How do primary school principals responsible for Swedish school-age educare (SAEC) describe their work? By understanding the principals’ practise as a site of power relations within regimes of practises and, through this, exploring principal subjectivities, it becomes possible to reveal which types of educational leadership for school-age educare are normalised and made possible. In an analysis based on answers from primary school principals in a qualitative survey, a discursive production of a nebulous leadership subject emerges; a bland and nebulous leader is enabled and, at the same time, constrained by the power relations within the regime of practises. This leadership terrain is not easy to navigate and appears to be guided by the notion that good enough is enough. This leadership style is changeable as well as varied, and at the same time, apparently marked by an unwillingness to shoulder all the responsibility for SAEC, and consequently, seeks support in different ways from different directions, transforming responsibility into a collective project driven by joint forces. It is also leadership that constantly needs to adapt its commitments to the needs of others, which in turn leads to a reactive rather than a proactive leadership style. Finally, it is leadership that appears legitimate, even though adequate knowledge about SAEC sometimes appears to be lacking, to some extent, pointing towards an abdicated leadership. For a different type of educational leader for school-age educare to emerge, a changed regime of practises is required, allowing the primary school principals to perform their leadership in ways that today do not appear possible.

Artikeln riktar fokus mot iscensättningar av tid. Mer specifikt analyseras med utgångspunkt i teoretisering kring biopolitik hur fritidshemstid konstrueras genom pedagogiska planeringar från svenska fritidshem. Tre medborgarskapande biopedagogiska strategier identifieras i denna iscensättning av tid, vilka synliggör hur barns medvetanden och kroppar politiseras genom en biopolitisk strävan efter förbättring och optimering. I detta framstår pedagogiska planeringar som en kvalitetsgarant för att säkerställa att barns varande och görande i fritidshem är förenliga med biopolitiska idéer om vad som är bra för barn och samhälle, såväl nu som i framtiden. Produktionen av pedagogiska planeringar med dess organisering av barns fritidshemstid diskuteras också i termer av tidagogisering. Som ett sätt att anpassa sig till och införliva förväntningar om New Public Management positionerar sig fritidshemspersonal som tidagoger, vilka reglerar barn genom planering av tid. Men, för vems skull görs egentligen denna kontrollerande reglering av barn via konstruktioner av fritidshemstid?

Syftet med artikeln är att studera samtida utbildningspolitiska iscensättningar av lek i styr- och policydokument för institutionaliserad fritidsverksamhet (IFV) i Sverige, Finland, Island, Norge och Australien. Teoretiskt tar studien avstamp i ett socialkonstruktionistiskt perspektiv tillsammans med inspiration från en språknära diskursanalytisk ansats. Det analytiska arbetet utmynnar i följande etiketter: Vilken betydelse tillskrivs lek i institutionaliserad fritidsverksamhet (IFV)?, Lek som legitimering av lärande? samt Vilken lek blir möjlig? I styr- och policydokumentens språkliga hantering framträder förskjutningar av lekbegreppets betydelse till förmån för utbildningspolitiska intressen som bland annat syftar till att vidga barns lärande och medborgarfostran i tid och rum. I relation till detta diskuterar artikeln frågan om barns universella rätt till lek med utgångspunkt i FN:s Barnrättskommittés definition av lekbegreppet.

School-age educare centres in Sweden have previously not engaged in teaching guided by objectives, but since 2016 there has been a legal requirement to do so as part of an assignment to complement the knowledge requirements in school. Through focus group discussions with children and school-age educare teachers this study explores how it is possible to teach in a voluntary educational programme such as school-age educare. The analysis problematises the voluntary nature of school-age educare in relation to the requirement to teach by using the concept liberal arts of rule while asking what can be governed and how one can govern in these centres. The results show that the children willingly participate in school-age educare since they experience themselves to be free and with great opportunities to play when in the centres. At the same time, the teachers fulfil the complementary assignment by disguising learning while teaching undercover.

 Att bli fritidshemslärare ger en introduktion till fritidshemsläraryrket. Läsaren får en grundläggande genomgång av yrkesrollen och fritidshemmets unika utbildningsuppdrag.

Boken är indelad i tre delar som ringar in centrala aspekter av fritidshemmets verksamhet:

Del 1 Fritidshemmet i utbildningssystem och samhälle Del 2 Fritidshemslärarens yrkesuppdrag Del 3 Fritidshemmets pedagogik.

Författaren initierar ett reflekterande tänkande i förhållande till frågor och situationer som fritidshemslärare dagligen ställs inför. Genomgående finns också uttalanden från yrkesverksamma fritidshemslärare och från barn som går på "fritids". De kompletterar på ett verksamhetsnära sätt bokens mer teoretiska innehåll. Boken riktar sig främst till studenter inom grundlärarprogrammet med inriktning mot arbete i fritidshem, men är också användbar för yrkesverksamma fritidshemslärare.

The concept of teaching, previously primarily reserved for formal school activities, has today a prominent position in the educational assignment for preschool and school-age educare. The study examines how this concept is managed by preschool- and school-age educare teachers and highlights how talking about teaching seems both troublesome and useful. Analytical interest is directed at how discursive boarder work is staged in order to preserve existing professional territories but also to gain new legitimacy. The use of the concept of teaching risks undermining the specificity of the professional roles and is described as an undesirable task – dirty work. At the same time, the concept serves as a usable resource to enhance the credibility of preschool and school-age educare teachers. Talking of teaching seems appropriate to use outwards, to show that the changes in the professional assignment are complied with. However, it seems inappropriate to apply the concept of teaching in the actual work with children. Therefore, the concept –imposed by educational policy authorities – does not change the work of preschool and school-age educare teachers but, nevertheless. contributes to its professionalization.

