Pupil achievement and behaviour in schools was earlier seen as given by socioeconomic and biological factors. But since the late 1970s the school effectiveness research has come to give school factors a much greater role for pupils? attainments. Research has shown that schools´ pedagogical and social climate, which is to be seen as a complex product of deeply felt values and norms held by school principals and teachers and developed through practical actions, can explain variations in effectiveness between schools. Effectiveness is here to be seen as a higher mean cognitive and non cognitive student outcome than is expected with regard to initial attainment or family background.

The purpose of this study is to the increase knowledge and understanding of the meeting between children with Arabian as native language and a Swedish school library. The study is made as a qualitative investigation built on interviews with eight-year-olds and eleven-year-olds. Only the childrens needs and views are considered. The study is centred on twelve key issues and aims to document the childrens thoughts and views of reading as well as their reading habits and their use of the school library. Through the childrens own words their evaluation of reading and literature, their abilities to assimilate the text and their de facto use of the books can be known.

 Language is an important indicator of the interdisciplinarity of a certain subject. Therefore this study evaluates the use of central geographical words and concepts, by teachers and students, in seven communal, non-optional subjects in a Swedish upper secondary school. This study provides results after observations of seven subjects on seven occasions, at one upper secondary school. This study shows that by a method of observation, central geographical concepts were used by teachers and students at various extents. Furthermore, the observations provide results of the concept use by over 100 students and 12 teachers.

Title: Process description of round timber transports ? a case study at Tra?frakt Go?taland ABAuthors: Karl ? Johan Tern, Christian Johansson and Andreas IvarssonTutor: Anders JerrelingExaminer: Fredrik KarlssonBackground: Today the profitability of forest haulers is unsatisfactory. Negotiations on prices are more about the relative strength of the negotiation parties rather than a discussion about actual costs. Adding extensive changes in the forest haulers cost structure has led to insufficient knowledge of whether the negotiated prices really correspond to their costs.Methodology: We decided to carry out a case study at Tra?frakt Go?taland AB, a special interest organisation whose members represent the majority of forest haulers in Go?taland.Purpose: To describe the processes and underlying activities of round timber transports.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how students in a Swedishjunior high school (grade 7-9) view their possibility to participate in thecollection management of their school library, and how the schoollibrary works to involve the students when purchasing media. The studyhas resulted in a model for easy and effective involvement of studentsin the collection development.To achieve this aim both quantitative and qualitative methods are used.A survey in three classes in the school, observations at the schoollibrary and a qualitative interview with the library assistant have beenperformed. The collection management at the school library isdescribed using the School Library Taxonomies developed by DavidLoertscher and two models for participation developed by Roger A Hartand Harry Shier. In the survey, the students are asked about their libraryand reading habits, their perception of their own participation in thecollection management of the library and their opinions of theimportance of student participation in the library.The results show that all students view the possibility of participation as something important, but not all of the students are willing to be active themselves. The proposed model for effective involvement of students in the library focuses on simplicity, voluntariness, distinct information and visible results..

 This essay has been investigate a Hindu swaminarayantempel in central Sweden, its activities and function from a diaspora perspective. Also to investigate the relationship between Hindu diaspora groups and in relation to South Asia. An ethnographic method was used.The result of this study shows that the key activities temple provides the puja. Pujan is the most frequent activity in the investigated Temple. The temple also provides other activities that often are linked to anniversaries and celebrations of festive calendar, such as Diwali or gods' birthdays.The investigated temple has a similar function as other diaspora groups.

According to the curriculum the teachers have a responsibility to adjust the activities in the classroom in order to suit the pupils and to give them the means of assistance the pupils need to be successful in their learning. The teachers should also stimulate the interest to learn and support the pupils? self esteem. One of the problems a dyslectic pupil faces is an often weak self esteem. Another is the weak phonological awareness which makes it hard to fully understand the context and to recognize different phonemes when writing.

AbstractThe purpose of this essay is to investigate if elementary school pupils? attitudes towards mathematics, from a teacher?s perspective, have changed since 2001-2002. I also intend to investigate if the whys and wherefores among the pupils attitude are the same and what influences pupils? attitude to mathematics. The reason why I chose to deepen myself into elementary school pupils? attitude to mathematics, and things that relate, is that I find it very interesting.

