Mittuniversitetet

This presentation introduces a normative framework for analysing responsibility in educational contexts where artificial intelligence (AI) plays a role in decision-making, assessment, or pedagogical design. The study focuses on preschool teacher education within higher education, where future educators are increasingly expected to engage with AI technologies in an ethically sound and developmentally appropriate manner. Drawing on Ariansen's (1993) five-part ethical framework, which includes: (a) responsibility agent, (b) responsibility object, (c) area of responsibility, (d) responsibility condition, and (e) responsibility actions. This framework is used to explore how moral accountability can be understood and distributed in sociotechnical systems, particularly in relation to the ethical challenges posed by AI in early childhood education (ECE). Methodologically, the study employs asynchronous email interviews with programme directors responsible for preschool teacher education in Sweden. This approach was chosen for its flexibility and suitability for participants with demanding schedules and dispersed geographical locations (Dahlin, 2021; Meho, 2006). The semi-structured interviews allow for reflective responses and are analysed collaboratively by the research team using thematic coding and investigator triangulation (Patton, 2019). The interviews aim to capture experiences and ethical reflections on how AI is interpreted, included, or excluded in curriculum decisions. This study builds upon a conference paper in which the curriculum of preschool programmes at 8 universities was examined for mentions of AI, revealing that it was never explicitly mentioned (Ljungcrantz et al., 2025).This study contributes to Nordic educational research by examining the intersection of ethics, technology, and teacher education in a context where preschool is a formal part of the education system from the age of one. It aligns with Nordic traditions of relational pedagogy, child-centred education, and professional autonomy, while responding to global shifts in digitalisation and AI governance. The framework offers a tool for ethical reflection and curriculum development, supporting institutions in preparing future preschool teachers to critically engage with AI in ways that uphold children's rights and educational values.

Syftet med att publicera den här texten i Utbildningsvetenskapliga studier är att presentera projektet och de viktigaste tentativa resultaten. Rapporten har författats baserat på dialoger med medverkande pedagoger medan forskarna hållit i pennan. Undervisningsexemplen är skrivna av pedagogerna själva. Målgruppen är lärarstudenter, verksamma lärare, pedagogiska ledare lärarutbildare, andra forskare inomfältet utbildning för hållbar utveckling och alla som har intresse för praktiknära forskning inom pedagogik och didaktik. Rapporten skulle kunna användas som underlag för vidare forskning, som utgångspunkt för reflektion i högre utbildning och i grundskolans praktik samt som utgångspunkt för reflektion i fortbildning av yrkesverksamma lärare om undervisning och utbildning för hållbar utveckling i gles- och landsbygdsskolor. Författare är David Kronlid och Linda Wilhelmsson. Kronlid är docent i etik vid Uppsala universitet och Lektor i pedagogik vid Mittuniversitetet. Kronlid har arbetat med högre utbildning, lärarfortbildning och forskning om utbildning för hållbar utveckling sedan slutet av 1990-talet. Kronlids forskningsintressen är etik, värdegrund, klimaträttvisa och bedömning. Wilhelmsson är lektor i pedagogik vid Mittuniversitetet och har forskat om demokratiska aspekter av undervisning och utbildning. På senare tid har Wilhelmsson engagerat sig i demokratiska frågor i miljö- och hållbarhetsutbildning samt metodologiska frågor i pedagogisk och didaktisk forskning. Wilhelmssons forskningsintressen är ekodemokrati, bildning och didaktisk praktiknära forskning. Författarna ansvarar för de resonemang och slutsatser som förs fram i rapporten.

The main aim of this paper is to identify and discuss students' and neighboring local actor’s joint value construction within a nature-local actor-student relational matrix.

Considering present eco-social-cultural challenges (Fettes & Blenkinsop, 2023) and planetary boundaries (Oziewicz, 2022) the construction of epistemic and ethical values is key for education as social leverage for a sustainable future (Jickling et. al 2018). It is crucial to understand the practical processes involved in this effect. Hence, scrutinizing how students, nature and local actors collaborate in value construction within the context of ESE is key. Drawing on results from a practice-based research project with three small schools in sparsely populated areas in the middle of Sweden, the paper addresses ESE at the crossroads of formal education and social learning.

