This thesis tackles the subject concerning arguments as a conceptual basis forunderstanding the general strategy of the European Union Commission on issuesconcerning EU-harmonized environmental taxes, politically delicate and intergovernmentaldependent. The Commission's official proposals, communications and other relevant documents are subject to inquiry, where the theoretical bases are that harmonized environmental taxes in the EU is an issue conceived as supported by academic debate, and where the institutional arrangement in relation to an European-national dimension alongside the discursive context, allows meaningfulspace for arguments. The study makes a distinction between substantial (environmental cancerns in itself) and instrumental (other benefits, mostly economic ones) rationality as a foundation in various types of arguments.The study's main findings are that the Commission's official documents over the past 20 years, have been trying to keep a strong image of reason and knowledge based arguments for an EU-wide environmental tax reform. In particular, the types of arguments tend to appeal to the Member States by stressing the instrumental rationality in a European environmental tax reform, indicating the value of good arguments as a part of the Commission's main strategies. In sum, this may have further theoretical suggestions concerning questions of environmental and elimate change policies in a European context or other more general studies relying on theoretical assumptions of logics of argument, legitimacy or studies of motives behind action strategies in politically sensitive issues such as taxation at supranationallevel..

In this study we have focused on the operational management of the public pre-school in Sweden. We have studied how the governance system is designed, why it is designed this way and what impact it has on the operational management. This has been analyzed from a theory stating that there are two types of organizations: pay-driven and function-driven. Through a case and document study we came to the conclusion that the pre-school is a function-driven organization but is nowadays acting on a market and have adopted characteristics of a pay-driven organization. We connect this change to the phenomenon New Public Management.

The aim of this essay is to give the reader an idea of how the European agricultural policies have developed, in regard of sustainable development, since Sweden became a member in the union 1995. The main aspect that?s been investigated is the issues regarding sustainable development and how the issues regarding the ecological farming methods have been dealt with. My research questions are:- How has the European environment- and agricultural politics changed since Swedenjoined the union in 1995?- What consequences have the changes had for ecological farming?The answers to the stated questions are that there have been several treaties in the field of environmental development of the agricultural policy, starting with the Maastricht treaty and ends up with the European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming.

My purpose in this work was to find out how staff in a middle sized school uses its local Equal treatment plan in its work against bullying. But also to see how the use of a standardized anti-bullying program works to prevent bullying. I have interviewed the principal, teachers, and what we in Sweden call a ?fritidspedagog? and the members of the anti-bullying team to get answers to my questions.  The conclusion of this study is that the school follow and work according to what the Equal treatment plan states, both in terms of prevention, as in working with actual bullying cases. The school has also followed the National School Agency's recommendations on what should be the local Equality plan, but also to follow up and revise it each year. The interview shows that the staff at the school placed great emphasis on talking and discussing with students about how to behave towards each other, they also brought up things that happened at one time and talked about this. The staffs were very committed to work towards the prevention of bullying and the same was true with the school's headmaster.

The European Union has been working to promote equality between women and men for a long time. Despite this, Sweden still have a gender segregated labor market where men generally has the leading positions. According to European law the member states shall promote gender equality and to take all appropriate measures. Statutory gender quotas for company boards is one such measure that some of the European member states have implemented in national law. The Swedish law has no provisions governing gender quotas and therefore the purpose of this study is to explain how gender quotas for company boards relate to current law, both of European law and national legislation.

This study is mostly based on previous research, which includes Sub-national actor?s attitudes and regional action towards the European Union. The purpose of the study is to investigate if four Swedish municipalities in Värmland operate internationally towards the European Union and deepen an understanding of their actions. The main research question is: - How can we increase our understanding of municipal action against the European Union? The research questions of this study are answered through qualitative method and semi-structured interviews were conducted.

