Aesthetic reading as a problem in mid-20
            <sup>th</sup>
            centurySwedish educational policy

Lindsköld, Linnéa; Dolatkhah, Mats; Lundh, Anna

doi:10.18261/issn.2000-8325/-2020-01-04

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…This understanding where the reading of fiction is seen as a cultivating tool can be found in both contemporary educational and literature policy and has its roots in the free public education movement around the turn of the century (Lindsköld, Dolatkhah & Lundh 2020). More specifically, reading and literature of a certain kind is seen as being able to connect to and protect the culture of reading:…”

Section: Journal Of Current Cultural Researchmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Constructing the Desirable Reader in Swedish Contemporary Literature Policy

2020

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This study contributes to a growing number of critical studies of reading that are seeking to understand how reading is constructed socially and politically. It addresses issues concerning why certain types of reading are deemed more appropriate than others in various contexts and historical eras. The aim of the study is to explore constructions of reading, reading promotion, and readers that can be identified in Swedish literature policy 2012-2013 in order to make explicit the implicit assumptions embedded in the politics of reading. This is achieved through a discourse analysis of the Swedish Government Commission report on Literature from 2012 and the subsequent Government Bill from 2013. The analysis focuses on the construction of the ‘problem’ that reading is supposed to solve, the subject-position of the reader, and the knowledge practices that underpin the construction of the ‘problem’. The analysis reveals that the main ‘problem’ is the changing reading habits of the Swedish population and the decline in the reading ability of Swedish children and youth. This is seen as a threat to several important societal values, such as children’s learning and development, democracy, “the culture of reading”, Sweden’s economic competitiveness, and the market for literature. Responsibility for the problem is placed on the school system, parents, and the use of computers and the Internet. The remedy is seen as the promotion of the right kind of literature. Furthermore, the analysis illustrates how the subject position of the appropriate reader is formed around the notion of the harmful non-reader. Similar dividing practices are constructed around youth/adult, pupil/teacher, child/parent, and son/father where the latter is expected to make the former a reader and thereby a desirable subject. The analysis also shows how two contradictory knowledge practices are joined together in the policy texts, where seemingly rational, objective, and empirical research is paired with humanistic Bildung values.

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Section: Journal Of Current Cultural Researchmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Persson 2012, others take an interest in policy level and larger historical processes (e.g. Chartier 1994, Persson 2007, Darnton 2014, Lauristin & Vihalemm 2014, Kann-Rasmussen & Balling 2015, Hedemark 2020, Lindsköld, Dolatkhah & Lundh 2020). This study analyses literature policy in the early 2010s in Sweden.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constructing the Desirable Reader in Swedish Contemporary Literature Policy

2020

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“…Allt detta gäller naturligtvis också läs-och litteraturundervisningen. Som Lindsköld et al (2020) påpekat är deras klassrumsstudie av svenskämnet, som baserades på ett befintligt videomaterial inspelat med ett annat forskningssyfte under 1960-talet, närmast unik. Det är mot bakgrund av detta övergripande forskningsproblem vi i det följande diskuterar våra resultat av de närlästa lärartexterna i anslutning till tidigare svenskämnesdidaktiska studier.…”

Section: Diskussionunclassified

Undervisningspraktiker i rörelse

Olofsson¹,

Olin-Scheller²,

Melin³

2023

U&D

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Teaching practices in transition: Swedish primary teachers as agents of change in reading education in the 1940s. This article deals with primary teachers’ views on reading and literature teaching, as reflected in an archive consisting of more than 600 accounts of teaching experiences collected in 1946. By a close reading of a directed selection of 52 of these accounts – of which 14 are detailly presented – we can draw three conclusions: 1) We argue that many of the teachers regarded mother tongue as something more than just a “skill subject”; 2) The material indicates that mother tongue teaching was undergoing changes in a “progressive” direction at a time that previous research has regarded as a decline period for such ideas; 3) The analysis shows that the teachers both identified structural obstacles relating to these changes and used the obstacles as a point of departure for change. Altogether a complex picture emerges that can be highlighted as an example of teachers’ agency with relevance also to the current debate on reading and literature teaching in a democratic society.

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“…I likhet med den här artikeln utgår dessa studier från ett kulturpolitiskt perspektiv, och har ett särskilt fokus på hur den ideala läsande medborgaren har formats i offentlig debatt och politik under efterkrigstiden. Det finns även exempel på forskning där synen på litteratur och barns läsande har studerats med utgångspunkt i utbildningspolitiken (se Lindsköld, Dolatkhah & Lundh 2020). De debatter som den här undersökningen analyserar har tidigare varit föremål för forskning.…”

Section: Tidigare Forskningunclassified