How do teachers think quality? This question is important since the teaching profession seems to be characterized by constant work intensification (Sarfatti-Larson, 1980). Repeated research show a steady increase in the number of tasks teachers are expected to perform (Apple 1989, Faber 1991, Hargreaves 1994, Day 2000, Grundy & Bonser 2000, Sutton 2007, Day & Gu 2007, Aili & Brante 2007, Chang 2009, Steen-Olsen & Eikseth, 2010). Teachers must therefore constantly prioritize between competing tasks and (to the extent they are pursuing quality of teaching) the question that arises is - how do they construct  realtions between tasks that are performed before the lesson and the teaching quality.

In this paper we present an explorative study of how teacher formulate themselves about their daily work tasks in relation to the quality of their teaching. 60 teachers were invited to answer a semi structured web-questionnaire about work tasks they had perform during the day, once a day during two weeks. They were asked to choose two tasks that, from their perspective, had impact on the quality of their teaching in the nearest future. In addition to this they were asked to give each task a name, describe its content and under which circumstances it had been performed, and to specify in which way the task had impact on the teaching nearby. The material includes total 325 respectively 12 received questionnaires.

The analysis focus is on teachers’ meaning-making of what quality is, and the relation between the work before teaching and the outcome of the teaching. A grounded content analysis was performed. The seven tasks identified by the teacher teams in the second questionnaire were analyzed in conjunction with a random sample of answers from the individual questionnaire regarding the same tasks. These tasks are labeled by the teachers name for the work task: Work with individual development plans, Planning of next day’s teaching, Planning of thematic work, Planning a school cinema visit, Production of material and Pupils’ choice.

Some categories for the type of quality impact the teachers report have been construed such as for example “Absolute conditions” for links to a work task to the teaching such as the necessity to have ordered the groceries  before a lesson in cooking or ordered a bus for the transport to a school cinema visit. Another example is “Quality in a presentation” for links between high concentration works such as putting pedagogical considerations into a specific content. The way the teachers construe the reasons for tasks being important to quality are discussed in relation to earlier research about teachers’ professional language, characterization of teacher work, and teacher thinking.

Aili, C. & Brante, G,. (2007). Qualifying Teacher Work: Everyday Work as Basis For the Autonomy of the Teaching Profession. Teachers & Teaching, 13 (3), pp. 287-306.

Apple, M., (1989). Teachers and texts. New York: Routledge & Keegan.

Chang, M-L., (2009). An Appraisal Perspective of Teacher Burnout: Examining the Emotional Work of Teachers. Educational Psychology Review 21 (3), pp. 193-218.

Day, C., (2000). Stories of change and professional development: The costs of commitment, In C. Day, A. Fernandez, T. Hauge & J. Møller (Eds). The life and work of teachers. International perspectives in changing times. London: Falmer Press.

Day, C. & Gu, Q., (2010). The New Lives of Teachers, London: Routledge.

Farber, B., (1991). Crisis in Education: Stress and Burnout in The American Teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Grundy, S. & Bronser, S., (2000). The New Work Order and Australian Schools, In: C. Day, A. Fernandez, T. Hauge & J. Møller (Eds). The life and work of teachers. International perspectives in changing times. London: Falmer Press.

Hargreaves, A., (1994). Changing teachers, changing times. Teachers’ work and culture in postmodern age. London: Cassell.

Sarfatti-Larson, M,. (1980) The Rise of Professionalism: A Sociological Analysis},University of California Press.

Steen-Olsen, T. & Eikseth, A., (2010). The Power of Time: Teachers' Working Day--Negotiating Autonomy and Control. European Educational Research Journal, 9(2), pp. 284-295.

Sutton, R., (2007). Teachers’ Anger, Frustration, and Self-regulation. In P. Schutz & R. Pekrun. (Eds), Emotions in Education. pp. 259-274. San Diego: Elsevier.

