Abstract

Several of researchers have reflected that the school ought to be developed to a learning organization. A method as proceed from such a perspective and should be able to match a local child- and educations administration is problembased school development. To investigate in which ways a child- and educations administration prosecute a problem based learning inside the organization a case study was used as research strategy. The question this report gives answer to is:

In what/which way works a child- and educations administration in a rural district with a method to fulfil a problembased learning.

To collect empiric data a canvassing inquiry was accomplished among the child- and educations administrations group of management. According to the research result it can declares that there are good conditions for the organization to prosecute problem based school development, but there is yet a great deal to do before it´s can be said totally fulfilled. In the organizations group of management there is a varying understanding of the school’s mission, because they are seeing the mission from different perspectives. To be able to develop the organization there is important in the future to establish a common dialogue how the coming vision are going to elaborates, because the vision of today is apprehend as indistinct. Within the organization their communication system is well-developed and the culture of the organizations group of management is cooperating. The group of managements meeting ought to engage more time in having challenging conversations how the pedagogical activities in the organization are going to be continuously developed.

Keywords:

the mission, the vision, school development, the culture of the organization and communication

Genom massmedia kommer ständigt nya rapporter om hur fel dagens unga lever. Att det är mycket stillasittande, ohälsosam kost, och att barnen inte leker eller rör på sig naturligt. Det pågår mycket forskning om detta, hur barnen påverkas motoriskt sett, och då även inlärningsmässigt. Jag har tittat närmare på motoriken. Till grund för detta arbete, hur den motoriska utvecklingen bland 10- åringar är, ligger ett rörelseprojekt, kallat SMARTIS. Det är en skolsatsning från Handslaget, via riksidrottsförbundet som ska pågå under tre år för att få in mer rörelse i skolan. I projektets början gjordes en videoinspelning där 43 elever filmades i tolv olika rörelsemoment. Filmen har jag tillsamans med anställda inom projektet tagit del av och analyserat. Syftet med observationen var att se om det fanns några motoriska brister hos eleverna, och utforska vad man kan göra för förebyggande åtgärder. Av de observerade mellanstadiebarnen visade det sig att motoriken var förhållandevis god.

The purpose with this study was to look at teachers`thoughts and experiences of student influences in special schools. The study was based on questions of how the teachers` work with student influence, what kind of assumptions they have,and the teachers`experiences of how it influences the consequences. I choose this subject because I think it is relevant to my education. At the university I aimed my studies to special pedagogy and that is why I feel that special schools is a relevant choice of subject. This study was done with qualitative interviews with three teachers`involved. These three teachers` had their experinces from three different communities, and that was known to me. The purpose of that was too see if I could get different result that I could use in my discussion, but that was not the case. The differences between these three teachers` experiences, influences assumptions, and consequenses were few. All three agreed that the teachers`faith in what the student could and wanted to have influence was an assumption to give them this opportunity. They also talked about communication as an important fact to influence. The teachers`experiences of the consequences can compound that if the student have the experience of influence it will give the student a feeling of responsibility. This responsibility can give the student a deeper knowledge both in a practical and theoretical way.

Abstract

We are all aware of the fact that we humans live in a society that changes as time goes on. How these things have affected us humans from the early 1pth century until today is on the other hand not always obvious. In this way my interest for this subject was aroused:

How the status of Christianity in Swedish society and its school has changed in course of time from the 19th century until today?

To find an answer to my question I chose to carry out a literature study. A study where I have worked with much different literature to find an answer to my question. A question that includes a secularizing process with many factors who has affects in a change process.

The results shows that society has developed from being completely centralized around the Christian faith during the 19th century so that the Christian faith nowadays works as a resource and a voluntary organisation in society. There the agriculture changes to an industrial society. The humans move from the country to the cities in an urbanizing process. Cities were built up around the industries and the growing communication network. The industry revolution developed the society we all live in today, a service society and because of all these factors Sweden has today developed into a multicultural society through a secularizing process.

Through this process can you see many traces of church-, school-, and the society process and how these factors have been affected and developed.

Key words: The development of Christianity from the 19th century until today, view of life, religion, school and society.

The survey that is presented in this essay has had as aim to examine about there be some link average teachers' attitude and understanding of PBS and that importance they experience that PBS has had for their work.

Six teachers have participated in the survey and in order to make visible their understanding of PBS has attitude map with interview been used as method. The the different attitude maps has afterwards been as bases in order to describe the teachers' understanding of PBS. Those standards resemblances and differences that were the average attitude maps have since lett until the result.

The result showed that the teachers had various understanding of PBS and that they had done various lessons. A conclusion is that the understanding does not have any connection with the attitude to PBS. There is a link that they that has understood PBS as a faith process in the everyday existence work has done lessons that they consider that they have can have a turnover of in practice.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse and describe the way prospective teachers of social science understand democracy and its conditions, and, on the basis of these descriptions, to discuss the actual and possible forms and contents of teaching democracy both in upper secondary school and in teacher training.

The assumption is that students’ conceptions of democracy are influenced by the society they live in and the education they receive. To contextualize students’ conceptions of democracy the theories of Habermas and Dewey as well as some central concepts of contemporary democratic theory are drawn upon. The study primarily focuses on the content of education in democracy. The teachers’ conceptions of their own subject influence the content of their teaching and thus what their students learn. If teachers are aware of various ways of conceiving democracy, and the critical differences between them, their teaching practices may enable students to experience different aspects of democracy and, as a consequence, reach a fuller understanding of it.

