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Friluftsliv in Swedish Physical Education – a Struggle of Values: Educational and Sociological Perspectives
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Education in Arts and Professions. (Forskningsgruppen för pedagogik, idrott och fritidskulturer)
2010 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

The aim of this thesis is to examine some of the educational and sociological conditions underlying the production of teaching in friluftsliv within the Physical Education (PE) subject in Swedish compulsory school. Despite the value awarded to the Scandinavian outdoor practice friluftsliv, in both the national PE curriculum document and in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) in Sweden, it does not seem to be thoroughly implemented in compulsory school teaching. Through analyses of interviews with PE teachers and PE teacher educators, as well as of curriculum documents, using the perspectives of Basil Bernstein and Pierre Bourdieu, I explore conditions underlying the expressions of friluftsliv teaching in Swedish PE.

The pedagogic discourse for friluftsliv in Swedish PE is described as a teaching that should take place in a natural setting remote from civilisation, involve risks, and require time, technical equipment, financial resources, and cooperation. This discourse for friluftsliv is shown to be similar to the values emphasised in friluftsliv education in PETE. Although proven to be difficult to implement in school, this discourse appear to form the conception of friluftsliv teaching for PE teachers in Sweden. Under the influence of the performance code, friluftsliv is transformed into outdoor activities with which the PE teachers are familiar, or is totally left out of PE teaching.

A turn towards options that are seen as unthinkable in relation to the current pedagogic discourse may benefit the achievement of the aims set out in the national PE curriculum. Values such as environmental awareness, sustainable development and cultural perspectives on the landscape could strengthen the classification of friluftsliv and PE in compulsory school. Further, an increase of socially critical and constructivist perspectives during PETE could make unthinkable options in friluftsliv thinkable and contribute to a break with the reproduction of teaching practices in PE.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Department of Education in Arts and Professions, Stockholm University , 2010. , p. 147
Series
Studies in Education in Arts and Professions ; 2
Keywords [en]
Friluftsliv, Physical Education, PETE, PE teacher student, PE teacher educator, curriculum, Bourdieu, Bernstein
National Category
Pedagogy
Research subject
Educational Sciences in Arts and Professions
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-38238ISBN: 978-91-7447-034-5 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-38238DiVA, id: diva2:308124
Public defence
2010-05-07, Aula Konradsberg, Campus Konradsberg, Konradsbergsgatan 7, Stockholm, 13:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Note
At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: In press. Paper 2: Submitted. Available from: 2010-04-15 Created: 2010-04-06 Last updated: 2022-02-24Bibliographically approved
List of papers
1. Friluftsliv: a contribution to equity and democracy in Swedish Physical Education? An analysis of codes in Swedish Physical Education curricula
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Friluftsliv: a contribution to equity and democracy in Swedish Physical Education? An analysis of codes in Swedish Physical Education curricula
2011 (English)In: Journal of Curriculum Studies, ISSN 0022-0272, E-ISSN 1366-5839, Vol. 43, no 2, p. 269-288Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

During the last decade, expanding research investigating school subject Physical Education (PE), indicates a promotion of inequalities regarding which children benefit from PE teaching. Outdoor education and its Scandinavian equivalent friluftsliv, is a part of the PE curriculum in many countries and these practices have been claimed to have the potential to contribute to more equity in PE teaching. Through an investigation of how stipulations regarding friluftsliv in the national Swedish PE curriculum are transformed and interpreted into 31 local PE syllabus documents, this paper investigates the possibilities for friluftsliv to fulfil this potential. In an analysis inspired by educational sociologist Basil Bernstein, I claim that Swedish PE teachers’ marginalised interpretation of friluftsliv indicates its weak classification when a part of PE. When friluftsliv is addressed in PE, the strong dominance of a performance code transforms it into mere sport activities. The results of this study highlight questions regarding PE teachers’ interpretation of learning aims and their work with text documents. It also discusses alternatives to implementing friluftsliv through PE and the role of teachers in curriculum reforms. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
London: Taylor & Francis, 2011
Keywords
Friluftsliv, Physical education, Equity, Classification, Code
National Category
Didactics
Research subject
Educational Sciences in Arts and Professions
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-38229 (URN)10.1080/00220272.2010.500680 (DOI)000289666000007 ()
Projects
Friluftsliv in Swedish Physical Education - a Struggle of Values. Educational and Sociological Perspectives
Available from: 2010-04-06 Created: 2010-04-06 Last updated: 2022-02-24Bibliographically approved
2. What frames teaching of friluftsliv?: Analysing a pedagogic discourse within Swedish PE through framing and the pedagogic device
Open this publication in new window or tab >>What frames teaching of friluftsliv?: Analysing a pedagogic discourse within Swedish PE through framing and the pedagogic device
(English)In: Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, ISSN 1472-9679, E-ISSN 1754-0402Article in journal (Refereed) Submitted
Abstract [en]