Swedish preschools and schools are welfare institutions required to achieve and demonstrate high quality. The teachers’ extensive responsibility for quality development and evaluation is stated in the national curriculums. Many studies have contributed with quality definitions and suggestions on how quality can be achieved and measured. This paper discusses how discourse analysis can contribute to the studies of quality and quality work in school. Short extracts of data from the on-going project Quality work in Swedish pre-school are used in order to give an insight in the method’s potential and limitations. Our methodological framework is inspired by Foucault’s theories of discourse and knowledge relations, in which discourses are regarded as more or less systematic statements about how we should think about the world. According to Foucault discourses shape and created meaning systems which may gain the status of 'truth', and hereby dominate how we define and organize ourselves and our social world. Some discourses can constrain and dissent the production of knowledge, while others may enable 'new' knowledge. Discourses lead to mechanisms that control us, by construing some manners of speaking [or writing] and behaving as appropriate, true and good, while others are construed as inappropriate, untrue and undesired. Consequently the study of discourses is closely related to the study of power relations, focusing on how these relations are operating in the spoken [or written] words. The questions that arise within this framework are e.g. How do some discourses maintain their authority? Why do some 'voices' get heard whilst others are silenced? Who benefits and who does not? Critical discourse analysis is a method used to study discourses and their relations to sociocultural practices, which allows for a critical perspective on the society. Critical discourse analysis is especially suitable for studies of texts such as steering documents, interview transcripts etc. The analyses focus on how discourses express themselves, e.g. in teachers’ statements about quality. The method provides a number of analytical tools such as: Normalization [What is expressed as a ’truth’? What does this ‘truth’ encompass?]; Pronouns used [Who are made responsible?]; and Modality [How forceful are the statements?]

The short extracts from our analyses demonstrate how language contributes to create, consolidate and sometimes change the perceptions of quality in socio-political institutions such as the Swedish municipal preschool. We exemplify how power relations coexist or concur within this discourse, and illustrate the discursive shift which seems to have occurred.

Conclusively, discourse analysis neither describe quality nor prescribe how it can be achieved. It contributes to our knowledge about the ‘truths’ and power relations that are embedded in the spoken and written ‘talk’ about quality. This knowledge is not merely of academic interest. It can also prove useful for teachers trying to understand and relate to the circumstances under which they are expected to create and evaluate quality in a school setting.

The present doctoral thesis aimed to explore what it means to be a first-level manages in a Swedish municipal social care administration, seen from the managers’ perspective. The empirical data derives from a participative, constructivist project which intended to contribute to new practice-based knowledge and to the learning and development of the participating managers. The participating managers reflected over their work and their managerial role by the use of a combination of repertory grid interviews, personal diaries and group discussions. Qualitative descriptive phenomenological analyses of the extensive material painted a vivid and nuanced picture of their work situation and professional role. In Paper I the project and the used methods were described in detail. Short extracts of data illustrated the potential of the general approach of combining constructivist techniques in participative and action oriented projects. The first brief results illustrated by “A day in a team manager’s working life” and by three “leadership dilemmas”: The spider in the web; The border patrol; and The open door, presented a picture of the managers’ complex work situation and how they were stimulated to address the problems arising. Paper II showed the many facets of social care management, where six “faces” portrayed the complex managerial role. The results indicated that managers in this and other welfare organizations need to construe and re-construe their managerial role in order to balance the contrasting demands on their role, thereby ac-complishing a personal equilibrium. Paper III further explored the managers' leadership role ideal, grounded in the concept of care. Several aspects of the managers' work situation resulted, on their own or in conjunction, in difficul-ties fulfilling their caring leadership ideal. These difficulties of which the managers spoke were arranged into three distinct patterns: problems, dilemmas and paradoxes. The results gave insight of the nature of these difficulties, the implications which these might have on the managers, their staff and the delivery of service, and the discussed remedies. Taken together the results raises new questions about municipal managers’ abilities and possibilities to handle ideals and requirements which are difficult to consoli-date particularly in times or resource scarcity. Is it possible to be an at the same time caring and efficient manager? How can mangers’ options to handle the complexity of modern welfare organisations be strengthened?

Teachers are the most important school based factor for students’ learning outcomes (Santoro, Reid, Mayer & Singh, 2012). Teachers are also central to school improvement efforts (OECD, 2005). Teachers’ options to work in accordance with their professional ideals are of significant importance to their health and wellbeing (Hultell, 2011).

In this project Swedish teacher teams reflected over their work during a three-year period. Time shortage caused by technical problems, staff-shortage and extensive administrative workload hampered their opportunities to do a good job, causing stress, guilt and dissatisfaction. The group process was appreciated since it allowed the in depth exploration of aspects of the teachers’ work and professional role.