Perspektiv i fritidshem beskriver hur en och samma händelse i fritidshemmet kan betraktas och förstås på flera sätt beroende på vetenskapligt perspektiv. Vart vi riktar blicken är avgörande för vad vi får syn på, vilket också påverkar hur vi väljer att handla. Att se på samma händelse utifrån olika perspektiv hjälper oss att i högre grad förstå vad som pågår i fritidshemmet, hur barns och personals ageranden påverkar varandra samt hur olika beteenden får effekter i verksamheten. 

Perspektiv i fritidshem inleds med ett fiktivt fritidshemsråd med barn och personal. Utifrån detta tänkta samtal går författaren igenom teoretiska vetenskapliga perspektiv med relevans för fritidshemmets praktik. Vad händer med samtalet och personerna när vi utgår från exempelvis ett barndomssociologiskt, socialkonstruktionistiskt, läroplansteoretiskt eller diskursanalytiskt perspektiv?  

Perspektiv i fritidshem riktar sig främst till blivande grundlärare med inriktning mot arbete i fritidshem, som bland annat kan ha stor nytta av boken för att reflektera kring fritidshemmets verksamhet och i valet av vetenskapligt perspektiv till examensarbetet.

In recent years, the number of different course books focused on school-age educare available for undergraduates in teacher education programs for primary school has increased. Thus studying what particular version of school-age educare is legitimized in this discursive practice and how this is done rhetorically becomes pertinent. This article examines and illuminates how this course literature – used at several universities in Sweden – stages a certain way of speaking about school-age educare and thereby may ascribe teachers and children specific subject positions. The study shows how recurrent ideological dilemmas are used as linguistic resources to manage some constantly present contradictions: school-age educare is supposed to be both democratic and child centered, as well as professionally planned and lead. The findings illuminate a homogenous depiction of how school-age educare is distinguished from traditional and formal schooling and thereby promoted as a unique but also necessary form of education. As a consequence, an ideal teacher is someone who is specialized in being actively passive and passively active, and an expert on children’s learning while children are considered expertson themselves and in the activities as well. That is, teacher’s professionalism in educare is tied to the skill of not being formal and school-like, but still being educational in a way that promotes politically-approved learning and development.

In Sweden there has in recent years there been an increase in literature focused on school-age educare available for undergraduates in teacher education program for primary school, specializing in school-age educare. With this, it seems pertinent to study which particular version of school-age educare that is legitimized in this discursive practice, and how this is done rhetorically. Thus, this article examines and highlight how this literature – used at several universities in Sweden – stage a certain way of speaking about this phenomenon and thereby ascribes teachers and children specific subject positions. The study shows how recurrent ideological dilemmas are used as linguistic resources in order to manage some constantly present contradictions; school-age educare is supposed to be both democratic and child centered, as well as professionally planned and lead. The findings illustrate a homogenous depiction of how school-age educare should be distinguished from traditional and formal schooling and thereby be viewed as a unique but also necessary form of education. As a consequence, an ideal teacher is positioned as someone who is specialized in being actively passive and passively active, and as an expert on children´s learning while children are to be considered as experts in the activities as well. That is, teacher’s professionalism in educare lies in the skills of not being formal and school-like but still being educational in a way that promotes politically approved learning and development.

This dissertation builds on the basic question of how individuals are formed and created as citizens in society today, and how individuals construct themselves as citizens in this society. It takes interest in how they are managed to govern themselves through specific constructions of citizenship, and looks at how the exercise of power establishes certain knowledge that affects their view of themselves and generates truths about how they are expected to live their lives. Simultaneously, the dissertation deals with the concept of freedom: what does it mean in contemporary society, how can one be free today, and what dangers might this liberty involve?

In a broad sense, the analysis centres on the relationship between education and society; more specifically, it engages with the Swedish education system and its construction and production of desirable citizen subjects. The concrete example deals with the institution called leisure-time centre, with a purpose to investigate and problematise how institutionalised leisure-time is staged and legitimised in Sweden today. The studies take as a common starting point the following research question: how are children and personnel governed discursively in and through leisure-time centres?

The first empirical contribution provides historical context for the study. In this, the `problematic leisure-time´ of today is outlined based on education policy documents relevant for children aged 6–13 years. These texts are discussed together with similar texts gathered from two other periods in history in order to give perspective on aspects of the leisure-time centre that may seem obvious in our own time.

The first separate article investigates how talk about activities in leisure-time centres is couched in terms of meaningfulness and consists of an analysis of the ideological tension between democracy and authority, which the governmental authority, the Swedish Schools Inspectorate (Skolinspektionen), must address in its discursive work. 

The second article explores how the production of systematic reporting and documentation by personnel in leisure-time centres works through specific self-technologies in the form of confessional practices and which can be said to be primarily about constructing a free but loyal collective subject.

The third article problematises the use of democracy as a method to produce specific citizen subjects in leisure-time centres. Children’s councils are analysed, focusing on how different nuances of influence are staged discursively by participating children and personnel. The article highlights how democracy – through pastoral care and in the name of children’s influence – becomes a governmentalising technology that produces an active, responsible and learning citizen.

In summary, this dissertation highlights how leisure-time centres are staged and legitimised in Sweden today. The analysis shows how an administration of children and control of the development of society through the autonomous, competent, and voluntarily active individual is apparent; power operates through a perceived freedom in a way that makes the free choice the `right´ choice. With political ideas about forming a forward-looking mentality, children – and personnel – are constructed as a project of learning and improvement.