This chapter presents findings from a study of quality work in validation (recognition of prior learning) in three cases in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. The quality work is based on a Nordic model for quality in validation and the study has an interactive approach.

Denna bok belyser och jämför flera gemensamma brännpunkter i kommunal vuxenutbildning, folkhögskola och högskola: till vilka utbildningarna riktas, hur de utformas didaktiskt, hur de studerande betygssätts och bedöms. Författarna använder konkreta exempel när de diskuterar bland annat utbildares och studerandes perspektiv på dessa områden. Boken riktar sig till blivande och verksamma personalvetare, yrkes- och studievägledare samt pedagoger.

Artikeln sammanfattar resultat från två olika studier om att bli vuxenlärare och om att vara folkhögskollärare.

This dissertation is focussing on students’ experiences of assessments, which means that the assessments are related to studying. The assessments particularly investigated are the main types of assessments used in the application and selection for higher education in Sweden – the grading in schools on secondary level, and the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test (SweSAT).

The literature review is an analysis of previous knowledge, resulting in a model of orientations to studying.

The empirical investigation consists of interviews with 100 students in upper secondary school, municipal adult education and folk high schools. The interviews are analysed with a phenomenographic approach, and the analysis results in categories describing ways of experiencing what it means to study, ways of experiencing the grades, and the SweSAT. In addition to this, the analysis gives a description of relations between components within categories, relations between categories, and relations between phenomena.

The main patterns in the students’ experiences of the assessments are the following: The different categories, describing the experiences of the assessments per se, are focussing on assessment of performance, assessment of personal qualities (including developed knowledge), or uncertainty in relation to the assessment. There are four main aspects of the students’ experiences of the value of assessments, i.e., the relation to future plans, the relation to the student’s personal context, the possibility to influence your result, and the relation to other assessments used in the selection.

The final result of the empirical investigation is a reconstructed model of five orientations to studying, where the empirical results are integrated with previous knowledge. The five categories are the knowledge orientation, the duty orientation, the participation orientation, the qualification orientation, and the resistance orientation. These orientations are also described as adaptive and/or non-adaptive in relation to the demands of the education.

A further analysis in relation to three social science perspectives shows how assessments can contribute to the colonization of the educational lifeworld, how assessments can be seen as instruments of discipline, and how assessments can be seen as disembedding mechanisms.

Yrkeslärare representerar både läraryrket och sitt grundyrke. Det är inom grundyrket som dessa lärare har sitt ämneskunnande, som de undervisar i, om och för. Kunskapsöversiktens fokus är främst att belysa yrkeslärares dubbla roller.

Yrkeslärare har en komplex roll eftersom de behöver balansera dubbla identiteter – som lärare och som branscharbetare. De ska representera både skolan och det tidigare yrkets kulturer. Vilken identitet som dominerar påverkar hur undervisningen realiseras. Forskningen, tillsammans med rektorers, lärares och elevers erfarenheter, ger nödvändig kunskap för att utveckla yrkesutbildningen så att den kan möta morgondagens arbetsmarknad som allt mer kommer att lämna den industriella eran och kliva in i den digitala. Denna kunskapsöversikt ger, genom nationell och internationell forskning, underlag för att på vetenskaplig grund diskutera yrkeslärares arbete och deras dubbla identiteter.

I detta paper presenteras en studie av folkhögskollärares arbete, med fokus på lärarnas tidsanvändning och deras inställning till arbetets förutsättningar, kompetensbehov, idégrund och huvudmän samt professionell utveckling. Studien visar att de heltidsarbetande lärare som deltog i tidsanvändningsundersökningen i snitt arbetade drygt 49 timmar under en vecka. Ungefär en fjärdedel av arbetstiden var förlagd till kvällstid och helger, och nästan var fjärde lärare arbetar på kvälls- eller helgtid varje dag i veckan måndag–söndag. Lärarna uppskattar den professionella friheten i arbetet, men samtidigt är arbetsbördan en belastning. Det mest tydligt uttryckta behovet av kompetensutveckling gäller att kunna upptäcka och stödja deltagare i behov av särskilt stöd, men även kunskap om folkhögskola och folkbildning beskrivs som viktigt, speciellt för lärare som saknar lärarutbildning för skolformen. Lärarnas engagemang för deltagarna kommer även till uttryck i hur man relaterar sig till idégrunden, där lärarnas fokus främst ligger på deltagarnas utveckling. Folkhögskollärare kan inte betraktas som en profession, men vissa tecken på professionell utveckling har identifierats.

