liu.seSearch for publications in DiVA
Change search
Link to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Publications (10 of 36) Show all publications
Andersson, P. & Muhrman, K. (2024). Discourses on quality in Swedish adult education. European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults, 15(2), 141-158
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Discourses on quality in Swedish adult education
2024 (English)In: European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults, E-ISSN 2000-7426, Vol. 15, no 2, p. 141-158Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Swedish municipal adult education has many providers. The overall responsibility for this service still lies with the municipalities, entailing the enactment of national policy with respect to providers. This study puts focus on the discursive enactment of policy concerning quality in adult education. Five discourses on quality are identified through interviews with school leaders, teachers, and students, namely that quality is about formal demands and processes, that it is a matter of student focus, that it is about teachers’ competence and working conditions, that it is about teaching, and that quality depends on the student group. School leaders focus on formal and organisational aspects of quality, while teachers and students focus on actual processes in the classroom, connecting to their own work and lives. Compared to national policy, the local discourses are limited mainly to studying, teaching, organisation, and short-term outcomes, while long-term aims in national policy are less prominent.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Linköping University Electronic Press, 2024
Keywords
municipal adult education, policy enactment, quality, Sweden
National Category
Pedagogy
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-201991 (URN)10.3384/rela.2000-7426.5072 (DOI)001261501800003 ()
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2017-03603
Note

Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council [2017- 03603]

Available from: 2024-04-02 Created: 2024-04-02 Last updated: 2024-08-28Bibliographically approved
Holmqvist, D., Andersson, P. & Muhrman, K. (2024). Fast delivery, on demand: how flexibility and individualization policy are enacted in Swedish municipal adult education. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 10(1), 60-72
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Fast delivery, on demand: how flexibility and individualization policy are enacted in Swedish municipal adult education
2024 (English)In: Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, E-ISSN 2002-0317, Vol. 10, no 1, p. 60-72Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

National policy states that Swedish adult education should be flexible and individualized, based on students’ needs. However, adult education in Sweden is a municipal responsibility with a high level of decentralization. Drawing on national policies, this study focuses on how the concepts of flexibility and individualization are enacted locally and what consequences this has for teaching and learning. Starting from a teacher perspective and based on qualitative interviews with 50 teachers, the article analyses how policy requirements for offering flexible and individualized adult education are being enacted, and what the consequences of this are for teaching and learning. The findings show how flexibility and individualization are put into practice through measures such as a fast study pace, continuous admission of students, and pressure on municipalities to maintain a broad course offer, often by turning to distance education. This enactment makes it easier for adult learners to fit education into their lives, but it also has consequences for the quality of teaching and learning. It is causing fragmentation, a learning environment where interactions mainly occur on an individual basis, an instrumental view of education, and teachers experiencing high workloads and low autonomy in making pedagogical decisions. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis, 2024
Keywords
Adult education; individualization; marketization; policy enactment; teaching
National Category
Pedagogy
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-203018 (URN)10.1080/20020317.2024.2339402 (DOI)2-s2.0-85189966304 (Scopus ID)
Note

Funding agency:  the Vetenskapsrådet (The Swedish Research Council) under Grant number [2017- 03603]

Available from: 2024-04-24 Created: 2024-04-24 Last updated: 2024-05-14
Andersson, P. & Muhrman, K. (2024). Study and career counselling in Swedish adult education. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 52(2), 348-360
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Study and career counselling in Swedish adult education
2024 (English)In: British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, ISSN 0306-9885, E-ISSN 1469-3534, Vol. 52, no 2, p. 348-360Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This article presents and discusses findings from a qualitative study of Swedish adult education, with focus on meetings between counsellors and students and how counsellors translate and enact different expectations from policies and ethical guidelines, as well as from adult students. The results show that counsellors have an important role in the marketised and complex system of adult education in Sweden, both to guide people during the encounter with adult education and to guide and support them as students. A policy enactment emerges where counsellors are in conflict between different guidelines and are forced to compromise between the ethical ideal that they, as counsellors should always start from individual needs, and policy requirements concerning e.g. skills supply and labour-market integration.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis, 2024
Keywords
Study and career counsellor, adult education, guidance, counselling, policy enactment
National Category
Pedagogy
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-197627 (URN)10.1080/03069885.2023.2247549 (DOI)001060533400001 ()
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2017-03603
Note

Funding: Swedish Research Council [2017-03603]

