Relationernas betydelse i skolan : Berättelser från elevens livsvärld

• Main Author: Rosenlöf, Charlotte
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Stockholms universitet, Specialpedagogiska institutionen 2015
• Subjects: Relations in school; meetings in school; life-world; ethics; interpersonal relations; Relationer i skolan; relationell pedagogik; pedagogiska möten; livsvärld; etik; mellanmänskliga relationer
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-121014

The meaning of relations in school is often given great significance in research and can also be considered as the base for Swedish school policy documents. In spite of this the understanding of students often tends to orient towards the individuals inability to learn. The aim of this study is to describe students’ experience of relations in school and what meaning they give to these relations. In the process of interpreting a life world approach was used to reach the students perspective on relations in school. The method is semi-structured interviews with six pupils on two schools in year 6-9. The result is presented in four themes related to the meaning of relations. The most important result is that relations are of great significance for learning and that it is mainly connected to the teachers’ ability to develop mutual trust together with the students. The teacher gives time and attention to the student and shows by changing the teaching that learning is a collective action. The trust between student and teacher is also a ground for the teachers’ authority which gives a space for the teacher to add new knowledge and help the student to exceed itself. An important finding is that learning, in the students’ point of view, does not contain separate but interlaced processes of new knowledge and personal experience and can be understood as taking different acting positions. Meeting students is therefore a result of the teachers’ ability to shift between different acting positions and being well prepared for this as a part of the daily work in school. The result of the study can be seen as a contribution considering relations in school as a foundation for the learning process. The pedagogical implications can be described in terms of a need for developing a practice of the teachers reflecting over practice in school.