Tidskriften Högre utbildning (HU) firade sitt 10-årsjubileum 2021. Redaktionen genomförde i samband med detta en granskning av de bidrag som publicerats under perioden 2011–2021. I denna artikel presenteras resultaten av granskningen och reflektioner över HU:s uppdrag att främja kunskapsutveckling inom högre utbildning i ett svenskt och nordiskt sammanhang. Sedan starten 2011 har HU etablerat sig som en central publiceringskanal för såväl vetenskapliga studier av högre utbildning som för praktiknära utvecklingsprojekt kring undervisning och lärande inom akademisk utbildningssektor. Tidskriften har under sitt första decennium publicerat 142 bidrag av 262 författare från ett brett spektrum av lärosäten och disciplinära bakgrunder, vilket speglar HU:s breda målgrupp och mångvetenskapliga fokus. Analysen visar att majoriteten av bidragen är skrivna på svenska och fokuserar på undervisningsnära frågor inom humaniora, samhällsvetenskap och lärarutbildning. De vanligaste metoderna inkluderar kvalitativa studier och litteraturstudier, medan mixed methods och systematiska översikter är mindre vanliga. Granskningen visar således behovet av fler bidrag från ämnesområden som naturvetenskap, teknik och vård/medicin, trots att det skett en ökning både av antalet publiceringar och av nedladdningar under perioden. HU:s bidragsformer möjliggör att såväl övergripande som praktiknära förhållanden för lärare och studenter kan belysas. För att främja kritiska reflektioner kring frågor inom högre utbildning introducerades 2021 en ny bidragskategori, Fördjupad diskussion, vilket har resulterat i ett antal värdefulla och tankeväckande inlägg. Tidskriften har över tid utvecklat en potential att fungera som en brygga mellan olika forskningsfält och kan därigenom bidra till att synliggöra en mängd sammanhang i det breda och komplexa landskap som forskning om högre utbildning utgör. I det sammanhanget välkomnar vi att andelen engelskspråkiga bidrag har vuxit, även om HU värnar sitt svenska och nordiska perspektiv.

The current study examined whether different motives for entering teacher education and different coping strategies in distressful situations during teacher training were associated with teacher efficacy among student teachers. A sample of 517 Swedish student teachers completed a questionnaire. According to the findings from multivariate regression analysis, student teachers who scored higher in intrinsic and altruistic motives and cognitive restructuring, and lower in self-criticism, tended to show greater teacher efficacy.

Improving the student learning experience in higher education requires an overarching approach towards integrating academic activities that are deemed relevant in promoting a high-quality experience and student success. No less important is improving our understanding of what it is like to be a student. Underpinned by the student engagement framework, we conducted a survey of 293 undergraduate first-year students from a university in Mozambique to examine the different ways in which students perceive and experience social and academic integration during the first year of their studies. In particular, the study measures students’ levels of engagement and educational outcomes. It also seeks to understand the students’ perceptions of the quality of the social and learning environment and their respective satisfaction with their experience. The findings indicate both low and moderate levels of engagement in the selected benchmarks of effective educational practices. Outcome measures such as departure intention and student satisfaction are also highlighted. The students in our study experienced a rather supportive learning environment with good relationships with teachers, peers, and administrative personnel. However, the typical challenges of first-year students, including their academic workload, time management, and difficult assessment tasks, were also reported while they were transitioning to university studies.

Akademiskt lärarskap innefattar att systematiskt utforska och reflektera över den egna undervisningspraktiken i syfte att utveckla undervisningen så att studenters lärarande underlättas och förbättras. Att undersöka den egna praktiken kan innebära särskilda etiska utmaningar men det finns idag inga etiska riktlinjer som specifikt gäller pedagogisk utveckling och akademiskt lärarskap i en svensk kontext. Syftet med denna fördjupade diskussion är att belysa och diskutera etiska aspekter av akademiskt lärarskap och högskolepedagogisk utveckling. Med utgångspunkt från forskningsetik, omsorgsetik och högskolelärares yrkesetik diskuteras några centrala etiska dilemman som högskolelärare behöver förhålla sig till i samband med utforskandet av den egna undervisningspraktiken.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) involves systematically exploring and reflecting upon one’s own teaching practices with the aim of developing teaching to facilitate and enhance student learning. Examining one’s own practices may pose particular ethical challenges, but currently, there are no ethical guidelines in a Swedish context specifically addressing pedagogical development and SoTL. The purpose of this in-depth discussion is to shed light on and discuss the ethical aspects of SoTL and educational development in higher education. Drawing on research ethics, care ethics, and the professional ethics of university teachers, some key ethical dilemmas that university educators need to consider in the exploration of their own teaching practices are discussed.

Background Medical students experience emotional challenges during their undergraduate education, often related to work-based learning. Consequently, they may experience feelings of uncertainty and self-doubt, which can negatively affect their well-being. Therefore, it is crucial to support students’ development of their ability to manage distressful situations. Self-efficacy beliefs may be a central aspect of supporting them in this development, and have been shown to relate to resilient factors such as students’ motivation, learning, and well-being.