The purpose of this essay is to examine progression in user education atprimary and secondary school levels, specifically the role played byschool libraries, librarians and strategy documents in securingeducational progression. Progression is examined in the user educationprovided by the five schools, part of the same municipal schoolmanagement area which share the same strategy plan. The area, NorraFäladen, was awarded School Library of the Year in 2011 for its work,making it particularly interesting for this essay's purpose. The studycombines interviews with the area's three school librarians, who dividetheir time between the five schools, with an analysis of the strategydocuments that regulate user education within Norra Fäladen. Theanalytical framework is based on: AASL's model of progression in usereducation (Standards for the 21st-century learner); Ekström's model forsuccessful and active strategy documents; Kuhlthau's theory of thelibrarian's role in the information search process; and Limberg'staxonomy of the role of the school library.The study shows how a number of concurrent factors and prerequisitesinfluence how goals for progression in user education are met.

The purpose of this study is to investigate and describe the role of course books for teaching English to children at intermediate level of primary school in Sweden. The essay is based on a descriptive, qualitative method and interviews have been conducted with seven teachers in different schools, teaching English in year 4, 5 and 6.The result of the study shows that course books have considerably influence on the teaching of English in the schools who took part in this investigation. The participating teachers use a course book as main teaching material and almost everybody follows the traditional routine working with Textbook and complementary tasks in Workbook every week. They base their lessons on course books and use alternative teaching material mainly for fun activities, speaking practice and individualization. Even though all teachers rank speaking and listening as most important for new learners, it is reading which has the largest impact on their teaching.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine how teachers in primary school reason about and problematize the phenomenon of concentration difficulties. I want to know what the teachers think characterizes concentration difficulties, the situations in which difficulties creates the most problems, and whether the teachers think that these difficulties solely depend on external factors. To examine this, I chose to do interviews with three teachers in years four to six. I have completed parts of my work with my colleague Elin Preisz. We have used the same purpose and issues in our studies, although Elin has interviewed teachers in preschool. With this we want to be able to compare the reasoning between teachers at different stages in school. The results of my study shows that the interviewees think that it is hard to describe what characterizes the problems in concentration difficulties because the problems is very individual.

Students? performance in school is dependent on the indoor climate. This report studies four schools regarding air quality and thermal environment. A survey was made at the schools as well as measurements of carbon dioxide, dampness, thermal climate and, as an indicator for the furniture?s capability to collect dust, shelf factor and fleece factor.

The purpose of this study is to stress what experiences men working in the earlier school years share about being a minority group and what thoughts they have about why other men tend to avoid this profession.In this survey I have interviewed four male teachers in the earlier school years. In previous research it is claimed that men choose not to get a teacher training for the earlier school years partly because this profession is known to be dominated by women where it is difficult for men to feel at home. It is also claimed that teachers in training choose the later school years in order to focus more on teaching than looking after the children. None of the interviewed men sees it as a problem being a minority group, neither during training nor in teaching. What the men in this survey state as the main reasons for why other men do not choose to become teachers are the low levels of status and salary.

Kalmar Municipality has in 2008-2010 made an effort to educate managers on gender, with the goal of mainstreaming gender into public activities so that all citizens should feel safe in that treatment and services are designed and resources are distributed equally to both sexes living conditions and needs. The overall aim of this study was to examine whether the training effort has paid off, and how gender mainstreaming has been implemented in the different activities. We have used a qualitative approach, which we examined through interviews managers' approach to gender equality.Gender was generally described as an important issue of all respondents, and all were working to mainstream gender into their activities and workplaces. The results show that the operational and management needed clearer directives and strategies in their efforts to promote gender equality. Education was necessary because personal definition of gender may differ from the control contents of the documents.

The aim of my study is to answer the question whether there is a potential for services by working horses in the Swedish municipalities. The Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and Swedish Farmers Union (LRF) has started a cooperation called Climate School (Klimatskolan), with the purpose to increase knowledge in environmental and climate related issues in context of agriculture. This Master thesis is in the framework of the Climate School.Global warming is a problem that gets much attention today. Global warming and climate change are two subjects that are very much in focus on the political agenda. The municipalities of Sweden have a big responsibility concerning environmental work and to develop their own environmental thinking.