During my practical training I have seen what after-school offers children. Large groups of children and little staff, often results in that the children had to play freely until they go home. Few activities are offered to the children and the staff is busy looking after the children and ensures that they are not fighting.The purpose of this study is to find out how children feel about their leisure activities and if they think they are being offered a meaningful leisure. The main research questions were:How do children experience their leisure-time?Do after-school offers children a meaningful leisure and is it the children's interests and needs that govern the activities and the environment?How do the number of children in the leisure group affect the leisure time?The methods to collect data in the study are observations and interviews.

In this study I examine the debates, intentions and ideas concerning the physical and created schoolroom as they appeared in the journal Lärarnas Tidning - Svensk Skoltidning (Teachers Journal ? Swedish School journal) during the period 1962-1974. The built and created school building and its environment has been a relatively neglected topic in Swedish pedagogical research.When the Swedish comprehensive system transformed during the sixties, with new curricula and a common nine year school, many school professionals realised the need for a new and pedagogically adjusted schoolhouse.The early seventies marked a decline after a ten year period with an extensive building program affecting large parts of Sweden, and where schoolhouses had been an important part. The debate concerning the new Swedish school building was sometimes inspired and refreshing, but resistance and bitterness was also expressed. In part, this should be seen against the backdrop of the introduction of a new educational system, using new and sometimes untested pedagogical ideas, together with the fast transformation of the Swedish society.The research method is an exploratory textual analysis focused on five different issues: ideas concerning community centres and integration, participatory and democratic issues about the built environment, the school building as a pedagogical tool, aesthetic considerations, and the working environment.

This paper studies how peer assessment is used as a strategy to improve young learners' results in Swedish as a school subject. Nine teachers are interviewed about their use of the method on 7-12-year-old pupils. Comparisons are made between the interviews and Swedish and international discussion on peer assessment. There are similarities between the practice of the teachers and what is said in the litterature about the method and its advantages and drawbacks. The teachers tend to emphasize the social aspects more, though.

The evaluation and assessment of a pupil?s knowledge is today an important part of a teachers work. The function of the evaluations for younger pupils (grades 1-3) has assumed a more prominent role in the school system due to the introduction of written assessments as well as national testing in grade 3. One of the purposes of this research has been to find out the teacher?s opinions of the written assessment in grade 3.

The individual educational plan (IEP) is a document used in Swedish schools. The purpose of the document is to help and support students who have difficulties in their schoolwork in various ways. In my experience, the student does not always understand the importance of establishing an IEP as a support and help at school. In this study I try to understand the students? experience of its relevance and purpose and the impact which can be achieved by an IEP.

Through qualitative interviews with five teachers from three schools, two public schools within the same school management and a Waldorf school, the purpose of this study is to find out teachers' views on the phenomenon of life skills in the lower classes in school. What is the subject, how do teachers work with life skills, and should it be seen as a separate subject or integrated in all school subjects?The results show that the definition of life skills is a term with many interpretations. Two concepts that can be seen as the common denominators in the educators' views on the subject, however is, social and emotional skills. This is something that educators believe develop self-awareness and empathy in children and sees that as important as learning other subjects.

The purpose of my essay is to see how teachers are working to integrate the two subjects Art and Swedish in their teaching, and to see how this integration is made. What do teachers think about subject-integration? What are the positive effects of it? Are there any difficulties involved? Do the teachers prioritize cooperation with other subjects?To answer my questions I have interviewed eight teachers, four of them in upper secondary school and four in lower secondary school. I have also studied literature about subject-integration and children?s learning, curriculum?s and syllabi in the subjects of Art and Swedish.The results of my study show that the interviewed teachers are positive when it comes to integrating Art and Swedish and other subjects.

This study aims to examine play as a phenomena from a phenomenological approach. This I do by discussing a dominant approach to play, an perspective which is reproduced in the context of pre-school and in where the play and learning is in single focus. Using alternative perspective on play, mainly by Gadamer and Bakthtins philosophical thoughts about the feast or the carnival, contents differ significantly from educational or developmental psychology perspectives. I open up for an understanding of what play as ontology can be understood as, and thereby enable second readings. I illustrate this thought by an empirical example from a pre-school context which where created alongside with the children in the study.

The Swedish school system?s curriculum states that some of the schools goals are to; help to develop pupils? sense of belonging, solidarity and responsibility for people outside the restricted group, combat discrimination and degrading treatment of individuals or groups and to show respect for individuals. (Lgr 11). Eriksson and other authors in School ? an arena for bullying (2002) refer to the professor and psychologist Dan Olweus, who points out that bullying can develop serious consequences for the bullied one.

Homework is and has always been a part of school work. It may take a lot of time from the pupils? leisure. Despite this, you cannot find anything written about homework in the curriculum. How can this be? Is homework necessary and what is its function?The purpose of this study is to find out how a few teachers in primary school reason about homework.  What are their attitudes towards homework and what functions do they see?To get an answer to this I studied literature and research reports, and did four qualitative interviews with teachers who teach grades 1-6.The results show that all the teachers give homework to their pupils, but their opinions about homework differ.

Laws and regulations govern the school kitchens in Sweden. The municipality controls how well the school kitchens obey those laws. An annual fee covers the municipality?s expenses for the public control of the school kitchens. To be able to calculate this annual fee, a risk evaluation needs to be done.

The main purpose with this study is to describe teachers? use of textbooks and other teaching materials in upper secondary school (gymnasiet) in Sweden, and to discuss the use according to school subject and teacher style. Data was collected in two different ways. At first twenty classroom observations were made during lectures concerning the subjects Swedish (mothertounge), English (foreign language) and religion. Then four open interviews were carried out with the teaching teachers.

The essay is about how immigrant pupils are integrated into the Swedish school and society. I have studied how teachers work with integrating these pupils and if there is a plan of act used in their work. The essay is also about how social relations can be used as a pedagogical resource by the teachers when the institutional framework and support is failing..

The Regional State Archive in Uppsala [Landsarkivet i Uppsala] has several archives left from various types of educational institutions in the counties of Dalarna, Södermanland, Uppsala, Västmanland and Örebro. This archiv-al guide reveals the main content of some of the school archives. It goes through the archives of the elementary school, state secondary grammar schools and private secondary grammar schools. A few special schools for the blind and the deaf children are included. The essay also brings up records from community homes and reformato-ries for children and young adults who experienced certain difficulties and therefore could not adjust to the ordi-nary educational system.

Independent schools are a central issue in the school world, the perception of independent schools varies and many people express opinions about them in the media. An independent school is according to the National Agency a school that has a different principal than the county or municipality. Independent schools may not charge fees but their revenue comes from municipal grants from municipalities (Berglund 2007, p. 10). An independent school can be driven by an association, foundation or company and to run an independent school requires a permit from the Education Department.The purpose of this paper is to see how four principals at independent schools with a Muslim profile are working to strengthen their students? Muslim identity in relation to the society they live in and how schools work with value issues.