Sweden has a two-step selection process for admission to higher education. Eligibility is assessed to ensure that the candidates have the ability to take the course/programme. Selections are made based in part on other measures. The focus here is eligibility, particularly the 25:4 scheme, a measure introduced to widen access to higher education in the 1970s but since abandoned. An age of 25 and 4 years of work experience were the main criteria of basic eligibility under this scheme. This exploratory study identifies the characteristics of 25:4 applicants and compares them to applicants with other types of eligibility and comparable groups in the population. What were the characteristics of 25:4 applicants? In what ways did they differ from other applicants and from the population in general? Results illustrate the scheme's influence, which was stronger on application patterns and weaker on the admission patterns of traditional and nontraditional applicants/students.

Denna artikel är en krönika kring bedömning och validering av vuxnas lärande.

Detta kapitel ger en översikt över centrala begrepp och företeelser inom området bedömning och betygsättning, med fokus på det som är centralt inom yrkesutbildning på gymnasienivå.

Detta kapitel handlar om bedömning som en del av arbetet som yrkeslärare. Det tar upp centrala begrepp kopplade till bedömning, aktuella formella riktlinjer kring bedömning och främst betygssättning, samt frågor kring återkoppling, validering och etik.

En fenomenografisk studie av hur en grupp fastighetsskötare uppfattar fenomenet validering, och vad en valideringsprocess ger dem i termer av lärande och annat utfall. Recognition of prior learning (RPL) involves an idea of -making learning visible--of valuing knowledge irrespective of how, when and where it is learnt. This is a phenomenographic analysis of how a group of caretakers from a Swedish property management company experience participation in an RPL initiative focusing on their vocational competence. The results show how RPL is experienced in various ways by the caretakers-as an opportunity for personal development, as a matter of assessment and control, or as -only scratching the surface-. The process is also experienced in different ways in terms of learning-with a focus on prior learning or new learning, or even no learning. Other benefits of RPL are described in terms of exchange value or personal development. The results are integrated in a model where the relationship between the individual and the RPL process is a developmental, a credit-exchange or a critical relation.

Validation (recognition of prior learning) means an idea of -making learning visible- - of valuing knowledge irrespective of how, when and where it is learnt. This is a phenomenographic analysis of how a group of caretakers from a Swedish property managing company experience participation in a validation initiative focusing on their vocational competence. The results show how validation is experienced as an opportunity for personal development, a matter of assessment and control, or -only scratching the surface-. The process is also experienced in different ways in terms of learning - with a focus on prior learning or new learning, or even no learning. Other benefits of validation are described in terms of exchange value or personal development. The results are integrated in a model where the relation between the individual and the validation process is a developmental, a credit-exchange or a critical relation.

The recognition of prior learning is an educational response to the need to widen participation in education and training for economic advancement and social inclusion. The social meanings of RPL have different configurations depending on historical, cultural, economic and political forces in different places. One constant is the reliance on the widely pervasive educational philosophies of experiential learning: constructivism and progressivism. This book challenges the orthodoxy of experiential learning and the particular readings of knowledge, pedagogy, learning, identity and power which it privileges. It does this by introducing different theoretical resources to RPL and drawing on experiences of RPL in the UK, South Africa, Australia, Sweden, Canada and the USA. The book provides a range of re-conceptualisations of the relational terrain between adult experience and learning on the one hand, and specialist or academic knowledge on the other.

Durant els últims vint anys ha hagut un interès creixent en el treball de Michel Foucault en sociologia i en particular el relacionat amb l'educació. Aquest és el primer llibre que utilitza el seu treball per a considerar l'educació permanent por sí mateix, explora la importància de les polítiques i les pràctiques de l'educació permanent (...) aquest llibre ofereix visions en qüestions com:

¿Quines són els efectes de les polítiques de l'educació permanent dins dels sistemes socio-polítics de govern?

¿Què fa l'educació permanent per la nostra comprensió de nosaltres mateixos com a ciutadans?

¿Com actua l'educació permanent en la regulació i la reordenació d'allò que les persones fan?