Available from: 2023-09-05 Created: 2023-09-05 Last updated: 2024-04-03
Muhrman, K. & Andersson, P. (2024). Study and career counsellors: the hub of Swedish adult education. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 29(1), 1-21
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Study and career counsellors: the hub of Swedish adult education
2024 (English)In: Research in Post-Compulsory Education, ISSN 1359-6748, E-ISSN 1747-5112, Vol. 29, no 1, p. 1-21Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This article explores how the Swedish policy of municipal adulteducation (MAE) is interpreted, translated, and enacted instudy and career counselling. The data consists of semistructured interviews with adult education leaders and studyand career counsellors. Swedish MAE is characterised by extensive marketisation, with many different providers, whichmakes the education system complex. The findings showthat a study and career counsellor is characterised as a keyperson for both the students and the organisation, with a roleas a marketer and ‘map reader’ for applicants, in addition toresponsibilities in admissions, the validation and mapping ofstudents’ knowledge, and quality work. The counsellorbecomes a hub in a system that applicants and students finddifficult to navigate and fulfils a vital function in the marketingof adult education and quality work. Thus, this complex systemrequires more resources for counselling to function to thebenefit of the individual student. However, there is no clearregulation for how counselling should be organised, whichmeans that counselling is organised in different ways in different municipalities with different providers. This in turn meansthat the availability of adequate counselling may depend onthe municipality in which you live.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2024
Keywords
Adult education; Sweden; marketisation; policy enactment; study and career counsellor
National Category
Pedagogy
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-200343 (URN)10.1080/13596748.2023.2285627 (DOI)001145748900001 ()
Note

Funding agency: Swedish Research Council under Grant number 2017-03603

Available from: 2024-01-22 Created: 2024-01-22 Last updated: 2024-04-03
Bladh, D., Holmqvist, D. & Muhrman, K. (2023). Lärande för hållbarhet i högre utbildning – en didaktisk modell i tre steg. In: : . Paper presented at Pedagogikdagen vid LiU 2023.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Lärande för hållbarhet i högre utbildning – en didaktisk modell i tre steg
2023 (Swedish)Conference paper, Oral presentation only (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
National Category
Pedagogy
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-197349 (URN)
Conference
Pedagogikdagen vid LiU 2023
Available from: 2023-09-01 Created: 2023-09-01 Last updated: 2025-01-30
Karlsson, T., Muhrman, K. & Nyström, S. (2022). A Path Towards a Possible Future – Adult Students’ Choice of Vocational Education. Vocations and Learning, 15(1), 111-128
Open this publication in new window or tab >>A Path Towards a Possible Future – Adult Students’ Choice of Vocational Education
2022 (English)In: Vocations and Learning, ISSN 1874-785X, E-ISSN 1874-7868, Vol. 15, no 1, p. 111-128Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Today’s society is characterized by high unemployment, a prevailing trust in and demands for an academic degree, and an emphasis on the individual’s own responsibility for their educational choices. This study aims to examine adults’ vocational education choices, their intentions in connection with municipal adult education (MAE) studies, and how this relates to identity formation. The study is based on 18 interviews and compares students from two vocational MAE training programmes in assistant nursing and floor laying. The analysis has identified different pathways concerning adult students’ decisions to enrol in municipal adult education and a specific vocational education and training (VET) programme. We see educational choices and paths in terms of underlying causes or as forward-looking rationalities. The results show that the process of identity formation is larger than simply one of vocational becoming within a vocational community of practice, since MAE studies involve a student’s whole being, including both their personal identity trajectories and their vocational identity formation. With this article we hope to provide a foundation for a pedagogical discussion about student intentions, focusing on how different subjectivities affect students with regard to their future vocational becoming.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Netherlands, 2022
Keywords
Adult student, Identity, Municipal adult education, Educational choice, VET
National Category
Pedagogy Educational Sciences Educational Sciences Sociology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-180650 (URN)10.1007/s12186-021-09280-6 (DOI)000710095900001 ()2-s2.0-85117609747 (Scopus ID)
Note

Funding: Linkoping University

Available from: 2021-10-27 Created: 2021-10-27 Last updated: 2025-02-18Bibliographically approved
Muhrman, K. & Andersson, P. (2022). Adult education in Sweden in the wake of marketisation. Studies in the Education of Adults, 54(1), 25-42
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Adult education in Sweden in the wake of marketisation
2022 (English)In: Studies in the Education of Adults, ISSN 0266-0830, E-ISSN 1478-9833, Vol. 54, no 1, p. 25-42Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The aim of this study is to describe and analyse how municipal adult education (MAE) in Sweden is enacted at the intersection of course organisation, student selection and course content. For this analysis, the data consist of a nationwide survey sent to Swedish municipalities, interviews with school leaders from 20 municipalities and in-depth interviews with school leaders from six municipalities. The findings show that the supply of MAE courses is clearly governed by policies concerning what municipalities are obliged to offer according to the Education Act, but in many other ways, MAE policies offer a high degree of freedom for interpretation and translation. On a general level, MAE is organised in three different ways: school-based education, apprenticeships and distance education. However, the courses included are enacted in different ways in different municipalities. How the courses are enacted is governed by factors such as using external education companies, resources, the number of students and collaboration with working life. The selection of MAE courses has a clear labour market focus, where employers? needs for labour are set higher than students? wishes and needs. A central aspect of this focus is labour market integration of migrants.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2022
Keywords
Marketisation; adult education; municipality; organisation; enactment; course content
National Category
Educational Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-179801 (URN)10.1080/02660830.2021.1984060 (DOI)000702696900001 ()
Note

Funding agencies: Vetenskapsrådet (The Swedish Research Council) underGrant number [2017-03603]

