While almost 23 percent of the students in the Swedish upper secondary school are foreigners, only a fraction of the school libraries? collections consists of literature written in other languages than Swedish or English. This study examines how five school librarians experience the task of working with literature composed in foreign languages in the multicultural and multilingual school of today. The results of the qualitative interviews are analyzed in relation to the legislation and policy documents that the school libraries are working by, and also in relation to the theoretical framework of sociocultural theory and the theories on second language acquisition developed by linguist Jim Cummins.The study shows that while multilingualism is discussed as an important matter in the legislation and policy documents that the school libraries work by, the librarians in this study largely view the question of foreign literature as peripheral. Most part of the librarians connects first language reading to leisure-time activities rather than curricular activities, and stresses that the Swedish language should be prioritized in Swedish schools.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to study opinions about the Swedish hospital libraries and their activities for the patients, in a selection of Swedish library journal articles. The theoretical starting point is grounded in Laclau and Mouffes discourse theory. The empirical material consists of 43 articles from three library journals; Biblioteksbladet, Blänkaren and DIK-forum, published between 1990 and 2004. These are analysed through a reading scheme in four levels. In the empirical material two themes appear; the culture theme and the patient information theme.

AbstractIn the heart of Paris, you will find Sweden?s only cultural center abroad. Since the early 70?s a wealth of cultural activities has been offered, and every year the center receives more than 100,000 visitors. The center is a branch of the Swedish Institute (Si), a public authority which promotes mutual relationships between Sweden and other countries through culture, education, science and business.

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to illustrate and analyze the approach and parental involvement of a group of mothers in their children's schooling. Also their reflections on parental involvement will be highlighted and what the parents experience as obstacles in their involvement.Method: I conducted six semi structured interviews for my research. I chose to interview six mothers who have a child in the sixth grade. I chose specifically the sixth grade because the mothers will have had quite a few contacts with the school at this point. I also chose not to reveal their ethnicity because they cannot represent a whole ethnic group anyway.Result: The result of my interviews show that the parents have different approaches when it comes to parental involvement.

Den teoretiska bakgrunden bygger på de i litteraturen tydliga grundstenarna för andraspråksinlärning, vilka är varierad undervisning, tryggt klassrumsklimat, kulturella variationer, behov och motivation. Dessutom har samtalets betydelse för andraspråksinlärning lyfts fram och huruvida skapande verksamhet bidrar till samtal mellan eleverna. Syftet med studien var att göra en jämförande studie mellan tidigare forskning och verksamma pedagogers uppfattningar angående vilka faktorer som upplevs viktiga vid svenska som andraspråksinlärning. Dessutom ville vi undersöka huruvida skapande verksamhet stimulerar till samtal och om det därmed kan underlätta svenska som andraspråksinlärning. Studien grundade sig på intervjuer som gjordes i en grundskola för yngre åldrar i ett mångkulturellt område.

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to examine if a pre- and post-operative difference could be seen in self-reported pain disability and self-efficacy among patients undergoing surgery as treatment for spinal disc herniation in order to improve process of rehabilitation.Method: A quantitative and descriptive design was used. 10 patients awaiting surgical treatment for spinal disc herniation were included at Akademiska sjukhuset (The Academic Hospital) in Uppsala. Participation was voluntary and the selection was made by convenience. Data was collected using The Pain Disability Index and Self-Efficacy Scale by which the patient would estimate how hindered they felt because of their pain in everyday activities and their self-efficacy to perform everyday activities. This was done the day before surgery and two weeks after surgery.

The purpose of the study is to investigate educators? attitudes and didactic positions on popular culture as a form and a means of children?s learning in preschool. The questions posed in the study are:? How do the educators define popular culture, which examples of popular culture do the educators give?? How do the educators describe the spoken and unspoken rules and positions regarding popular culture in preschool practice?? What are the risks and benefits when including popular culture in preschool, according to the educators?In this qualitative study four educators from different preschools have been interviewed. The preschools take as a starting point different educational philosofies.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of how visions could be applied in subsidiaries and similar sub organisations of global enterprises. With increasing globalisation it becomes more difficult to work in accordance to same standards and towards a common and unifying interest. The study has a qualitative and deductive approach and is based on interviews with three global subsidiaries with some hundred people employed each.Conclusions are that the subsidiaries visions have to be based on a guiding philosophy issued by their mother entities and it is the responsibility of the sub organisation to develop a tangible image with a local vision, mission and strategy with targets requiring feedback. Sustainable strategies cannot be issued without a vision describing where the organisation want be in the future. Otherwise they will not come very far until they have to make a restart with a new strategy and they will never be a market leader..