Suggereix que la interpretació de l'educació permanent com a contribució a l'economia del coneixement, la globalització o el nou ordre del treball pot necessitar ser revisada si hem d'entendre el seu impacte de manera més completa.

Los Gedge viven en un pueblecito idílico, y en una mansión no me­nos maravillosa. Lo que no saben es que dos ladrones de guante muy blanco codician sus diamantes. La señora Gedge, por su parte, ambi­ciona para su marido la embajada de los Estados Unidos en Francia, y para conseguirla está dispuesta a utilizar incluso el chantaje. Y su pre­sunta víctima es el influyente senador Opal, padre de Jane, una ena­moradiza jovencita... Y con estos ingredientes y algunos más típicos del irresistible humor de Wodehouse como por ejemplo uno de los muy ingleses ladrones de guante blanco, disfrazado de impecable aris­tócrata francés, el lector ya tiene la diversión asegurada. «Sin ningún género de dudas es una de las novelas más desopilantes de su autor» (Daily Telegraph).

This endword discusses the relation between research and practice in RPL.

This chapter presents results from a study of non-traditional applicants experiences of applying for higher education, namely applicants employing the Swedish 25:4 scheme, which granted eligibility for applicants who were at least 25 years old and had 4 years of work experience. 

Validation, or recognition of prior learning, involves an idea of ‘making learning visible’ – of valuing knowledge irrespective of how, when and where it is learnt. This chapter presents a phenomenographic analysis of how a group of caretakers from a Swedish property management company experience participation in a validation initiative focusing on their vocational competence.

The findings show how validation is experienced in various ways by the caretakers – as an opportunity for personal development, as a matter of assessment and control, or as ‘only scratching the surface’. The process is also experienced in different ways in terms of learning – with a focus on prior learning or new learning, or even no learning. Other benefits of validation are described in terms of exchange value or personal development. Through a contextual analysis, the findings are integrated in a model where the relationship between the individual and the validation process is described as a developmental, a credit-exchange or a critical relation.

The conclusions put focus on the relevance of validation for groups like caretakers. This is a group where the vocational learning to a high extent is informal, which means a potential for recognition of their prior learning in terms of formal credentials.

Recension av boken folkbildning.net (första upplagan).

Denna artikel tar upp folkhögskollärarens arbete och hur folkhögskolans lärare förhåller sig till folkbildningens idégrund, så som den formulerats av våra folkvalda politiker i statens syften med bidragen till folkbildningen, samt den enskilda skolans idégrund.

Denna artikel ger en kortfattad introduktion till och översikt över aktuell vuxenpedagogisk forskning.

In Sweden, a relatively high number of students have a background in working life before entering higher education. Measures have also been taken to widen admission among adults with working-life experience. The admission to Swedish higher education is governed through a two-step selection system. Firstly eligibility is assessed through varying measures, to secure that students have the ability to take the course or program in question. Secondly, if there are more eligible applicants than study places, a selection process is undertaken based on partly other measures. The focus of this paper is the first step, eligibility, and particularly applicants who were employing the 25:4 scheme, a measure for eligibility that was introduced to widen access to higher education in the 1970s, and which is now abandoned. The scheme meant that an age of 25 and 4 years work experience were the main criteria in an alternative track for basic eligibility. The aim of this study is to describe choices and trajectories in relation to higher education among 25:4 applicants, and their experiences of factors that could influence their choices.

The analysis is based on a follow-up survey distributed to a sample of 25:4 applicants from the autumn admission round of 2008, the last admission round when the decision to abandon the 25:4 scheme still had not had any influence on applicants’ opportunities. The results identify patterns of application, admittance, completion of studies, and drop-out, in this group. Particularly, applicants’ experiences of choice and drop-out are focused upon. For example, it is shown that almost 90 % were admitted to their first-hand choice, which means that the selection process was not that decisive in this group, but the eligibility was central to be able to be admitted. Further, it is shown how the importance of a course is influenced by its value in terms of working-life opportunities, but also how individual knowledge interests and family situations influence the choices of the applicants.

Detta är en recension av boken Slöjd, bildning, kultur - Om pedagogisk slöjd i historia och nutid (Sven Hartman, red., 2014). Recensionen fokuserar på slöjd i relation till folkbildning.

