Teacher’s Sensemaking and Positioning in Addressing ‘Interpersonal Violence’ between Students: A Qualitative Study across Swedish Elementary Schools.
(2025) SOLM02 20251Department of Sociology of Law
- Abstract
- Modernity is reflected in various sectors, with education being one of the most prominent. New expectations have emerged, and a ‘juridification’ of schooling has increased the pressure on teachers by assigning them new responsibilities that were traditionally managed by other authorities. Despite a legislative shift in the Swedish Educational Act in 2010, there remains a lack of clarity regarding how teachers are expected to position themselves within the social order—particularly in moments of conflict. The aim of the thesis has been to explore how teachers make sense of their own practices within the context of intervening, or not intervening, in interpersonal violence at Swedish elementary schools. Qualitative semi- structured... (More)
- Modernity is reflected in various sectors, with education being one of the most prominent. New expectations have emerged, and a ‘juridification’ of schooling has increased the pressure on teachers by assigning them new responsibilities that were traditionally managed by other authorities. Despite a legislative shift in the Swedish Educational Act in 2010, there remains a lack of clarity regarding how teachers are expected to position themselves within the social order—particularly in moments of conflict. The aim of the thesis has been to explore how teachers make sense of their own practices within the context of intervening, or not intervening, in interpersonal violence at Swedish elementary schools. Qualitative semi- structured interviews were conducted with nine teachers teaching students aged 6 to 14 at a school within Stockholm municipality. A theoretical framework grounded in Bourdieuan theory was used to examine how teachers make sense of their own practices in the context of physical conflict intervention. Three ideal types were derived from the theoretical framework, representing teachers’ different ways of interpreting the field, scope of action and positioning within the social order. Some teachers manage to adapt to the new changed field and acquire a symbolic value within their capitals without guidance. Others, however, remain constrained by the dominant logic of the state. The results imply that teachers working within Stockholm municipality receive different guidance depending on the context in which they work. When combined with personal traits of the actors, these ideal types show that teachers positioning within the social order differ, resulting in the field not being standardizable. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9195109
- author
- Grenert, Fanny LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SOLM02 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Interpersonal violence, Teachers’ professional positioning, The social order
- language
- English
- id
- 9195109
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-23 09:28:33
- date last changed
- 2025-06-23 09:28:33
@misc{9195109,
abstract = {{Modernity is reflected in various sectors, with education being one of the most prominent. New expectations have emerged, and a ‘juridification’ of schooling has increased the pressure on teachers by assigning them new responsibilities that were traditionally managed by other authorities. Despite a legislative shift in the Swedish Educational Act in 2010, there remains a lack of clarity regarding how teachers are expected to position themselves within the social order—particularly in moments of conflict. The aim of the thesis has been to explore how teachers make sense of their own practices within the context of intervening, or not intervening, in interpersonal violence at Swedish elementary schools. Qualitative semi- structured interviews were conducted with nine teachers teaching students aged 6 to 14 at a school within Stockholm municipality. A theoretical framework grounded in Bourdieuan theory was used to examine how teachers make sense of their own practices in the context of physical conflict intervention. Three ideal types were derived from the theoretical framework, representing teachers’ different ways of interpreting the field, scope of action and positioning within the social order. Some teachers manage to adapt to the new changed field and acquire a symbolic value within their capitals without guidance. Others, however, remain constrained by the dominant logic of the state. The results imply that teachers working within Stockholm municipality receive different guidance depending on the context in which they work. When combined with personal traits of the actors, these ideal types show that teachers positioning within the social order differ, resulting in the field not being standardizable.}},
author = {{Grenert, Fanny}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Teacher’s Sensemaking and Positioning in Addressing ‘Interpersonal Violence’ between Students: A Qualitative Study across Swedish Elementary Schools.}},
year = {{2025}},
}