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Policy enactment in education is a highly complex process. Previous studies suggest that time constraints, a comprehensive syllabus, and goal-oriented management in schools can exacerbate difficulties in selecting content at the school/classroom level. This study focuses on aspects that have not received as much attention: the formation of subject content in the contextualization process, using a school subject (Art) that is not aligned with a specific academic discipline as an example.  To gain new knowledge about how a subject content is formed as it is renegotiated in different policy levels,  Bernstein’s theory of the pedagogical device was used when policy documents and transcribed interviews were analysed; the interviews were conducted with art teachers and two Officials from the National Agency for Education during ten months as a new curriculum was implemented. The findings suggests that the lack of affiliation with a specific academic discipline enables significant changes in subject content. Moreover, the renegotiation of policy, and hence subject content, is profoundly influenced by societal changes and ideologies in the official recontextualization field. Additionally, the strong internal classification of the Art subject significantly influences content selection in the pedagogical recontextualization field.  In the context of Nordic education systems, this study holds particular relevance. The Nordic countries, while sharing many similarities in their educational philosophies, also exhibit differences. Despite the increasing influence of New Public Management principles in some countries, all Nordic nations maintain a tradition where teachers play a crucial role in interpreting curriculum and transforming it into teaching at the classroom level. This study's results contribute new insights pertinent across the Nordic countries. Highlighting how different principles at different policy levels can shape subject content and even offer space for resistance at the school level, which gives hope in a time when teachers' autonomy is decreasing due to mechanisms of goal- and result management.

Subject matter development in education is a highly complex process. Previous studies indicate that time limitations, diversity of subject matter, and goal-oriented management of schools can exacerbate difficulties in selecting content in compulsory school-level education. This study addresses aspects that have received less attention: the formation of subject content (through renegotiation and interpretation of changing policies) in an illustrative school subject (Art) that is not aligned with a specific academic discipline. For this purpose, I have analyzed policy documents and expressions of interviewed art teachers and officials using Bernstein’s pedagogical device theory. The results indicate that absence of an affiliation with an academic discipline facilitates changes in subject content. Furthermore, the renegotiation of policy (and hence subject content) are strongly influenced by societal changes and ideologies in the official recontextualization field, while the strong internal classification of the Art subject significantly influences content selection in the pedagogical recontextualization field.

Bildämnets kursplaner har följt samhällsutvecklingen, men det har skett en eftersläpning i själva bildundervisningen på klassrumsnivån. Denna eftersläpning har förklarats med att lärarnas ämneskonception har informerats av äldre ämnesparadigm (Skolverket, 2015; Åsén, 2006). Mitt nuvarande forskningsprojekt syftar till att öka kunskapen om förutsättningarna för att iscensätta en ny kursplan i bildämnet. Syftet har brutits ner i följande forskningsfrågor:

• Hur formar kontexten förutsättningarna för lärares tolkning av ny policy?
• Hur formar ämnesinnehåll och ämnestraditioner bildlärarnastolkning av en ny kursplan?
• Hur påverkar skolans styrsystemförutsättningar för lärarnas tolkning och översättning av kursplanen i bild?

Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med tio bildlärare. Ytterligare en intervju med två representanter från Skolverket har genomförts. Dessutom har kursplanen och implementeringsmaterialet från Skolverket analyserats.Med hjälp av teori om policy enactment (Ball et al., 2012) belyses komplexiteten i processen med att iscensätta policy samt hur kontexten informerar tolkning och översättning av en kursplan. I denna presentation kommer de första resultaten av denna pågående studie att presenteras och diskuteras. Resultaten visar att skolans mål-och resultatstyrning utmanar den traditionella didaktiska utbildningstraditionen och därmed lärarnas professionella frihet.

Referenser: 

Ball, Maguire, M., & Braun, A. (2012). How Schools Do Policy: Policy Enactments in Secondary Schools. Routledge.

Skolverket, Marner, A. & Örtegren, H. (2015). Bild i grundskolan: en nationell ämnesutvärdering i årskurs 6 och 9.

Åsén, G. (2006). Varför bild i skolan? - en historisk tillbakablick på argument för ett marginaliserat skolämne, In Uttryck, intryck, avtryck: lärande, estetiska uttrycksformer och forskning, (pp.107–122). Stockholm: Vetenskapsrådet.