The empirical data consists of interviews with eight students of political science and eight teacher-students of social sciences. These interviews were carried out before and after they had studied theories of democracy. The study also includes interviews with eight teacher-students who had already finished their theoretical studies in social science and were at the end of their teacher training. In total, 40 interviews were carried out. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. A phenomenographic analysis of the students’ conceptions of democracy was performed, along with a thematic content analysis of their ideas of the conditions of democracy.

Three main categories of conceptions of democracy were constituted. In the first democracy was viewed as a possibility to influence political decisions through institutionalized forms. In the second category democracy was seen as a feeling of participation in processes of political decision. In the third category democracy was understood as the possibility to take part in all decisions that concern one’s life. The thematic content analysis showed that the students’ reasoning about the conditions of democracy concerned three main themes: the values of democracy, the individual conditions and societal conditions. Several teacher-students regarded it as their duty to maintain the prevalent forms of democracy in Sweden. Students of political science on the other hand, focused more on developing these forms.

Finally, the possible didactic consequences of these different views for the education in democracy in upper secondary schools and in teacher training are discussed.

När specialpedagogen använder handledning som verktyg söker hon åstadkomma förändring genom att ge pedagogerna råd. Fokus i samtalet riktas framförallt på barnet och på pedagogens arbete. Specialpedagogen kan ses som en slags expert på området barn i svårigheter och den pedagogiska praktiken. När specialpedagogen använder handledning som rum för reflektion söker hon åstadkomma förändring genom att ställa frågor för att stimulera pedagogens tänkande och stödja hennes utforskande av hur problemet kan förstås. Specialpedagogen kan då ses som en slags expert på att föra reflekterande samtal och samtalets fokus riktas huvudsakligen mot pedagogen. Specialpedagogernas repertoar innehåller därmed såväl förmåga att handleda genom att ge pedagogerna råd med utgångspunkt i det enskilda barnet som att stimulera pedagogernas reflekterande över aspekter av sitt arbete.

Avhandlings syfte är att undersöka hur elva specialpedagoger beskriver och genomför handledning med pedagoger i förskola och grundskola. Intresset riktas mot samtalens innehåll och mot de påverkansprocesser som äger rum i samtalet. Handledningssamtalen studeras ur specialpedagogens perspektiv.

Specialpedagogers handledningssamtal kan bidra till att vidga synen på objektet för den specialpedagogiska verksamheten såväl som befästa ett individperspektiv på området. I denna studie dominerar användningen av handledning som verktyg. Utmaningen förefaller ligga i att söka skapa villkor som även gynnar användningen av handledning som rum för reflektion.

My study is based on, which one in my town is called SAM-groups. These SAM-groups are cooperation between special school (children with learning disabilities) and compulsory school.

My purpose was to find out how class teachers and parents experience that the SAM-group pupils develop both in the way of proficiency and social skills. By interviewing personal and parents did I get the answer what they think about this issue. I have compared some of the questions and both class teachers and parents have similar answers. The result of my study is cooperation between special school and compulsory school, which makes the pupils develop well regarding to their one capacity.

In my analysis can one also notice that the school still has traditional approach. This approach has the consequences that pupils with functional disability are looked upon as an individual problem. The school chooses to separate them from their ordinary class in order to give them their theoretical education in small group.

My study shows that class teachers and parents think that integration means fellowship. My analysis shows that both of the groups that I have being questioning, was of the opinion that the SAM-group pupils have a good integration.

This essay is a study of the initial phase of an upper Secondary School Municipality administrations effort on becoming a learning organization according to PBS. PBS is the abbreviation of Problem Bases School development, where the working methods starts with the learning experiences of the personnel, on how to contribute to the learn-ing and development of youth in the best way. All upper secondary schools in the mu-nicipality participated and all levels within the school system – from teachers to politi-cians were involved, and a five year co-operation with the PBS group from the Univer-sity of Karlstad was initiated. At the time of this study the work in the upper secondary schools towards a learning organization perspective had been going on for about one school year.

The study which is qualitative was done by interviews. Representatives from all leader-ship levels were interviewed, i.e. politicians, department director, school directors and principals. The aim of the study was to map out politicians and school leaders percep-tions of the initial phase of the efforts of purposely gearing towards a learning organiza-tion.

The result gives hints on how it may be to live in two systems, one “learning” and an-other more centralistic way of running the schools. The study also shows how the dia-logue between different leadership levels is perceived in a different and very positive way.

Abstract

This is a qualitative study, based on the contents of six interviews with primary school pupils from the same school, the purpose of which is to observe the pupils experiences of humiliation from the perspective between teacher/adult towards pupil. The study is based on a phenomenological and a social- cultural/ social- psychology perspective.

The results show that boys perceive that they treated negatively in different situations depending upon of their gender. If a quarrel arises between a boy and a girl it is more often the boy who is reprimanded than the girl. The boys experience that they have more difficulties in achieving good grades- especially in subject regarding languages, despite their belief that they are as good as the girls.

The pupils mean that they feel discriminated when teachers in front of other pupils explain that they failed in a test or if they have to complete a homework. They also felt humiliated when teachers accused them although they were innocent as well as being punished from teachers by physical violence. There also is a category of informants which not has experienced humiliation from the perspective of the study.

