandings of policy and societal changes in relation to the site of the teacher’s teaching practice and the children’s learning practice. It is about managing diversity at various levels. This study contributes with knowledge of arrangements that enable and constrain school leaders’ professional development by providing insight into the process of the school leaders’ professional development practice.    

References

Aas, M., & Blom, T. (2017). Benchlearning as professional development of school leaders in Norway and Sweden. Professional development in education, 44(1), 62-75.European Commission, Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry, (2014). Entrepreneurship education : a guide for educators, Publications Office. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2769/51003Huber, S.G., & Muijs, D. (2010). School leadership effectiveness: The growing insight in the importance of school leadership for the quality and development of schools and their pupils. In: Huber, S. (eds) School leadership - International perspectives. Studies in educational leadership, vol 10. Springer, Dordrecht.Jacobsson, K. (2017). Processer och motorer i lokalt skolförbättringsarbete (Karlstad University Studies, 2017:11) [Doktorsavhandling]. Karlstads universitet.Kemmis, S., Wilkinson, J., Edwards-Groves, C., Hardy, I., Grootenboer, P. & Bristol, L. (2014). Changing education, changing practices. Singapore: Springer.Leithwood, K., Sun, J., & Pollock, K. (Eds.). (2017). How school leaders contribute to student success: The four paths framework (Vol. 23). Springer.Pont, B., Moorman, H., & Nusche, D. (2008). Improving school leadership (Vol. 1, pp. 1-199). Paris: OECD.Richardson, G. (2010). Svensk utbildningshistoria: skola och samhälle förr och nu (8. rev. uppl.).  Studentlitteratur.Sveriges regering, Utbildningsdepartementet (2017). Nationell digitaliseringsstrategi för skolväsendet. Bilaga till regeringsbeslut I:1, 2017-10-19. https://www.regeringen.se/4aa9d5/contentassets/72ff9b9845854d6c8689017999228e53/nationell-digitaliseringsstrategi-for-skolvasendet.pdf

Keywords
Digitalization in preschool, Early childhood education, Preschool education, Principal’s Professional development, School leadership
National Category
Pedagogical Work
Research subject
Educational Work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-98460 (URN)
Conference
ECER 2023, 22-25 August, Glasgow Scotland
Available from: 2024-02-12 Created: 2024-02-12 Last updated: 2024-05-10Bibliographically approved
Johansson, E. (2023). Reconceptualizing Time to Understand How to Lead Digitalization in Education. Forskning og Forandring, 6(1), 3-21
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Reconceptualizing Time to Understand How to Lead Digitalization in Education
2023 (English)In: Forskning og Forandring, E-ISSN 2535-5279, Vol. 6, no 1, p. 3-21Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This study investigates how preschool principals learn how to understand and lead the digi-talisation process in their preschool organisations collaboratively within an action research initiative. It specifically investigates how perspectives on time affect their understanding of leading digitalisation by exploring time as a discursive arrangement in a principal’s pro-fessional learning. The question is what happens when principals and researchers theorise time as a way to understand how to lead digitalisation in education. The study is based on data collected during the first year of action research. It takes its point of departure from the field of practice theory and uses the theory of practice architectures to analyse what happens in conversations when the participating princpals were challenged to shift from an objective time perspective to viewing time in terms of practice processes. The findings describe how a reconceptualisation of time affected the principals’ understandings of digitalisation in educa-tional practice. Furthermore, it affected how the principals related to the teachers and how the principals organised educational change at their local schools.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Cappelen Damm Akademisk, 2023
Keywords
action research, principals’ professional learning, professional development, school leadership, theory of practice architectures
National Category
Pedagogical Work Pedagogy
Research subject
Educational Work; Education
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-97436 (URN)10.23865/fof.v6.5344 (DOI)
Available from: 2023-11-20 Created: 2023-11-20 Last updated: 2023-12-07Bibliographically approved
Johansson, E. (2023). Samverkan i praktiknära forskning: Professionell utveckling genom aktionsforskning. In: David Rapp (Ed.), Praktiknära forskning inom pedagogiskt arbete: . Paper presented at Nationell konferens i pedagogiskt arbete, Norrköping, 16-17 augusti 2023.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Samverkan i praktiknära forskning: Professionell utveckling genom aktionsforskning
2023 (Swedish)In: Praktiknära forskning inom pedagogiskt arbete / [ed] David Rapp, 2023Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Abstract [sv]