This indicates that constructivist projects where teachers can share meanings of the concepts “good” teaching and being a “good” or a “good enough” teacher can help them balancing diverging concepts such as “effective knowledge delivery” and “relations and care for pupils ”.

Teachers are the most important school based factor for students’ learning outcomes and educational success. Whereas teachers’ pro-spects of enhancing their students’ development and study results, are significant for their work satisfaction and wellbeing. This suggests that the endorsement of quality teaching will improve student results and teacher wellbeing. Many teachers have difficulties performing in accordance to their professional standards, sick rates are alarmingly high, and several teachers leave the profession. This calls for a re-search approach where teachers’ prospects of performing quality teaching, are related to their options to perform quality-driven profes-sional teacher work, i.e. the work performed to support quality teach-ing. Such an approach take into account factors related to local school leadership, and the organisation of teacher work. This paper aims to bring together teachers’ and principals’ perspectives on quality-driven professional teacher work, in order to gain new knowledge and give implications for praxis. The principals and teachers construe teachers’ options to perform quality-driven professional work in relation to the implementation of a new curriculum and a new grading system, quali-ty certification processes and an ongoing work hour project, and to some extent also to the teachers’ personality and ambitions. The teachers’ also mention factors related to local oranisation processes, and the relations to pupils and fellow teachers. 

This case describes the Diary-in-Group method (personal diary notations combined with group sessions) as used in a participative and action-oriented project which intended to contribute to new practice-based knowledge on what it means to be a first-level manager in a Swedish municipal social care administration, and to the learning and development of the participating managers. The project's methodological framework derived from personal construct psychology and phenomenology. The method generated a large amount of data which were analysed using a qualitative descriptive phenomenological approach. The analyses aimed to give voice to the impromptu views and opinions of the managers, thereby contributing to an understanding of the complexity of the managers' organisation and work situation as well as of how this was reflected in their experiences in which various aspects collided. The results raised new questions about municipal managers' ability to handle ideals and requirements which are difficult to consolidate, particularly in times or resource scarcity. In this case, the Diary-in-Group method and its function, and the quality and relevance of the results, are discussed in relation to the project aims.

Social care organisations provide services vital to the care recipients’ health and wellbeing.

The qualified work tasks performed in these organisations are performed and often led by professionals with considerable professional jurisdiction, such as nurses and physiotherapists.

This paper discuss the effects of an organisational change process in a social care organisation, from the professionals’ and the managers’ perspectives.

From the professional point of view, the team organisation, designed to meet requirements for increased efficiency and quality, had brought on several contra productive effects.

These professions, formerly organised in specialist units, were assigned to several teams and therefore required to report to several managers.

Both managers and professionals found unclear managerial roles and jurisdictional conflicts bothersome.

The professional groups feared that loss of peer-group and managerial support would lead to de‐professionalisation.

Their perceived remedies were scheduled meetings with all staff categories, and increased options to develop their professional knowledge.

This paper reports on a participative project where Swedish social care managers explored their work and their managerial role by means of repertory grid interviews and collegial reflection. The qualitative, phenomenological data analysis provides a multifaceted picture of what it means to be a social care manager, seen from the managers’ perspective. The results indicate that managers in this and other welfare organisations need to construe and re-construe their managerial role in order to balance the contrasting demands on their role, thereby accomplishing a personal equilibrium. The managers’ meaning-making process can be supported by constructivist techniques such as those used in this project.

 Swedish municipal social care managers and their staff often feel inadequate in their efforts to live up to legal requirements, organisational quality objectives, and their own professional ideals

This study reports from a constructivist and participative project in which Swedish social care managers reflected over their work and their managerial role by the use of repertory grid interviews, personal diaries and group discussions.

The qualitative phenomenological analyses of the extensive material show that the managers construed time as a crucial factor in relation to their work situation and managerial role, the staff members and the quality of the services produced.

The results give a vivid and nuanced picture of the managers’ experiences of time consuming work processes, time shortage, time thieves and other time related difficulties, but also of time managing strategies and alternative solutions.   

Managers’ insights regarding their own work are of major importance in terms of performance and efficiency and their personal health. In this project the managers’ meaning making processes were supported by the use of constructivist techniques.

 Swedish municipal social care managers and their staff often feel inadequate in their efforts to live up to legal requirements, organisational quality objectives, and their own professional ideals

This study reports from a constructivist and participative project in which Swedish social care managers reflected over their work and their managerial role by the use of repertory grid interviews, personal diaries and group discussions.

