A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Attention to the Whole Child Perspective

  2022. Carina Wikman, Mara Westling Allodi, Laura Ferrer-Wreder. 2022-Conference RCEN, 11-13 June, 2022

  Conference

  In schools, the academic life of children is often put in the front of educational practice, yet attention to the whole child is valuable because it underlies improvements in multiple child outcomes (Cantor, Osher, Berg, Steyer, and Rose, 2018; Osher, Cantor, Berg, Steyer, & Rose, 2018). Whole-child development is an approach that focuses on supporting not only academic skills but personal, social, and emotional skills in children (Darling-Hammond et. al., 2019). Especially important for the present study is the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning CASEL framework’s competencies of self-awareness as well as social awareness and relationship skills (CASEL 2013; 2020). Children´s self-concept is one key index within the domain of self-awareness and children´s prosocial behaviors are an indicator of social awareness and relationship skills. In the present study, we examined cross-sectional associations between indicators of social emotional competence (i.e., self-concept, prosocial behaviors) and children’s well-being and academic skills. 

  Participants comprised 143 children in second grade in four municipal primary schools. Eight elementary school teachers provided teacher ratings of the prosocial behaviors of participating children. Other constructs were child reported well-being and self-concept. Children also completed tests in math and literacy.

  The main findings from a structural equation model showed that the indicators of social emotional competence: self-concept and prosocial behaviors correlated moderately. Self-concept correlated highly with well-being and prosocial behaviors. Academic skills in terms of reading and math correlated moderately with prosocial behaviors and also well-being with math. Correlations between reading and well-being, reading and self-concept as well as math and self-concept were low and non-significant. 

  The present study is important from a Nordic perspective given that there is a need to build up empirical examples for why a whole child approach to education has value and should be retained and emphasized throughout a child’s education.

  References

  Cantor, P., Osher, D., Berg, J., Steyer, L., & Rose, T. (2019). Malleability, Plasticity, and Individuality: How Children Learn and Develop in Context. Applied Developmental Science, 23 (4), 307-337.

  Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (2013). 2013 CASEL guide: Effective social and emotional learning programs—Preschool and elementary school edition.

  Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (2020). CASEL's SEL framework.

  Darling-Hammond, L., Flook, L., Cook-Harvey, C., Barron, B, and Osher, D. (2020). Implications for educational practice of the science of learning and development. Applied developmental science, 24 (2) 97-140.

  Osher, D., Cantor, P., Berg, J., Steyer, L., & Rose, T. (2018). Drivers of human development: How relationships and context shape learning and development. Applied developmental science, 22 (1), 1-31.

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• Measuring the Social Climate in the Learning Environment: Differences Between Two Instruments

  2022. Carina Wikman, Mara Westling Allodi, Laura Ferrer-Wreder.

  Conference

  The structure of relationships in the classroom and what is proceeding socio-emotionally in the learning environment may hinder or support children´s learning and development. Therefore, measuring the social climate is essential to identify challenges, successes, and areas for additional improvement. In the U.S, the observation instrument CLASS has been developed based on developmental theory and research that suggests that interactions between teachers and students are the primary mechanism of student learning and development. In Sweden, the self-assessment questionnaire, GAVIS, has been developed from the theory of fundamental universal values, theory of psychosocial environment, self-determination theory, and analysis of student experiences. The aim of this pilot study was to examine the differences between the class and GAVIS instruments for young children.

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• Self-Concept, Prosocial School Behaviors, Well-Being, and Academic Skills in Elementary School Students: A Whole-Child Perspective

  2022. Carina Wikman, Mara Westling Allodi, Laura Anne Ferrer-Wreder. Education Sciences 12 (5)

  Article

  Whole-child development focuses on supporting not only academic but also social emotional skills. This cross-sectional study's aim was to examine the associations between the child-rated self-concept and well-being, teacher-rated prosocial school behaviors, and academic skills (as measured by child performance tasks) and to examine if there were group differences by gender for these constructs. The sample was 143 s grade students (M age = 8 years old). The results indicate that self-concept correlated highly with well-being and moderately with prosocial behaviors, while academic skills correlated moderately with prosocial behaviors. The results also show that the boys had lower average prosocial behavior (teacher-rated) and self-concept (child-rated) ratings relative to the girls. The findings indicate that prosocial behavior, well-being, and self-concept can be measured in psychometrically sound and practically meaningful ways in Swedish elementary schools. Because many of the socioemotional and behavioral constructs were correlated with academic skills, these constructs could be important targets for early academic support interventions inspired by a whole-child approach.

