This article discusses how the Swedish afterschool settings can be understood as a pedagogic practice. Interviews and field observations with teachers and children were analyzed from a discursive and network perspective. The teachers articulated a discourse about a professional competence to control the organization of the activities in relation to ideals and practical conditions. In practice, however, the children negotiated, challenged and developed the activities in ways that went beyond what was planned and possible to articulate, evaluate and control. The article proposes a pedagogy for the afterschool setting that is built on teachers and children's joint descriptions of the knowledge possibilities that are ongoing produced in the activities.
In times of global tendencies on governance of the public sector, 'quality' has become a keyword, an ideal. In Sweden, all municipalities, school heads and teachers are required to carry out systematic quality work to meet the demand on goal attainment. Working with documentation is a crucial aspect of this process. The Swedish leisure-time centre aimed for younger school children has goals to strive towards but not goals to attain. This study aims to gain knowledge of leisure-time teachers' reflections on their work with documentation. Based on written reflections from 22 groups of leisure-time teachers engaged in a continuing professional development course, the article call for a discussion on meanings of 'quality' and what effect systematic quality work has on views of valued activities, content and professional skills, and on the holistic notion of pupil's learning and development.
ARTICLE HISTORY
MANY COUNTRIES OFFER younger school children school-age child care. However, the governance, organisation and practical activities and its relation to education and care differs within and between countries. In Scandinavia, the concept of Educare acknowledges the need for emotional, social and intellectual aspects of the holistic view of learning. The Swedish leisure-time centres (LTC) designed for younger school children have, by tradition, an identity that strongly relates to aspects of care. This study aims to gain knowledge of leisure-time teachers’ (LTT) reflections on how pedagogy and care appear in LTCs’ local documents. After examining the written reflections of 22 groups of LTTs involved in a professional development course, it can be argued that care is fundamental to the LTC activities; however, this notion is simultaneously challenged by neoliberal tendencies.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.