The paper aims to add to what is known about how contextual prerequisites and governance systems affect art teachers’ professional freedom, a topic of global significance. Previous research shows that Visual Arts education has not been aligned with current syllabi. This discrepancy is partly explained by ‘a lag’ in the teachers’ subject conceptions given that visual arts teachers traditionally enjoy considerable professional freedom while designing their teaching. That is only one explanation; in contrast, this article, set in the Swedish educational context, enhances understanding of policy enactment in the visual art subject, with relevance for global educational policies. To understand how contextual conditions and patterns of governance determine the level of teacher autonomy, in-depth semi-structured interviews with ten art teachers in the Swedish 9-year compulsory school were conducted over 10 months in 2022, coinciding with the implementation of a new curriculum. In addition, staff from the National Agency for Education (NAfE) were interviewed, and NAfE materials were analyzed. Employing policy enactment theory, the analysis shows that contextual factors significantly influence the prerequisites of policy enactment. Further, the goals- and results-based management of schools challenges art teachers’ professional freedom as teachers adapt to the principles of governmentality. This, in turn, makes enacting new art policy challenging and time-consuming.

This presentation discusses and problematizes the use of teaching materials in the subject of visual arts from a historical perspective and relation to the contemporary. In visual arts, teaching materials are disparate since visual art teachers use published teaching materials combined with self-produced dito, which potentially creates a problem regarding equivalence (SOU 2021:70). Also, a recurring challenge in art education is the visual arts teachers' ambivalence towards linguistics in relation to the visual, non-formulated aspects of the teaching (Karlsson Häikiö, 2021), which affects the use of teaching materials.

In traditional art education in the 19th century, images and models were used to describe and explain phenomena concerning the outside world. This demonstrative teaching through instructive materials continued through television and video tapes in the 1960s to today's multimedia programs and digital images (Eriksson, 2004). A paradigm shift from technical drawing at the beginning of the century to visual arts guided by artistic values in the 1930s led to a new era in teaching materials influencing the subject from a more aestheticized perspective (Åsén, 2006).

The subject of visual arts is today considered part of a broader research field, visual culture, using multimodal ways of knowing (Buhl, Flensborg & Illeris, 2003). Visual competence has formerly been highlighted as an aspect of knowledge connected to seeing in the syllabus for visual arts (Curriculum Lgr22; Wagner & Schönau, 2016). This is where teaching materials can play a role.

Until 1991, Sweden had state control of teaching materials to ensure their quality. After the abolition of state control, the professionalism of teachers and an open market in teaching materials would ensure the quality of the teaching materials (Långström, 1997).  At the same time, digitization took off, and teachers can use different sources in their teaching. It is now common for teachers to combine published teaching materials with open sources, free materials, and self-produced teaching materials. 

After nearly 20 years of no government control of teaching materials, the Swedish government released a report (SOU 2021:70) on teaching materials in schools. The report promotes teaching materials and highlights their benefits. Similar sentiments are heard from both teachers and politicians. The report (SOU 2021:70) has been analyzed in the research project with policy analysis based on Bacchi's What's the problem represented to be? (WPR) (2009), and the results will be presented at the conference.

1. Research topic/aim: The overall purpose of this thesis is to describe and discuss preconditions for theenactment and the construction of fundamental values in art education in secondaryschool.

2. Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework used in this study is a combination of policy enactmenttheory (Ball et al. 2012) and Bernsteins (2000) concepts Classification and Framing.This combination allowed to analyse the influence of context and existing subjecttraditions and teaching practice in art education.

3. Methodology/research design: The study is based on ethnographic methods, including classroom observations,video recordings and interviews with art teachers and pupils. Three art teachers and36 pupils in grades eight and nine (age 14-16) have participated in the study.

4. Expected results/findings: The results show that the conditions for policy enactment are created by severalfactors that interact. Together with existing subject traditions and teaching practicesin art education, the unique contextual mix that every school provide creates theconditions for enacting the fundamental values in art education. For example, the artsubject carries an image-making tradition that pushes aside more theoretical syllabuscontent, such as image analysis. The situated context influences the professionalculture and, therefore, they function as a lens for selecting and translating thecurriculum; hence, different groups of pupils receive different democratic education.Also, the school's goal and result management focus on measurable subjectknowledge and therefore marginalise the fundamental values. Together, this makes itchallenging to incorporate fundamental values in subject teaching.

5. Relevance to Nordic educational research: Democratic education is essential in all Nordic countries, and these results helpexplain why it is not always easy to incorporate the more generic democratic goals inthe subject teaching.