Theoretical Framework

The paper draws on insights from theorizing the question of the interdependence between epistemic and ethical values in moral philosophy (Norton & Norton 2007, Dewey 1944), pedagogical research (Östman & Almqvist, 2010), and environmental ethics research (Rolston III, 1987). The paper focuses on interactions between students, neighboring local actors, and nature as partners(Merchant 1996) and addresses an empirical question focusing on value-construction in particular socio-geographical locations. The paper also builds on categorial Bildung-theory and critical constructive didactics (Klafki, 2010) 

Methodology/Research Design

The study design is abductive (Wilhelmsson & Damber, 2022), which enables flexible choices of theoretical framework to avoid one-sided analysis and uncritical explanations to study, understand, and explain the construction of epistemic and ethical values in complex ESE practices. Practitioner inquiry is used as methodology enabling teaching as the place of investigation (see Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009). Finally, an environmental ethical conceptual framework for empirical research on ESE (Kronlid & Öhman 2012) is used. The empirical material are teacher’s reflexive texts and interview transcripts. 

Expected Results/Findings:

The research questions are: What epistemic and ethical values are constructed in the socio-geographical location of rural schools? How are epistemic and ethical values constructed in collaboration between local actors, students, and nature? To what extent do such values enable constructive critique of the intrinsic – instrumental value dichotomy in environmental ethics and ESE research. Expected findings are insights into (a) how socio-geographical locations are engaged in value construction, (b) which values that are being constructed, and (c) how formal ESE and social learning interact in a local actor-student-nature relational matrix.

Relevance to Nordic Educational Research

Research that focuses on small schools in sparsely populated communities is uncommon. Research concerning the potential of the local natural environment as an equally important partner in education is scarce. Finally, interdisciplinary research combining ESE, environmental ethics and philosophy of education are expected to produce results that are specific for the Nordic context.

Assessment research highlights negative and positive consequences of student assessment and whether assessment practice is mainly positive or negative for students. Hirsh (2020) and Kärenkeinen (2006) argue that strongly focusing on assessment in school increases risk of mental illness such as increased pressure and stress, and reduced faith in the future (i.e. hope). The view taken in the research project of which this paper is part, is that the scholarly discussion about the ethical ramifications of assessment practice highlights the importance of continued theory-based empirical studies of assessment validation that considers its social, i.e. ethical, consequences (Messick, 1989).

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of such negative consequences in terms of identity formation, i.e. subjectification processes (Biesta, 2022). The paper aims at an in-depth understanding of the social ethos of the Swedish society in which assessment practices are situated. Key conceptualizations from this social ethos are important to understand the ethical meaning of students’ moral/existential experiences, and to enable further understandings of ethical validity of assessment.

The questions addressed in the paper are: How can a social ethos of our time be characterized? How may a continental ethics style inform our understanding of such potential moral-existential experiences and perceptions? To what extent can conceptualizations drawn from such an ethos be used to press empirical material?

Theoretical framework/methodology

The project has an interdisciplinary profile combining the disciplines of continental ethics and pedagogy. Drawing on interviews with children in the age of 13-14, continental ethics will be used to press (Levy, 2003) the specific ethics questions that will surface in the empirical material. Accordingly, this paper presents an in-depth reading of the works of the Korean philosopher Byung Chul Han (Han 1998, 2011, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021a, 2021b, 2022a, 2022b, 2022c, 2023, 2024) to flesh out key ideas of the current social ethos in the Swedish society. These key insights will be used to inform the analysis existentialist questions (identity formation, self-views, relationships, moral development) of relevance for a deeper understanding of negative consequences of assessment. Further, whereas analytical ethics, “mimics the scientific style of inquiry” continental ethics is engaged in cultural critique (Levy, 2003), which enables a seldom explored inquiry into the ethical validity of assessment in relation to preexisting social norms and values (ethos).

Expected results/findings


We expect to find that Han’s discussions of e.g. the ”burnout society”, the ”palliative society”, the ”crisis of narration” and the ”scent of time” will provide important insights into a scholarly  contextualization of students negative experiences of assessment.