The purpose of this degree project was to examine which remedies are available to individuals when the State has violated their right to a fair trial as stated in article 6 in the European Convention on Human Rights. Furthermore, the aim was to, in cases where the remedy is determined to money, to clarify the indemnity rates that apply in determining the non-pecuniary damages. The starting point was a review of the European Court practice, domestic Swedish practice and relevant literature.The outcome of the review is that the remedies available to the individual?s disposal can be divided into two categories: primary and secondary remedies. Primary remedies mean compensation not consisting of money, and must be exhausted first.

The main purpose of this paper is to examine how students in school year nine in the Swedish school come in contact with history outside of the school context. The paper also focuses on, if and how the students consider the contact with history as something different than, or similar to the history education that takes place during school hours, the student´s interest in history will also be examined. To gather the student?s opinions on these subjects, I have done interviews with eight students divided into two groups, with one group consisting of four girls and one group with two boys and two girls. The interviews took place at the students school located in a smaller city in Värmlands län, Sweden.

AbstractThis examination project studies two groups of students, who are in the last year of the mandatory school attendance in Sweden (15 years old and in school year nine), their views and thoughts about the Swedish school. The purpose of this study is to examine how the students in the study thinks about the role that the Swedish school have, and should have in the society, and how, and if the fostering mission that the Swedish school have, has any implication on the student?s opinions. I have also studied if the student?s trusts the Swedish school.I have made my study on interviews with two groups of students, one with four boys and one with four girls.

The overall aim of this study is to clarify the situation in school for children with language disorder from the parents? perspective.Data were collected through five interviews with parents who have children of different ages and with various diagnosis within the language disorder spectra. A qualitative method based on a narrative inquiry was used and each interview was based on a interview guide with the following themes: the child?s difficulties, starting school, the school?s pedagogy, homework, action plans, participation and the future.Each story has its own themes, but there are also themes that are common in all interviews. One common theme in the parents? stories is that school has a lack of knowledge when it comes to language disorder.

Title: From preschool to preschool in school ? Expectations between parents, teachers and childrenAuthor: Maria Rask GradinMentor: Niclas JärvkloTerm: Spring 2012 AbstractThe aim of this study is to draw attention to the expectations between parents, children and teachers at preschools and teachers in the preschool in the school at the transition to preschool in the school. I also want to know how the mission is defined, and how it is met. Two preschools and two preschool in the school are the focus of my investigation. I interviewed teachers and parents, sent surveys to parents, observed children playing school and interviewed children about their thoughts and expectations for the preschool in the school there.The survey results show that all parties, except perhaps the children who did not express an opinion thereon, wants better cooperation between the preschool and school.

The aim of this master´s thesis is to investigate how Aftonbladet/Sportbladet is describing the Swedish national men team in football during the European Championship years 1992, 2004 and 2008. Reading over 200 articles gave me an excellent overview of the differences and similarities between the three chosen periods. The theoretical framework has three key terms which circulates around the paper. The terms are discourse, stereotype and national identity. Several results are presented and discussed; some are included in this abstract.

This thesis, entitled The Headmaster and the Music, is based on interviews with four headmasters, who are all working in the Swedish compulsory school. The purpose is to investigate how they view music, both in general and as a school subject. Since the research on this topic is scarce, the study can be described as explorative.The result shows that the headmasters? personal experiences have an impact on the way they view music. Four different focus points on music in school have emerged from the material, and these represent the four very different views that each headmaster holds.

The European Union is struggling to maintain democracy and tries to increase the participation among the citizens in Europe. The European Citizens? Initiative, ECI, is a platform established by the European Commission to allow citizens to propose new legislation. ?Water and sanitation are a human right! Water is a public good, not a commodity!? is the first ECI that has met the requirements.

The purpose with this essay is to study how children in the fifth grade experience reading in three different reading cultures; library, home and in school. The children?s experiences from reading are compared to expectations from library and school.Data, to this study, is collected through qualitative interviews in two focus groups and analyzed by using an idea analysis. The INSU-model, Information Needs, Seeking and Use, and Aidan Chambers reading circle in combination with a triangle of the three reading cultures are used as a theoretical framework. The analysis shows that children are using reading for different purposes in different reading cultures.