Curriculum and school age educare

Extended Education Conference - World Education Research Association

Development of a Program to Foster Socio-Emotional Competences: An Intervention Study

-Heike Moyano Schmitt, research assistant, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany; Marianne Schüpbach, Prof. Dr, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany; Anna-Maria Seemann, co-chair and course coordinator,   Akademie für Ganztagsschulpädagogik, Germany; Heike Maria Schütz, co-chair and main coordinator, Akademie für Ganztagsschulpädagogik, Germany

Abstract

The educational goals of schools and all-day schools in Germany includes also support and strengthening of students‘ social-emotional competences. This is embedded in curricula and school laws in Germany. As a result of the ongoing expansion of all-day schools, a form of extended education, in Germany both the pedagogical staff and the students spend more time at school. This extended time frame is expected to allow for a better compatibility of career and family, but also to support the students‘ learning processes and academic achievement. Another goal of all-day schools is fostering the students‘ social and emotional competences. Organized as extracurricular activities, extended education, they can focus specifically on supporting these competences. Studies from the US reveal that extracurricular activities are especially effective for students‘ social behavior if they are sequenced, active, focused and explicit (SAFE) (Durlak, Weissberg & Pachen, 2010). This intervention study with a pre, post and follow-up design examines whether a guided, universal and preventive interventional program fosters the socio-emotional competences of students in all-day primary schools in extended education and is accepted by the involved stakeholders. The sample, treatment and control group, comprises N=290 students (Grade 1 to Grade 4) at twelve open all-day primary schools in the school year 2019/2020 in Bavaria, Germany.

The enactment of the new curriculum for Swedish school-age educare

-Maria Norqvist, PhD student, Umeå University, Sweden

Abstract

Swedish school-age educare (SAE) is a comprehensive practice for children in the ages six to twelve. SAE is governed by the same curriculum as the compulsory school. In 2016, a specific section aimed at SAE was added to the curriculum. The aim of this studyis to explore the process of introducing therevised curriculum for Swedish SAE; to analyse how SAE-staff interpret and re-contextualise the text in their practice, and how interpretation and realization processes relate to and affect each other. The design of the studyis inspired by policy enactment. This paper presents the results of the thematic analysis of interviews from one municipality. Two schools in the municipality were visited and in both schools the headmasters and SAE-staff were interviewed.An additionalinterview was made with the operations manager for all schools in the municipality. The preliminary results of the analysis indicates that the curriculum text for the SAE is welcomed and that it has clarified the missionofSAE. However, there are also difficulties in the process of translating and transforming the curriculum in the SAE settings. For example, the interpretation of the concept teachingis problematic, since the SAE originates from a social pedagogical traditionanddo not useteachingto describe the activities in their practice. Additionally,the SAE-staff expresses that they think that some formulations in the curriculum text puts the SAE in an underdog position towards the compulsory school.

Spotting “mathematics” in Swedish school-age educare

-Anna Wallin, PhD student, Stockholm University, Sweden; Paola Valero, Phd, Professor, Stockholm University, Sweden and Eva Norén, associate professor, Stockholm University, Sweden

Abstract

“If we want, we can see math’s in everything, but we should not limit ourselves to destroy baking with math’s”. These words, from a teacher in the Swedish school-age educare exemplify the challenges that can emerge when a subject as “mathematics” is made visible in the practice of school-age educare. The question that becomes central is; What can “mathematics” be in the school-age educare? Ball and collaborators’ framework (2012) of policy enactment directs our attention to the practice of school-age educare. With a close eye on interpretations, discourses and materials involved in enactment processes, we identify activities that can be characterized as “mathematical” in school-age educare. To spot what is “mathematical” in practice, we use Bishop (1988) six mathematical activities and the notion of embodiment, drawing on de Freitas and Sinclair (2013). From video recorded observations we studied how materials, bodies, discourses and interpretations were present. The results indicate that school-age educare possess its own type of mathematics, visible in participant’s interactions. Mathematical activities emerged in the process of interacting, interpreting and experiencing among students, relatives, teachers and staff in practice. Three types of interactions are characterized as mathematical: doing creations; describing relationships and addressing problems. A relevant result is the role of plausibility in the emergence of mathematical interactions, as expression of reasons for mathematical activity to be meaningful to participants in its own context. This provides is an alternative understanding of what “mathematics” can be, that is different from a formalized and school-driven mathematics.