The rock ‘n’ roll generation has retired, and this raises questions about whether their educational needs differ from the generations before them. This paper presents a study of a course called ‘Graffiti for Seniors.’ The course had nine participants, all women, which constituted two groups: (A) people who are artists or artisans and (B) people who are curious about graffiti as an expression and culture in general. The methods used was participant observation and interviews. When the data had been gathered, Howard McClusky’s theory of educational needs guided the analysis, as this theory offers a diversity of alternative needs compared to later theories. The material was reviewed to find expressions related to the theory’s five dimensions. We conclude that the most prominent needs are coping needs and expressive needs. Coping needs address dealing with society’s ideas about aging, but also about gender, and challenging these norms. Expressive needs demonstrate the importance of engaging in activities that are performed for their own sake and allowing individuals to express themselves. A limitation of this study is that it is performed in a single context, and therefore, future studies in other contexts using the same theory for analysis would contribute to a fuller understanding of how different courses meet various educational needs among older adult learners. A practical implication of the study is the insight that older adults can benefit from educational arenas where they enjoy the freedom of expression and where they can challenge and explore norms connected to gender and age.

Participation is an important factor for preschool quality and with participation comes both possibilities and challenges. The aim is to explore guardians’ perceptions of participation in Swedish preschool using Buber’s understanding of dialogue in interpersonal meetings. The research questions are: How do guardians describe participation in preschool? How do guardians perceive their participation in preschool teaching? Conducting interviews with 20 guardians resulted in the emergence of four themes. The results show that guardians have different perceptions about what participation implies. They describe that they want to be participating but settle with being informed. Guardians find it optional to participate in the decision-making concerning teaching. A conclusion is that preschool teachers need to be in dialogue with guardians about how participation can be understood in their specific context. Another conclusion is that competence regarding the importance of continuous dialogues needs to be addressed towards preschool teachers to promote guardians’ participation in teaching.

Från inledningen: Kapitlet som följer syftar till att beskriva och problematisera ett regeringsuppdrag som har pågått 2016–2020. Uppdraget har inneburit att vara nätverksledare för kommunala samordnare för nyanländas lärande i Jönköpings län. Uppdraget som nätverksledare syftar till att stötta samordnarnas arbete med det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet (SKA-arbetet) riktat mot nyanländas lärande. I uppdraget ingår också att nätverksledarna ska vara en länk mellan Skolverket och huvudmännen i regionens kommuner och att sammanställa samordnarnas dokumentation som görs i form av nulägesbeskrivningar, nulägesanalyser, utvecklingsplaner och påbörjade och slutförda insatser.

The purpose of this article is to describe how education can serve as a changing and liberating process for adults with long-term mental illness. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 participants in Life-knowledge and Creative courses at a Swedish Folk High School. Five themes emerged in the interviews: (i) A meaningful social context – to undergo change with others; (ii) Self-awareness via non-violent communication – to change one’s self-image; (iii) Creating as rehabilitation – change through aesthetic learning processes; (iv) To function better in everyday life – to receive confirmation of change; (v) Opportunity horizons – to change hope for the future. The conclusion is that the Folk High School environment and the educational courses can contribute to an increased sense of well-being in the present. The liberating process primarily impacts the participants’ self-stigma positively as long as this takes place in environments where the participants have experience of not being exposed to social stigma, either at home or at the Folk High School. The participants do not entertain future life plans that extend beyond the context of Folk High School, but when examined in the light of their situation before they enrolled at Folk High School, the liberating process is still noticeable.

Syftet med den här forskningsrapporten är att beskriva hur folkhögskolans livskunskapskurser kan hjälpa deltagare med långvarig psykisk ohälsa till återhämtning, rehabilitering och habilitering. Studiens datainsamling omfattar nio dagars deltagande observation i kurserna på folkhögskolan kombinerat med tolv semistrukturerade livsvärldsintervjuer och fyra fokusgruppsamtal. Totalt ingår 22 deltagare, sex lärare och rektor på folkhögskolan. I resultatet beskrivs nio teman: (i) Varför är jag här?; (ii) Ett meningsfullt socialt sammanhang; (iii) Rutiner och struktur i tillvaron; (iv) Att fungera bättre i vardagen; (v) Självmedvetenhet genom kommunikationsmodeller; (vi) Skapande som rehabilitering; (vii) Vidgade möjlighetshorisonter; (viii) Saker som kan förbättras i utbildningarna enligt deltagarna; (ix) Lärarnas och rektors pedagogiska utgångspunkter.

Slutsatsen är att folkhögskolan bidrar till ett begripligt, hanterbart och meningsfullt socialt sammanhang och att livskunskapskurserna hjälper deltagarna att fungera bättre i vardagen och tillsammans med andra. Genom kursinslag, som tillexempel att lära sig själv medkänsla och Nonviolent communication – en kommunikationsmodell, beskriver deltagarna att de blir mer medvetna om sig själva och sin omgivning. Kursdeltagarna berättar att livskunskapskurserna har ökat deras välbefinnande i nuet och att de har fått ett framtidshopp. Vi kan se att deltagarnas negativa uppfattningar om sig själva minskar i folkhögskolans trygga miljö och i hemmet. Vad gäller att fungera i andra miljöer utanför folkhögskolan så beskriver deltagarna en avsaknad av möjligheter. Det finns en önskan hos deltagare att få möjlighet att till exempel arbetsträna eller arbeta med något projekt utanför folkhögskolan. Lärarna beskriver att det viktigaste i kurserna är att utgå ifrån deltagarnas individuella behov. Detta beskrivs vara ganska svårt eftersom det idag är betydligt vanligare att deltagare har flera olika svårigheter att hantera. Exempel på detta är att en stor andel av deltagarna har neuropsykiatriska diagnoser, social fobi, utmattningssyndrom och depressioner. Det viktigaste enligt lärarna initialt är att lyckas forma deltagargrupper där alla accepterar varandra och upplever sig trygga.

The transition from analogue campus-based learning to digital distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic affected our society in many ways. This study set out to explore the experiences of 30 pre-service teachers when transitioning to digital distance learning. The pre-service teachers (PSTs) participated in a series of focus-group interviews that were subsequently analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results indicate that the transition to digital distance learning worked well and that the technology that was used performed satisfactorily. However, the PSTs experienced both opportunities and obstacles with respect to distance learning. The opportunities associated with digital distance learning were reported to be instantiated by teacher-led ‘flipped classroom’ teaching sessions and the additional freedom that was enjoyed by the PSTs (in both space and time). An obstacle associated with digital learning was the feeling that important aspects of interpersonal interaction disappeared. The PSTs remained sedentary and isolated at home, and the learning experience became somewhat dysfunctional when the teaching was not clearly structured and teacher-lead. The study concludes that it is not possible to replace IRL (‘in real life’) teaching entirely with digital distance learning. However, the results suggest that a hybrid form of teaching or elements of digital teaching can work well as a complement to future campus-based courses.