Teacher trainees’ performance of information sharing activities and identity positions on Facebook
Purpose The aim of this paper is to extend the knowledge of how identity is connected to information sharing activities in social media during pre-school teacher training. Design/methodology/approach An ethnographic study is performed where 249 students at a Swedish pre-school teacher training programme are followed through participant observations from November 2013 to January 2014, and from September 2014 to January 2015. The material produced includes 230 conversations from a Facebook Group used by 210 students and several teachers, field notes and transcribed interviews with 9 students. Comparative analysis is used to analyse the Facebook conversations to identify ways of positioning identity and performing information sharing activities. Interviews with students are analysed to contextualize and validate the findings from the online interactions. Findings Three identity positions are identified: discussion-oriented learner, goal-oriented learner and customer-oriented learner. The way a student commit...
All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth. Aristotle, 323 BCE Introduction This review of the literature will briefly describe the multiple domains of adolescent development; the current South African historical and educational context; the much contested areas of political, moral and religious values; the place of soliciting learners’ perspectives when designing a school learning programme and the relationship between these areas. Specifically it will focus on the various approaches to citizenship education and moral education and the way in which it interacts (or fails to interact) with religious education. Finally it will outline a tentative area of empirical research in which learner’s responses are elicited in order to inform a conception of ‘thick citizenship’ or a ‘human curriculum’ suitable for contemporary learners in South Africa.