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• How I Feel about My School—Adaptation and Validation of an Educational Well-Being Measure among Young Children in Sweden

  2021. Rasmus Riad (et al.). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 (10)

  Article

  The well-being of children has received increasing attention in recent years. Nevertheless, we lack adequate brief self-report tools that enable us to consider young children’s well-being in policy evaluations and educational research. This study describes the adaptation and first validation of theSwedish version of How I Feel About My School (HIFAMS), a subjective well-being questionnaire suitable for children aged 4 to 12 years, which was originally developed in the United Kingdom (UK). Descriptive statistics with analysis of psychometric properties and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) are based on the perceived well-being of 228 children in preschool and school aged 5 to 8 years old. The CFA endorsed a good fit to a one-factor model, and the scale showed moderate internal consistency (rα = 0.63). The results are largely in line with the findings of the original HIFAMS. We conclude that the Swedish version can be applied in early preschool/school settings and could provide first-hand information about children’s well-being from the first years of education until elementary school grades. Practitioners in early education settings might benefit from HIFAMS assessments when seeking to understand children’s current well-being to provide support to children with special educational needs or children at risk for mental health issues. Researchers could use the HIFAMS to standardize child well-being evaluations in policy evaluations and interventional studies.

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• Psychometric Properties of the Elementary Social Behavior Assessment in Swedish Primary School: A Teacher Rated Index of Students' Prosocial School Behaviors

  2021. Carina Wikman, Mara Westling Allodi, Laura Ferrer-Wreder. Frontiers in Education 6

  Article

  This study examined the psychometric properties of a Swedish language adaption of the teacher-rated Elementary Social Behavior Assessment (ESBA), which provides an index of students’ prosocial school behaviors. Participants were eight teachers (two teachers per school in four schools) who rated their students (N = 143 children, M age = 8 years old). The ESBA factor structure was tested with Confirmatory Factor Analysis in a series of models. The two- and three-factor models showed better fit. ESBA showed high internal consistency at the observed level. ESBA’s psychometric properties show initial promise as a tool to help Swedish teachers to support students’ prosocial skills development. 

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• Lärares etiska förhållningssätt: En pedagogisk omsorg om och ett ansvar för människans unika och särskilda karaktär i förhållande till skolans värdegrund

  2011. Carina Wikman.

  Den här uppsatsen bygger på litteraturstudier. Eftersom pluralism och skillnad är demokratins förutsättningar använder jag pluralism som en utgångspunkt för att tolka skolans värdegrund. Detta gör jag genom att lägga Fjellströms ansvarsdiskurs som ett raster över först ansvar, sedan omsorg och till sist pluralism i värdegrunden. Uppsatsen är upplagd så att ansvar, omsorg och pluralism presenteras enligt omsorgsetikens syn och därefter ges Levinas perspektiv på det samma. Genom att omdefiniera Noddings omsorgsaspekt och Levinas ansvarsaspekt försöker jag utveckla en förståelse för ett etiskt förhållningssätt. Därefter följer ett avsnitt med en jämförelse mellan omsorgsetiken och Levinas etik, där motsättningar och överensstämmelser diskuteras. I slutkapitlet diskuteras vad det etiska förhållningssättet innefattar och vilken betydelse det har för lärare och för värdegrunden.

  Omsorgsetiken bidrar till ett etiskt förhållningssätt genom att sätta fokus på relationer och omsorg som indirekt leder till en kommunikativ öppenhet inför den Andre vilket är positivt för pluralism och skillnad. Omsorgsetiken belyser även den etiska aspekten på läroplansfrågor. Levinas etik fokuserar på relationen och det oändliga ansvaret inför den Andres alteritet vilket är positivt för pluralism och skillnad.

  Istället för att producera den demokratiska personen kan den demokratiska subjektiviteten genom etiskt förhållningssätt framträda uppfattad som ”handlande – i pluralitet”. Fokus finns då på skillnad istället för på likhet och enighet.

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Show all publications by Carina Wikman at Stockholm University