Relevance to Nordic educational research

The paper is of relevance to the Nordic educational field of research because it assumes that validation of assessment practices should consider the relevance of ethics research, and that so-called continental ethics is of particular importance to balance the predominant teleological hence purpose-oriented research on ethics and education in Sweden and the Nordic countries.

Research topic/aim

In discussions of assessment in school, one controversial issue has been whether or not assessment practice is mainly positive or negative for the students. Hirsh (2020) and Kärenkeinen (2006) argue that strongly focussing on assessment in school increases risk of mental illness such as increased pressure and stress, and reduced faith in the future. The view taken in this research project is that this discussion highlights the importance of continued theory-based empirical studies of assessment validation that takes into account social, i.e. ethical, consequences of assessment validation (Messick, 1989). Consequently, the project assumes that validation of assessment practices need do consider the relevance of social ethics theory and that so-called continental ethics is of particular importance.

Theoretical framework

The project combines theories and research of assessment (i.e. Messick, 1989) with theories of continental ethics (i.e. Bauman, 1995; Løgstrup, 1997; Scott, 1990). The reason for using continental rather than analytical ethics (Levy, 2003) is that the former touches upon existentialist questions (identity formation, self views, relationships, moral development) of relevance for deeper understanding negative consequences of assessment. Further, whereas analytical ethics ”mimics the scientific style of inquiry” continental ethics is engaged in cultural critique (Levy, 2003). In addition, Foucault’s (1989) notion of the disciplinary society and Byung-Chul Han’s (1998) notion of Müdichkeitgesellschaft situates the project in the context of two similar yet different notions of present social ethos. These notions will be used to inquire into the ethical validity of assessment in relation to preexisting social norms and values.

Methodological design

The project has an interdisciplinary profile combining the disciplines of ethics and empirical pedagogy. Drawing on inductively analysed semistructured interviews with children in the age of 12 continental ethics will be used to pressing the specific ethics questions that will surface in the empirical material. Expected conclusions/findings We expect to find that assessment practices profoundly influence children’s self-view in both negative and positive ways. In addition, that putting the empirical results in communication with continental ethics will widen the field of understanding of the topic of interest in question.

Relevance to Nordic educational research

The project is of relevance to the Nordic educational field of research because it will develop (a) a methodology to inquire into the moral dilemmas of current assessment practices from the perspective of continental ethics, which (b) enables an ethical validation of the sorting-, information,- and formative functions of assessment.

The main aim of the paper is to discuss students' learning and personal development through developing scientific didactic models in education for sustainable development (ESD) based on rural small school conditions. A partial aim is to present a heuristic research methodology where collaboration between school staff, researchers, neighboring local actors, and the local geographical location contributes to developing ESD theory and practice. 

Considering present eco-social-cultural challenges and respecting the earth's carrying capacity (Fettes och Blenkinsop, 2023) and planetary boundaries (Oziewicz, 2022) education is an important partner (Jickling et. al 2018). Hence, the need to understand practical challenges and to develop didactical tools for teaching and learning is crucial. Accordingly, this paper presents tentative results from a practice-based research project with three small schools in sparsely populated areas in the middle of Sweden.

The project builds on the assumption that schools’ geographical location is important for the kind of environmental and sustainability education that is possible and desirable. Furthermore, whereas place-based education research is common (see Yemini, Engel & Ben Simon 2023), research that focuses on small schools in sparsely populated communities is uncommon. In particular, the paper addresses questions concerning the potential of the local natural environment as an equally important partner in education. Other sustainability factors taken into consideration are how education can address migration into cities, extending formal education to formal-nonformal education in collaboration with neighboring local actors, and how to understand and organize students' learning in such teaching practice context (Miller, 2015; Pettersson, 2017; Wildy, et. al., 2014). Furthermore, those schools often engage in the proximity of the local community, place, and the culture and history of local communities. 