Studien är en del av ett avhandlingsprojekt som, inom ramen för en aktionsforskning, syftar till att fördjupa kunskapen om rektorers professionella utveckling i arbetet med att leda förskolans digitalisering. Den här studien fokuserar särskilt på samverkan i praktiknära forskning och hur samverkan mellan rektorer och forskare inverkar på rektorernas professionella utveckling. I det tvååriga projektet deltog 14 rektorer i två grupper. I aktionsforskningens cykliska process alternerades fokusgruppssamtal med genomförande av aktioner i syfte att generera praktikorienterad kunskap. Fokusgruppsamtalen betraktades som en kommunikativ praktik och ljudinspelningar från dessa analyserades med hjälp av teorin om praktikarkitekturer (Kemmis et. al, 2014). Enligt teorin utgörs en praktik av sayings, doings och relatings, och hålls samman av kulturell-diskursiva, material-ekonomiska och social-politiska arrangemang som utgör praktikens arkitekturer. Teorin möjliggör identifiering av kulturella, materiella och sociala aspekter av praktiken, hur dessa förändras under projektets gång, samt hur olika arrangemang inverkar på praktiken och praktikförändringarna. En modell från det teoretiska ramverket användes dessutom som tranformativ resurs (Mahon et al. 2017) under fokusgruppsamtalen för att reflektera över vad som villkorade rektorernas ledningspraktik och vilka arrangemang som skulle behövas ändra på för att genomföra förändring. I resultaten synliggörs hur samverkan möjliggjorde professionell utveckling då fokusgruppsamtalen utgjorde en arena för rektorer att mötas och diskutera ledarskap med andra rektorer. Rektorerna utmanades i sina föreställningar då de tog del av olika perspektiv utifrån olika kontextuella förutsättningar. Resultaten beskriver även hur forskarens deltagande utformades responsivt i processen för att möta rektorerna i deras frågor och dilemman. I de kollaborativa samtalen förändrades rektorernas beskrivningar av att leda digitalisering, sätt att relatera till varandra och till förskollärarna, samt hur de organiserade för utveckling på de lokala förskolorna. Resultaten från studien bidrar med kunskap om hur samverkan i praktiknära forskning kan bidra till rektorers professionella utveckling.

Keywords
Förskolans ledarskap, professionell utveckling, forskningssamverkan
National Category
Pedagogical Work
Research subject
Educational Work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-98461 (URN)
Conference
Nationell konferens i pedagogiskt arbete, Norrköping, 16-17 augusti 2023
Available from: 2024-02-12 Created: 2024-02-12 Last updated: 2024-03-21Bibliographically approved
Johansson, E. (2022). Digital transformation in early childhood education: Principals re-shaping leading practice. In: The Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE), at the University of South Australia, City West Campus, Adelaide. 27 november-1 december.: . Paper presented at The Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE).
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Digital transformation in early childhood education: Principals re-shaping leading practice
2022 (English)In: The Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE), at the University of South Australia, City West Campus, Adelaide. 27 november-1 december., 2022Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

The Covid-19 pandemic challenged educational practice and made clear that digitalization is not just about implementing digital technology, but also about transformations of social practices and organizations. Digitalization as a societal transformation, entails changes of conceptions, actions, and social relations, and questions taken-for-granted educational practices. An approach that seeks both knowledge and change of practice is professionals in educational settings and educational researchers to engage in action research, collaborating on - Transforming the future of education.

In 2017, the Swedish government adopted a national digitalization strategy for the Swedish school system, visioning it at the forefront of using the opportunities of digital technology. It expresses expectations on principals to develop their capabilities and strategies of leading digital development at local schools. The concept digital competence was introduced in the revised curricula of preschool education, which also clarifies the principals' responsibility of leading school development and create conditions for teachers to enact the new policy in educational practice.

In relation to the reforms, this study aims to describe and explore the processes of principals re-shaping leading practice in school improvement on digitalization in preschool education.

It focuses on what happened the first year of a two-year action research project, when principals investigated and changed their own leading practice. The data consists of audio recordings from meeting, where principals collaboratively shared understandings of leading digitalization and reflected on the outcomes of their leading actions.

The theory of practice architectures is used in the analysis of the principals' re-shaping of sayings, doings, and relatings on leading digitalization in early childhood education.

