Title: School in Change : Good Grades = Good Democrat? Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Political Science Author: Marcos Castro Allende Supervisor: Per Strömblad Date: 2013 ? May Aim: The background to this study is a book published by Staffan. I Lindberg & Richard Svensson where they presented a hypothesis that the decline in trusting democracy within Swedish youth is a result of the deregulation of the education in Sweden. The aim of this study is to test this hypothesis and see if the declinne in democracy can be seen already before graduating from elementary school. Method: The method used in this study consist of a survey distributed to students at two elementary schools that differentiates in question of grades and social status. By comparing and analyzing the results of this survey with the claims of the hypothesis, former studies and Lipsets theory of the working-class authoritarism a conclusion is made of the hypothesis credibility. Result & Conclusions: The results showed that there may be a a difference trusting democracy between students with higher grades and those with lower grades.

This is a field study based on participant observations and interviews, describing the cooking teacher's complex everyday life. The school's restaurant is a unique arena, freely hovering between two worlds: The school world and the restaurant reality. Here, the students are confronted with real situations and problems, similar to the ones occurring in a restaurant, still having the school's safety net beneath them. It is for real, but still not, a bit like a flight simulator.It is on that arena the cooking teacher works, combining the two roles of the teacher and the chef. Two roles built on their own traditions and values.

The aim of the study was to improve understanding of how upper secondary school acknowledge and adjust support and guidance for gifted students regarding their future academic and professional career. The study examined school pricipals and career counselors approach to guidance work with gifted students and how the above mentioned professionals received information about gifted students. It was further examined what measures were applied to adjust the upper secondary school to the needs of gifted students. Qualitative interviews were conducted and the results showed that in cases where the informants were told it took place in conjunctions with seminars about the class, through grades or through a teacher or the students themselves who contacted the career counselor or principal at the upper secondary school.The giftedness was connected to the school curriculum and various course topics in the secondary programs. School principals viewed the career counselor as an important resource to provide motivational support, individualize and survey future plans.

Swedish school children's results have deteriorated in recent years and formative assessment is, in accordance with previous research, a way to develop students' learning and performance. A part of formative assessment is based on feedback that students should receive before, during and after a new assignment. In this study, we want to find out how students and teachers apprehend students' development in relation to feedback and what general attitudes towards feedback can be seen in both parties. The literature and theory discussed is linked to formative assessment, both at international and national level where many important aspects of formative assessment are essential in relation to pupils' further development. The theories are based heavily on human interaction and socio-cultural perspective as a concept.

This essay is about power in the classroom. It is about the power dimension of the student-teacher relationships that arise in that space. The overall aim has been to investigate which categories are fruitful in a power analysis of these relationships. My aim has therefore been to develop power categories and to use them to identify and to categorise cases of power interaction that take place between those particular actors in that particular setting.In order to gather material for my study I have both read literature that approaches the study of the student-teacher relationships from a power perspective and done a series of observations in a high school.My theoretical frame comprises a concept of power and a series of power categories. These categories include strength, authority, inducement, coercion, violence, resistance as well as to possess power, to have power, to exert power, the scope of power and the base of power.

The purpose of this bachelor?s thesis is to examine what attitudes the administrators of the selected elementary schools have towards school library media centers in general but also towards their own respective library media centers. Furthermore, it is to examine the administrators? views on their school librarian?s role in the library media center as well as an integrated part of the school activities. A branch in this purpose is to examine if there is any differences in staffing the library media centers with a library media specialist or a teacher-librarian.

The aim of this study was to examine how the interviewed primary teachers in two schools situated in the Stockholm area understand themselves as teachers in relation to their image of the good teacher. The research questions were: How do the informants discuss their image of the good teacher? How do the informants describe their own role as a teacher?A qualitative method, by interviews made with four primary teachers, was used to collect data for the examination. The results from the interviews were analyzed and discussed from the theories and earlier research concerning the role of the teacher and what they describe as the good teacher. The theoretical connection of this study was based on the theories of Vygotsky, Piaget, Bruner, Dewey, Dreikurs, Kounin and Glasser concerning the relationship between the role of the teacher and learning.

During my practice as a teacher trainee at an upper secondary school it became clear to me that many pupils have difficulties with algebra. Also in a report from the National Agency for Education (1999) you can see that the students algebra knowledge get worse and worse. I was surprised to find that many pupils seemed to get stuck on the level of attainment for the senior level of the nine-year compulsory school. As I have not studied anything about difficulties in algebra during my training to become a qualified teacher I would like to get to know more about this. I also examine why you have to study algebra in upper secondary school.