The paper builds on categorial Bildung-theory and critical constructive didactics (Klafki, 1995) to enable the importance of personal transformation change and the role of education in mastering the global challenges of an uncertain future (Wilhelmsson & Blenkinsop, accepted; Kvamme, 2021). Simultaneously, critical constructive didactics focuses on educational content and didactics as an intersection between theory and practice (Klafki, 2010). Didactic models are realized to the extent that they are used and tested in teaching practice where the practice is seen as both a starting point and frame of reference for didactic theory (Künzli, 2010). Furthermore, late Klafki introduces “epochal key problems” as important issues that are decisive for the future. This underlines the current and future responsibilities of both teachers and students and the readiness for learning and development that leads to mastering complex sustainability problems (Kvamme, 2021).

The research questions addressed are: 

What challenges and opportunities are constituted in teaching for sustainable development in small schools in sparsely populated areas? 

What are the pluralistic interaction areas for those schools with nature, the local community, and the socio-geographical location?

In what ways does a practical research methodology focusing on didactic models enable a locally relevant education for sustainable development?

Tentative results include:

Insights into how the school engages (and is engaged by) the local community in education for sustainable development.

Didactic models for locally relevant education for sustainable development, including appropriate skills and attributes, that relate critically and constructively to the school's mission.

A scientifically assessed research methodology that strengthens collaboration and is sustainable over time.

Method

The study design is based on an abductive logic that enables a continuous didactic reflection where theory and empirical evidence are mutually reinterpreted (Wilhelmsson & Damber, 2022). Accordingly, the reciprocal relationship between theory and empirical practice has a given place in the research process. Abduction's flexible choice of theoretical framework avoids one-sided analysis and uncritical explanations. This is favorable for studying, understanding, and explaining the complexity of education for sustainable development. In addition, a rapidly changing society demands the ability to constantly reconsider theoretical explanations in education and teaching.

Practitioner inquiry is used as methodology. Here, teaching becomes the concrete place for the investigation and thus constitutes a context for professional and cultural understanding and development (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009). The methodology, which is critical and reflexive, enables the pedagogues' systematic reflection and thus a purpose-oriented study of local teaching practice.

The abductive design along with practitioner inquiry ensures that participating researchers and educators collaborate in data collection, activities, and analysis and that these activities also become learning opportunities for participating educators and researchers.

Didactic modeling is used throughout the phases of the project as it consists of three components, extraction (construct a tentative model based on empirical data), mangling (successive and purpose-oriented adaptation of the tentative models), and exemplifying (documentation of the use of the models in analysis and teaching) (Hamza and Lundqvist, 2023).

The empirical material consists of reflexive texts produced in direct connection to the teaching experience and through collaborative workshops, writing exercises, seminars, and interactive lectures in dialogue with participating pedagogues. Documentation from teaching planning and student participation constitutes supplementary material. Data is also collected using structured dialogues about central teaching cases, and in-depth follow-up interviews with a strategic selection of participating teachers and neighboring local actors. The processing of the material takes place with the aim of jointly and critically reflecting on the complexity of, and the change in, teaching practice in collaboration with the local community and the geographical location.

Conclusions

The project produces insights into how schools engage and are engaged by the local community in establishing ESD; research methods and methodology, partnership with small schools, teaching practices that relate critically to the school's commission; how researchers and practitioners can, in collaboration with neighboring local actors, contribute to developing didactic models for locally relevant ESD; identifying relevant skills for participating practitioners and researchers; didactic models for locally relevant education for sustainable development. 

The three evolving themes imply that locally relevant didactical models that relate critically and constructively to the school's mission in a global context should include collaboration with neighboring local community actors, the place, and nature; significant critical perspectives and student participation for student learning and development; conditions that are constitutive for living and working in sparsely populated communities. 

The preliminary analysis shows that the three themes are interconnected in most teaching activities and teachers' practice-reflections. The themes also comprise individual student perspectives, teaching practice, and the overall purpose of education. Importantly, although the local community needs and needs of the individual in this specific context is underlined the latter is emphasized in teaching practice. E.g. how to motivate students to learn, what kind of knowledge is underlined, and how to achieve specific competencies in this context. Furthermore, the proximity of the local community, and the culture and history that characterize the geographical location, are celebrated at the same time as social norms and values may be challenged through education to fulfill the school's mission.