Keywords: humiliation, pupil, experience, social cultural

The purpose of this report is to find out how we can work with learners on the basis of their opportunities in mathematics. I also want to look into, how one views this question in other cultures that are different from our own. I have, in order to reach my purpose, looked on what literature there is on this matter. I have also made three interviews in a township in South Africa. The result I got from my survey was that the teachers I interviewed had a similar point of view on the teaching of mathematic as we have in Sweden. Finally I can establish that we as educators should begin to work with mathematics from a possibility perspective where we give the learners a menu of methods that they can examine and along with us find their own way to develop their skills in mathematics. I think that if we work like this we can get learners with a strong self-esteem, with knowledge about their unique conditions and that can take them as far as they want.

Syftet med arbetet är att belysa elevernas uppfattning om andras och eget fusk och se om det finns skillnader i denna uppfattning beroende på könen och mognadsgrad på den undersökta skolan samt hur man motarbeta/hanterar fusk inom skolan

De frågeställningar som användes var: * Hur ser eleverna på fusk? Och är det skillnad mellan vad de bedömer är fusk och det de gör själva? * Finns det någon skillnad beroende på kön och årsklass om hur man ser på fusk? * Hur hanteras fusk på skolan? Finns det en gemensam strategi/policy?

Undersökningsmetoden som främst använts är enkäter. 78 enkäter totalt var planerade att lämnas ut till elever ettan och trean på gymnasiet. I slutändan kunde 46 av dessa användas. Även två intervjuer genomfördes en med en biträdande rektor och en med en programansvarig på skolan.

Undersökningen visade att det inte fanns några större skillnader mellan första och tredje årskursen på skolan i hur de ser på fusk eller hur mycket de fuskar själva. Inte heller mellan könen fanns det några större skillnader.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the individual influence at the working place leads to the perception of decreased stress. Also I looked at whether stress and individual influence is affected by the employees age, sex or employment years. Previous research shows that individual influence decreases stress but strangely enough do the research show that individual influence seem to decrease in today’s work environment. This research is quantitative with questionnaires, answered by 74 civil servants working in a department in the municipality of Karlstad. No correlations were found between stress and individual influence. However the result showed that the levels of stress were low and the level of individual influence were moderate which could imply that you only need a mediocre level of influence for the stress level to drop.

The purpose of my study is to investigate teachers’ opinions about learning difficulties in mathematics.

I have read relevant literature on this subject. I have conducted interviews with seven class teachers, one special-needs teacher, a psychologist and one special-needs teachers who specifically worked with investigations concerning pupils with difficulties in mathematics.

The result of my study shows that learning difficulties in mathematics can/might be prevented if children in pre-school are introduced to mathematics as early as possible. This should be done in a delightful way in their daily activities and while there are playing. I didn’t find any complete method to help children with mathematics difficulties in compulsory school. But a good teaching method is to vary the teaching, strengthen pupil’s self-confidence and “talk mathematics”. It is important to make mathematics more understandable.

One of my conclusions is that there is a lack of research about learning difficulties in mathematics. Another conclusion from the literature is that it is hard to distinguish between different kinds of difficulties in mathematics.

Abstract

The purpose of this survey is to find out what knowledge pedagogues needs in their work teaching eye defected children, and from that prospective increase my knowledge about these children and their school situation.

To accomplish this survey I have applied a qualitative method, consisting of interviews, with two professional pedagogues who work with children with defective vision, and who also have a lot of knowledge and experience on the subject. About eye defects, they both call for greater knowledge among teachers about children with defective vision. Another point is the importance of a “pedagogical manner”, as a very important element when teaching children with visual defects, to achieve and provide an equal education in an integrated school.

The result shows that working pedagogues have little or no knowledge about children with defective vision in their pedagogical work. My conclusion is that every pedagogue should achieve greater awareness about defective vision and also about different situations affected by eye defects. Eye defects and defective vision is complex handicaps which makes great demands, offering an equal education to children suffering from visual defects. In an integrated school, these children must be provided with necessary conditions to achieve independence and participation in the process of learning and development.

Keywords:

Children with defective vision, equal education, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical manner

The interest of this thesis is how the information society will be expressed in some public texts. The focus is especially on how such concepts as learning, knowledge, identity and IT as a tool will be constructed discursively. In a social constructionist meaning the future will be created through communication and interaction between people.

Some Swedish Government Official Reports (SGOR) and journals have been analyzed with critical discourse analysis. On a wide level four strong discourses will constitute the discourse order of the information society. These four are the discourses of the market economy, the discourse of globalisation, the discourse of individualisation and the discourse of IT.

Further IT has been the cause to a “new” dynamic society that is “in advance”, under “change” and “refinement”. This society is at the same time global and local, which means “glocal”. It is populated by the “new” human who is a “nomad” who will have a great own responsibility to adapt to the “loose structures” of the new society. The individual will be held before the collective. IT will “deliver” and reinforce the human abilities. Knowledge has been a commodity, which can be bought and sold worldwide. Knowledge will grow old very fast and because of that we need access to “fast knowledge” “just-in-time”.

To describe the qualities of IT the analysed texts use metaphors. The metaphor “ghost” will fulfil our wishes in an unexplained way, the metaphor “wings” is about freedom and the metaphor “lever” explains that our abilities will be enhanced, in this specific case our cognitive abilities.

The analysed texts both confirm earlier pictures of the information society and develop them further. Three positions can be distinguished. The first of them is that the IT will be expressed as ”force of nature” which as a revolution will change our society. The second one is how the force in IT is expressed almost like science fiction stories. The texts tell about the future as it already was here. The third position says that the new society is full of paradoxes.