This study shows how two different schools use dogs as a method of education. The purpose was to find out what kind of pedagogical thoughts my informants have about children' slearning in their connection with dogs, and in which way the interaction between the children and the dogs could affect the learning ability. I also wanted to find out what kind of possibilities and restrictions the dogs could give to the education according to my informants but also to find out how the projects were financed. To be able to answer these questions I put together a qualitative study, I had four interviews with people that were involved in the projects in one way or the other. To analyse the empirical material I looked up different theories about teaching, communication, interaction and motivation.My results showed that both schools have applied the method of ?teaching dogs? as a form of resource for students with special needs.

This article is about Abrahams Children foundation and its teaching method called IE- method. It?s about how a teacher can use the IE- method in the religion lesson. There were some questions in this article that had to be answered and the questions are:- How is the form of the religion classes when a teacher uses the IE- method?- What happens in the class when you study the interaction and the communication?- Does the student?s participation increase when they work with the IE- method?- What are the advantage and the disadvantage with the IE- method?- Can the teacher use the IE- method in other classes?To get to the ?correct? answer I used many methods like, observation in the class, qualitative interview with the teacher (Lisa Andersson) and with four students (Kim, Erik, Amanda, Patrik) and I also used questionnaire.

 Title:              Not just words, classroom communication about subtraction in year 2Language:      Swedish with summary in English.Keywords:     Communication, mathematics, subtraction, teaching The purpose of this study is to analyze the mathematical communication in a classroom during a lesson in the field subtraction, and to find out how students describe their perception of mathematics that is communicated in the classroom.The study consists of the observations through the videotaping of two lessons in primary school grades 2 and student and teacher interviews related to these lecture occasions.Research indicates that Swedish pupils' mathematical skill continuously deteriorates in a national and international perspective, and that student experiences of mathematics in general are negative. The literature emphasizes the importance of communicating mathematics in various forms to deepen and develop understanding of concepts and mathematical operations. Communication must be generated between teachers and students but also between student and student to have a beneficial impact for the student.Our result demonstrate the different types of communication in the classroom but that communication does not always have a clear mathematical content in spite of teachers' mathematical intentions with teaching. The result also indicates that the mathematical communication that takes place, in essence, is a one-way communication where the teacher has a great opportunity to speak. The teachers perceived as oblivious to their own ways of communicating, but stressed in the interviews with an understanding of the importance of communication learning.

In order to be a good teacher according to preferences from outside the school area, there are many different voices to listen to. The different roles that are assigned for teachers are colliding with the latest research from the pedagogical institutions and therefore the role as a teacher of today is in a complex state of mind. Somewhere, between the traditional role of teaching and the moderating ideal image, reality is revealed in the ambivalent role of the teacher of today. In this pedagogical essay on advanced level we are focusing on obstacles that are hindering the moderating teacher?s role, to be fully developed in the classroom.

The purpose of this study has been to create a better understading of how face?to?face activities in course´s impacts on the experience of interaction within a course.More specifically, the study puts the student'?s perception of how mandatory face?to?face activities affect and are affected by the interaction in focus. This is done by the following research questions. What affects the student'?s perception of face?to?face activities? Which interaction dimension affects the factors that influence students perception of the activities? Which interaction dimension is influenced by the student'?s perception of the activities?The theoretical base is Wagner'?s (1994) three types of interaction and Andersson´s(2003) theory of interaction dimensions.

The purpose of this study has been to investigate the views of five teachers on their own leadership, and on the way they make it work in the classroom. The method was a qualitative investigation consisting of separate interviews with five elementary school teachers from three different schools in the southern part of Stockholm. The results showed that a good pedagogic leadership, successful with the pupils, can be characterised as at the same time democratic and "situation adjustable". This includes the ability to formulate the rules of conduct clearly, to take decisions and to create a good working atmosphere in the classroom, so that the pupils can feel secure, and be able to learn and develop. That however, cannot be accomplished if the teacher only maintains a negative communication, reminding the pupils of what is forbidden.

This thesis examines the effects of the Swedish school reforms that took place in the early 1990?s. Theories such as Principal-Agent, Stewardship and Lipsky?s street-level bureaucracy are discussed as well as New Public Management (NPM). These reforms were heavily influenced by NPM, causing an increased level of street-level bureaucracy, and according to Principal-Agent theory some outcomes could have been predicted.