In the 'Star Wars' universe, the Force is a powerful energy that can be harnessed for good or evil. Similarly, artificial intelligence (AI) in education is often depicted as a transformative power capable of revolutionizing teaching and learning. This paper explores possible futures in education in relation to generative AI and predictive AI, using informed speculation to offer insights into the future. As our visions for tomorrow's technology are being defined today, it is important to invite teachers to define the technology we should strive for. This paper presents two co-design workshops involving seven secondary-school teachers with diverse experiences and understandings of AI. Analysis of the workshop recordings informed three narrative episodes that center on lesson-planning in the future, the technical divide, and assessment agency. Education fiction is used as a mode for deep reflection on the results, staging scenarios and exploring the implications of AI in education. The results suggest that while teachers fear changes to their profession, they also offer constructive ideas for AI's potential use. This informed speculation helps to elaborate on challenges and possibilities AI poses for teachers, providing important insights into how to harness AI effectively in teaching while avoiding techno-solutionism by broadening future perspectives.

 Begreppet målstyrning förknippas ofta med reformerna av statsförvaltningen i slutet av 1980-talet med dess nyliberala strömningar. Men målstyrning har använts längre än så, även i skolan. I denna bok visar tre initierade forskare hur staten genom centrala styrdokument - läroplaner, skolförordningar och skollagar - formulerat regler och visioner om skolans mål ända sedan tidigt 1900-tal.

Författarna belyser även de normer och praktiker som lärarna förknippat med olika mål. Det visar sig att lärarna bidragit till etablerandet av målstyrningen från 1920-talet och framåt, men också kritiserat statliga initiativ på området som de upplevt oförenliga med praktikens krav.  

Utvecklingen på institutionell nivå visar inte upp några radikala brott men däremot en successiv ökning av målens betydelse. Det var de progressiva idealen i mitten av 1900-talet som var drivande i framväxten, och senare just 1980-talets idéer om new public management.

Nya läroplansreformer beskrivs ofta av politikerna som radikala och banbrytande, men i denna studie blottläggs den tröghet och rätlinjighet som är mer typisk för skolans institutionella förändringar.

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) in education necessitates a shared understanding of its intended purpose and societal implications. This paper underscores the significance of societal perspectives in AI and education, often overshadowed by technological aspects. At the same time, policy guidelines for the integration of AI technology within educational systems are playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of education. What we as society imagine AI and education to be, will in some shape or form lead the development of suggested fixes. The aim is to aid the understanding of why and how visions of learning and education are framed in relation to developments in Educational Technology (EdTech) and their introduction in education. It thereby contributes to the ongoing discussion on the integration of AI in education and its potential societal impacts.

Domineras skolundervisningen av en baklängespedagogik? Ja, när betygskriterierna förvandlas till kunskapsmål kan man fråga sig det. Bakgrunden är den målstyrning som infördes i skolan på 1990-talet.

Mål för offentlig verksamhet har funnits länge, men de har blivit ett allt viktigare styrmedel under de senaste decennierna. För skolans del gick målstyrningen hand i hand med marknadsutsättningen: staten satte målen – i synnerhet kraven för ”godkänd” – och lät sedan skolorna bestämma hur de skulle uppnås. Men målstyrning är ett på samma gång tydligt och diffust begrepp. Och trots att reformen knappast har levt upp till förhoppningarna, förblir målstyrningen en grundbult i skolpolitiken.

Riksbankens Jubileumsfond publicerar under 2024 en samling essäer på temat Misslyckat? Utbildningsforskaren Magnus Hultén skriver om målstyrningens avigsidor i skolan.

Artikeln är en systematisk översikt med syftet att studera vad som karakteriserar forskningen om målstyrning av svensk skola och vilken kunskap forskningen har genererat. Översikten innehåller litteratur publicerad 2000–2021. Systematiska litteratursökningar har genomförts i internationella (EBSCO, SCOPUS) och svenska databaser (Libris, Swepub, DiVA). Handsökningar har genomförts i ett urval svenska och nordiska tidskrifter inom statsvetenskap, offentlig förvaltning, pedagogik och utbildningsvetenskap. Litteratursökningarna genererade 2556 träffar. Efter granskning på titel- och abstraktsnivå återstod 26 publikationer. Efter granskning baserad på inklusions- och exklusionskriterier, samt kvalitets-granskningen, kvarstod sju publikationer vilka inkluderades. Centrala resultat är att forskningen är knapphändig, att få studier har förklarande ambitioner med tydlig teoretisk inramning och att det därför finns brister i kunskapen om mål-styrningens införande i och betydelse för skolans styrning. I studier med för-klarande ansats, inriktad på målstyrning eller utbildningspolitiska reformer där målstyrning ingår, är institutionell teori och läroplansteori dominerande. Empirin består av statliga offentliga utredningar och propositioner från utbildnings- och finansdepartementen. Regeringens officiella syn ges central betydelse för att förklara när och varför målstyrning infördes, vilket tillsammans med begränsade empiriska underlag belyser den officiella bilden snarare än andra perspektiv. 

The chapter unravels how formal curricula turned into foundational conditions to form national histories in two Nordic states, Norway and Sweden, during the twentieth century. First, we present curriculum reforms that used pietistic, scientific, and civic rationales to legitimize education during the early twentieth century. Second, we look into changes of the 1960s when knowledge become a signifier for initiating research-based reforms. Third, we look into policy processes where international large-scale assessments set the reform agenda. In all three periods, we track subject-specific descriptions in mother tongue and history, and how these detailed what to teach and learn about the nation. Despite similarities, there are significant differences between the national curricula that can be linked to the different constitutional histories of the two countries. Notably, the chapter demonstrates how national curricula serve as public attempts to raise children to be and become national citizens.

As has been pointed out in previous research, teacher-led learning plays an important role in developing preschool children's technological skills and technological self-esteem. What is missing in research are more detailed analysis of how the children’s and teachers’ actions and interactions shape the learning process. In order to study this within the field of construction, an action research project was conducted, where construction activities were developed, implemented and revised in an iterative procedure. Data from the second cycle were analyzed for this article using graphic transcriptions and multimodal analysis, with a focus on action, interaction and experience from a pragmatist perspective. Our findings show that children who quickly and decisively engage with the material, the teachers and their peers in suggesting which material to use and/or how the material can be used, end up in a central role in the design process. These children (or their actions) often get legitimized by the teachers. Thus, in order to give children access to equal opportunities in the construction activities, it is important for teachers to understand how the children’s construction-focused actions become constitutive and what their role in that process is.

Whereas previous studies show that children are able to make meaningabout evolutionary concepts within read-aloud contexts, little is knownabout how semiotic resources and interaction influence children’s meaningmaking about evolution. This study investigates children’s meaning makingabout evolutionary concepts during a modelling activity conducted after aninteractive storybook read-aloud describing the evolution of a foraging traitof a fictitious mammal (the pilose). Forty children (13 groups) were videotapedas they produced a clay pilose model, while explaining how theythought their pilose would appear after inhabiting a ‘future’ environment(mountainous, snowy or forest). A multimodal analysis focused on howchildren demonstrated their meanings of seven evolutionary conceptsdescribed in the book. An eighth concept, ‘adaptation to environment’,was also often discussed. While all eight concepts emerged, the mostfrequent concerned survival and adaptation. The eighth concept appearedto serve as a synthesis of children’s interpretation of the storybook thathighlighted the visible consequences of evolution. The children engagedfive interactional resources, dominated by the interactional resource ofcommunicating the concepts in direct relation to their produced pilosemodels. The findings shed light on how children’s representational andrelational practices impact making meaning about evolution.