• Publicationsclose
• Other research productsclose
• 2019-2023close
• Closed Access close
• DK close
• VBN close
• COVID-19 close

Da corona-pandemien medførte suspendering af beskæftigelsesindsatsen i foråret 2020, var ledige borgere ikke længere forpligtet til at deltage i samtaler med jobcentret. Alligevel valgte en stor del af borgerne at fastholde kontakten til deres rådgiver i jobcentret. I denne artikel undersøger vi, hvorfor borgerne valgte at fastholde kontakten, og hvilken betydning relationen til rådgiver har for borgernes oplevelse af beskæftigelsesindsatsen.

The Scandinavian countries are often seen as a unity. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic striking differences on how the countries approached the crisis became evident. This quantitative-ethnographic (QE) study aimed to understand political and cultural similarities and differences between the three Scandinavian countries -Denmark, Norway and Sweden - through their crisis communications during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we focused on how the health authorities of the three countries, in their press releases, treated information about COVID-19 and acted in four fields: reorganization of population behavior, containment of viral transmission, preparation of health systems, and management of socioeconomic impacts. As a methodology, the QE tools nCoder and ENA were applied, respectively: to code the press releases and to correlate the treatment of information with the four fields of action.

Reflecting on a methodological experiment, we discuss the use of computational techniques in anthropology. The experiment was based on a collaborative effort by a team of ethnographers to produce an archive on the digitalisation of everyday life that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. We describe how online ethnographic data collection took place using digitally mediated interviews, participant observation in virtual events, and mobile ethnography. We analyse the consequences of online ethnography for establishing rapport and present steps taken to create an infrastructure for navigating ethnographic material comprising more than 3000 pages of text generated by multiple ethnographers.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused elevated levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress. Health care staff work daily in an environment where they are exposed to varying degrees of agitation and anxiety. This requires perseverance and a high degree of motivation and concentration. This study aimed to meet such diverse challenges by supporting citizens and staff through Covid-19 vaccine procedures in the Spring of 2021 through the utilization of background music. A curated playlist was developed in collaboration with health care and medical staff. Observation data was collected on three days with music and on three days without music with a total of 699 citizens and 39 employees participating. Analysis of data indicated how background music in connection with vaccination may have a positive effect on citizens and staff, especially in terms of citizens’experience of waiting time, of mood, of sound environment in the vaccination hall, as well as staff experience of contact with citizens and in cooperation with colleagues. Implementing curated playlists requires professional expertise to maximize potential benefits, as background music also can have negative effects. The involvement of staff is essential in addressing ethical aspects, as they need to be fully informed about background music and its appropriate usage.

Strategic government interventions in public education have shifted and blurred the boundaries between state, market and civil society modes of governance. Within this matrix of interdependent relations, schools operate under increasingly hybrid accountability arrangements in which public accountability can both complement and compete with market and social regimes and their associated institutional logics, goals, values and mechanisms. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, national governments implemented a wide range of emergency measures which had consequences for the mixes and layers of school accountabilities. This article examines the principal policy changes in Denmark, England and Italy. Drawing on state theories and the concept of ‘hybrid accountability’, semi-structured interviews with national and local policymakers and school practitioners were analysed thematically. While cultural nuances exist between the cases, our findings reveal that state interventions reinforce a public–professional accountability hybrid and hierarchies of control and command within and outside networks. Concomitantly, state non-interventions and the distinct underlying institutional logics associated with national large-scale assessments suggest policy inertia with implications for professional accountability and institutionalised change. Future research might investigate whether educators’ experiences influence the direction of national and local accountability policy reforms in a post-pandemic era.