The level of increased central government that we have experienced during the last decades in school, for the purpose of increasing equality and to adapt the Swedish school to a certain international standard, clearly shows that increased control scarcely leads to improvement.The aim of this paper is to examine whether teachers believe that national tests contribute to equivalent assessment and increased goal attainment. Furthermore the teachers? attitude towards and work with national tests is described. The paper is written from a school improvement perspective, where good examples from current research on what creates increased quality in school meaning increased goal attainment and equivalent assessment are related to research on school effectiveness and increased testing in schools. The study builds upon a quantitative survey among teachers in upper primary - and secondary school in a medium-sized municipality in Sweden.The result shows that the teachers have a somewhat more positive than negative attitude towards national tests, as a whole.

The aim of this study was to gain a greater understanding of what social workers perceive to be mentally demanding and emotionally challenging work, and which strategies they use to handle it. I chose to interview six social workers, three of them had long experience of social work, and three of them had worked for less than a year. The justification for this choice wasthat I wanted to interview people with different experience of social work over time, to be able to see possible differences in what was perceived as mentally demanding and emotionally challenging work, and how it was handled. The social workers were interviewed with a semi structured interview manual.The results showed that the organization of the social service is not fitted to the work that social workers execute. This means that what is perceived as mentally demanding and emotionally challenging work largely depends on this.

As the European Landscape Convention is brought into action, planning in Sweden has got to become increasingly considerate of the landscape and its character. To render this possible, a basic requirement is that we find a functional method for analysis. The Landscape is a synthesis of the interplay between place and man. It is made up of our physical environment and shows the result of our actions throughout history. Our surroundings affect us in many ways, financially as well as emotionally. This is why an analysis of the landscape has to be inclusive of many types of information. I have performed a landscape analysis, according to the British Landscape Character Assessment-method, in Svedala kommun.

Recent years have been very turbulent for most private equity firms. Especially the financial meltdown in global economy has affected the industry, but also the public pressure has made private equity houses change their control strategies towards more conventional methods used in public companies. This thesis aims to put light on the control methods used in listed private equity houses which use a buyout strategy. The paper describes how the control methods change over the different phases the asset experience and how different value generating strategies use altered control methods. Using Merchant's (2003) framework for management control systems and Berg and Gottschalg's (2004) research on value generating strategies in buyouts the thesis shows that action controls as designing instructions for the board and a business plan, together with goal alignment is the commonly used control strategy directly after the acquisition.

Title: How do you get a pupil from Year 7-9 in secondary school to communicate in German?  Five high school teachers views on how to develop pupils oral communicative skill within the German language The aim of this essay is to explore Swedish secondary school teachers, from Year 7-9 in the German language, opinions regarding which work models and verbal strategies that are used and taught in order to foster the pupils oral communicative skill in the classroom. To achieve this aim, semi-structured interviews with five teachers are used.The results show that the teachers find that they encourage the pupils to speak German through creating possibilities for them to practise their oral language skills. The teachers also emphasize that they believe that alternating assignments in groups or pairs, where the students get the chance to be creative, activates the pupils to speak German the most. They also express an awareness for the fact that open or information questions encourage the pupils to use their creativity and speak more German.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka rektorers uppfattningar om skriftliga omdömen samt hur de tar ansvar för arbetet med dessa. Syftet var också att studera hur de omdömen som lärare skriver ser ut i praktiken avseende innehåll, för att se hur omdömena överensstämmer med rektorernas uppfattningar.I detta arbete har vår utgångspunkt varit de skrivningar i läroplanen (Lpo 94) och de allmänna råden (Skolverket, 2008) som uttrycker något om rektors ansvar samt elevers lärande- och kunskapsutveckling. För att få svar på våra frågor har vi intervjuat tio rektorer som tillsammans representerar grundskolans alla stadier samt studerat innehållet i 1245 skriftliga omdömen. Studien genomfördes i en mellanstor svensk kommun.Resultatet visar att rektorerna i huvudsak är positiva till skriftliga omdömen men att de är kritiska till det stöd de fått för implementering. Ett skäl till att rektorerna är positiva är de pedagogiska diskussioner som reformen medfört.

