Christina Osbeck
Biographic Data
| ID | 171941 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christina Osbeck |
| GIVEN NAMES | Christina |
| FAMILY NAME | Osbeck |
| SIGNATURE | OSBECK C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Gothenburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9238-7676 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Mediating between advocacy and freedom of thought
When sustainability is on the agenda, school and education are often assigned a key societal role in providing relevant knowledge and values. However, sustainability advocacy could be problematic when considered against parents’ and children’s formal rights to freedom of thought/belief, creating an ethical tension for teachers. We suggest that classrooms should be pedagogical interspaces and then argue for a narrative ethics approach focusing on …
‘Constructing the test to the teaching’ – and the complexities of assessing learning in ethics education
This study draws on a research project where a model of fiction-based ethics education was developed and put into practice during a school year in five classes in compulsory school, two in grade 5 and three in grade 8. A test was constructed with the purpose of evaluating a multi-dimensional ethical competence. The test was given at the beginning and the end of the school year to the students in the five classes, but also to students in five othe…
Bridging ‘as is’ and ‘as if’ by reading fiction in ethics education
The overarching aim is to explore what teachers perceive as the opportunities provided by using literature in ethics education in compulsory school. When being interviewed, in what ways do the teachers express views on the potential of fiction to encourage students to accept certain human conditions as imaginable, or to create motivation for ethical change, by means of the capacity of fiction to evoke feelings? Also, in what ways do the teachers …
Teachers’ perspectives on ethics education – expressed as opportunities and challenges
In Sweden, ethics education occupies a prominent position in the curriculum, both in the general, introductory sections and as a part of the subject religious education. The aim of this article is to investigate teachers’ insights regarding ethics education and to contribute knowledge about opportunities and challenges with ethics education, by analysing interviews with ten teachers. Five of the teachers used a fiction-based ethics education with…
Current debates about (inter-)religious literacy and assessments of the outcomes of religious education
This article addresses two current debates that have generated increasing interest in a number of countries but have rarely been considered together: the debate on religious and interreligious literacy and the debate on the assessment of the outcomes of Religious Education (RE). Against this background, both debates are reviewed and critically discussed in relation to the following questions: 1) What guiding educational ideas are connected to the…
Developing a Research Tool for Investigating Religious Knowledge as Part of Religious Literacy
This article makes international debates on religious literacy as well as forms of assessment in RE related to these debates its starting point by identifying the lack of an empirical basis for the respective discussions. A questionnaire for 15-year-old pupils with a focus on religious knowledge, based on prior studies and tried out in Finland, Germany and Sweden is introduced. The results, although not representative, allow for comparative evalu…
Powerful Knowledge in Social Studies Subjects—Challenges and Possibilities
Issues relating to the design of knowledge-based teaching in social studies subjects are always topical and it is important to discuss them in light of both research and pedagogical practice [...]
Taking the moral authorship of children and youth seriously in times of the Anthropocene
In this article we argue for the need to take the moral voices of children and youth seriously particularly in times of the Anthropocene. Drawing on theories in ethics by John Wall, moral development according to Mark B. Tappan, and education in line with the works by Vygotsky, we construct a conceptual framework where the notions ‘narrative,’ ‘moral authorship’ and ‘free will’ can open new creative understandings of human ethical competence; a c…
Powerful knowledge? A multidimensional ethical competence through a multitude of narratives
High-quality education has been considered important for social justice, although what good education means is contested. A project aimed at identifying varieties of conceptions of ethical competence (EthiCo) was presented as well as another that focused on a fiction-based approach to ethics education (EE). A multidimensional ethical competence mediated through a multitude of narratives was shown as a strong contribution to EE. The aim was to dis…
Funded Research in Relation to Curriculum Development-Tendencies in Religious Education in Sweden 2001-2019
In 2001, the Swedish Research Council (VR) set up a new section to expand educational research. The section has now existed for almost 20 years without receiving much attention within research. During the same period, the demands on teachers to base their teaching on research have increased, e.g., through the revised Education Act, which can be understood as presupposing available relevant research and a research-based curriculum. In this article…
Possible competences to be aimed at in ethics education – Ethical competences highlighted in educational research journals
The aim of this article is to present varieties of ethical competence that are highlighted in ethics and moral education research articles, and to discuss them in the light of competences stressed in the Swedish curriculum, understood as an example of ethics education in compulsory school. The material consists of 1,940 educational research articles published between 2000 and 2015, and the method of analysis is inductive, focusing on ethical comp…
More purpose than meaning in RE
In their essay ‘Failures of meaning in religious education’, James Conroy, David Lundie, and Vivienne Baumfield report findings from their recent project ‘Does Religious Education Work?’, during which ethnographic studies in 24 British schools were conducted. In this response I first highlight the importance of the character of RE for considering what ‘works’ and describe the kind of RE that the authors discuss. Secondly, I point to findings and …
Bringing Environmentalism Home
This article discusses children as contributors to sustainable ecological development. The aim of the article is to develop a framework for researching two questions: What are the prerequisites for children to become responsible environmentalists? What actual and potential influence do children have on their family's consumption? Three theoretical perspectives are elaborated in relation to relevant empirical research: children as cosmopolitan act…
Bringing Environmentalism Home
