Vad skola vi göra med litteraturen?
En studie av de nya styrdokumenten samt ett urval av läromedel och deras föreställningar om och legitimeringar av skönlitteratur i det svenska skolsystemet.
Teaching literatureHistory of literatureHistory of educationSteering documentTeaching material.LitteraturundervisningLitteraturhistoriaUndervisningshistoriaStyrdokumentLäromedelKanon
In this thesis I set out to study how the reading of fictional literature is viewed, legitimatized and operationalized in two educational domains: the recently revised steering documents that all Swedish teachers must relate to, as well as a selection of teaching materials designed for education in the Swedish language for upper secondary school. The teaching material I have studied has been recently updated in order to correspond with the new steering documents. I relate my analysis to previous research about the use of fiction in education, and I also combine my analysis of the two educational domains to see whether the underlying intentions of the steering documents have influenced the revision of the teaching material. The outcome indicates that the steering documents? previous focus on culture has diminished although a certain insecurity as to how to use the concept and deal with the issue of whose culture should be taught can be identified. The hierarchy between different ?subjects? within Swedish language education remains, as well as the ambivalent view on literary canon. The steering documents for upper secondary school Swedish remain remarkably uncritical where the reading of fiction is concerned. In my analysis of the teaching material, I find that while the new steering documents? focus on methods and concepts from traditional literary criticism has affected the material, it has not resulted in an increase of text-centered assignments in the teaching material.