This article concerns the often-debated issue of fair and equal literacy education for all children regardless of their backgrounds or living conditions. Theoretically, this paper draws on the concept of empowerment in combination with insights of multimodal translanguaging pedagogies. During 2020–22, an intervention study, was conducted at a multilingual and highly diverse primary school in Sweden. Three interventions were planned and reflected on in close collaboration between the school leaders, the four lead teachers at the school and the researchers. Drawing on data from two multilingual Primary School classrooms during two interventions, documented in two online logbooks and two video observations, the study presented in this article aimed to identify opportunities for empowerment when learning to write and read in these contexts. Two examples of potential empowering classroom activities were identified and analysed in relation to the pedagogical shifts that were made regarding the teaching design, and the reasons for these shifts. The first example concerns multilingual perspectives on phonemes and their connections to alphabetical script, while the second example concerns poetry writing enhancing multicultural and multilingual identities, and the use of role models to achieve this. The result elucidates dimensions of empowerment when discussing and comparing sounds, letters and words, drawing on various systems for written language, and through the shared reading and discussion of multicultural poems, and their own poetry making. Notably, dimensions of empowerment were facilitated through the identity investments of students, which recognized their linguistic, cultural, and social backgrounds. Students were invited to contribute in diverse ways and at varying levels, allowing them to engage more deeply and authentically with the learning process.

I den här essän riktas fokus mot klassrummets textrepertoar och dess betydelse för såväl elevers kunskapsutveckling som personliga utveckling. Med utgångspunkt i tre undervisningsexempel belyses dels begreppet rättvisa, dels den påverkan som skilda kunskapssyner har för lärares tolkning och omsättning av aktuella styrdokument till konkret undervisning. Essän lyfter fram betydelsen av att som elev få tala och skriva om innehåll som är väsentligt att lära om samtidigt som eleven också ges chans att representera sig själv. För detta krävs medvetna didaktiska val, vilket i sig utgör ett demokratiskt samhällsuppdrag.

Children's contemporary reading and media habits highlight the need for in-depth encounters with children´s literature in primary school reading instruction. The purpose is to contribute knowledge about teacher-led dialogic reading aloud to highlight and discuss the potential of both teaching formats and children’s literature in relation to shared reading. The research questions focus on teacher-led dialogic reading aloud in terms of organization, resources, communication, and student participation, as well as literary discussions. The research questions also concern teachers’ perceptions and motivations. The study draws on different theoretical approaches to reading, including envisionment building and text movability, metacognitive reading strategies, and various forms of reading. The methodology includes focused observations of four second-grade teachers. In addition to the aforementioned theoretical perspectives, the analytical framework includes factors related to teaching organization and communication. Additionally, semi-structured interviews with the teachers were conducted and analysed through qualitative content analysis. The analysis reveals that teacher-led reading aloud primarily occurs in whole-class settings, characterized by monologue and recitation, with limited dialogue/discussion. Digital projection of written text and visual illustrations plays a central role. The literary discussions are characterized by didactic choices involving metacognitive reading strategies and plot-oriented forms of reading. The observations and statements demonstrate teaching that navigates a tension between skills-oriented reading instruction and content-oriented literature teaching. This does not imply contradiction but highlights the importance of conscious and complex didactic choices regarding children’s literature and teaching as prerequisites for in-depth literature discussions.

