Informationskompetens i det svenska och bayerska gymnasiet : En jämförande analys av det svenska och det bayerska gymnasiets läro- och ämnesplaner

Sammanfattning: This study is a comparative study of the occurrence and function of information literacy in the curricula of the Swedish and Bavarian Gymnasium and investigates the occurrence of the term ”information literacy” and shows through what other linguistic means the notion of information literacy is expressed in the curricula. The study also wishes to analyze how the notion of information literacy manifests itself in the different school systems. Relevant textual passages of both curricula are compared to each other through the theoretic lens of Bruce’s phenomenographic model of information literacy. This study shows that although the term of ”information literacy” is absent in the analyzed texts several other terms are used in both curricula to express similar notions. The study further shows that although all seven of Bruce’s conceptions of information literacy are represented in the curricula some major differences exist between the two educational systems. Thus the analysis shows differences in the use of information technology which in the Swedish curriculum is seen as an educational goal in the individual subjects whereas according to the Bavarian curriculum training in the use of information technology takes place in the subject of Informatik. Other differences concerning information literacy are shown through the notion of the control concept. Here it is shown that in the Bavarian curriculum emphasis has been put on the training of the memory capacity of the student as a form of information organization. Bruce’s wisdom conception is further used to show that the Bavarian curriculum emphasizes the use of subject knowledge for democratic purposes. This is shown most clearly in the syllabi of the humanities to be seen. Through the use of Bruce’s conceptions it can also be shown that both in a Swedish and a Bavarian context information retrieval is partly absent in the natural science syllabi, whereas it plays a major part in the syllabi of the humanities. This can be connected to a common lack of faith in the value of information retrieval in the natural sciences. This is a two years master’s thesis in library and information science.