Den här skriften handlar om utomhuspedagogik ur olika pedagogiska perspektiv. Poänger och möjligheter med utomhuslärande lyfts upp, men även utmaningar som kan finnas i att genomföra pedagogiska verksamheter utomhus diskuteras. Kapitlen representerar också olika perspektiv på utomhuspedagogik. Författarna är pedagoger som tar sin utgångspunkt i varierande erfarenheter som deltagare, ledare, lärare och forskare i utomhuspedagogiska sammanhang i allt från ideella organisationer och naturskolor till förskola, grundskola, gymnasieskola, folkhögskola och universitet. Det finns likaså en bredd när det gäller bakgrund och utbildning inom såväl natur-, samhälls- och beteendevetenskap som humaniora och estetiska ämnen.

Ulrich Becks bild av ett framväxande risksamhälle används som underlag för att illustrera hur valet av en viss framtidsbild påverkar tolkningen av samband mellan samhällelig förändring och folkbildning med fokus på studieförbundens studiecirkelverksamhet

Rapporten utvärderar huvuddelen av de satsningar på IT-stött lärande som Folkbildningsrådet gjorde med stöd från KK-stiftelsen under åren 1999-2001.

Detta paper tar upp olika sätt för yrkeslärare att upprätthålla och utveckla sin kompetens i det yrke de undervisar i och för. De empiriska exemplen kommer från en studie av yrkeslärare i gymnasieskola och komvux, vilka används för att diskutera förutsättningarna för motsvarande typ av kompetensutveckling för lärare på folkhögskolans yrkesutbildningar.

Denna artikel ger en överblick över samt diskuterar möjligheter till kompletterande utbildning efter validering som genomförts inom ramen för kurser och kurspaket i den kommunala vuxenutbildningen.

 Denna text ger en sammanfattning och överblick över den kunskap som utvecklats genom den forskning om validering av vuxnas kunskap och kompetens som bedrivits inom ramen för en anställning som forskarassistent, finansierad via bidrag från Vetenskapsrådet. 

Validering är en form av kunskapsbedömning som i första hand riktar sig till vuxna. Den erbjuder möjligheten att få erkännande för sina kunskaper även om de har utvecklats på andra sätt än genom utbildning. Vad är validering? Varifrån kommer intresset för denna företeelse? Hur kan utvecklingen komma att se ut när det gäller validering? Dessa frågor behandlas i denna artikel.

Lärandet är livslångt. Det betyder inte att alla ska gå i skolan hela livet. Skolan och hela det formella utbildningssystemet är bara en del av de möjligheter till lärande som livet erbjuder. I Sverige finns också omfattande möjligheter till lärande i icke-formella sammanhang, det vill säga organiserade verksamheter som är inriktade på att de som deltar ska lära sig och utvecklas, men där verksamheter och aktiviteter inte är styrda av läroplaner eller lagar och förordningar. Livslångt lärande innefattar dessutom det informella lärandet, som kan ske på eget initiativ och på egen hand, och som inte alltid är avsiktligt utan även kan vara en ”bieffekt” av att vi arbetar för att försörja oss eller ägnar oss åt fritidsaktiviteter för nöjes skull. Att lärandet sker i många olika sammanhang brukar beskrivas som att det inte bara är livslångt utan även ”livsvitt”.

Although education researchers have drawn on the work of a wide diversity of theorists, a number of these have been of particular significance to education. While the likes of Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, John Dewey and Paulo Freire influenced previous generations of educational theorists, much of the more contemporary theory building has revolved around a quartet of well-known and much-debated thinkers – Michel Foucault, Jürgen Habermas, Pierre Bourdieu and Jacques Derrida. However, while the influence of these thinkers has grown considerably over the last number of years, both their original work and its application to education can prove challenging to the educational practitioner. The challenges they pose to educators are exacerbated by a lack of suitable reading material that can appeal to the advanced practitioner market, while also providing a sufficiently in-depth overview of the various theories and their applications in educational research.

This edited book expertly rectifies this omission in the educational literature, and delivers a text that is both advanced and accessible, offering the education practitioner/researcher a suitable guide to assist their acquisition and application of social theory. The chapters included in this collection are designed to illustrate the diverse ways in which continental theory of whatever stripe can be applied to educational issues. From school surveillance to curriculum, social theory is used to shed light on ‘practical’ issues facing the sector, helping to widen and deepen discussion around these areas when they are in danger of being over-simplified.