The problems in the world, even those that have been caused by the technology, can and should be solved, not only with more technology, but with the same technology which have caused the problems. The discursive paradoxes, which will be highlighted in the results, make the development of IT to an unavoidable part of the social practice of the future. There are no choices or alternatives.

Abstract

The present thesis examines reading acquisition. The aim of the study is to gain a deepened understanding of various methods used for reading acquisition, how teachers’ are dealing with these methods and what aspects require special attention. The overall research question of the thesis is: How can one assess children’s future reading ability and identify a method that is appropriate to this ability? The overall aim leads to several more specifically addressed issues.

In the theoretical part, different perspectives and theories about reading acquisition are presented along with different methods for how to work in order to facilitate reading. Learning how to read occurs, somewhat simplified, when parts become wholes or when wholes become parts.

The methodological approach of the thesis consists of interviews with presently active teachers who share their views on how children learn how to read and which methods they use.

The teachers who were interviewed were aware of the fact that different pupils learn differently and that the choice of method to facilitate reading acquisition is dependent on the individualized needs that a certain pupil has. Several of the teachers viewed the LTG-method (Reading on the basis of how you speak) as a good method as it creates enjoyment and motivation among the pupils since it is based on their own thoughts and experiences.

One reoccurring topic among the interviewed teachers was the implication that it is the feeling, joy and motivation for both pupils and teachers that provide the basis for choosing an appropriate method for learning how to read.

Keywords: Reading acquisition, Methods, LTG method, Witting method, Joy of reading.

Jag har i detta examensarbete valt att göra en kvalitativ undersökning. Syftet med denna undersökning är att se hur inställningen till litteratur och läsning ser ut hos pojkar på ett teoretiskt- och ett yrkesförberedandeprogram och att göra en jämförelse dem emellan.    Sex elever har slumpmässigt valts ut och intervjuats, tre från respektive program, de sex eleverna går första året på gymnasiet. Varje intervjuperson presenteras och analyseras i arbetet.   Av intervjuerna framkom det att skillnaderna mellan de två programmen är mycket små. I den yrkesförberedande klassen fann jag den enda icke-läsaren men också en riktig bokslukare, en riktigt inbiten läsare. Överlag visar resultatet att fritidsläsningen har minskat sedan högstadietiden hos pojkarna från båda programmen och att fritidsläsningen skiljer sig från den litteratur skolan förmedlar

Abstract

It is difficult to describe the contents of the teaching post in general terms. Each school gives the teacher different working conditions. I have in this examination, through interviews with experienced teachers tried to understand the reality behind the role of being a teacher. Being a teacher can involve constantly having a bad conscience and not being satisfied with the job achieved, on the other hand the post can also include getting confirmation from the pupils in their learning process. The teachers role is constantly changing which adds to its complexity. In addition the teacher also needs to combine two dimensions, to keep order and to teach. The role of being a teacher has been changing through years and today the teacher has a lot more responsibility and a lot more tasks. The role as a teacher can be a part of a persons identity even in private life. It is important to set limits to when the working day ends and also set bounds to how high demand the teacher has on herself/himself.

Keywords: teacher, teaching, teacher’s post, the role of being a teacher.

Our society today is a changing knowledge society that brings higher demands from it’s citizens. From that our society has been more collectivistic, it has been taking some large steps towards a more individualistic society. Today our working life demands more of us citizens and that demands us that we can take our best in each of us. Whit that I have an intention to investigate if the employees in a specific place of work. If they have notes something of these changing that happens, according to authors who are researching in the area. The fact that we have gone from the collective society to a more individual influenced society. I want to investigate if there has been implemented in our working society or if the collectivistic “still is hanging in the air”. I turned to a public administration whit 102 participants that made an active position in the questioners I gave them. The investigation gave me the opportunity to see if women and men are difference in there point of view. I thought it would be differences between the sexes, but I was surprised when I discovered that there wasn’t any remarkable difference between the sexes in several questions.

Många teoretiker tycks vara överens om att leken spelar en grundläggande roll i förskolebarnens utveckling. Att leken ska genomsyra hela förskolans verksamhet är något som är väl förankrat i läroplanen. Det gäller också ämnet matematik som även inrymmer en rad strävansmål. Jag upplever att vår förskolemetodik verkar bristfällig när det gäller lek sammankopplat till inlärning. Det finns tydliga intensioner om vad som ska främjas hos barn och riktningar att sträva mot, vilket gör att pedagogerna får en betydande roll i barns utveckling. Arbetets syfte blir därför att undersöka om pedagoger i förskolan använder sig av leken som ett pedagogiskt verktyg för matematikinlärning.

En intervjustudie har gjorts med fem pedagoger från olika förskolor. Resultatet av min undersökning visar att alla pedagoger uttryckte hur viktig matematiken är i förskolan och att den utgör en naturlig del i alla situationer som när barn dukar, klär på sig, delar ut frukt osv. Att sammankoppla lek och matematik blir det som skiljer pedagogerna åt. Vissa pedagoger anser att lek är nödvändigt för att barn ska lära sig matematik, medan andra anser att barn automatiskt lär sig matematik eftersom den finns runt omkring oss i vardagen.

Abstract

Compared with pupils in other countries Swedish pupils show weak results in algebra. Lacking knowledge about fractions might be one reason for this.

