The purpose of this article is to discuss the opportunities and challenges of using students' personal narratives of the past as a vehicle and catalyst for learning history. The point of departure is a research project entitled "My Historical Backpack," conducted at Örebro University in Sweden since the fall of 2016. The project is a…

This design case describes the thought processes associated with redesigning an educational technology course for undergraduate preservice teachers from a 15-week hybrid course to a 5-week online course. The redesign is part of a push to create more flexible courses for working and rural students to remain competitive despite multiple alternative…

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the discussion concerning adaptations and improvements of preschool teacher education. Such changes are crucial, because many newly qualified preschool teachers struggle to live up to the requirements the profession places upon them. This study is conducted in Sweden, where early childhood education…

Uncovering the motivations towards a profession may contribute to a better understanding of how the profession is chosen and will be pursued. However, the research on the attractiveness of the music teaching profession is rather limited and predominantly focused on identity development, thereby overlooking other aspects that may play a role. In…

This study qualitatively examines synchronous online encounters in Swedish teacher education, learning from the distance and hybrid mode triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, conceptualized as emergency remote teaching. The separation of bodies in such online teacher education challenges participants' sensory involvement and how they can be…

Critical reflection is an essential element in the professional teacher's practice. This article investigates vocational teacher education (VTE) students´ ability to reflect when engaged in site-based education and considers how arrangements in vocational teacher education enable or constrain this ability. The study was conducted at one Swedish…

The aim is to describe special education teacher students' learning in the field of tension between informal learning during day-to-day work and formal university education. From the theoretical framework of Wenger-Trayner and Wenger-Trayner, we perceive the students as moving on a learning trajectory through a landscape of practice. The students…

The lack of fully trained teachers is a national challenge in Sweden despite numerous attempts by authorities to approach the issue from a long-term perspective. The proportion of fully trained teachers needs to increase by just over 50% by 2035, and the imbalance will continue for many years to come. Many actors such as the media and politicians…

This study explores how Swedish teacher educators view individual, collegial, and organisational conditions framing the fulfilment of their dual didactical task, which is to use digital technology in a way that ensures student teachers graduate from teacher education (TE) with the professional digital competence (PDC) needed for their future…

This study investigates preschool children's interactions with technology in a Swedish context. The purpose is to broaden our knowledge about children, technology and preschool activities--not only the meanings of technology that is present in everyday preschool activities, but also how children interact with it. Collier-Reed's (Pupils'…

Pre-service training of language teachers requires tools that foster the development of teaching competences, and the construction of their teacher identities. One crucial tool in that respect is the e-portfolio. Thus, in the framework of the proPIC Europa project, the e-portfolio is a dynamic artefact in which students collate learning evidence…

Although microteaching is a common approach to engaging preservice teachers in reflection on teaching in on-campus courses, this reflection is usually carried out as a separate part. We examined how preservice middle school science teachers reflected amid planning a 20-min microteaching unit on sustainable development. Six groups of preservice…

This article explores Swedish students' perspectives on being new to teacher education and what challenges they meet. Nineteen students were interviewed in three focus groups. The analytical framework draws on the theory of situated learning and the concept of enculturation, and the empirical data have been categorized through a thematic content…

During the last few years, the Swedish preschool curriculum has undergone several changes. Among those changes is the introduction of the concept of teaching as a goal-oriented activity. Preschool teachers have been given a specific responsibility for leading the teaching in preschool. This study aims to explore how preschool teachers' didactical…

The objective of this study is to expand teachers' knowledge base of assessment in teaching by exploring pre-service language teachers' construct of grading literacy during their pedagogical studies and immediately after. We conceptualize pre-service language teachers' grading literacy with a literature-based flow model of decision-making…