Historieundervisning i en tid av migrationspräglad mångfald: lärares didaktiska överväganden
2025 (Swedish) Doctoral thesis, monograph (Other academic) Alternative title
History teaching in a time of migration marked diversity : teachers’ didactical considerations (English)
Abstract [en]
By exploring the didactical considerations of experienced teachers, the overarching aim of this dissertation is to contribute knowledge about what contemporary migration marked diversity in schools means for history teaching. This is done through two sub-studies and semi-structured interviews with 20 teachers at the lower and upper secondary levels. The methodological foundation of the dissertation is a reflexive thematic analysis, and its primary analytical tool is educational philosopher Gert Biesta’s educational functions: qualification, socialization, and subjectification. In three empirical chapters, different dimensions of teachers’ didactical considerations in classrooms characterized by migration- marked cultural and ethnic diversity are addressed. The focus is on teachers’ teaching intentions, perceived opportunities and challenges, and strategies.This dissertation shows that teachers’ descriptions within the framework of seemingly similar intentions might mean different things. Two clusters of functional intentions emerge within a field of tension. This tension is most evident between socialization and subjectification, and within the domain of qualification. The results show that teachers’ perceptions of the significance of migration marked diversity signal more than value judgments. Opportunities and challenges emerge in both overarching and specific ways, constructed in relation to different (functional) intentions. A central result of the thesis consists of 10 strategies that reflect teachers’ ideas on how to handle challenging circumstances related to teaching history in classrooms characterized by migration marked diversity. The strategies show that teachers exhibit a wide range of ideas on how to overcome specific contextual challenges, with several ideas reminiscent of strategies identified in previous research. However, some of the strategies reflect approaches that have not been prominently featured in previous research. For example, the limitation of content can occur in a covert or open manner in an interaction or confrontation with students, and teachers’ ideas about accommodating diverse and conflicting voices are carried out with different functional intentions. Another result is that there are tensions between history didactical considerations and approaches suitable from a language didactical perspective. According to some teachers, situating teaching close to a history with which students have an emotional relationship can create poorer conditions for students to develop the critical skills that are requested. In other cases, teachers see it as advantageous to situate teaching close to students’ history, as reference knowledge can make it easier to contextualize.While previous research has described a “deficit discourse” – where equivalence is drawn between perceptions of the “immigrant student” and the “problem student” – teacher statements within this study does not entirely support such a discourse. This result has specific connections to history didactics. In relation to specific intentions, such as qualifying students’ understanding of the use of history, the lack of reference knowledge regarding European history among some students can be perceived as a learning opportunity for all students, illustrating how opportunities are constructed in relation to teaching intentions. This dissertation highlights the patchwork of (functional) intentions that teachers collectively attribute to their teaching, often in close contact with what they perceive to be the students’ needs.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages Umeå: Umeå University, 2025. , p. 295
Series
Umeå studies in history and education ; 28
Series
Umeå Studies in the Educational Sciences, ISSN 2004-8890, E-ISSN 2004-8661 ; 79
Keywords [en]
Migration marked diversity, history teachers, history didactics, educational function, multicultural
Keywords [sv]
Migrationsptäglad mångfald, historielärare, historiedidaktik, utbildningsfunktioner, mångkulturell
National Category
Didactics History
Research subject history of education
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-235496 ISBN: 978-91-8070-604-9 (print) ISBN: 978-91-8070-605-6 (electronic) OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-235496 DiVA, id: diva2:1938057
Public defence
2025-03-14, hörsal HUM.D.210 – Hummelhonung, Humanisthuset, Umeå universitet, Petrus Laestadius väg, 907 36 Umeå, Umeå, 10:00 (Swedish)
Opponent
Supervisors
2025-02-212025-02-172025-02-19 Bibliographically approved