Research indicates that outdoor teaching practices within a Physical Education (PE) context are framed by several factors with the potential to weaken or strengthen PE teachers’ control of pedagogic messages. Drawing on 12 qualitative interviews with PE teachers in compulsory schools in Sweden, the findings in this study suggest that factors claimed to control teachers’ pedagogic communication of friluftsliv (Scandinavian equivalent to outdoor education) is based on the construction of a dominating pedagogic discourse for outdoor teaching in Swedish schools. Analysing the constitution of this discourse through Bernstein’s theoretical concepts of framing and the pedagogic device, Swedish PE teachers and PE teacher education appear to reproduce friluftsliv as a teaching practice carried out in a remote wilderness setting involving specific equipment, financial resources and a certain amount of risk. In relation to these results, alternative ways to think of outdoor teaching in relation to the achievement of the national aims in Swedish PE are discussed.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
London: Taylor & Francis
Keywords
Friluftsliv, Physical Education, Bernstein, Framing, The pedagogic device
National Category
Didactics
Research subject
Educational Sciences in Arts and Professions
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-38231 (URN)
Projects
Friluftsliv in Swedish Physical Education - a Struggle of Values. Educational and Sociological Perspectives.
Available from: 2010-04-06 Created: 2010-04-06 Last updated: 2022-02-24Bibliographically approved
3. What is valued in friluftsliv within PE teacher education?: Swedish PE teacher educators’ thoughts about friluftsliv analysed through the perspective of Pierre Bourdieu
Open this publication in new window or tab >>What is valued in friluftsliv within PE teacher education?: Swedish PE teacher educators’ thoughts about friluftsliv analysed through the perspective of Pierre Bourdieu
2008 (English)In: Sport, Education and Society, ISSN 1357-3322, E-ISSN 1470-1243, Vol. 13, no 1, p. 61-76Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The value assigned to friluftsliv (activities similar to outdoor education) in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) and in the PE syllabus in Sweden does not seem to result in the implementation of friluftsliv in the practice of teaching in Swedish schools. This study investigates how the identified values of friluftsliv, expressed in interviews with 17 PE teacher educators in Sweden, reflect struggles for legitimate and privileged knowledge in PETE. The exploration of friluftsliv within PETE reveals positions that appear to be an effect of the dominating logic of sport within Swedish PETE and the limited influence of the academic field. The educational consequences of the identified values are analysed and discussed from a socio-cultural perspective.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
London: Taylor & Francis, 2008
Keywords
Friluftsliv, sport, physical education teacher education, field, symbolic capital
Research subject
Education
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-38232 (URN)
Projects
Friluftsliv in Swedish Physical Education - a Struggle of Values. Educational and Sociological Perspectives.
Available from: 2010-04-06 Created: 2010-04-06 Last updated: 2022-02-24Bibliographically approved
4. To acquire a taste for friluftsliv – a part of becoming a PE teacher?: Swedish Physical Education teacher educators’ thoughts about their students’ preferences for friluftsliv
Open this publication in new window or tab >>To acquire a taste for friluftsliv – a part of becoming a PE teacher?: Swedish Physical Education teacher educators’ thoughts about their students’ preferences for friluftsliv
2009 (English)In: Movning Bodies, ISSN 1503-6065, Vol. 7, no 1, p. 9-26Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Teacher students’ own biographies and early experiences of teaching have proven to have a major significance for their future teaching, compared to perspectives and content in teacher education. This is also the case for Physical Education (PE) teacher students, whose preferences for physical activity are often constituted by their experiences of sport. Based on the values assigned to friluftsliv (or its anglicised equivalents, “outdoor recreation” or “outdoor education”) in Swedish Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE), the disparity between the taste of Swedish PE teacher educators’ and that of their students’ for friluftsliv is analysed. The lack of teaching in friluftsliv in Swedish schools seems to be an example of that PE teaching is mainly based on PE teachers’ taste for physical practices, rather than on the PE curriculum. In this article the potential to change this condition by developing the teaching in friluftsliv at Swedish PETE is discussed.  

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Oslo: Norges Idrettshøgskole, 2009
Keywords
Friluftsliv, School, Physical Education Teacher Student, Physical Education Teacher Education, Habitus, Taste.
National Category
Pedagogy
Research subject
Educational Sciences in Arts and Professions
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-38233 (URN)
Projects
Friluftsliv in Swedish Physical Education - a Struggle of Values. Educational and Sociological Perspectives
Available from: 2010-04-06 Created: 2010-04-06 Last updated: 2022-02-24Bibliographically approved

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