According to the Swedish Education Act, schools should support both students' knowledge development and personal development. Students' levels of knowledge are measured and compared through their examination results and formal grades as well as through international comparative studies and other tools. However, students' personal development is…

Introduction: Current literature recognizes that various socialization agents often shape political behavior. This study employs frameworks of political socialization and political agency to explore how extracurricular activities and political intentions established at age 16 influence aspects of political participation and civic engagement at age…

High dropout rates in the first year of undergraduate studies are an expression of the secondary-tertiary transition problem and they seem to be particularly high in those degree programs where specialized mathematics courses are taught in the first year of study. Research shows that students' difficulties during the transition period cannot be…

Picturebooks are media resources that combine illustrations and texts to reach young children with entertainment and messages about life. They can support children's development of understanding of democratic principles. For this paper, picturebooks from Sweden and the US with content involving democratic principles were analysed with the goal of…

This article describes students' experiences of different activities arranged by a Swedish university in connection with their internship. The article presents two approaches for conducting seminars while students are on an internship. One student group attends formal, structured seminars while the other group attends seminars in the form of focus…

This paper addresses how emotionally challenging experiences during work-based education may influence the professional becoming of student teachers and medical students. We conducted a qualitative analysis of eight focus group interviews with undergraduates from two universities in Sweden who studied to become either physicians or teachers, and…

Social skills play a central role in shaping individuals who are able to adapt and contribute to society. This article analyzes the comparative social studies curriculum in Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway and Sweden), focusing on how students' social skills are developed through their approach to learning. The research method used is a…

This article explores students' experiences of intellectual, social, and emotional growth during the first year at university and the extent to which these experiences can be considered transformative (Mezirow, 1981). The study is a qualitative interpretive multiple-case study built on semi-structured interviews with students in two higher…

Teachers' implementation of and attitudes to school reforms and overriding pedagogical ideals have long been a topic of debate and research. In this article, we centre on teachers' descriptions of how progressive teaching was conducted as well as on the teachers' reasons for implementing such teaching in the 1940s. This study is based on written…

This case study aimed at investigating the implementation of literacy activities in developing the students' character of SD Negeri Secang 1 as one of child-friendly school models in Magelang Regency developed by Lund University, Sweden. This study described the practical guidance on literacy activities of child-friendly schools in developing the…

There is a debate on whether higher education in the social sciences generates stronger democratic and environmental norms among students. In our study, we focus on students' perceptions about legitimate rule in the case of environmental protection. We contribute to this debate by using a unique longitudinal data set from seven universities and…

This article presents analyses of curricula in religious education (RE) for public schools in Austria, Scotland, and Sweden. A curricula is the plan that outlines the goals, content and outcomes in education. A critical discourse analysis approach (CDA) is used to explore how each national RE curricula constructs (a) the aims, status and purpose…

This article concludes a longitudinal study with the broader aim to explore learner development as a long-term, social process. One goal has been to inform the endeavours of improving student engagement, retention, as well as under-representation of certain demographics in computing. Students of two computer science-related study programmes…

School democracy in terms of formal student participation is often expressed through different types of councils. This requires that these forms of political participation function democratically. The article contributes knowledge about the school as a public space and the democratic experiences gained through formal student participation in class…

The article considers the role of elective courses in professional development of students of economics. Modern European education is developing on the principles of democratization and humanization, where democratization implies the involvement of all agents/participants of the education process into forming its content and solving numerous…