Charlotte Højholt’s research while affiliated with Roskilde University and other places

This article discusses the methodological concept of chains of reasons , as a conceptual possibility for analysing connections between personal participation and structural conditions in a concrete historical practice. The concept of context is central within psychology, but methodologically it is often an open question how to select and focus on the relevant contextual nexuses to a problem. Following subjective reasons as an analytical foundation for tracking relevant conditions provides a possibility for concretising the work with contexts and anchoring personal aspects in social practice. This is illustrated through an analysis of unequal possibilities for children’s participation in educational institutions, conceptualised as situated inequality . Although the analysis exemplifies an analytical round trip into social practices involved in the individual representation of problems at school, the concept is meant as a general contribution to theoretical psychology, highlighting structural conditions through analysis of subjective perspectives in participants’ conduct of everyday life.

Ambitionen med denne artikel er at bidrage til forståelser af lærerfaglighed og undervisningspraksis, der adresserer, hvordan lærere arbejder med hverdagslivets kompleksiteter og dynamiske samspil som led i at skabe deltagelsesmuligheder for børn og unge i konkrete undervisningssituationer. Vi vil på den måde bidrage til udviklingen af en ’situeret psykologi’ med begreber, der kan styrke forståelser for lærerfaglighed som samarbejdende og udforskende. Artiklen bygger på et begreb om ’situeret ulighed’, der inviterer til at forstå og analysere ulighed som på en og samme tid knyttet til skolen som en særlig samfundsmæssig praksis, sociale samspil og samarbejdsprocesser og børn og unges personlige erfaringer, engagementer og liv på tværs af steder. Det peger på en sammenhæng mellem børn og unges forskellige muligheder for at deltage og lykkes i skolen og professionelles faglige betingelser for at arbejde med deres deltagelsesmuligheder i skolen. Med afsæt i praksisteori, kritisk psykologiske begreber om blandt andet livsførelse samt Donald Schøns teori om faglighed i praksis bidrager artiklen med trædesten til forståelser af lærerfaglighed som situeret i skolens sociale hverdagsliv, hvor lærere og elever samarbejder om forskelle og fælles opgaver. Formålet er herigennem at styrke forståelser af og betingelser for læreres faglighed i arbejde med børns og unges betingelser for deltagelse i skolens læringsfællesskaber.

Mit forskningsarbejde begyndte i en interesse for, hvordan psykologien kan bruges i menneskers hverdagsliv og med en undersøgelse af, hvordan brugere (forældre) oplevede psykologhjælp (Pædagogisk Psykologisk Rådgivning). Det første, forældrene fortalte, var, at problemerne handlede om noget andet, end andre parter havde fortalt. Vores forskning blev derved sendt ud i de mange sammenhænge, hvor børn lever deres hverdagsliv, og forskellige voksne samarbejder og konflikter om dem – samt sendt ind mod betydninger for børnene, deres fællesskaber, livsførelse og subjektivitet. Analyser af de mange forskellige perspektiver herfra illustrerede, hvordan pro- blemerne blev forskudt rundt mellem stederne. Frem for problemforskydninger, der placerer nogle parter i ‘brugerpositioner’, skal vi måske analysere folkeskolens mangesidede ‘sager’ og konflikter og de situerede uligheder i forhold til at gøre sig gældende i disse konflikter? I dag er jeg optaget af indholdet i konflikterne, og af, hvordan børnenes personlige dilemmaer og ‘agency’ kan ses knyttet til deres deltagelse i konfliktuelle samspil og forløb. På den måde søger artiklen at belyse, hvordan personlige konflikter er indvævet i samfundsmæssige og politiske konflikter – konflikterne om børnene synes at indebære konflikter for børnene.