This article discusses children as contributors to sustainable ecological development. The aim of the article is to develop a framework for researching two questions: What are the prerequisites for children to become responsible environmentalists? What actual and potential influence do children have on their family's consumption? Three theoretical perspectives are elaborated in relation to relevant empirical research: children as cosmopolitan act…
Bringing Environmentalism Home
This article discusses children as contributors to sustainable ecological development. The aim of the article is to develop a framework for researching two questions: What are the prerequisites for children to become responsible environmentalists? What actual and potential influence do children have on their family's consumption? Three theoretical perspectives are elaborated in relation to relevant empirical research: children as cosmopolitan act…
More purpose than meaning in RE
In their essay ‘Failures of meaning in religious education’, James Conroy, David Lundie, and Vivienne Baumfield report findings from their recent project ‘Does Religious Education Work?’, during which ethnographic studies in 24 British schools were conducted. In this response I first highlight the importance of the character of RE for considering what ‘works’ and describe the kind of RE that the authors discuss. Secondly, I point to findings and …
Possible competences to be aimed at in ethics education – Ethical competences highlighted in educational research journals
The aim of this article is to present varieties of ethical competence that are highlighted in ethics and moral education research articles, and to discuss them in the light of competences stressed in the Swedish curriculum, understood as an example of ethics education in compulsory school. The material consists of 1,940 educational research articles published between 2000 and 2015, and the method of analysis is inductive, focusing on ethical comp…
Powerful knowledge? A multidimensional ethical competence through a multitude of narratives
High-quality education has been considered important for social justice, although what good education means is contested. A project aimed at identifying varieties of conceptions of ethical competence (EthiCo) was presented as well as another that focused on a fiction-based approach to ethics education (EE). A multidimensional ethical competence mediated through a multitude of narratives was shown as a strong contribution to EE. The aim was to dis…
Funded Research in Relation to Curriculum Development-Tendencies in Religious Education in Sweden 2001-2019
In 2001, the Swedish Research Council (VR) set up a new section to expand educational research. The section has now existed for almost 20 years without receiving much attention within research. During the same period, the demands on teachers to base their teaching on research have increased, e.g., through the revised Education Act, which can be understood as presupposing available relevant research and a research-based curriculum. In this article…
Taking the moral authorship of children and youth seriously in times of the Anthropocene
In this article we argue for the need to take the moral voices of children and youth seriously particularly in times of the Anthropocene. Drawing on theories in ethics by John Wall, moral development according to Mark B. Tappan, and education in line with the works by Vygotsky, we construct a conceptual framework where the notions ‘narrative,’ ‘moral authorship’ and ‘free will’ can open new creative understandings of human ethical competence; a c…
Bridging ‘as is’ and ‘as if’ by reading fiction in ethics education
The overarching aim is to explore what teachers perceive as the opportunities provided by using literature in ethics education in compulsory school. When being interviewed, in what ways do the teachers express views on the potential of fiction to encourage students to accept certain human conditions as imaginable, or to create motivation for ethical change, by means of the capacity of fiction to evoke feelings? Also, in what ways do the teachers …
Teachers’ perspectives on ethics education – expressed as opportunities and challenges
In Sweden, ethics education occupies a prominent position in the curriculum, both in the general, introductory sections and as a part of the subject religious education. The aim of this article is to investigate teachers’ insights regarding ethics education and to contribute knowledge about opportunities and challenges with ethics education, by analysing interviews with ten teachers. Five of the teachers used a fiction-based ethics education with…
Current debates about (inter-)religious literacy and assessments of the outcomes of religious education
This article addresses two current debates that have generated increasing interest in a number of countries but have rarely been considered together: the debate on religious and interreligious literacy and the debate on the assessment of the outcomes of Religious Education (RE). Against this background, both debates are reviewed and critically discussed in relation to the following questions: 1) What guiding educational ideas are connected to the…
Developing a Research Tool for Investigating Religious Knowledge as Part of Religious Literacy
This article makes international debates on religious literacy as well as forms of assessment in RE related to these debates its starting point by identifying the lack of an empirical basis for the respective discussions. A questionnaire for 15-year-old pupils with a focus on religious knowledge, based on prior studies and tried out in Finland, Germany and Sweden is introduced. The results, although not representative, allow for comparative evalu…
Powerful Knowledge in Social Studies Subjects—Challenges and Possibilities
Issues relating to the design of knowledge-based teaching in social studies subjects are always topical and it is important to discuss them in light of both research and pedagogical practice [...]
‘Constructing the test to the teaching’ – and the complexities of assessing learning in ethics education
This study draws on a research project where a model of fiction-based ethics education was developed and put into practice during a school year in five classes in compulsory school, two in grade 5 and three in grade 8. A test was constructed with the purpose of evaluating a multi-dimensional ethical competence. The test was given at the beginning and the end of the school year to the students in the five classes, but also to students in five othe…
Mediating between advocacy and freedom of thought
When sustainability is on the agenda, school and education are often assigned a key societal role in providing relevant knowledge and values. However, sustainability advocacy could be problematic when considered against parents’ and children’s formal rights to freedom of thought/belief, creating an ethical tension for teachers. We suggest that classrooms should be pedagogical interspaces and then argue for a narrative ethics approach focusing on …
Sociology (9 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Pedagogy (7 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Religious Education and Schools (5 works) · Curriculum (4 works) · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy (4 works) · Engineering ethics (4 works) · Political science (4 works)