Maria Gustavsson

Prof. Maria Gustavsson

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Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

30Years (1997-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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1 November 2009 in Studies in Continuing Education
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
MGMaria Gustavsson
Maria Gustavsson
The aim of this article is to discuss how learning opportunities can be organized to promote expansive learning in work practice. The discussion draws on results from a case study examining local development work and conditions that facilitate processes of expansive learning in a work team within a public sector organization in a Swedish municipality. An interactive research design was used. Data were collected over almost four years through individual and group interviews with 12 workers in a work team and their three managers. In addition data were collected through observations of team meetings. The findings demonstrate that work can be organized as a learning environment to facilitate expansive learning even in a resource-limited public sector organization. Furthermore, patterns of expansive learning were evident in the work team's new work activities and new relationships in the organization. The findings also demonstrate the need to support managers in developing a role to facilitate expansive learning. However, the need for and extent of external support for promoting expansive learning in practice vary in different situations and stages during the development work.

23 October 2017 in Journal of Vocational Education & Training
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
LFLisa Ferm
Lisa Ferm
DTDaniel Persson Thunqvist
Daniel Persson Thunqvist
LSLouise Svensson
Louise Svensson
MGMaria Gustavsson
Maria Gustavsson
The aim of this article is to investigate the learning strategies vocational students use to become part of a work community, and how these strategies are related to the formation of a vocational identity at the workplace. Conducting qualitative interviews, data were collected from 44 industrial programme students from six upper secondary schools. The findings revealed five recurrent strategies used by the students for learning vocational identities as industrial workers. The students took individual responsibility for their own learning, asked questions to gain deeper vocational knowledge, searched for role models in the work community, positioned themselves as a resource to the work community, understood and used humour and jokes in order to become a member of the community. The conclusion is that the students actively develop learning strategies to adapt their behaviour to the norms and ideals of the industrial work community. In the process of develop the vocational identities as industrial workers, the students’ vocational habitus is transformed to better fit the industrial work community. The integration of the notions of agency and habitus demonstrates the dynamic nature of students’ participation in work communities; simultaneously, the students reproduce social structures that promote vocational identities.

1 January 1997 in Journal of Lightwave Technology
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
MGMaria Gustavsson
Maria Gustavsson
LGL. Gillner
L. Gillner
CLC.P. Larsen
C.P. Larsen

1 October 2013 in Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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Journal Article
Closed access
DLDaniel Lundqvist
Daniel Lundqvist
CRCathrine Reineholm
Cathrine Reineholm
MGMaria Gustavsson
Maria Gustavsson
KEKerstin Ekberg
Kerstin Ekberg
Objective: To investigate the differences in work conditions and symptoms of burnout, and the association between work conditions and symptoms of burnout at the three hierarchical levels: subordinates, first-line managers and middle managers. Methods: Analyses were based on questionnaire data from 4096 employees in nine organizations, containing three hierarchical levels: subordinates (n=3659), first-line managers (n=345), and middle managers (n=92). Results: Work conditions were found to differ between the three hierarchical levels, mostly between subordinates and managers. Managers experienced fewer symptoms of burnout than subordinates. Furthermore, the association between work conditions and burnout differed for subordinates, first-line managers and middle managers. Conclusions: Occupational health research needs to focus more on differences between hierarchical levels regarding work conditions and burnout.On the day of the defence date the status of this article was Manuscript.

18 November 2023 in International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
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DTDaniel Persson Thunqvist
Daniel Persson Thunqvist
MGMaria Gustavsson
Maria Gustavsson
ALAgneta Halvarsson Lundkvist
Agneta Halvarsson Lundkvist
Purpose: This article examines the role of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in a green transition of industry. In the world of industry, battling climate change is often treated as a technical issue, but recent research on VET has tried to balance the technological paradigm with more human-centric approaches. The literature review addresses emergent VET research that presents various and partially competing perspectives on the purpose of VET in relation to climate change. Methods: We use an integrative literature review to investigate this complex topic. This technique is particularly useful for making sense of emergent research concepts, as well as various, and partially competing, theoretical and methodological approaches. It also allows us to incorporate literature from different countries and VET systems. The main search was performed in Scopus during March 2023, and included studies published within a timespan of eight years (2016–2023). Findings: Through a qualitative content analysis, we have identified five cross-cutting themes in the literature: Conceptualising ill-defined concepts of green jobs and skills; high-tech solutions in the movement towards a fourth industrial revolution versus inclusive growth for VET greening; towards sustainable work-based learning for green skills in VET; radical transformative approaches to a just green transition; and the co-creation of skill-formation ecosystems. The analysis has highlighted the ways in which VET can take on different roles in the green transition, and that these roles can be developed successively in parallel with a green transition in industry. In the development of the role of VET, it is also relevant to consider the contrast between transitional approaches and transformative approaches in VET research. While transitional approaches are recurrently marked by empirical research in specialised areas and subsystems within society, transformative approaches are characterised by a stronger focus on societal transformation (large-scale changes), power dynamics, and social justice. Conclusion: In conclusion, we suggest an analytical model that synthesises research on what role VET can play in a green transition of industry. The development model highlights that VET can take on different roles in a green transition and can gradually develop in parallel with a green transition in industry.

1 March 2015 in Applied Ergonomics
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
ASAnna-Carin Fagerlind Ståhl
Anna-Carin Fagerlind Ståhl
MGMaria Gustavsson
Maria Gustavsson
NKNadine Karlsson
Nadine Karlsson
GJGun Johansson
Gun Johansson
KEKerstin Ekberg
Kerstin Ekberg