This study investigates how performance management in primary schools can facilitate learning, relating to theories of efficient schools. This is done through a qualitative study of the performance management systems in two public primary schools in Sweden. The schools selected were similar in all major aspects, except pupil grades, where there was a clear difference between the schools. The analysis revealed differences in how the schools handled the process of management by objectives, the professional development of teachers as well as routines, rules, and policies. We conclude that having a rooted process for management by objectives, professional development of teachers, and clearly formalized values, gives a school a good foundation to support a pupil's learning and development..

The aim of this study is to investigate variations of conceptions among prison librarians, concerning mediation of information from an ethical perspective. We have performed interviews with nine librarians and used the phenomenographic approach when analyzing the material. Sixteen categories of conceptions were found, distributed on four aspects of the phenomenon, the act of mediating information to inmates. The results show a variety of conceptions among the librarians. The four aspects cover conceptions about the inmates as users of the library services in prisons, conceptions about the information need of the inmates, conceptions concerning policies, guidelines and laws and conceptions about information access in the prisons.

The importance of student influence at the universities is something that is described in Swedish regulations as well as in local policies and documents for Karlstad University. At the same time there is no description for the interpretation of what student influence actually means. It is up to the university to decide what student influence should be at the university and how it should be represented in the organization and processes.The purpose with this essay is with a discursive perspective of analysis define how representatives of Karlstad University reflects how the student influence should be represented in the organization and if it is possible to connect it to the position as an actor of co-decision or of influenceThe analysis show that different levels of the university will describe the position of student influence differently, and that it plays different roles to keep up the quality of education at the university. It shows that it will be of more importance that student influence takes the role to influence the organization more than co-decide the nearer the student the process will come..

Music has a role to play in every country and every culture. Sweden today is a country whith many different cultures, religions and music genres. The purpose of this investigation is to study how immigrants youths profit from music education on the basis of music teachers' perspectives. Questions at issue are: are there immigrant children/ youths who can not take part in music education? Have the students' religions any importance? Do the parents question the offered education? Is there more opposition to some specific kind of music? Are teachers avoiding to present some music? Can music education help the immigrant youths to form their identities? I have used questionnaires and I have made five interviews.

In the autumn of 2012 a debate started in Swedish media about racial stereotypes and content in children's literature. Some voices wanted to weed out titles such as Tintin i Kongo (Tintin in the Congo) and the character Lilla hjärtat from Liten Skär och alla Brokiga (Little Pink & Brokiga), while others claimed that it was against our freedom of speech. In this essay I intend to interview librarians to find out if and how the debate has affected their work with purchase and weeding. I will also analyze their purchase policy to find out if it mentions racism and how the policies are applied in practice. As theory I'm using Strömbergs theory regarding three aspects of racism and Klassons theory about three different kinds of librarian roles.

Abstract:The aim of this study has been to investigate (theoretically as well as empirically) the problematic notions of state neutrality and political perfectionism and, in particular, the potentially vast continuum existing between these concepts both in theory and in actual political practice. In order to accomplish this, a conceptual analysis has examined (some of) the arguments for and against state neutrality and political perfectionism, different aspects of neutralism and perfectionism as well as the exact definition of the concepts of ?neutrality of justification? and ?conceptions of the good?. Using a specific (though not entirely uncontested) definition of these concepts, an empirical analysis was made of Swedish parliamentary parties and their cultural policies. The empirical part of the study seemed to confirm one of the basic premises of this study; that state neutrality and perfectionism are often (as has indeed been recognized by critics of state neutrality) intertwined in the business of everyday politics..

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how city librariesmaintain the intellectual freedom in their Internet service. Thediscussion about Internet filters has been quiet in Sweden forseveral years, so I wanted to see if there had been an increased useof filters. I also wanted to see if the city libraries regulated theInternet service in another way. I sent a survey to 100 libraries andgot answer from 83. To explain what intellectual freedom is, I usedStuart Hamilton?s theory about intellectual freedom in the librarycontext.