The qualitative phenomenological analyses of the extensive material show that the managers construed time as a crucial factor in relation to their work situation and managerial role, the staff members and the quality of the services produced.

The results give a vivid and nuanced picture of the managers’ experiences of time consuming work processes, time shortage, time thieves and other time related difficulties, but also of time managing strategies and alternative solutions.   

Managers’ insights regarding their own work are of major importance in terms of performance and efficiency and their personal health. In this project the managers’ meaning making processes were supported by the use of constructivist techniques.

Head teachers are expected to be pedagogic leaders who support their teachers’ professional development in order to improve long term teaching quality and goal achievement. Research shows that many heads perform a multitude of administrative and hands-on tasks, while trying to balance diverging and sometimes incomprehensive objectives and expectations.

This paper reports from a project where six Swedish head teachers reflected over their tasks and role, using the diary- in-group-method.

The results show how the participants construe their role in relation to their complex and multifaceted work situation, and to their personal and professional ambitions. They all seem to have a personal approach to their role, which allow them to balance the contrasting demands and to accomplish a personal equilibrium.

The participants appreciated the research process, which provided individual reflection on the diverse tasks that filled their days, and collegial feedback and reflection on important aspects of their professional role.

University teachers construe their work as important and creative (Swedish National Agency for Higher Education, 2008), contributing not only to the development of their students but also to the sustainable development of modern societies. However their working conditions have deteriorated during the last centuries (see e.g. Kallio, 2014, Swedish National Agency for Higher Education, 2008; Swedish Association of University Teachers, 2013). The negative trend can to a large extent be explained by fundamental changes in management and administration (Vakkuri & Meklin, 2003; Modell, 2003, 2005, 2006). This NPM-style management is often found in conflict with and having negative effects on the scholars’ intrinsic motivation and their knowledge-intensive work (Kallio & Kallio, 2014). In this study Swedish university teachers explore their professional role and work life experiences using a constructivist technique called rivers of experience (Denicolo & Pope, 2011).

Detta paper rapporterar från ett projekt där tio verksamhetsnära chefer inom kommunal omsorgsverksamhet reflekterade över sin roll och arbets^­­^­­­situation. Det empiriska materialet består av chefernas dag­böcker samt transkriptioner från tio gruppsessioner. Vid tiden för projektet genom­gick organisationen en omfattande politiskt beslutad förändrings­­process, som syftade till förbättrad ekonomisk effektivitet och service­kva­litet, tydli­gare resultat­­ansvar samt rätt kompetensförsörj­­ning. En ny vision, Rätt kval­i­tet i varje möte, och ett nytt kv­a­­li­­­­­tetssäkringssystem infördes. I samband här­med genomfördes också en officiell om­­defi­­nition av verk­sam­­hetens avnä­mare från pensionärer/omsorgstagare till kunder. Nya chefs^­­­posi­­tioner ersatte tidigare nivåer och nya chefer rekryterades. De nyligen tillsatta che­fer­­na gavs ansvar för ett ökat antal anställda samt för nya pro­fes­sionella grupper såsom sjuksköterskor, sjukgymnaster och arbets­te­ra­peuter. 

Chefernas situation präglades av tidsbrist, över­belastning, hög chefs­­­­om­sättning samt bristande stöd uppifrån. Kom­plexiteten och svåröver­skåd­lig­heten i chefernas yrkesvardag antyds av de av dem använda uttrycken strukturen och systemet, som tycks stå för olikartade, överord­nade villkor utanför deras kontroll, något av en tusenhövdad drake som perso­ni­fierar ”allt ont från ovan”. Resultaten indikerar att cheferna hamnat i kläm mellan två samexisterande och svår­­fören­liga värde­system, Välfärdsstaten och New Public Management, vilka åter­finns i beslut fattade på olika samhälls­nivåer. Effekterna av beslu­ten blir synliga på verk­sam­hets­­nivån, där cheferna ham­­nar i para­doxala situa­tioner som gör att de känner sig tvin­gade att agera på ett sätt som strider mot deras övertygelse och profes­sio­nella ideal och som med­för nega­­tiva och orimliga konse­kvenser för alla in­blan­­dade.

