Didaktiska implikationer i lärares samhällsuppdrag
Uppfattningar om demokrati och biologiskt ämnesstoff hos blivande lärare
EducationAssignment of communityRepresentative democracyParticipative democracyDeliberative democracyBiologyUpper secondary schoolUtbildningSamhällsuppdragRepresentativ demokratiParticipativ demokratiDeliberativ demokratiBiologiGymnasieutbildning
In today?s school in Sweden the assignment of community encompasses mediated values and education of democracy as well of single subject matters. What does it mean then, that teachers have a certain kind of idea of democracy, and what implications may biology have for the assignment of community? In upper secondary school there are quite many courses in biology with a national curriculum, and findings show that students of teaching perceive or think of biology as helping to promote the dual-purpose of teaching. In this study, the author of the paper has interviewed four future teachers of upper secondary school with biology as one of their main subjects. The purpose has been to identify their perceptions of democracy as well as their conceptions of the relationship between biology and democracy in education. The result is that the interviewees perceive of democracy as consistent with representative, participative and deliberative concepts of democracy. They conceive of the relationship between biology and democracy in education as to a great extent consistent with the deliberative concept of democracy. The implications are that the idea of democracy becomes more radical and consistent with the deliberative concept of democracy when subject matters of biology are part of the education. In this manner, subject matters of biology are of educational importance for the teachers´ conceptions of democracy as well for the assignment of community.