Available from: 2021-10-03 Created: 2021-10-03 Last updated: 2022-06-21
Muhrman, K. (2022). How can students in vocational education be motivated to learn mathematics?. Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 12(3), 47-70
Open this publication in new window or tab >>How can students in vocational education be motivated to learn mathematics?
2022 (English)In: Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training, E-ISSN 2242-458X, Vol. 12, no 3, p. 47-70Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The aim of this article is to discuss how mathematics teaching with a closer connectionto students’ vocational orientation can increase their motivation to learn mathematics.This article uses a motivation theory called self-determination theory to analyse interviews and observations made in two different studies investigating mathematics in vocational education. The results indicate that there are many vocational students who areunmotivated to learn mathematics because they do not see any relevance in the subject.However, there seem to be positive aspects regarding vocational students’ motivation tolearn mathematics when they are given the opportunity to work with vocational-integrated mathematics tasks, especially in a vocationally authentic environment. In relationto self-determination theory, it is possible to see increased motivation linked to a senseof meaningfulness, competence and self-determination, as well as increased social collaboration. However, teachers need to be observant of students’ goals for their studies,so that even those who do not see a future in the vocation they are training for will findmotivating factors for their learning in mathematics.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Linköping University Electronic Press, 2022
Keywords
vocational education, mathematics education, motivation, self-determination theory (SDT), subject integration, Matematik, motivation, självbestämmande teorin, ämnesintegrering, infärgning
National Category
Didactics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-189665 (URN)10.3384/njvet.2242-458x.2212347 (DOI)
Available from: 2022-11-01 Created: 2022-11-01 Last updated: 2023-02-07Bibliographically approved
Frejd, P. & Muhrman, K. (2022). Is the mathematics classroom a suitable learning space for making workplace mathematics visible?: an analysis of a subject integrated team-teaching approach applied in different learning spaces. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 74(2), 333-351
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Is the mathematics classroom a suitable learning space for making workplace mathematics visible?: an analysis of a subject integrated team-teaching approach applied in different learning spaces
2022 (English)In: Journal of Vocational Education and Training, ISSN 1363-6820, E-ISSN 1747-5090, Vol. 74, no 2, p. 333-351Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This article presents an analysis of a team-teaching approach, applied in two learning spaces: a regular mathematics classroom; and a hairdressing salon at an upper secondary vocational education and training (VET) school. A mathematics teacher and a VET teacher jointly developed, planned and carried out the teaching activities in these two learning spaces. The overall goal was to prepare their 15 students for professional life. Observations made from the two lessons were analysed with the aim of identifying the extent to which the outcome of the team-teaching approach is dependent on the choice of the learning space. Drawing on Engestroms activity theory and research literature on learning spaces, our results indicate that tools, norms, division of labour and community differ significantly within the two learning spaces. The environment of the salon appeared to be more effective in promoting discussion, and encouraging self-confidence and identity-making, in comparison with the mathematics classroom, and there was a more visible interaction between mathematics and vocational subjects. This raises questions about the optimal design of the applied team-teaching approach and about whether the mathematics classroom can be considered a suitable learning space for facilitating students learning of workplace mathematics.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2022
Keywords
Activity theory; subject integration; team-teaching; vocational education; workplace mathematics; learning space
National Category
Educational Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-173987 (URN)10.1080/13636820.2020.1760337 (DOI)000532423700001 ()2-s2.0-85084359035 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2021-03-16 Created: 2021-03-16 Last updated: 2025-02-18Bibliographically approved
Muhrman, K., Örtenberg, U. & Jahic Pettersson, A. (2022). Lärarstudenters övergång från lärarutbildning till arbete som lärare i skolan. Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Lärarstudenters övergång från lärarutbildning till arbete som lärare i skolan
2022 (Swedish)Report (Other academic)
Abstract [sv]

Denna rapport handlar om övergången från lärarutbildning till arbete som lärare i skolan. Rapporten bygger på intervjuer med tjugo relativt nyutexaminerade lärare och en enkät som besvarats av 87 skolledare. Resultaten visar att förväntningarna på de nya lärarnas kunskaper och förmåga att klara alla delar av yrket efter utbildningen är hög hos skolledarna. Samtidigt beskriver de nya lärarna att de upplever många utmaningar med läraryrket och att det finns ett behov av en mentor som kan ge stöd under det första året. De flesta nya lärare får en mentor, men i många fall får varken mentorn eller den nya läraren någon tid avsatt för att träffas. Detta kan leda till att de nya lärarna trots att de har en mentor inte får det stöd de har behov av. I svaren från informanterna framkommer både tankar om hur mottagandet av nya lärare skulle kunna bli bättre och hur lärarutbildningen skulle kunna utvecklas för att det ska bli en bättre övergång. Resultaten från dessa svar är grunden till de förslag på implikationer som avslutar rapporten. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press, 2022. p. 46
Keywords
Lärarutbildning, lärarstudent, övergång, ny lärare, mentor
National Category
Pedagogy
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-183006 (URN)
Available from: 2022-02-17 Created: 2022-02-17 Last updated: 2022-06-17Bibliographically approved
Organisations
Identifiers
ORCID iD: ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0001-7990-8684

Search in DiVA

Show all publications