Additionally, the practitioner inquiry includes pedagogues' systematic reflection and a purpose-oriented study of local teaching practice that implies an imbalance between researchers and practitioners. Practitioners question if their teaching practice are correct and struggle with theoretical perspectives. Hence, researchers´ efforts to contextualize theory into teachers' practice is important. In addition, the work is time-consuming.

References

Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S.L. (2009) Teacher Research as Stance. The SAGE Handbook of Educational Action Research, Susan E. Noffke, and Bridget Somekh (Red), s. 39–49. SAGE Publications.

Fettes, Mark & Blenkinsop, Sean (2023) Education as the Practice of Eco-Social-Cultural Change. Palgrave Macmillan Cham https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45834-7

Hamza, K &Lundqvist, E. (2023). Mangling didactic models for use in didactic analysis of Classroom interaction. I Lizogate, F., Klette K., och Almqvist, J. (2023) (red) Didactics in a Changing World. European perspectives on Teaching, learning and the curriculum. (s 103–121). Springer Nature Switzerland: 

Jickling, B., Blenkinsop, S., Timmerman, N. & De Danann Sitka-Sage, M. (2018). Wild Pedagogies: Touchstones for Re-Negotiating Education and the Environment in the Anthropocene. Springer International Publishing AG. 

Klafki, W. (1995). Didactic analysis as the core of preparation of instruction (Didaktische Anlyse als Kern der Unterrichtsvorbereitung). Journal of Curriculum Studies, 27(1), 13-30. Klafki, W. (2010). The significance of classical theories of bildung for a contemporary concept of allgeminbildung. In, I. Westbury, S. Hopmann, & K. Riquarts (Eds.), Teaching as a reflective practice: The German didaktic tradition (pp. 85-107). Routledge. 

Klafki, W. (2010). The significance of classical theories of bildung for a contemporary concept of allgeminbildung. In I. Westbury, S. Hopmann, & K. Riquarts (Eds.), Teaching as a reflective practice: The German didaktic tradition (pp. 85-107). Routledge. 

Kvamme, O. (2021). Rethinking Bildung in the Anthropocene: The case of Wolfgang Klafki. Theological Studies, 77 (3), a 6807, 1-9. Künzli, R. (2010). German didactic models of re-presentation, of intercourse, and of experience. In I. Westbury, S. Hopmann, & K. Riquarts (Eds.), Teaching as a Reflective Practice. The German Didaktik Tradition (pp. 41-54). Routledge. 

Miller, P. (2015). Leading remotely: exploring the experiences of principals in rural and remote School communities in Jamaica. (Case study). International Journal of Whole Schooling, 11(1), 35. 

Oziewicz, M. (2022). Planetarianism Now: On Anticipatory Imagination, Young People’s Literature, and Hope for the Planet. In: Paulsen, M., jagodzinski, j., M. Hawke, S. (eds) Pedagogy in the Anthropocene. Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90980-2_12

Yemini, M, Engel, L. & Ben Simon, A. (2023): Placebased education – a systematic review of literature. Educational Review, DOI:10.1080/00131911.2023.2177260

Wilhelmsson, L. & Blenkinsop, S. (accepted). Ecologizing Bildung: Educating for the eco-social-cultural challenges of the twenty-first century: Canadian Journal of Environmental Education. Volume 23.

Wilhelmsson, L. & Damber, U. (2022). Abduktion som alternativ i didaktisk forskning. Pedagogisk forskning i Sverige, 4, ss. 180-202 

Crisis management planning and response can be improved by regional governments and organisations learning from one another. Specifically, comparative learning may be a benefit when groups understand the perceived effectiveness of various regional approaches when responding to different types of hazards. This article presents findings from a comparative case study analysis of regional governance perspectives of crisis management for geopolitical events and natural hazards in the Sunshine Coast, Australia, and Gotland, Sweden. Data were collected and analysed using document analyses and semi-structured interviews with regional practitioners. It was found that regional crisis management is increasingly influenced by global processes that are affecting the scales and characteristics of crises. As a result, prospective regional governance must evolve to include more international perspectives in crisis management and account for activities and processes that take place beyond arbitrary political boundaries.