The major focus in this study is structural inequalities in primary school in Sweden. UNESCO points out that in many developing countries, up to 40% of the children perform at or below the lowest proficiency level in language and mathematics. Sweden has been criticized by the UN about the large differences in educational achievements between different regions. Based on an official study Sweden considers that those differences are related to ethnically segregate residential areas. My research question is whether the Swedish government takes adequate consideration of the impact that socioeconomically aspects have on educational achievement.

The purpose of this master's thesis is to describe and analyse the origin and development of the library of Workers´ Educational Association in the community of Oskarström. This library is special because the organisation run it much longer than usual, until 1977, and to find an answer to why, we have the following questions: Why does the library of Workers´ Educational Association start their activity in Oskarström, and how does it develop, in relation to premises, librarians, financing, the stock of books and the numbers of books out on loan? What is the reason that the library in Oskarström is municipalized as late as 1977? The methods we use are hermeneutics and evaluation of the sources. The library is founded in 1914 and become important for the workers. Important sources of income are the subventions given by the state, municipality and other associations.

The purpose of this thesis is to study how preschool teachers can reach the goal of the swedish educational plan to prevent traditional gender roles for children ages 3-6 through drama in education.This is answered by four hypothesis based on Judith Butler's queer theory, George Herbert Mead's social psychological theory and Gavin Bolton and Dotothy Heathcotes drama pedagogical theories. The hypotheses are tested against four teachers' examples of their work.The hypotheses areHypothesis 1: By using the expert's mantle and active observation in teacher-in-role indrama educational exercises, we can see how the children internalize the heterosexualmatrix and the outline of the internalized other.Hypothesis 2: By using the "mistakes" that occur when children repeat performativeacts that do not fit with the heterosexual matrix, these other possible behaviors can bestrengthenedHypothesis 3: Through drama exercises that are not normative teachers can widen theheterosexual matrixHypothesis 4: Through drama pedagogical methods like teacher-in-role teachers canprovide possibilities of other performative acts and the creation of a more tolerantinternalized other.The analysis show that the respondents work within all these hypotheses in different ways and thathypotheses 2 is the one with the weakest support in the interwievs. The examples are also weakregarding the use of Boltons drama pedagogical methods, but that there are a number of othermethods in use.Some of the conclusions are that more theoretical knowledge in the preschool drama pedagogics tocounteract traditional gender roles and patterns, as well as the drama of educational theory need tobe linked to queer and social psychology research. There is also no monitoring of the long term effects of the work..

How do gender and socioeconomic backgrounds affect students? academic performance, educational choices and attitudes towards education? Moreover, does class play the same role for girls and boys? In order to find this out, I surveyed students in a small province located in the northern inlands of Sweden. The survey was answered by nearly every student in the ninth grade of that year, a total of 160 people. The results revealed that girls in this area have less faith in their capabilities than boys, despite getting much better grades. Many more girls than boys want to go onto college or university studies.

This study indicates that research about men and masculinity does not appear to have advanced as far as research about women and femininity. Similarly to attitudes concerning women and femininity, clear norms and attitudes regarding men and masculinity pervade society. Hence, there is a clear need for further research within this field to be carried out. This study, with the support of previous research, looks at gender norms which exist in educational material and the impact it might have on students. Against this backdrop, the author has focused the analysis on one textbook as educational material at upper secondary level with particular emphasis on masculinity and its associated norms.

This is a thesis in Personal- och Arbetslivsprogrammet at Dalarna University with thepurpose of evaluating an education initiative in Borlänge kommun. The educationCoaching Leadership is an initiative for the managers in the organization to exercisegood leadership and the education also serves as an incentive for managers. Eightbusiness managers and one from the HR staff have completed the training. Out of thetotal 9 participants in the training, six of them took part in this evaluation. Based on thethesis aim and questions we wanted to explore participants' attitudes to the education,and what skills and abilities they have acquired on the basis of educational goals andcontent.

Four different kinds of filter-materials with reactive surfaces have been studied concerning their capacity to absorb heavy metals in leachate from a municipal waste deposit. The heavy metals studied were: lead, cadmium, copper, mercury, chromium, nickel and zinc. The leachate contains high levels of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and has a high pH-value along with a high buffer capacity. These characteristics of the leachate make it difficult to remove pollutants and require efficient filters. The filters that were examined in the report are blast-furnace slag with CaO, sand covered with iron oxides, olivine and nepheline.

