Towards a reflective care in Education The ambivalence of professional caring masculinities in a Swedish Edu-care context

Department of education, communication and learning. University of Gothenburg

anette.hellman@ped.gu.se

Abstract

In the past decade, dominant global discourses about individuality and competence have become evident in pedagogy policy and practice [1]. Although traditional ways in Sweden of understanding ‘Educare’ (A holistic model of education and care) may still exist, Sweden, as several other western countries, have seen a shift towards a more performative culture where the concept of education tends to be related to traditional school subjects – such as the learning of language or mathematics [2,3]. Research has problematized the way care has become blurred and marginalized in relation to learning in educational settings and policy documents. It has also been argued that we need to analyze care as a reflective practice and learn more about how theories of care could be implemented [4]. The purpose of this paper is to explore notions about care and gender in contemporary Sweden and the concept I in this paper suggest for this discussion is reflective educational care [4].