In the school subject of the natural sciences it is imperative that the students are given opportunities to ?talk science?, since the dialogues that occur in the classroom have a significant importance for the students? abilities to engage in meaning-making in their learning process. Hence, the student and teacher interaction in the classroom and the feedback given there play a significant role in the students? learning process. The aim of this study is to contribute to the development of formative assessment tools that can mediate the students? meaning-making in natural sciences subjects in upper-secondary school.

Predatory pricing is one of the most frequently discussed topics in competition law and should be considered both from a legal and economic perspective. The concept of predatory pricing can bedescribed as a situation where a company is pricing at a level that, according to the assessment theories, is unreasonably low. The problems with this type of conduct arises when the low prices hinder competition. A company which uses predatory pricing will likely deter rivals entry to the market or drive the existing ones out of it. In the long run, the effects on competition will likely be higher prices which will hurt customers and consumers as well as competition.

The purpose of this study was to identify exerciser athlete?s motivational orientation, coping strategies used and stressors that primarily is perceived in gym training. The study also studied gender differences in relation to motivation orientation, coping strategies and stressors. A survey was conducted with a quantitative design. The study included 118 participants (43 women and 75 men) aged 18 - 42.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the significance of the national assessment in highschool education, including what the teachers express about the new instructions currently coming from the Swedish National Agency of Education, concerning a more central control of grading the national assessments. This study also covers the teachers individual responsibility when it comes to grading the national assessments. The purpose of the national assessment is to secure that grading and the education level in the country is equal. This is a qualitative study useing the method of a group discussion intervju (focusgroup intervju). Five highschool teachers took part in the discussion with questions that had been decided beforehand.

The aim of this project was to look into ten small sewer systems in the municipality of Laholm, in Sweden, in order to work out common assessment grounds for them. The sizes of the systems for purification of wastewater were within the range of 25 to 2000 population equivalents. Our method was to study literature, the laws and regulations applicable and the files at the municipality. The conclusion is that every sewer system is different and every situation is unique. We concluded that based on laws and assessment grounds sewer systems equal in size and pollution load ought to have similar demands attached to them.

In this study, we have examined how Swedish tour operators are using social media as part of their marketing plan. Our purpose was to find out which strategies they use in the area of social marketing. The companies that were examined were Ving, Fritidsresor and Jambo tours, and the social network site that the research focused on was Facebook. The examination was conducted with a content analysis of the companies' Facebook pages and qualitative, structured interviews with the companies. The aim was to compare the various tour operators Facebook pages in order to get a broader overview of the companies marketing strategies.

Tanzania is today one of the greatest aid recipients in the world, but still - after over 45 years of huge amounts of aid - one of the poorest and least developed countries. How can that be? Civil society is said to benefit the democratization process, but has not succeed in Tanzania. Has the extensive aid had any impact? Our purpose is to investigate this set of problems.We are using theories concerning civil society and aid in general, and the theoretical framework developed by Hadenius and Uggla ?Making Civil Society Work, Promoting Democratic Development: What Can States and Donors Do??, in particular.

This thesis concerns the feminist consciousness-raising novel of the 1970s. The aim of the thesis is to examine narrative strategies which, according to the consciousness-raising practice, are adapted to enlighten the political aspects of the personal. The focus is both on strategies that address the protagonist and on those that address the reader. I also examine in which way the use of these strategies is dependent upon ideas of class and gender.I find that the narrative situation, in this case the relationship between the protagonist and the narrator, is central to the use of the consciousness-raising narrative strategies. In Anna-Lisa Bäckmans Fia i folkhemmet och Fia med manifestet, the protagonist Fia is positioned as an oppressed working-class woman, which results in a narrative situation that gives the protagonist a limited space of action and that gives the narrator the power to interpret the experiences of the protagonist.

The study has shown that retailers in the mid-price segment differentiate their brand through developing a strong company identity around the brand. The personality involves store atmosphere, merchandise and advertising. Larger companies have chosen to lay the responsibility on management level, which facilitates on store level. By controlling the strategies on a central level the company can make sure that the stores are steered in the direction that the company wants them to be steered in, and also that they follow the positioning-concept. The company can also devote its efforts to working with its core value, which is service.