En ständigt aktuell, och komplex, fråga handlar om litteraturundervisningenskunskapsinnehåll samt hur elevernas lärande av detta innehåll ska mätas ochbedömas. Med ett specifikt fokus på gymnasieskolan, undersöks i denna artikel,med utgångspunkt i begreppen kraftfull kunskap och kraftfull professionskunskap,litteraturundervisning i ett skollandskap präglat av en mätbarhetsdiskurs. Detempiriska materialet består av fyra svensklärares samtal under en forskningscirkelkring platsbaserat läsande. Ett särskilt fokus är lärarnas ämnesförståelse ochuppfattningar om kunskapsinnehållet i litteraturundervisningen samt hur detta kanförstås som aspekter av undervisningens kvalitet. Våra resultat visar att lärarnaskraftfulla professionskunskap handlar om undervisningspraktiker som präglas avlitteraturläsningens öppenhet och att stötta eleverna i att hitta strategier därde kan bygga litterära föreställningsvärldar. Utsagorna visar att elevernas kunskaps-utveckling behöver värderas över längre tid, för att kunna urskilja en progression ilitteraturläsning. Den kraftfulla professionskunskapen handlar också om att kunnahantera och utmana elevernas tidigare erfarenheter i tolkande undervisningsaktiviteteroch att bygga undervisningen på akademisk kunskap som behöver anpassas ochtransformeras till klassrummet. Den handlar dessutom om att kunna navigera iett spänningsfält där litteraturundervisningens kunskapsstruktur står i kontrastmot den överordnade kunskapsstruktur de möter i sin skolvardag där mätdiskurserfragmentiserar elevernas litteraturläsning.

This article examines, from a comparative subject didactic perspective, the use of digital platforms in Swedish upper secondary schools, focusing on the significance in three school subjects: Swedish, mathematics, and history. Based on video recordings from 47 lessons, the analysis compares recontextualization of subject knowledge across the three subjects. Departing from Bernstein’s concepts of the pedagogic device and horizontal versus vertical knowledge structures, the analysis focus on how dimensions of textualization and templatization play out differently in the three subjects. The analysis reveals that the learning platforms become integrated into the established subject practices of Swedish, mathematics and history respectively and is thereby shaped by the different subject traditions. At the same time, the platform structure in itself also influences how knowledge can become organized, accessed, and presented. Findings point at similarities and differences in relation to planning and expectations of school performance, classroom interaction, text practices, and the broader digital context in relation to the learning platform. The results emphasize the importance of teacher agency in platform-based subject teaching, where platforms seem to push toward increased individualization of school work that might constrain deeper explanations and support for students’ critical thinking. 

This paper introduces and provides an overview of the special issue of this journal on Transnational and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Subject Didactics. It describes a perspective on Subject Didactics that draws on insights from both the long tradition of General Didactics and from more contemporary subject-specific practices. In doing so it presents the crucial bridging position of subject didactics between academic disciplines and educational sciences. An outline of the theoretical framework to curriculum research and teacher education is provided. Furthermore, the guiding research questions and overall approach are presented including a focus on the development of teachers’ powerful professional knowledge. It addresses the questions of why describe this approach as critical and what is meant by a knowledge-led approach. The approach to data collection, analysis and interpretation is outlined and the implications for curriculum planning and professional development are considered. A summary of discussions related to the focus of this special issue at the conference that gave rise to it follows. Finally, an overview of contributions to this special issue is provided. In conclusion these are reflected on in relation to the guiding research questions and the vital importance of Subject-Specific Educational Content Knowledge (SSECK) for teacher education is highlighted. 

This article examines young people’s reviews of a selection of Norwegian easy-to-read YA fiction books. The purpose of the study is to gain more knowledge about young people as actual readers and critics of easy-to-read literature, but also to gain insight into what makes a literary text easier to read. Our empirical material consists of 129 reviews from the digital archive of Uprisen, a literature prize awarded to the best Norwegian YA novel of the year. We have analysed the reception of three easy-to-read YA novels across different genres. The analysis is grounded in theories of reading processes and multimodality, as well as the field’s own definitions of easy-to-read literature. Our findings show that young readers primarily associate readability with linguistic simplicity and brevity. At the same time, they point to connections between readability and aspects such as content, theme, composition, credibility, and originality, as well as opportunities for immersion and identification. However, there are also statements that reveal a tension between easy-to-read language and more complex themes, content, narrative structures or forms of presentation. Although all three books fall under the category of easy-to-read, they are not unequivocally perceived as such by all reviewers. Both compressed text and multimodal formats appear challenging. The analysis shows that young critics do not share a uniform understanding of what is easy or difficult to read, which underlines that the categorization of readability cannot be regarded as a straightforward or objective category. 

Teachers' implementation of and attitudes to school reforms and overriding pedagogical ideals have long been a topic of debate and research. In this article, we centre on teachers' descriptions of how progressive teaching was conducted as well as on the teachers' reasons for implementing such teaching in the 1940s. This study is based on written material consisting of 360 elementary school teachers' accounts of their teaching collected in 1946. The material was collected by a government investigation of how progressive teaching was conducted in Sweden. The accounts offer detailed descriptions of how pupils were activated and how elementary teachers at the time could use the community as a teaching resource. The article is inspired by a prosopography approach, in which the basic assumption is that it is possible to extend knowledge of social processes and societal development by studying the group profile of members of various institutions such as political or professional organisations. The analysis is based on John Dewey's and Larry Cuban's perspectives on progressivism. We found that, according to teaching the theme of pupils participation was frequently reported in 59% of the accounts, while student interaction (35%) and extended classroom (16%) were less reported. The teachers motivated their teaching on the basis of general ideals, as democracy. Also important were practical circumstances such as available teaching resources as well as physiological aspects as student's interest and development.