Det undervisande fritidshemmet i lärandets tidevarv : En diskursanalytisk studie med fokus på de naturvetenskapliga och tekniska undervisningspraktikerna

Sammanfattning: School-age educare centres (SAEC) have traditionally been places with room for play and for the realization of children’s interests, initiatives, and needs. In recent years, there have been discursive shifts, where SAEC has moved from a social pedagogical arena towards an educational pedagogical one. This change is the focus of this dissertation’s study, which aims to contribute knowledge about how science and technology are expressed in SAEC teaching.The study is ethnographically inspired, and video observations and field notes, as well as formal and informal interviews have been used as data collection methods. The study has been conducted at three different SAEC with diverse conditions. One is located at a compulsory school for pupils with intellectual disabilities, one is an outdoor SAEC, and one is what could be described as an 'ordinary' SAEC that reflects contemporary conditions of SAEC; a large number of enrolled students, inadequate facilities, and a low proportion of staff with pedagogical training. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) in accordance with Norman Fairclough has been used as a theoretical and methodological framework.The study’s results indicate that there is a desire among SAEC staff to conduct goal-directed teaching, that is, to plan teaching in advance, based on the curriculum’s goals, to carry it out systematically so that all students have access to the teaching, and to base it on students’ interests. The results show the challenges that SAEC staff face in delivering the teaching. These include difficulties in finding time and space for teaching, getting students to want to participate, and getting them interested. Another challenge is the difficulty of implementing SAEC group-oriented approach within SAEC in compulsory school for pupils with intellectual disabilities. SAEC staff mostly rely on traditional teaching methods, mainly developed within the framework of the school. At the same time, the results show other ways of realizing the teaching mission, based on interdisciplinary and situation-based approaches.The results show tensions between tradition and renewal in SAEC practice. In previous research, this field of tension has been referred to as a struggle between an older social pedagogical tradition and a newer educational pedagogical tradition. This tension has arisen from political efforts to build a knowledge society with a strong focus on improving students’ academic performance and has contributed to focusing on SAEC as an attractive arena that has the potential to contribute to the school’s goal fulfilment; this risks blurring the differences and boundaries between school and SAEC, as well as between play and learning.