The poster will show a model of how different factors interact as the curriculum isenacted.

References: 

Ball, S. J., Maguire, M. & Braun, A. (2012). How schools do policy: Policy enactmentsin secondary schools. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203153185

Bernstein, B. (2000[1996]). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity: theory,research, critique. Rev. ed Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

1. Research topic/aim: This research deals with enacting the art syllabus in the new curriculum (Lgr 22) inthe Swedish compulsory school. In this syllabus, the core content about images thatdeal with norms and values has been expanded and now includes schoolyear onethrough nine. The concept "norm" has been introduced in the art syllabus. Also, theconcept of "visual culture" has a protruding position in Lgr 22 compared to the formercurriculum (Lgr 11). Together, this shows a shift in subject content, which is meant tolead to changes in teaching practice. A change that often is slow and gradual (Åsén,2006). The aim of the study is to increase knowledge about and deepenunderstanding of how subject content is interpreted, renegotiated and takes shape atthe classroom level in the process of enacting a new syllabus.

2. Theoretical framework: The theoretical point of departure is Ball et al. s' (2012) theory of curriculumenactment. Policy enactment is understood as a complex process where the contexthas a significant influence as different types of policy actors do policy (Ball et al.,2012).

3. Methodology/research design: Central to the research design is policy ethnography, including observations,interviews, observations, and collection of teaching materials. The study is conductedin primary and secondary public schools and includes art teachers and pupils. Thefirst part of the study, starting spring 2022, consists of interviews with teachers andfocus upon their interpretation of the syllabus. The second part also includesclassroom observations and interviews with pupils.

4. Expected results/findings: Expected results in the first part of this study will address how teachers interpret thenew syllabus in Lgr22. The analysis will show what influences teachers' interpretationand how they negotiate their understanding of the subject in relation to their subjectconception, professional culture and the school context. Preliminary results frominterviews will be presented at the conference.

5. Relevance to Nordic educational research: Even though the art subject differs between the Nordic countries (Lindström, 2009),the results of this study are relevant to Nordic educational research as it contributesto the understanding of the process of and factors that influence policy enactment ina Scandinavian school context.

References: 

Ball, S. J. Maguire, M. & Braun, A. (2012). How schools do policy: Policy enactmentsin secondary schools. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203153185

Lindström, L. (2009). Nordic visual arts education in transition: a research review.Vetenskapsrådet.

Åsén, G. (2006) Varför bild i skolan? -en historisk tillbakablick på argument för ettmarginaliserat skolämne. In: Lundgren, U. P. (red.) Uttryck, intryck, avtryck: lärande,etetiska uttrycksformer och forskning, p. 107–122. Stockholm: Vetenskapsrådet.

The overall purpose of this thesis is to describe and discuss preconditions for the enactment and the construction of fundamental values in art education in secondary school. The study is based on ethnographic methods, including classroom observations, video recordings and interviews with art teachers and pupils. Three art teachers and 36 pupils in grade eight and nine (age 14-16) have participated in the study. The schools are located in areas of different socio-economic status. Besides interviews, the empirical material consists of observation notes, video and sound recordings, documents and photographs from the observed lessons. In total, 27 lessons were observed and recorded, 20 interviews with teachers and seven interviews with pupils were conducted. The empirical material is analysed with a combination of policy enactment theory (Ball et al. 2012) and concepts form Bernstein (2000, 2003) and Bakhtin (1981, 1986).

The analysis reveals that the conditions for policy enactment are created by several factors that interact. It is impossible to designate a single factor to explain why the enacted curriculum turns out the way it does. The contextual dimensions, such as material context, situated context, professional culture and external context (Ball et al. 2012), constitute a complex and unique contextual mix in every school. Together with existing subject traditions and teaching practices in art education, the unique contextual mix creates the conditions for enacting the fundamental values in art education.

The art subject carries a tradition of image-making that pushes more theoretical syllabus content,such as image analysis, aside. The situated context influences the professional culture and, therefore,they function as a lens for selecting and translating the curriculum. Regardless of teachers' intentionsto enact the fundamental values in art education, the external context can create obstacles. The goal and result management of school leads to a focus on measurable subject knowledge and drive awayother curriculum parts such as the fundamental values, making it challenging to work with fundamental values in Art education.

In conclusion, there are no prerequisites for realising the intentions of the fundamental values as expressed in the curriculum. Despite this, the fundamental values have a given place in Art education. Although, it is not always expressed verbally; instead, it is image-borne.