Methods We constructed a scale to measure medical students’ physician self-efficacy to manage emotional challenges during work-based learning, the PSMEC scale. The aim of the present study was to evaluate some of the psychometric properties of the PSMEC scale. The scale consists of 17 items covering five subscales: (1) medical knowledge and competence, (2) communication with difficult patients and delivering bad news, (3) being questioned and challenged, (4) educative competence in patient encounters, and (5) ability to establish and maintain relationships with healthcare professionals. Data were collected from 655 medical students from all seven medical schools in Sweden. To investigate the scale’s dimensionality and measurement invariance with regard to gender and time in education, single and multiple group confirmatory factor models were estimated using techniques suitable for ordered categorical data. Measures of Cronbach’s alpha were calculated to evaluate internal consistency.

Results The scale showed good internal consistency on both the global dimension and the five subdimensions of self-efficacy. In addition, the scale was shown to be measurement invariant across genders and times in education, indicating that the scale means of male and female medical students and the scale means of students at the middle and end of their education can be compared.

Conclusions The physician self-efficacy to manage emotional challenges scale demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties, with regards to dimensionality, internal consistency, and measurement invariance relating to gender and time in education, and this study supports the usefulness of this scale when measuring self-efficacy in relation to emotional challenges.

Student teachers commonly report encountering emotional challenges in work placements during teacher education. Even so, the perspective of mentoring teachers has been given little attention regarding the student teachers’ emotional challenges. In this study, the authors’ aim is to investigate what mentoring teachers perceive to be the emotional challenges student teachers face and what support they think they can offer student teachers. A sample of 25 Swedish mentoring teachers participated in an interview study. According to the findings, the mentoring teachers reported three main emotional challenges that they perceived that student teachers encounter: conflicts with/among pupils, encountering diverse pupil populations and dealing with failure. Mentoring teachers’ reports can be understood in the light of their idea of what work placement should be. Their rationales included the need for student teachers to be either exposed to ‘reality’ or protected from worst-case scenarios. 

Work-based learning is an influential period of teacher education, where a mentor teacher is assigned to support the student teacher. Mentoring conversations between the mentor teachers and student teacher seldom cover how student teachers cope with emotional challenges. Therefore, we aimed to investigate mentor teachers’ perspectives on student teachers’ reports of emotional challenges. The study had a particular focus on actions the mentor teachers described as preferable in reacting to scenarios of emotional challenges reported by student teachers. We conducted a constructivist grounded theory study and interviewed 22 mentor teachers. The findings of the study show that mentor teachers’ main concern revolved around student teachers’ understanding of challenges as learning opportunities. According to mentor teachers’ descriptions, the preferred actions in their role as mentor teachers were to regulate, engage/help, be exemplary, and take charge. Thus, our study shows that mentor teachers intended to aid student teachers in navigating emotional challenges.

Syftet med denna forskningsöversikt är att bidra till fördjupade kunskaper om studenters upplevelser i känslomässigt påfrestande situationer i olika undervisningssammanhang. Litteratursökningen gjordes i flera olika databaser: ERIC, Web of Science och Google Scholar. Studier som publicerats mellan 2010 och 2021 och som utgörs av empiriska studier inkluderades, totalt 65 artiklar. Forskningsöversikten är en narrative review där fokus har varit att analysera artiklarnas resultat tematiskt. Detta har skett i två steg: först en kategorisering av vilka undervisningssituationer och ämnesinnehåll som väcker starka känslor och sedan en tolkande analys för att undersöka vad som kännetecknar de utmaningar studenter upplever i samband med dessa situationer. Resultaten visar att de undervisningssituationer och ämnesinnehåll som väcker negativa känslor och av studenter upplevs som känslomässigt påfrestande kan delas in i fyra övergripande kategorier: dissektioner, upplevelser under verksamhetsförlagd utbildning (VFU), ångest i samband med vissa ämnen och känsligt ämnesinnehåll. De utmaningar som studenter ställs inför att hantera rör deras egna emotionella och fysiska reaktioner, balansen mellan akademiskt och känslomässigt engagemang, professionella utmaningar och existentiella reflektioner. Studenter behöver stöd att hantera dessa utmaningar. Genom att lärare blir mer medvetna om vad som kan utgöra känslomässiga utmaningar för studenter kan vi stötta dem bättre och ge dem utrymme att bearbeta sina upplevelser. 

The benefits of student–faculty interactions are substantial in fostering undergraduate students’ social and intellectual growth throughout their academic pathways. In particular, out-of-class interactions offer several opportunities for students to engage meaningfully with faculty members in the campus environment. This study employs a qualitative approach to investigate how students interact with faculty outside the classroom and how students interpret faculty’s accessibility for out-of-class interactions. It also seeks to understand the challenges faced by students during these encounters. The findings of this study indicate that students seek out faculty outside the classroom for several reasons, but most of all for grade-related issues. While some students experienced a positive perception of faculty behaviour during informal contacts, the issue of infrequent interactions was emphasized as one of the challenges. The study indicates a variety of situations causing hesitancy and preventing students from seeking help outside the classroom.