Preliminary findings show how the principals re-contextualizes understandings of digitalization in early childhood education by relating to other practices in the local, but also the national site. Practices identified as constitutive is; teaching practice; municipality administration; municipality politics; and the National agency for education. There were also changes in the ways the principals socially related to the preschool teachers, which also constituted the principals leading actions and the organization of school improvement.

The findings proposes a relational perspective on digitalisation in education, in order to understand it as processes of changing practices and organizational transformations, rather than implementation of technological devices. Further research in the project will focus on the principals' organization and leading actions on digitalization as school improvement.

Keywords
action research, principals, practice theory, school leadership
National Category
Educational Sciences
Research subject
Educational Work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-93093 (URN)
Conference
The Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE)
Projects
Dissertation project
Available from: 2023-01-26 Created: 2023-01-26 Last updated: 2023-02-21Bibliographically approved
Johansson, E. (2019). Aspects of democracy in preschool-home collaboration. In: : . Paper presented at NERA, Nordic Educational Research Association 2019, 6-8 March, Uppsala, Sweden.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Aspects of democracy in preschool-home collaboration
2019 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Aspects of democracy in preschool-home collaboration

Research topicThe research is a part of a larger project aiming to consolidate relationships between universities and schools/preschools in order to develop models for cooperation. This presentation focus on the first stage of the project and examines preschool teachers’ understandings of the democratic mission of preschool.

The aim of this presentation is to highlight some issues of teachers’ work and aspects of democracy in relation to preschool-home collaboration.

Theoretical framework

The theoretical framework is an ecological approach of “teacher agency” according to Priestly, Biesta and Robinson (2015). Agency situated in teachers’ professional work, described as the outcomes of interactive processes of critical reflections, as entanglements of their experiences and projective abilities. Reflections used to evaluate how to respond to problematic situations and dilemmas occurring in the situated cultural, structural and material context, called the practical-evaluative dimension (Biesta et. al., 2015).  The theory help illustrate teachers’ differing aspects of democracy, and how teachers form their action repertoires when evaluating experiences out of the situated context.

Methodological design

The data collected through interviews in focus groups, included 48 preschool teachers discussing the democratic mission and teacher assignments. Conversations recorded and analyzed by content analysis.

The initial analyze revealed that aspects of democracy in relation to preschool-home collaboration were predominant in the discussions about the democratic mission. This appeared as an emergent theme around democracy and was analyzed by the practical-evaluative dimension of the theoretical perspective of TA.

Findings

The result show how structural and cultural factors as policies, education, religion, language, discourses and norms were crucial in the teachers’ understandings of democracy in relation to preschool-home collaboration.It reveals three different approaches of teacher agency that suggests various consequences for preschool-home collaboration:Predominant approach, teacher agency characterized by teachers using power to maintain norms and strong structures in disagreements with parents. Democracy regarded as a content, but not practiced as a form, in teachers’ response to parents and children. An approach that constrains parents’ and children’s participation.

Limited approach is appearing in situations where teachers lack experiences or/and knowledge about the teaching assignment and policies. This often results in teachers avoiding problematic situations and dilemmas in their work.

Transformative approach of teacher agency is when teachers being critical to their own ideas and interested in different perspectives. Understanding democracy as a way to exist with others to increase mutual understandings of problematic situations and dilemmas occurring in preschool-home collaboration. Democracy made together in deliberative conversations between teachers, children and parents that enables participation.

Relevance to Nordic educational research

This presentation contributes with knowledge about how different approaches of teacher agency enable or constrain preschool-home collaboration. Understandings that provides an opportunity to increase achievement of democracy in preschool-home collaboration. A crucial part of the democratic mission of preschool.

The larger project provides knowledge of cooperation models between researchers and teachers in order develop collaboration between universities and schools/preschools.

References

Priestley, M., Biesta, G. & Robinson, S. (2015). Teacher agency: An ecological approach. London: Bloombury Academic.

Keywords
Collaboration, democracy, parents, preschool, teachers, teacher agency
National Category
Educational Sciences
Research subject
Educational Work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-71481 (URN)
Conference
NERA, Nordic Educational Research Association 2019, 6-8 March, Uppsala, Sweden
Projects
ULF-step, UBB, Karlstad university
Available from: 2019-03-12 Created: 2019-03-12 Last updated: 2019-04-25Bibliographically approved
Organisations
Identifiers
ORCID iD: ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0003-0827-9715

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