The purpose of the essay is from a didactic perspective to see how four specific teachers introduce and teach fractions in secondary and upper secondary school. My intention is to link the results of my study to curriculums and research, in order to find out how to teach fractions so that better understanding ensues.

Subjects dealt with in the essay are, among others, experimental mathematics, language and mathematics, everyday mathematics as well as teaching based on the experience of pupils.

The study is based on the “Self Report”–method and it is fenomenological which means that peoples’ knowledge, experience and views are central. Furthermore, I chose to focus quality rather than quantity, the content in the stories that the informants provided were central, not the amount of informants.

The results of the study show that four specific teachers with particular devotion had varied, concrete and experimental teaching, as well as teaching based on the experience of pupils. According to research these methods are to prefer, since pupils are able to link their learning to their experiences and everyday life. It is then possible to gain further knowledge and therefore a sense of consistency.

Key words are everyday mathematics, experimental mathematics, teaching based on experiences and finally discussion.

The Swedish school law says that students who need special education should have all the support they need to reach the qualification that is set up. The arrangements have to be written down in an Individual education plan (IEP). Before the IEP is set up there has to be an investigation about what kind of support and measures the student needs to reach the qualification that is set up. The aim of this study is to examine student’s participation in school and in the progress with their own IEP.

I have accomplished a qualitative study by interviewing eight students during the letter part in the nine-year school. Each student has an IEP. My study has been accomplished in a first person perspective where I have rendered the student’s own stories as I understood them. The result shows that the student’s participation varies between active and passive participation independent of whether the participation is social or task-orientated. The main reason for the students to come to school is to join their friends. The result also shows that the students describe that they are participating in school and in the progress with their IEP even if their participation often is described as a passive involvement. Connecting to earlier researches shows that participation is more often recognised when the respondents are adults in school than if the respondents are students.

My conclusion of this study is that students have to participate earlier and more often in the junior school. That will lead to more engagement and motivation and the students will take more responsibility for learning in school. In that way they will get more knowledge according to our curriculum which is necessary for the examination in the ninth year.

Abstract

School is taking on a great responsibility in mediating knowledge of mathematics as technology is assuming greater importance in our everyday life. The aim of this study is to examine how the teachers in year F and 1 view their teaching of mathematics from an individually adapted perspective. I have based my research on different factual study books within the education for younger children’s learning of mathematics, and have from an individually adapted perspective made a comparison between theory and practice. The empirical data has been obtained through interviews with six teachers, three pre-school teachers and three teachers, working with pupils in year F and 1. The result of the study confirms that all teachers have very good knowledge of individually adapted education and its purpose. Different working methods are being used and the individually adapted teaching is being conducted according to the conditions at each school as well as the knowledge and experience of each teacher.

Mitt intresse för ämnet började när jag arbetade lekpedagogiskt på en förskola i Norge. Under min utbildning till förskollärare har intresset ökat eftersom jag har funnit lite intresse, från pedagoger ute i förskolorna, angående vuxendeltagande i lek. Syftet med min undersökning är att ta reda på vikten av vuxendeltagande i lek på förskolan, och i vilken uttsträckning pedagogerna använder sig av leken i pedagogiskt syfte. Litteratur som jag har använt mig av är utvecklingspsykologerna Erikson och Piaget. Samt författare som t ex Knutsdotter Olofsson och Åm båda två har gjort omfattande forskning i ämnet. Lekpedagogik utgår ifrån barns initiativ och deras lek. Pedagogerna stimulerar med materiel och uppslag och deltar i leken på barnens villkor. Barnen ges tid att ostört utveckla sin fantasi, de skapar det dem behöver i leken, och leken stimulerar konstnärliga uttryck. Utifrån det jag har läst och tagit del av i litteraturen har jag valt att titta närmare på följande preciserade problem: - Är det viktigt med vuxendeltagande i rolleken?  Varför? - Används denna metod ute på förskolorna? De som deltagit i min undersökning är sex barn i åldrarna tre till sex år, tre flickor och tre pojkar. Jag har även observerat och intervjuat tre pedagoger, två förskollärare och en barnsköterska. Genom observationer av barn som har svårt att leka och intervjuer med såväl vuxna som barn har jag försökt att visa på vilka små resurser som krävs av oss vuxna i leken för att göra stora skillnader för barnen. I förskolan idag finns det många barn som har stora behov av vuxna som ger trygghet och stabilitet. Resultatet av min undersökning har visat mig att det är sällan förskollärare deltar i barnens rollek men att behovet och en stor önskan finns hos barnen. Jag har kommit fram till att vuxendeltagelse i lek av många förskollärare ses som något som kräver mycket av de som personer.

Abstract

The purpose of this final paper is to compare the goals to aim for in the syllabus for EN 1201, using a textbook analysis, with six teaching materials. Three teaching materials for so-called vocational programs and three teaching materials for theoretical programs have been analysed to see whether the goals are reached or not. It has also been examined if there are any differences how the goals are reached for in the different programs. A personal interpretation of the goals has been made.

The result showed that none of the teaching materials reached all the goals. There are mainly two goals missing in the books: (1) reflection over ways of living, cultural traditions and social conditions in English speaking countries, and (2) increased responsibility for developing the student’s language ability. The goal which focuses on students’ fields of study is often missing as well, but not to the same extent as (1) and (2) above. Grammar takes up an unproportionally big part of the textbooks and workbooks, considering the fact that there is no explicit goal about grammar in EN1201.