This article contributes to discussions of transmethodology by drawing on experiences from conducting practice research aimed at the development of theory and practice through research collaboration. We analyze efforts to build research communities where researchers and professionals work together to perform analyses and develop knowledge. A collective research project exploring children’s possibilities for participation in school is used as a case for exploring how a research problem develops through such collaboration. This research project was designed to explore school life from the perspectives of children, parents, teachers, school leaders, and psychologists, and to analyze conflicts situated in everyday practices while considering political struggles concerning the school as a historical institution. The article emphasizes the often intangible and overlooked processes involved in research collaboration and details how we worked to build a research community comprising researchers and professionals that enabled collective multi-perspective analyses. Building on a dialectical approach, we conceptualize conflicts as part of historical processes and as an immanent potentiality that arises from people’s engagement in common but contradictory matters. Hence, the different perspectives of the participants in the field can be seen as linked through common matters, while also being differentiated by their allotted tasks in relation to children’s school life. This approach continuously challenged the researchers to analyze everyday conflicts grounded in the different perspectives of those involved, the different forms of reasoning, understandings, and standpoints, as well as how the different perspectives are connected through the participants’ engagement in a common matter – providing good schools for children. The article concludes by arguing that the discussed approach to theory development can be linked to a situated concept of generalization

This article contributes to discussions of transmethodology by drawing on experiences from conducting practice research aimed at the development of theory and practice through research collaboration. We analyze efforts to build research communities where researchers and professionals work together to perform analyses and develop knowledge. A collective research project exploring children’s possibilities for participation in school is used as a case for exploring how a research problem develops through such collabora-tion. This research project was designed to explore school life from the perspectives of children, parents, teachers, school leaders, and psychologists, and to analyze conflicts situated in everyday practices while considering political struggles concerning the school as a historical institution. The article emphasizes the often intangible and overlooked processes involved in research collaboration and details how we worked to build a re-search community comprising researchers and professionals that enabled collective mul-ti-perspective analyses. Building on a dialectical approach, we conceptualize conflicts as part of historical processes and as an immanent potentiality that arises from people’s engagement in common but contradictory matters. Hence, the different perspectives of those involved in children’s school life can be seen as linked through common matters, while also being differentiated by their allotted tasks in relation to children’s school life. This approach continuously challenged the researchers to analyze everyday conflicts grounded in the different perspectives of those involved, the different forms of reasoning, understandings, and standpoints, as well as how the different perspectives are connected through the participants’ engagement in a common matter – providing good schools for children. The article concludes by arguing that the discussed approach to theory devel-opment can be linked to a situated concept of generalization.

Denne artikel diskuterer modsætninger og muligheder i kvalitativ forskning med forskning om ulighed i skolen som eksempel. På baggrund af en begrebsmæssig diskussion af hverdagslivets historiske dimensioner udforskes skolen som en social praksis hvor mange deltagere i situeret samspil med hinanden lever hverdagsliv og udgør betingelser for hinandens livsførelse. Artiklen vil pege på muligheden for gennem kvalitativ udforskning af skolens sociale situationer at fremanalysere sammenhænge mellem politiske konflikter i og om skolen, personlige konflikter i hverdagslivet og ulige betingelser for at deltage i skolelivet – det er netop sådanne sammenhænge kvalitativ metode kan bidrage til at forstå. Herigennem vil artiklen diskutere metodologiske udfordringer for kvalitativ psykologi særlig forholdet mellem forskere, og dem de forsker med - og både i relation til begrebsudvikling, situeret generalisering og mere praktiske guidelines for forskningssamarbejde og feltarbejde. Formålet er at bidrage til udviklingen af sprog, begreber og metodologi for kvalitativ psykologi.

This article discusses theoretical challenges in conceptualising the dialectical relationship between historical conditions and the situated interplay between people in concrete everyday practice. The concept of conflict may help us move beyond tendencies within psychology to separate history and situated practice, structure and activity, and micro- and macroprocesses – and to regard social life as unambiguous or as governed through hegemony. Research on the everyday social life of schools describes societal conflicts about education and how school children deal with unequal conditions when handling the conflictuality of their everyday lives. Analyses of coordination and conflicts between various parties (e.g. children, parents, teachers and psychologists) elucidate connections between intersubjective efforts to make things work in everyday practice and historical struggles related to the school as a social institution. Concepts are required that enable understanding of these processes as historical and political, driven by intersubjectivity related to concrete dilemmas, connected to personal and collaborative conduct of everyday life – processes we term the politics of everyday life. From a social practice perspective, we discuss how to grasp the ways in which people constitute the conditions for each other in a situated interplay in which they deal with common problems and – through these activities – also produce history.