- 10.00-11.00: trial lecture.
- 12.00-15.30: public defence.
Title of the trial lecture: "The challenges of rushing towards agreement or disagreement: On the value of not (yet) taking a stand."
Title of the thesis: "Creating Spaces for Democracy and Citizenship in Lower Primary Classrooms: Democratic Beings Becoming Democratic Citizens".
The committee consist of
- first opponent, Professor Janicke Heldal, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
- second opponent, Professor Claudia Ruitenberg, The University of British Columbia
- chair of the committee, Associate Professor Anders Granås Kjøstvedt, Department of Primary and Secondary Teacher Education, OsloMet
The leader of the public defence is Vice dean Finn Aarsæther, Faculty of Education and International Studies, OsloMet.
The main supervisor is Professor Margareth Sandvik, OsloMet. The co-supervisors are Professor Emilia Andersson-Bakken, OsloMet and Docent Jan Grannäs, University of Gävle.
Summary
In this thesis, Lind investigates democratic citizenship education in the context of Norwegian lower primary school. This is done with the purpose of supporting teachers in fulfilling their responsibilities related to the curricular goal of educating active democratic citizens.
An account of democratic citizenship education emphasizing the formation of democratic habits conducive to the exploration and elaboration of perspectives during deliberation is developed. Classroom talk is investigated, with a focus on pupils’ peer talk and teachers’ talk. The investigations are grounded in video recordings from lower primary classrooms, which are analyzed to identify patterns relevant for democratic citizenship education.
The thesis stresses the importance of experiencing disagreements and argues that this is a pertinent focus for democratic citizenship education in a lower primary context. The key insight is that teachers’ design of classroom discourse matters, and some implications for educational practice considering this insight are discussed.