 Chefernas upplevda möjligheter att tackla de svårigheter som upp­står kan rela­teras till deras faktiska handlingsutrymme och till deras upplevda hand­lingsfrihet, vilken varierar i betydande grad.

This paper discusses academic leadership from a PCP- perspective. The proposed research is part of a planned project focusing on academic teacher-researcher-leader in Swedish higher education. Drawing on Kompf & Brown’s (2005) theories of teachers’ personal and professional ideas about the practice - superordinate constructs nexus, we aim to explore and gain a deeper understanding of their core identity (Denicolo, Long and Bradley-Cole 2016). This is related to being a good teacher-researcher-leader in the current politic-economic context of higher education: tensions between reforms based on managerial logic from the business world and the pedagogic processes informed by professional academic logic (Pettersen, 2015), have an impact on all aspects of the academic role. 

Swedish doctoral researchers are predominantly employed at their university, and their work is regulated under the Work Environment Act. Their situation has been described as “heavenly hell” (Ilar, 2017). On the one hand they feel privileged, performing creative work vital to the development of students and modern societies (Källhammer, 2008). On the other their working conditions are often charaterised by: high or very high stress levels and demands; unpredictable goals; unclear or tacit expectations; and lack of recognition and support (Källhammer, 2008; Swedish Higher Education Authority, 2016). Conditions which can lead to depression and fatigue syndrome, especially if they are individualised and normalized (Holmström, 2018). 31% have not completed their doctorate 8 years after being registered to a 4-5-year doctoral programme (Swedish National Agency for Higher Education, 2014).

This paper explores how Swedish universities can improve their doctoral researchers’ working conditions in order to not only minimize work-related illness and drop-out, but also to stimulate creativity and passion as well as flexibility to cope with the rigours inherent in research (Denicolo, 2018).  

Swedish university doctoral researcher-teachers construe their work as creative, vital to the development of students and modern societies. The majority feel privileged, even though they find themselves in tension between reforms based on managerial business world logics and pedagogic processes informed by professional academic logic. Autonomy and jurisdiction is threatened by managerial, administrative and external stakeholder pressure. Complexity, intensification and frequent change impede their potential to perform according to professional standards: endangering teaching quality, the doctorate, student results, work satisfaction, health and well-being. Drawing on constructivist theories about professional practice as superordinate constructs, we explore the core identity of academic staff/doctoral researchers, in relation to the experience of being a good teacher in the current politic-economic context of higher education. The results will inform recommendations about improving working conditions and models for policy and practice, designed to improve quality as sought by the Government by increasing professional freedom and discretion. 

We present a project where constructivist techniques (repertory grid interview, focus group and diary-ingroup) were combined in participative, action research. The process sustained the development of leadership and praxis through (1) individual reflection grounded in personal experiences and (2) group reflection through the shared and revised construing of pertinent issues. Throughout the project the participating managers addressed matters important to them in their professional role. The short extracts of data presented give an insight in the managers’ complex work situation, the dilemmas that they are facing and how they were stimulated to address the problems arising.

Swedish preschools are welfare institutions required to achieve and demonstrate high quality. The preschool teachers are responsible not only for the quality of the daily activities at the preschool, but also for the evaluation and development of these activities. The latter can be problematic especially in times of diminishing financial resources. This raises question on how quality is defined and evaluated.

Our analysis of the national steering documents showed two coexisting discourses concerning quality and quality work in the Swedish preschools: I) a relational discourse within which quality was closely related to relations and reflections, and II) a new public management (NPM) discourse within which quality was related to measurability and effectiveness.

A following study of discursive expressions of quality and quality work among preschool teachers showed that the participants’ statements to a high extent corresponded with the relational discourse found in the national steering documents. The teachers regarded themselves responsible for maintain good relations to the children and their parents, and to their colleagues. The relational discourse was to some extent challenged by the NPM discourse. This discourse was found in statements stressing a correspondence between activities and curriculum, and the local guiding principle: perform, evaluate, and develop. Evaluations were made by mandatory reports to the municipal administration and locally produced inquiry forms to the parents.

In this paper we present a study which aims to explore discursive expressions about how quality could be achieved in preschool work among preschool teachers. The methodological frame of reference is inspired by critical discourse analysis, which enables the study of discourses and their relations to socio cultural practices, hereby allowing a critical perspective on society. Data was collected during a seminar where preschool teachers reflect upon their work and how they define quality or lack of quality.