In the autumn of 2012 the fictional character ?Lilla Hjärtat? created by the Swedish authorand illustrator Stina Wirsén, became a much-discussed topic in Swedish media. Thisfollowing the premiere of the children?s film ?Liten Skär och alla små brokiga?.Stina Wirsén is an established and well-acclaimed name in children?s literature. ?LillaHjärtat?, a jet-black doll, had become one of many popular characters in her books.

The Swedish school reflects the society that we have today, a society with many different ethnical and cultural backgrounds. The purpose of this investigation is to study how the school is working with children that recently immigrated to Sweden. What kind of methods are they using at school, to get the best development as possible? Do the teachers manage to be concerned of the students in the school? What kind of reception do these children get in the school? What methods are the teachers using? And are these methods really the best to use to enhance the language and cognitive development of these students?The methods I have been using to examine these questions have been qualitative. I have interviewed three teachers about their everyday work in a multiethnic school south of Stockholm.

Overweight and obesity among children and adolescents is increasing. Diseases which earlier occurred exclusively among adults are now also observed among children. There is an urgent need for new treatments that can change this negative trend. The aim of this study was to describe existing treatments for obesity among children in the age of 6-12 and the effect of those treatments. This descriptive literature study is based on 17 research articles published between 2000 and 2007 from different parts in the world.

The current thesis is on the rule of law and how the principles of the rule of law are met in thenew Swedish migration process. The migration process has been subjected to criticism duringseveral years and on different occasions. The migrations process is viewed through a ?rightsof the child? perspective, foremost to seek if the rights of the child are met. The children are avulnerable group, not the least in the process of migration.

Background: Mathematics is a subject that many students perceive as difficult. In recent years, results in mathematics declined, while many students have difficulties in the subject of Swedish. However, there is not much research on the relationship between difficulties in mathematics and language weaknesses.Purpose: The purpose of this work is to find out what role the advocate competence of learning opportunities for the students to understand mathematics. A further aim of this work is to find out how mathematics is verbalized and individualized in preschool and find out how teachers in those classes describes how they work to verbalize and individualize mathematics.Method: The purpose is answered by observations in preschool and interviews of the teachers working in the observed classes. The empirical data are discussed and analyzed with theories related to children's learning and literature of mathematics and language.Result: The results show that mathematics is extensively verbalized in preschool classes.

This study is about children that have been forced to flee to another country, due to conflict, poverty or natural disasters, without their families. They are known as unaccompanied refugee children. The aim of the study is to, by focusing on individual children's feelings and experiences of being forced to flee create greater knowledge and understanding of what is hidden behind some of the statistic of migration.To answer the aim of the study, I used the following research questions: How is a child affected by being forced to leave home and to flee to a foreign country? How does an unaccompanied refugee child perceive the exodus? How do the unaccompanied refugee children handle their situation during the flight and at arrival in Sweden?The study is based on a qualitative method and consists in semi-structured interviews with five unaccompanied refugee children aged 17 to 21. The theoretical framework is based on three theoretical concepts; refugee crisis, identity and coping.The study results show that these children are a very vulnerable group, who were forced to be exposed to several losses and traumas.

This is qualitative study of, four teacher´s views on the use of iPad in teaching and learning. In addition, I will examine the disadvantages and advantages of iPad use as a teaching tool in preschools.My questions are:What is the practical use of tablets in preschools today?Are preschool teachers using the tablet as a teaching tool? If so, how?Is the use of tablets in preschools contributing to children´s social interaction, as well as between children and teachers` social interaction?The purpose of this study was to find out how the four teachers uses the iPad as a teaching tool in the interaction between children in preschool. I have chosen to use Vygotsky?s and John Dewey´s theories.

Animal welfare issues are not considered as high priority in Malawi, a developing country in south east Africa, due to problems affecting the human population. In Lilongwe, the capital city, education programs are used to increase the awareness of animal welfare issues among primary school children. A study was undertaken to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of animal welfare in primary school children as well as two different teaching methods for animal welfare, namely humane lessons (HL) and Animal Kindness Clubs (AKC). The gender perspective, in terms of differences in attitude towards and knowledge in animal welfare, was also evaluated as well as the link between domestic and animal violence. The study was performed in collaboration with Lilongwe Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (LSPCA). A questionnaire of multiple choice character was handed out to 249 children aged between 9 and 15 from six different schools.

This study regards the Swedish documentation system, BBiC, which is translated from the English version LACS. BBiC is created to make sure that the children?s needs are put in centre of attention in child protection investigations. The BBiC-system becomes problematic regarding unaccompanied refugee children because of the parent-perspective which is a keystone in the system. Therefor BBiC creates discretion for the social worker which is not BBiC: s original intension.

The aim of my study is to look at two specific schools and their work with Internet in the classroom and compare their work to what experts say about how you should educate. The study focuses on how teachers guide the students to be critical to the information they encounter on the internet. What do the experts say? How should the teachers work with Internet in the classroom? What do the teachers say about their work with Internet? What do the teachers say regarding children and the Internet?  To answer these questions I have interviewed two teachers from different schools, which had classes with children 6 to 8 years old. The schools are very different from each other concerning investment on Internet devices in the classroom.

The aim of this study was to understand how care staff in residential care perceive and work with elderly mental health and how these perceptions and work is related to aging. We have gathered our empirical material through eight qualitative interviews and vignettes with care staff in residential care. The study was conducted in a municipality with 10 000 to 20 000 inhabitants in southern Sweden. The material was analyzed with use of ageism as a theoretical frame of reference. The results showed that the care staff had different perceptions of mental illness in general and regarding the elderly.

In Sweden approximately ten percent of all children grows up in a family where at least one parent is having an alcohol related addiction. Since 1998 the development of group activities for children in this situation has been immense. The aim of group activities is to break the child's isolation and make them feel that they are not lonely in their experiences, give them knowledge about addiction and relive the pressure of guilt and responsibility.In a comparative study we examined studied how two different group activity models one with the conception of illness and one without, use the children's network to support the group process. The aim was also to find each models definition of the "normal family", since we understood the groupactivity as a part in the normalization process. We reached our aim through interviews with group leaders and by literature studies.

A school is a social area in which children and adults meet each other. The school is were friendship, love and also enmity arise. The process to establish, maintain, split up and end relationships is constantly continuously. A Childs way of creating relationships is complex. Bullying and similar offending treatment occur and has always been a huge problem in school.

AbstractThe purpose of this essay is to study in what way teachers in preschool work with pupils enabling them to gain influence and involvement in their learning.Influence means being able to make your voice heard which is an important component of a democratic society. Involvement is about being part of a community in which everyone is welcomed regardless of beliefs and opinions. Several of today's researchers believe that learning occurs in interaction between people. Teachers providing meaningful assignments to pupils, they become more motivated to learn.The study is based on observations of how teachers work with influence and involvement in controlled sessions, and interpretations of them. My results show that children become involved in their learning when they are confronted with a variety of pedagogical approaches to learning.

The aim of this study was to investigate preschool teacher?s perceptions about the curriculum goal concerning simple chemical processes. The result was based on narratives received by a qualitative study and semi-structured interviews of six preschool teachers. The results of the study showed that preschool teachers perceive that they actually are working in a relatively small scale with simple chemical processes and they do not really know what simple chemical processes are, and do not feel very familiar with the subject. Water, dough, mud, paint and baking were the most common activities that were used when working towards the curricular goal. However, it was never explained to the children that it was simple chemical processes they were working with during the activities, neither was it discussed among colleagues because of the uncertainty about the concept.