This book will be incredibly useful to post-graduate student teachers who wish to develop their capacity to engage with these debates at an advanced level. It will also prove of great interest to anyone involved in education policy and theory.

The recognition of prior learning (RPL) has been part of adult education policy and practice for a long time, but in different ways and in different times and places. In Sweden, RPL has been an explicit part of the policy since 1996. This policy analysis starts with the current Swedish policy concerning RPL. The figures of thought expressed in official policy texts are traced in, and compared to what is expressed in, the (discursive) practice of a case of local policy and development initiatives. The objective of the analysis is to see how the policy in official texts is reproduced and transformed at the local level. The theoretical starting point is the Foucauldian concept of ‘governmentality’, and RPL is seen as a technique for governing adult education, the adult learner, and also adult learning. The analysis focuses particularly on the governing of adult education, expressed in the ‘salvation narrative’ of RPL, and in ideas of what RPL is and how it should be organised. Indirect as well as direct techniques of governing are identified in the governing of and through RPL.

This paper presents an analysis of proposals/applications for grants for the renewal of Swedish higher education. It is focusing on who are applying for renewal grants, intended aims and methods of renewal, and how grants are awarded.

The selection system for higher education in Sweden could be seen as a two-step system. Firstly the eligibility is assessed through varying measures, to secure that students have the ability to take the course or program in question. Secondly, if there are more eligible applicants than study places, a selection process is undertaken based on partly other measures.

The focus of this paper is the first step, the eligibility, and particularly the 25:4 scheme, a measure for eligibility that was introduced to widen access to higher education in the 1970s, and which is now on its way out. The scheme means that an age of 25 and 4 years work experience are the main criteria in an alternative track for basic eligibility. The aim of this exploratory study is to identify carachteristics of applicants in the 25:4 group and to compare them to groups of applicants with other types of eligibility from upper secondary school and adult education. What are the carachteristics of 25:4 applicants? I what ways do they differ from other applicants?

The analysis is based on a material consisting of data from the admission rounds in 2007 and 2008, the last admission rounds when the 25:4 scheme was still fully useful for potential applicants. The results identify differences and similarities in forms of courses/programmes applied for as well as in background factors such as age, gender and socioeconomic status. The results indicate what influence the 25:4 scheme has had on the admission of traditional and non-traditional students in Swedish higher education.

This paper discusses nine paradoxes of assessing prior learning. The assessment, validation, accreditation or recognition (different concepts are used in different contexts) of prior learning or -real competence- has become a focus area in adult education/learning practice as well as policy, in Sweden and in other countries. But, there are paradoxes in the idea and practice of assessing prior learning. The paper is based on theories, on prior research about assessment of prior learning, and on results from more recent empirical research. For example the focus of the assessment is said to be prior learning, but still a main issue in practice is the new learning that seems to be a more or less inevitable result of assessing prior learning. Another paradox is that assessing prior informal/non-formal learning means that the learning backgrounds of individuals are divergent experiences - but the assessment is often made in a convergent way based on common criteria, to make comparisons between individuals possible. A third example is that assessing prior learning is a matter of individual assessment, even if the prior learning is a result of a collective and probably informal learning process where the individual results are related to a specific context.

Rapporten presenterar en kvantitativ och kvalitativ analys av ansökningar om stöd från Rådet för högskoleutbildning, både när det gäller hur ansökningarna bedömdes och vad de innehöll.

Den här skriften handlar om utomhuspedagogik ur olika pedagogiska perspektiv. Poänger och möjligheter med utomhuslärande lyfts upp, men även utmaningar som kan finnas i att genomföra pedagogiska verksamheter utomhus diskuteras. Kapitlen representerar också olika perspektiv på utomhuspedagogik. Författarna är pedagoger som tar sin utgångspunkt i varierande erfarenheter som deltagare, ledare, lärare och forskare i utomhuspedagogiska sammanhang i allt från ideella organisationer och naturskolor till förskola, grundskola, gymnasieskola, folkhögskola och universitet. Det finns likaså en bredd när det gäller bakgrund och utbildning inom såväl natur-, samhälls- och beteendevetenskap som humaniora och estetiska ämnen.