Approaches to Knowledge and Qualification in Standards-Based Teaching

• In Event: Teachers' Approaches to Shaping Professional Environments

Abstract

This study explores the concrete implications of a standards-based curriculum for what is considered knowledge in different types of teaching contexts in Swedish schools. The focus is directed toward how teachers understand the task of teaching in high- and low-performing schools and what different discourses on knowledge and qualification are coming to the fore. The research question is, What forms of knowledge and qualification are emphasized when standard-based curriculum encounters teaching groups on different levels of knowledge achievement? During interviews with the teachers, two different ways of approaching the curriculum can be distinguished: integrated and performance based. These approaches are connected to two discourses of knowledge: social realism discourse and pragmatism discourse.

Author

• Ninni Wahlstrom, Linnaeus University