The conclusion is that the teachers cannot build their teaching entirely on the teaching material. Teachers need to professionally interpret the goals and make their own local syllabus to support their teaching. Teachers have to find extra material in order to cover all the goals.

Key words: EN 1201, goals to aim for, teaching material, vocational and theoretical programs, upper secondary school.

A motion- disability does not only restrict the physical prospects of the disabled child, but can also disable on a social level. Dance is a subject in school where you interact and are able to collaborate and socially improve. The question this paper investigates runs: Which importance may dancing in school have on motion- disabled pupils mental improvement?

The question at issue is answered partly by affected literature, partly by respondents.

It is concluded that dance, which focuses on the functional body, has the ability to make motion- disabled youths see what they are able to achieve, instead of focusing on the functional reduction. It is also clear that they can dance with normal functioned pupils and take part of the social solidarity, and also increase the learning ability and the proficiency level. The dance that gets its rightful, and in the curriculum mentioned, space in school has a lot to contribute with for the remaining school situation.

In this report, I examine a part of the teaching of computer programming in a Swedish ”gymnasium”, carried out through the course ”Programmering A”. In this beginner course, students, often in heterogeneous groups, are taught the basics of using a programming language. However, quite a few pupils are facing problems in completing the course. Especially, the construction and use of ”for-loops” (in the programming language C++) seems to be hard to master. The report focus on the making and practising of a student-oriented excercise, which uses both visual and problem-oriented means to teach ”for-looping” in a way that makes learning easier, and also stimulates the students' creativity. Pros and cons with this excercise are discussed in the report, within the theoretical framework of the mathematician Papert and his ”constructionism”, as well as with some Swedish constructionist studies. The report is based on a qualitative study of three small student groups performing the excercise, at a ”gymnasium” in Sweden.

Abstract

The main aim for this research is to come to an understanding for why young people choose to apply for the machine program when the time comes for the students to make their choice of upper secondary school program. The second aim for this research is to try and come to an understanding on how to make the machine program more interesting for future students to apply to. 

The method of this research is quality method with the usage of interviews. With a total of six students in the first grade going on a school in the middle part of the country I tried to get answers to my questions. There are many things that affect students when they are facing what gymnasium program to choose and a very common answer by students in this study is that friends and work after school are some of the reasons for why students choose, for example, the machine program. The study also shows that parents has less influence of the students choice of gymnasium program and in fact, all students in this study made the choice to pick the machine program as their gymnasium program, but not always the machine program as their first choice.

With the comparison of similar studies with my study the results are often in line with what other scientist have come up with. Work after school and friends or family are often decisive when students are choosing a gymnasium program.

Keywords: Machine program, student, apply for gymnasium program, affects of applying.

The purpose of this investigation is to examine the extent to which Swedish compulsory school tends to rely upon, and to further reinforce, ideologies that from a theoretical platform of deep ecology can be identified as “ecologically unsustainable conceptions of reality”. Mainly, this will purport to an examination of the (explicit as well as implicit) prevalence of anthropocenthrism, individualism, ethnocenthrism and rationalism in a) the Swedish National Curriculum; and in b) biology text books. Methodologically, the study makes use of Fairclough´s approach to, and method for, critical discourse analysis (CDA). The main results are that the National Curriculum indeed expresses a high level of individualism, as well as (although to a lesser extent) traces of rationalism and ethnocenthrism. Also, the environmental ethics that are supported in biology text books are interpreted to be heavily influenced by an anthropocentric world view.

The purpose of this diploma work is to investigate how leisure time reading habits of students affect their grades, understanding of concepts of science and language handling. A group of 75 pupils in the 8th grade gave written answers to questions about their reading habits and presumed autumn grades in the subjects Swedish and Science. They were also asked to explain some scientific concepts, compare the difficulty level of science to that of other school subjects and rate their interest in science

The survey shows a variation in writing skills that has no actual connection to reading habits. The majority fails to explain the given concepts even from an everyday point of view. Students who don’t read at all or only read comic books achieves poor results in the survey as well as low grades and students who read every day achieves high grades. In the matter of understanding of concepts of science and language handling it doesn’t seem to matter whether a student is reading every day or more seldom. It appears that the most important factor in this case is the student’s interest in science.

The study is accomplished within the Master of Education leadership 40p at Karlstads University. The essay is composed of a survey of pupils' possibilities to influence the school's work on improvements at different levels. The method used for this study is interviews of four headmasters, four teachers and questionnaires given to 85 pupils at school year 5, 6 and 9 (in the Swedish school system). The interviews and questionnaires have been executed at three school units in two municipalities in the south of Sweden. The result shows that work on improvements is a constantly ongoing process, and that formal influence exerted by the pupils at the schools examined is well functional. Decisive factors for this influence and its status are the personnel's interest in and their motivation for having a well functional pupil's influence. A project group is one constellation where pupils have a larger possibility to influence. In the individual development plans the personnel see larger potential for influence at individual basis. For the pupils, internal and external environment are essential areas in which they want to exert influence. Where as the teachers emphasize pupils' possibilities to influence pedagogical techniques. The questionnaires show that the pupils in year 5 and 6 have greater opportunities to influence the everyday situation, everything concerning their daily work, than those in year 9. There is a contradiction between the intentions in the school curriculum and the everyday life in schools regarding pupils' influence. The pupils' influence does not increase with age as intended in the curriculum. The power structure can only change if the traditionally strong teachers and headmasters have the wish and motivation for this.