The purpose of the study was to determine the attitudes of the teachers of Reggio Emilia inspired preschools concerning the science work with children between the ages of one and three, as well as their opinions on how the physical preschool environment and the choice of materials influence their scientific work. The study was conducted in three departments of two different kindergartens. Although both kindergartens called themselves Reggio Emilia inspired, their working methods and their environments differed largely. None of them were originally built as Reggio Emilia inspired preschools. One of the kindergartens strived to design their indoor environment the same way as the preschools of Reggio Emilia are constructed, there for they were setting up different stations where the children themselves have the opportunity to explore various scientific areas.

The aim of thesis was to, through a action research study and through individual interviews with five students, clarify their perspective on educational assistance in high school. The study shows that students prefer teaching in small groups outside of regular whole class because it gives the them access to the factors they consider crucial for a functioning support-time whit a skilled and dedicated teatcher, in a calm and safe environment. Moreover, the students claim the importance of technical equipment especially in the Swedish subject, but also in other subjects. Today the educational assistance varies from an outside-the-class teaching situation to a whole-class situation with teacher support as well as technicaal equipment. When the student were asked to describe the cinditions under which studies can be conducted with the whole class they tried to imitate the learning environment they have in a small group.

Bakgrunden till studien är de förändringar i form av minskade produktionsstopp som Sandvik Materials Technology (SMT) infört från och med sommaren 2005. Detta har inneburit att vissa produktionsområden stänger ner sin tillverkning från fyra veckor till inga produktionsstopp under sommaren. Syftet med undersökningen har varit att undersöka hur arbetsfördelning, kommunikation och samordning har skett mellan nyckelaktörer på SMT inför rekryteringen av semesterersättare år 2007. Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ metod där vi genomfört åtta stycken halvstrukturerade intervjuer och granskat dokument, såsom processbeskrivning och rekryteringspolicy för semesterprocessen. Resultatet har visat på svårigheter i kommunikation och samverkan som vi främst tror har grundat sig i otydliga roller i arbetsfördelning inom processen, då kontaktmannen både har agerat som personalman och kontaktman till de berörda första linjens chefer vi har intervjuat..

.The Whole language program is in Sweden generally referred to as ?Kiwimetoden? - ?the Kiwi program? (author?s direct translation) partly due to the fact that the Whole language program originates from New Zealand. Whole language is basically a literacy program and approaches literacy from a holistic point of view. Children learning to read and write should do so in the same natural way children learn to speak their native language which is in the context of authentic language as a whole. In Sweden the program is generally practiced together with a commercial and pre-organised material called ?kiwi? or ?Stjärnsvenska?.

AbstractThe purpose of my study was to examine how four social studies teachers in upper secondary school interprets the democratic educational mission and core values, and if they believe that the same values are tools to influence the students' democratic approach and if they think it is possible. It is also the study's minor purpose to make an analysis of my findings and previous research in the area to explain any similarities or differences in the social studies teacher's interpretation and practice of the democratic educational mission and core values. I used qualitative semi-structured interviews as a method in which the interview questions were based on my research questions. The two criteria I had for my sample of respondents was that there would be social studies teacher at a upper secondary school and that I wanted to have two of each sex. Their interpretation and how they think they practice the democratic educational mission and core values are similar.

This is a thesis in Personal- och Arbetslivsprogrammet at Dalarna University with thepurpose of evaluating an education initiative in Borlänge kommun. The educationCoaching Leadership is an initiative for the managers in the organization to exercisegood leadership and the education also serves as an incentive for managers. Eightbusiness managers and one from the HR staff have completed the training. Out of thetotal 9 participants in the training, six of them took part in this evaluation. Based on thethesis aim and questions we wanted to explore participants' attitudes to the education,and what skills and abilities they have acquired on the basis of educational goals andcontent.

AbstractReading books to children is often an integral part in preschool activities. The purpose of thisstudy is to investigate how educators think about the educational function of literature inpreschool activities. I have in my study used qualitative interviews with active educators andobservations to answer my questions about why the educator reads to the children, how theeducator thinks about the choice of literature and if the literature can contribute to thechildrens development and if so, how. The knowledge- and research background presentsliterature and previous research done on the subject. The results of my study shows that theeducators have many thoughts about the importance of literature in preschool.

Secondary schools have for decades debated whether they promote social reproduction which is considered to generate the homogeneous student compositions. The gap between the academic programs and vocational education programs is considered to increase. What in recent years has appeared in research is that the gap is increasing most tend to be in the specific academic program, particularly in science. This paper's intention is to describe the science program at a local level and the pupils who were admitted to the science program autumn 2009 on the basis of an educational sociological perspective. The survey consisted of a census in which all students were given the opportunity to answer a questionnaire.