Barns samtida läs- och medievanor motiverar fördjupade möten med barnlitteratur i skolans tidiga läsundervisning. Syftet är att bidra med kunskap om lärarledd dialogisk högläsning för att synliggöra och diskutera undervisningsformers såväl som barnlitteraturens möjliga potential vad gäller gemensam läsning. Forskningsfrågorna fokuserar på den lärarledda dialogiska högläsningen i termer av organisation, resurser, kommunikativ utformning och elevers deltagande. Forskningsfrågorna berör också vilka samtal om barnlitteraturen som möjliggörs och lärarnas uppfattningar och motiv. Teoretiskt baseras studien på olika perspektiv på läsning såsom utforskande av föreställningsvärldar och textrörlighet, metakognitiva lässtrategier samt olika läsarter. Studiens metod utgörs av fokuserade observationer av fyra lärare i årskurs 2. Som analysraster användes utöver ovan nämnda utgångspunkter begrepp som rör undervisningens organisation och kommunikation. Därtill genomfördes semistrukturerade intervjuer med lärarna, vilka analyserades genom kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Analysen visar att den lärarledda högläsningen främst sker i helklass utifrån monolog och recitation med mindre utrymme för dialog/diskussion och där digitalt projicerad skriven text och visuella illustrationer utgör centrala inslag. Litteratursamtalen präglas av didaktiska val mellan metakognitiva lässtrategier och handlingsorienterade läsarter. Observationerna och lärarnas utsagor synliggör en undervisning som rör sig inom ett spänningsfält mellan en färdighetsinriktad läsundervisning respektive en mer innehållsinriktad litteraturundervisning. Detta innebär inte någon motsättning utan belyser vikten av medvetna och komplexa didaktiska val. Lärares medvetna didaktiska val rörande barnlitteratur och undervisning lyfts fram som en förutsättning för fördjupade litteratursamtal.

Background: Within classroom research, there has long been agreement on the importance of dialogue and discussion for student learning. However, how the concept of knowledge influences classroom conversation needs further investigation, as this has key implications for students’ active participation.

Purpose: Our research sought to conceptualise the assumption of knowledge in standards-based curricula and explore some implications of teaching based on this kind of curriculum. To do this, we drew on a larger research project undertaken in Sweden, which involved a comparative classroom study.

Methods: Four natural science lessons were examined in terms of student’s opportunities to engage in the teaching content. The analytical framework was based on curriculum theory, the concepts of a lesson as a curriculum event, and students as co-authors of teaching content. We analysed two concepts of knowledge–social realism and transactional realism–in relation to an openness towards ‘critical moments’ during lessons, either noticed or unnoticed, and related them to the logics of curriculum and knowledge.

Findings: When framed by classroom teaching designed from knowledge criteria, students’ opportunities for acting as co-authors can become restricted, with critical moments overlooked because of a teaching focus necessarily limited by curriculum. Thus, opportunities for creating spaces to pay attention to students’ questions and reactions can be constrained.

Conclusions: Standards-based curricula, a concept of knowledge with a strong focus on subject-specific facts and ways of reasoning, together with high-stakes assessment, may lead to fewer openings for genuine discussion and student reflection. This highlights the need to leave larger spaces for teachers and students alike to influence content that engages students.

Ingress: Att påstå att lärarstudenter själva får ta reda på hur man lär barn att läsa är ytterst kränkande för de svenska lärosäten som erbjuder grundlärarutbildning, skriver debattörerna.

This paper draws on an intervention study focussing on translanguaging pedagogies. The study was carried out in 2020–2022 in collaboration with principals and teachers at one school located in a socioeconomic disadvantaged area in Sweden. Drawing on teachers’ logbooks, the aim was to investigate in what ways the theoretical concept of translanguaging is understood and transformed into teaching and learning within multilingual classroom practices with students aged 6–12. The analysed data reveal that opportunities for communication and interaction are designed through the organisation of language groups, the approaches of comparing and translating, and using multimodal and digital reinforcements. Teachers expressed stances around providing opportunities for students to interact and communicate various subject content through all their languages. A shift in pedagogical thinking was made visible regarding how the teachers chose to describe and categorise students’ multilingual and cultural experiences. Identified paradoxes concern students’ experiences of using all their languages for learning, possibilities for integrating several languages in classroom practices, and the status of various languages in society. Possible collaborations between schools and students’ homes were highlighted.

Ingress: Läsning och skrivning, och barns tidiga utveckling av sådana färdigheter, är alltför komplext för att ett enda forskningsparadigm ska kunna ge en tillräckligt allsidig bild, skriver lärarutbildarna i en replik till lärarstudenten Aron Ihse Trägårdh.