Arbetets syfte är att ta reda på hur pedagoger arbetar med lärande frö hållbar utveckling i förskolan, utifrån intervjuer med pedagoger i förskolor som fått utmärkelsen Grön Flagg. Då Grön Flagg har olika temaområden innefattar syftet även att ta reda på olika likheter och skillnader mellan deolika temaområdena.

Intervjuerna gjordes med pedagoger på tre förskolor som arbetar med olika temaområden. Utifrån ljudupptagningar från intervjuerna gjorde jag analyser av svaren med fokus på arbetssätt, barns delaktighet, eventuella negativa sidor eller hinder och likheter och skillnader. den första analysen visade på en fokusering av fem delmål som är de mål som pedagogerna skriver tillsammans med hur de ska uppnå målen då de skickar sin ansökan om Grön Flagg till stiftelsenHåll Sverige rent. Det är dessa fem delmål som är grunden för arbetet med lärande för hållbar utveckling inom Grön Flagg och jag valde därför att fokusera på de fem delmålen i resultatredovisningen.

Resultatdelen presenterar varje förskola för sig utifrån arbetssätt, barnens delaktighet, hinder eller negativa sidor med arbetet och en sammanfattning av arbetet vid förskolan. Efter alla förskolorna följer en sammanställning av likheter och skillnader mellan de tre olika temaområdena.

Resultatet visar att arbetet med lärande för hållbar utveckling i förskolan genomsyras av att utgå från barnens tankar och ideér, att fånga det vardagliga, en helhetssyn gällande verksamhetens delar och begreppets innebörd, att skapa ett naturligt förhållningssätt och kunskap om naturen genom att vistas där och avslutningsvis pedagogernas förhållningssätt och inställning.

The background of this study emanates from individuals’ change in relation to their social context, such as leisure time activities, family, and friends, which they participate in and take part off. This study takes it starting point in examining the possible influence of advanced studies in higher education on personal development. The aim is to investigate whether there is any relation, on basis of the student’s motivation for higher studies, between higher education and the way to self-realization. The empirical data consists of interviews with students, from different faculties at the University of Karlstad, who has at least 2 years (80 credit points) of university training off which 60 points concern of specific scientific subject. The interview questions address the relationship between the student and their family and friends. Personal development has been assessed in relation to Charles Taylor’s self-realization theory. The analysis shows that the influence of higher education on self-realization varies. Most respondents in the survey group experienced personal growth during their study time although their studies, in some cases did not seem to have had any effect. Some respondents did not experience personal growth at all.

Since the modern public was invited to view art in Sweden in the 16th century, there have been split opinions about the amateur and the artist. Should they be allowed to hang their paintings side by side at an exhibition? Despite the opening of the Swedish academy of art and the fact that the universities were educating artists you can’t be certified as an artist. How can a student attending upper secondary school know who can call themselves an artist or not? This becomes an educational challenge for teachers to think about, partly for their own sake and partly for finding arguments for their students.

This survey is made from a qualitative method named focusgroup. The main question “Who can call themselves an artist” is answered by discussing with two focusgroups, one group of teachers and one group of students. The results of the two group’s answers were then compared to find out possible differences. In the results we find differences between the groups; the teachers discuss on the basis of their experience and from a historical perspective and find that the main criteria is to have attended the University of Arts. The students however find that anybody can call themselves an artist as long as there’s a thought behind the work. The concept of an artist is without a doubt an educational challenge.

Huvudsyftet i avhandlingen är, med utgångspunkt i samhällets styrdokument, att beskriva hur det kan vara att leva och bo i samhället om man är en vuxen person med utvecklingsstörning. Det är av speciellt intresse att sätta dessa personers livsvillkor i relation till begrepp som goda levnadsvillkor och att reflektera över deras chanser att få en god färd genom livet.

Forskningsmetoden har sin utgångspunkt i empowermentrörelsen, där den enskildes maktgörande står i centrum.

Avhandlingen speglar ytterst hur 17 personer med utvecklingsstörning, i tre olika grupper, samtalat med varandra om sina egna, levda livsprojekt. Utifrån dessa samtal har sedan aktuella frågeställningar bearbetats - data har kategoriserats under begreppen kunskap, känsla och viljeyttring.

Resultatet visar att dessa 17 människor erfarit fenomen som bland annat utanförskap, utsatthet, maktlöshet, kränkning och skam. Dessa begrepp bearbetades i relation till avhandlingens teoretiska ram, empowerment och fenomenologi.

Avslutningsvis görs en reflektion över arbetssättets användbarhet och utveckling inom pedagogik på social omsorgsgrund.

Physics is the most ancient of sciences. Indeed are Swedish Secondary School Students interest for Physics low. The aspects that contribute to this poor interest in Physics among our students are very complex in their nature. In a way has Physics a scientific approach which is experienced by our students as inaccessible and this inaccessibility sustains students' lack of interest for reaching it. A closer examination of this issue shows what students' attitudes and interpretation about Physics in one of Sweden's Secondary School are. It turns out that out students have a huge amount of interesting ideas about how Physics could become a more reacheable and interesting discipline in secondary school education. It also turns out that the way of learning Physics is not a short one; it takes time to build up the scientific common sense that is necessary in Physics. Moreover, mathematical skills are the fundamental ingredients in discovering, learning and accepting Physics. It also shows that today's youth culture has a large influence in student's attitudes about Physics.

The purpose of this study is to find out how teachers in preschool interact with children.