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to see how technology is presented in different fictional picture books that are available in preschool. Six fictional picture books that have connection to technology in picture and text have been analysed. In order to show how technology can be made visible in fictional picture books, the relation between picture and text has been analysed through a technology perspective. Furthermore, the pictures and the texts have been analysed separately in order to show what they show respectively in terms of technology. The fictional picture book has a potential to be a basis for making technology visible in preschool, which is a step in a new direction.

The purpose of this study is to examine how outdoor education (friluftsliv) in upper secondary school is perceived by both students and teachers, and to identify the conditions that influence their motivation and commitment to participate in outdoor education activities. The study also aims to analyze the significance of students previous experiences on their perceptions of outdoor education in school. The following research questions were investigated: ? ? ? ?Which factors do students and teachers believe promote or hinder students engagement in outdoor education in upper secondary school? ? ? ? ?How do students and teachers explain the ways in which previous experiences of outdoor activities affect students engagement and motivation in outdoor education? ? ? ? ?How do students and teachers perceive that organizational conditions and teaching design influence the possibilities of creating meaningful outdoor education? The study is theoretically based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) (Deci & Ryan, 2000) and Sense of Coherence (SOC) (Antonovsky, 1991). SDT was used to understand how autonomy, competence, and solidarity influence student?s motivation, while SOC highlights how comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness shape student?s experiences of outdoor education.

The main focus for this essay is to describe the relationship between human and nature through a material investigation that takes its shape through sculpture. With the help of a fairytale-like story the reader can share the creation of the sculpture and how my thoughts flow through the process that will result in an exam project. Rooted in earlier projects I discuss the crash between civilization and the wilderness as well as talking about the likeness of the creative process and child play. I also discuss the body's place in the forest and the loneliness that we humans created that has cut us off from the rest of the creatures and plants in the forest. My aim is that in the final piece I will create a fiction place where these can be joined together again.

My essay begins with two stories showing two different perspectives when looking at learning in preschool. These two different learning styles I have chosen to call, the measurable and the difficult to measure learning. As a pedagogue I am involved in both events. In these events I describe how different we pedagogues interpret our governing documents on children's learning. By describing how the educational activities are designed differently in the two events, I try to highlight the pedagogues views on learning in preschool.

The aim of this study was to analyse ninth graders self reported screen based activities, sedentary time and musculoskeletal symptoms and pain intensity. The other aim was to examine changes regarding musculoskeletal pain and inactivity between ninth graders from a cross sectional study in year 2004. To meet this aim, following questions were designed: How is the relationship between screen based activities, inactivity, musculoskeletal symptoms, pain intensity and differences between girls and boys? How have musculoskeletal symptoms and screen time changed since year 2004?Method: The method used for this study was a quantitative method. The research was carried out using a questionnaire that was answered by pupils from 11 schools from all over Sweden.

The purpose of our essay is to develop an understanding and an insight for the fashion industry. We want to examine what the creative industries can learn from the unique position that fashion hold in a field between commercialization and art. We used a theoretical ground to enlarge our understanding for the distinctive place that fashion holds. To gain further insight in the fashion industry we complete the theory with empirical facts. The empirical facts were collected through a qualitative method with deep-going interviews.

One of the Swedish preschools many tasks is to identify the needs of a child and to shape an activity suited to their needs. This identification means a lot of times that a child is weighed and valued despite that the curriculum clearly states that no assessment is to be done in the Swedish preschool. To develop a preschool able to face all children regardless of their individual needs it?s necessary to change focus from child assessment to instead look at the work and environment in the whole preschool. A development of the activity might be seen as a work in progress whose primary goal is to improve the quality of work in preschool.