Browsing by Author "Rydberg, Irene"

The Master´s Thesis examines home economics teachers´ experiences of home economics education during the exceptional circumstances caused by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in spring 2020. The topic is important as the coronavirus pandemic continues, affecting and will affect home economics education. Previous research has shown that home economics is a civic subject that is constantly evolving as the world changes. Previous studies have also found that the management of competencies (such as consumer skills, cooking and home sanitation) included in the home economics subject supports people’s well-being in everyday life. The Thesis analyzes how home economics teachers experience the changes brought about by exceptional circumstances in their work when they switched to distance learning in schools. The material of the Thesis is part of the “Towards more sustainable home economics education 2020” survey, which was collected during the pandemic. The qualitative material consists of the answers of 99 home economics teachers to a two-part open-ended question: "Explain how your teaching changed in a state of exceptional circumstances caused by the coronavirus. Describe how the collaboration with students and their guardians has gone." Coding and thematic design were used in the analysis of the material. According to the home economics teachers who responded to the survey, challenges were posed by, for example, practicing the use of digital tools, inventing new teaching tasks, taking into account different family situations, and the fact that some students had difficulty getting in touch. Home economics teachers though welcomed, for example, the development of digital skills, student assessment and co-operation with students´ guardians. Home economics teachers experienced an increase in workload and working hours during exceptional circumstances, which had a detrimental effect on home economics teachers' resilience at work. The conclusion of the Thesis is that the resilience of home economics teachers must be supported, for example, by providing clear municipality- and school-specific instructions for the implementation of home economics education.