By unstructured observations of teachers in preschool I intend to find out how they interact with children. Is it possible to see that the operation is built on guided interaction speciality?

Positive interaction between adults and children is of importance to a good childhood and a child’s learning. I have asked myself how teachers interact with children in preschool. There are different ways of interaction. International Child Development Programme, ICDP, Guided interaction has named different ways of interaction. It is based on three dialogues which are divided into 8 themes. Each dialogue is directed to different parts in the interaction. The three dialogues are: The emotional dialogue, the meaning and extending dialogue, and finally the regulatory dialogue.

Teachers interact with children, in a positive way of interacting, and often without a thought of why, it is something they just do. What I saw was that the children received positive confirmation of the educators and the operation is built on ICDP’s interaction speciality.

En mental världsbild är något som vi alla bär med oss, vår egen bild av världen vi lever i. Den mentala bilden av världen grundar sig på vår kunskap, erfarenheter och känslor som vi förknippar med olika platser eller länder. Hur ser svenska ungdomars mentala världsbild ut? Det är den övergripande frågeställningen i denna uppsats. Metoden för uppsatsen är enkel. Eleverna har på ett papper fått svara på ett litet antal frågor och på den andra sidan av pappret rita en världskarta, helt på fri hand. I undersökningens resultat har jag tittat på var de fokuserar centrum på kartan och om eventuella semesterresor och utländskt ursprung påverkat de ritade kartorna. Jag har även funderat på hur den i svenska skolan dominerande kartprojektionen påverkar världsbilden samt om media verkar ha någon inverkan. Undersökningen har genomförts i två klasser på Tingvallagymnasiet i Karlstad. Jag har kommit fram till att det finns många olika faktorer som spelar in på elevernas mentala världsbild. Man kan tydligt se vissa influenser från media, semesterresor och mycket annat. Uppsatsen tar även upp till diskussion den klassiska kartkunskapens vara eller inte vara.

During my practice as a teacher trainee at an upper secondary school it became clear to me that many pupils had difficulties with mathematics. I was surprised to find that many pupils seemed to get stuck on the level of attainment for the senior level of the nine-year compulsory school. As I have not studied anything about difficulties in Mathematics during my training to become a qualified teacher, I would like to get to know more about this.

After studying research done on this subject I made the following approach to the problem:

• What fields regarding Mathematics do the pupils themselves find most difficult?

• What factors have been contributory causes to these problems?

• What are the factors that have helped pupils with difficulties in Mathematics to reach the goals for the syllabuses in Mathematics?

The answers to my questionnaire and interviews resulted in the following conclusions:

• Pupils find theory of equation and conversion of units as most difficult at senior level of the nine-year compulsory school.

• Teaching should be done in special instruction groups to give the pupil the opportunity to develop his/her skills on an individual level.

• Pupils find it hard to deal with all moments in Mathematics during the time given for each course.

• The pace for teaching Mathematics is too high according to the pupils.

• Pupils wish for instructions on a lower level.

• There is often a lack of contact between teacher and pupil.

• The teacher should use more time to help the pupil receive good self-confidence and increase the motivation for instructions in Mathematics.

This study focuses on the effects of artistic teaching methods for academic subjects on primary and secondary students. Special interest is given to the construction of practices and discourses that regulate study habits and patterns of knowledge production among students.

A related interest is the examination of both the potential of and resistance to the use of artistic teaching methods and perspectives.

The methodological strategies are micro-ethnography and discourse analysis. The empirical basis is restricted to two schools, which are studied during 1 1/2 year. Data consists of field study observations, interviews with teachers and pupils, video documentation of the settings of artistic pedagogical methods in action, and teacher evaluations of pupils achievement and work. Being a qualitative study, knowledge and development is not measured through test results, but rather via observed changes in interactions with for example tasks and material.

The results show that there are some major obstacles to integrating creative activities and artistic methods into ordinary schoolwork.

The practice of schools is dominated by a training logic, where reproduction and categorising takes precedence over imagination and variation. In this way, the training logic frames most activities and excludes alternative interactions and modes of rationality.

A second result is the formulation of an epistemological theory about art and learning. In short the theory consists of four aspects that signify artistic learning. The first aspect is the use of dramaturgy and processes of play, for example the construction of symbolic play-worlds and the freedom achieved from a more flexible understanding of social conventions and the categories of the status quo.

A second artistic aspect is to give meaning, intensity and presence to an activity. This is what we in everyday speech relate to as the emotional aspect of art, but in an educational context it is given a direction and a social dimension. Thirdly, art put demands on the individual to make aesthetic choices. This is a rational process, but with other tools than those offered by a solely verbal/logical rationality.

By focusing on artistic learning strategies, students are given the opportunity to evaluate and handle artistic material in a more skilful and complex manner. Finally, learning in relation to art is the opposite of the training logic. Creative work is open-ended and often aims at seeing a given phenomenon from different perspectives. The fourth aspect thus includes activities that support variation and thematic strategies.

Finally, the report discusses how interplay between what is identified as weak and strong forms of aesthetics can integrate factual learning with creative and artistic activities.

The conclusion is that the use of artistic methods puts a strain on cultural practice within schools both in terms of organising time and space and general approaches to knowledge itself. In spite of this, many teachers and school administrators favour a pedagogy that increases the possibilities of creative activities and challenges hierarchic structures in the classroom. One way of strengthening the democratic milieu and to give the pupils more influence over their learning is to develop and implement methods that support a stronger form of aesthetic knowledge.