Diskursiva legitimeringar av estetisk verksamhet i lärarutbildningen

The purpose of this article is to discuss current discourses inscribed in the practice of aesthetic courses in Swedish teacher training for compulsory school. The discussion is based on data including 19 focus group interviews with teachers and students at 10 Swedish teacher education institutes. Our analysis shows that an academic discourse focusing on theory, reflection and textual production exists alongside a discourse of skills‐based practice. A third discourse, characterized by subjectivity and relativism vis‐à‐vis the concept of quality, is also found in the material. Finally, a therapeutic discourse is articulated and legitimized based on an idea that student teachers should be emotionally balanced. In the article, contextual and ideological factors, as well as techniques of governance, are discussed in relation to the constructions found in the empirical material.