The aim of this study was to capture preschool-teachers thoughts and experience basing on the obligation. Are there any policies and procedures for preschool-teachers to use when suspicion that a child is being abused occur. Are there some factors that may affect preschool-teachers to report to the social service? How does the preschool-teacher find the contact with the Social Service? I conducted four interviews with four preschool-teachers, two of these preschool teachers are employed at the same municipal preschool and the other two are employed at two other preschools. The interviews were semi-structured and were conducted at each individual?s workplace.

During the 1960s and 1970s an increased interest in Native Americans can be seen in Sweden, e.g. through the establishment of organizations such as the Indian Club of Sweden. The aim of this thesis is to study the portrayal of Native Americans and its role through Albin Widén, a Swedish author, ethnologist and member of the Indian Club, and his non-fictional works on the Swedish migration to America, Swedish-America and Swedish contacts with Native Americans. The study is divided into four parts. The first part looks at the portrayal of the Native Americans in Widén?s writings, in comparison with Euro-Americans? and Europeans? traditional stereotypic images of a good and a bad Indian.

The development of solar photovoltaic (PV) is increasing,with declining module prices and with a strongenvironmental profile. Policies are developed around theworld to achieve the targets set for renewable energy.In Helsingborg, the local power company Öresundskraft isworking with solar PV to achieve the goals of the city.With their vision: - Energy for a Better World and Powerfor the Region, their work with developing the local solarPV market is continuing and the next step is to create asolar PV policy. Today their offer is 1 SEK/kWh for theexcess electricity delivered to the grid.It turns out that compensating the customer is a vitalpolicy and it has to be dynamic to follow the decisions ofpolitics. The same survey shows indeed, thatenvironmental and technical part is of interest. Solar PVwill be supported locally to act on environmentalsustainability and locally produced electricity and withthis Öresundskrafts vision will be achieved..

During the 1960s and 1970s an increased interest in Native Americans can be seen in Sweden, e.g. through the establishment of organizations such as the Indian Club of Sweden. The aim of this thesis is to study the portrayal of Native Americans and its role through Albin Widén, a Swedish author, ethnologist and member of the Indian Club, and his non-fictional works on the Swedish migration to America, Swedish-America and Swedish contacts with Native Americans. The study is divided into four parts. The first part looks at the portrayal of the Native Americans in Widén?s writings, in comparison with Euro-Americans? and Europeans? traditional stereotypic images of a good and a bad Indian.

We would like to learn more about how the restrictive policy against incentive programmes affects the board?s of Swedish state owned commercial firms ability to govern management in an efficient way. We also want to find out if there are different consequences in reference to this that are not directly linked to corporate governance issues. Our empiric observations have been made in order to profoundly explore the subject and examine it through the eyes of professional individuals, all expressing different views and standpoints. We conclude that the most efficient structure is when an active board is complemented by a well structured and individualised incentive programme.

We examined why file sharing is such a widespread phenomenon and what drives the persons that using file sharing, and what consequences it has on their consuming and ownership. We reached our goal by interviewing ten people who download files, using a qualitative method. We present the internet community where sharing files, copyright and the IPRED law are important ingredients for how the new generation consumer?s patterns look like. Today you can travel all over the world with a push on a button in just a few seconds.

The fact that we apprehend certain phenomena as more convenient than others generate questions about what constitute and decide what we think of as normal and appropriate. The aim of this thesis is to explore the immense conception of power and authority through a narrower approach that focuses on the EU.With this in mind I examine the penetration of the neo-liberal ideology in the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe to see if there are any implications for hegemony. This is achieved through a discourse analysis which is strengthened with empirical cases of EU policies.The result of the discourse analysis of selected parts of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe reveals that there are in fact tendencies which indicate that our society and reality is dominated by a neo-liberal hegemonic discourse. Subsequently the contemporary discourse broadly infiltrates the entire European Union, and therefore also its member states..

The name of the study means ?The short arm - a study in diversity and arm?s length in the cultural collaboration model?. Right now there is a reform in the Swedish cultural administration where the responsibility for handing out state funds and grants to cultural organizations is changing from the state government to the local regional governments. The purpose of this study is to map the organisational changes caused by the reform and investigate how this affects the regional policies concerning cultural diversity and the arm?s length principle.