A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Health and social care teachers' descriptions of challenges in their teaching at upper secondary school

  2017. Eva Eliasson, Helena Rehn. Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training 7 (1), 42-63

  Article

  Since vocational teachers not only mediate theoretical and practical knowledge, but also ideals concerning the professionals’ personalities and actions, the aim of this study is to analyse if and how these ideals influence the highlighted challenges of teaching. The study is drawing on a social constructionist perspective; the method used involves 17 qualitative interviews. The challenges mentioned were as follows: lack of motivation, language and cultural factors, low status of the occupation and plagiarism. Underlying ideals rooted in the health care sector were that students should become a carer because of an inner desire. Moral and ethical values were other ideals that underpinned themes such as dealing with plagiarism and the problems experienced with non-native Swedes. An underlying fact is also the low traditional status of the nursing assistants, a challenge the teachers try to handle without effective tools. In the order to understand the challenges and handle them, the teachers construct categories of differences. This is visible when the categorisation of students is made based on motivation and ethnicity. The findings highlight the importance of courses

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• Caring disposition and subordination. Swedish health and social care teachers' conceptions of important vocational knowledge

  2015. Helena Rehn, Eva Eliasson. Journal of Vocational Education and Training 67 (4), 558-577

  Article

  Based on the increasing demands for vocational training in upper secondary school to adapt to workplace conditions, the aim of this article is to explore vocational teachers’ conceptions regarding vocational knowledge. Drawing on a social constructionist perspective, this study analysed data from 17 interviews. The study showed how power dynamics, such as gender and class, affect the teachers’ conceptions. The most important expertise, according to the teachers, was related to a feminine caring disposition in which empathy and communication were identified as core abilities. However, these abilities needed to be balanced in order to avoid becoming too emotional. There was a strong link to class, for example, the hierarchical structure was revealed when the teachers spoke of a nursing assistant having to know when to call a nurse rather than a doctor or an ambulance. The findings raise questions concerning what it means for the construction of vocational habitus when a superordinate group trains a subordinate group.

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• Dialogens gestaltning och användning inom hälso- och sjukvården

  2012. Helena Rehn. Dialogen som idé och praktik

  Chapter

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