Like most European countries, Danish education is facing a radical shift towards a focus on learning outcomes, which calls for renewed attention to teachers’ instructional planning. In this article, we explore teacher planning in mathematics and L1 Danish, focussing particularly on the role of instructional materials. Using data from a lesson study project and a theoretical framework that conceptualises planning in a local institutional setting, we analyse planning at both teacher and school level. This allows us to identify practices in teachers’ planning that may hinder an outcome perspective, but that nevertheless seem meaningful in a broader institutional context.Keywords: Teacher planning, learning outcome, mathematics education, Danish as L1 education.Læreres planlægningspraksis i et læringsmålsperspektiv: Et multipelt casestudie af matematik- og dansklærereSammendragDanmark står, som mange europæiske lande, over for radikale uddannelsesforandringer med læringsmål som omdrejningspunkt, som kræver fornyet opmærksomhed på læreres undervisningsplanlægning. I artiklen udforsker vi læreres planlægningspraksis i matematik og dansk ved primært at fokusere på den rolle, som undervisningsmaterialer spiller. Ud fra data fra et lektionsstudieprojekt og en teoretisk ramme, der begrebsliggør planlægning i en lokal institutionel kontekst, analyserer vi planlægningspraksis ift. både et lærer- og et skoleniveau. Dette gør det muligt at identificere praksisser, der forhindrer lærere i at planlægge med fokus på læringsmål, men som ikke desto mindre forekommer meningsfulde, når de forstås i en bredere institutionel kontekstNøgleord: Læreres planlægning, læringsmål, matematikundervisning, danskundervisning (L1)

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Across a large number of countries, reading textbooks is widely used in primary grade reading instruction. In Denmark, a quantitative study has shown that one single reading textbook (The first reading) strongly dominates the primary grades classrooms. The first reading presents itself as a learning material that covers all aspects of reading instruction, and that is based on recent research on primary grade reading. This article presents a set of criteria for the analysis and evaluation of textbooks for primary grades reading instruction, based on an overview of recent research studies on reading instruction showing that a balanced approach is the most successful (i.e. a combination of technical and meaning-oriented elements). The criteria are exemplified by analysing The first reading with the purpose of answering the question of whether it is actually research based as claimed. The analysis shows that the technical elements are systematically supported by The first reading, whereas the meaning-oriented elements are either left out or treated in an overridingly drill-based manner. In conclusion, it is argued that the set of evaluative criteria might constitute a helpful professional tool for teachers in relation to the challenging task of using textbooks as part of a balanced reading instruction.

Students' productive work constitutes an essential part of the various learning activities students are involved in while in school. However, empirical research on students' productive work in schools is quite sparse, and thus, we only know little about what kind of products the students make in different subjects, and how they relate to learning. This article presents a mixed methods study on students' productive work in the subjects L1, science and mathematics in primary and lower secondary school in Denmark with a particular focus on the students' use of multimodality. By combining a quantitative scoring of a large sample of tasks and student products (n = 451) and qualitative classroom studies in L1, science and mathematics, the mixed methods study provides a picture of the practices related to students' productive work in Danish schools. This picture shows, on the one hand, that there is obvious potential related to students' multimodal productive work, and, on the other hand, that this potential is difficult to realize due to a number of barriers that overall point to the tenacity of conventional approaches to students' productive work in Danish classrooms.

Scandinavian writing research forms a relatively new field, with an increased number of studies conducted in the last two decades. In this qualitative synthesis review of 87 peer reviewed journal articles from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden published between 2010 and 2020, the aim was to outline the landscape of current educational writing research from the region. The sample included research articles published in both Scandinavian and international journals. Our analysis focused on the articles’ research approaches and main themes regarding the object of investigation. The main themes identified were Writing Instruction, Writing Assessment, and Students’ Text. We found a predominance of studies conducted in the context of language arts/first language (L1) education, concerning either disciplinary or general aspects of writing. We also found a predominance of approaches based on either sociocultural or social semiotic theory. Furthermore, a majority of the reviewed studies were explorative and small-scale, and, for the Writing Assessment studies in particular, directed at the secondary stages of school. The results suggest a call for future studies focusing on writing interventions and studies deploying a wide range of methodological approaches, as well as studies based on inter-Scandinavian collaborations across Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.