Recently there have been a lot of talk a about the financial crisis and recession. This is understandable since the crisis, which initially was limited to the U.S. now has spread its concern globally in form of bankruptcies, less investment and lots of people have lost here jobs. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the financial crisis have affected the construction industry relating to market and personnel, but also examine what measures the construction companies have taken. The examination was carried out by information received from the majority of construction-related websites which then was followed up with interviews in the various construction sectors.

Today, digital technologies (DT) can be said to play an important role in the Swedish school system. The goal of this essay was to describe DT use by school leaders, in relation to their views on schools? goals and visions, and teachers? and students? use of DTs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five school leaders of secondary schools in Umeå municipality, Sweden. The results show that school leaders? use of DTs center on three key tasks: communication, information and administration.

The purpose of this study was to examine how Swedish high school students view school staff members, in general, but in particular school counselors. The research questions focused on getting the students descriptions of the staff members roles and functions within the school. The study was conducted using focus group interviews. The answers were divided into themes and then analyzed using role theory and previous research. The results showed that the students relationships with family, friends and previous knowledge about the staff members in school, affects their willingness to seek the support of school staff members.

The purpose of my essay has been to illustrate any possible differences between pre-school teachers? and parents' views on the mission of the pre-school put in relation to the pre-school curriculum. In my study I have taken a starting point in the following questions:How do pre-school teachers understand the mission of the pre-school?Do pre-school teachers recognize the term baby-sitting from their profession?How do pre-school teachers perceive the parents' view on the mission of the pre-school?How concerned are the parents according to the pre-school teachers about the pedagogical activities of the pre-school?What do the pre-school teachers do to inform the parents about the pre-school curriculum and how aware do they think that the parents are of the curriculum?What are the plans of the pre-schools to fulfill the new part of the revised curriculum that comes into effect July 1 2011?I chose to utilize the qualitative method with the hermeneutics as a theoretical framework in my study and through interviews study my questions. The interviews were made with four pre-school teachers from different pre-schools in the south of Stockholm.

The purpose of this study is to investigate if and how children acknowledge TV-commercials, and if that is the case, are their preferences in products a result of it? The study also investigates which TV-commercials that are broadcasted together with children?s programs and if and how the children acknowledge these. The studies are based on interviews and an exercise with pictures that was carried out with two groups containing four children each. One group contained four children in the age of 6, and the other four children in the age of 7. The children are situated in a school in the Swedish countryside.

This study aims at using discourse analysis to analyze SFI students attitudes to religion and religiosity in an SFI-context. The questions are: How is the discourse constructed and maintained by religion and religiosity of SFI students in an SFI context? How do SFI participants experience that their religion has affected their time at SFI?Using a case study approach, interviews were conducted with a group of SFI students. The results show that the religious discourse in SFI is influenced by the SFI-context and affected based on the current education discourse that exists there. Furthermore, the discourse is designed and maintained by the participants private religious beliefs and the religion of the majority of the group, One canhere speak of a strong social unit forming a plausibility structure The power structure that emerges is that the majority has the power to define the significance of religion and place within the SFI context. In the SFI-context the participants view is that religion is something private that should not be expressed in the school environment.

Increased energy consumption in the world has created an increased supply of various fuels, especially fossil fuels. The Swedish government has set up various energy targets for 2020. To reach these goals it?s important to increase the energy efficiency in local buildings such as schools. This work illustrates the breakdown between energy supply and energy losses over the school.

This study in political science examines the UN adopted resolution 1970 (2011) andresolution 1973 (2011) on the basis of foreign policy decision-making. The study aims toexplain how the UN principle of Responsibility to Protect came to be legitimized for the firsttime by the UN Security Council in the Libya conflict in 2011. By a poliheuristic perspectivethe study attempt to explain Russia and China?s acting in the voting of resolution 1970 andresolution 1973. The background to the conflict in Libya 2011 is presented in the study aswell as the Security Council?s actions during the conflict, from the beginning of the conflictuntil the adoption of resolution 1973.

In this study we have interviewed eight teachers about when and how particle concepts should be taught. All of the surveyed teachers argue for an early introduction. This view is also consistent with the scientists on when the particle concepts should be introduced. By an early introduction teachers and scientists consider the age between 6-12 years old. A majority of the scientists and the surveyed teachers use concept of change as a entery point to talk about particle ideas.

The purpose of this study is to examine the view of Swedish language teachers on the role of fiction and of school libraries within the compulsory school?s teaching of Swedish of form 6-9. The questions to be answered are:? What part do Swedish language teachers (hereafter called teachers) think fiction is playing regarding the pupils inclination to read and reading promotion?? What is the attitude of teachers regarding the function of fiction in the Swedish subject?? What do teachers consider being the role of the school library in education, and can this be related to the local school library resources?To answer the questions a questionnaire was sent out to thirty-five teachers. Four qualitative interviews were also carried out among the fourteen teachers that answered the questionnaire.

The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate the participants experiences of a parent support group and the effect of their participation on their parental role from a learning perspective. As the parent support group takes place as a group activity, the focus was on the individual learning processes which, in turn, are influenced by both the group itself as well as the leaders of the group. The empirical data was collected from a focus group interview with four mothers, and analyzed using empowerment and coping theories. Based on the participants´ narratives, the result showed that the parent support group had a great social and pedagogic effect on the participants. As a result of the received knowledge in the group from both leaders as well as from other participants, they felt less stressed and more confident in their parental role.

The purpose of this essay is to illustrate the importance of the school library in a selected junior high school. My investigation is based on both theoretical and empirical studies. The aim of the theoretical part is to create a platform and refer to thoughts, roles and laws concerning the activity of the school library. The empirical investigation consists of two parts: questionnaires among students and teachers, plus interviews with students, teachers, headmaster, school librarian and the management of education. Everybody shows a positive attitude towards the school library and considers it important for the students exams.

This study investigates the concept of regionalism in the context of the Swedish middle-level political arena. The used method is qualitative theory and two cases are studied: Västra Götaland and Norrbottens läns landsting.The aim of the study is to see what the politicans think about Swedens regionalization process by compare the views of politicans that function in a region and in a county council. Do they have the same vision about what constitutes a region and which advantages do they see in working in a region or in a county council? Also dimensions about territorially and sectorial autonomy on the regional level, presented by King and Pierre are investigated in order to explain the different regionala organs functioning accordingly to these dimensions.The empirical material that have been analyzed is taken from 17 interviews, from government writings and reports from the SKL association, Sveriges Kommuner och Landsting, about the topic of regionalization and the effects and goals in Sweden.The conclusion of the material is that there is common opinion among the politicans about the goals of a region and also about which areas that can benefit the most from the perspective of beeing a region instead of a county council. When it comes to explaining the dimensions of territorially and sectorial autonomy the results have shown that the region has the most both territorially and sectorial autonomy, which is due to the regions rightfullness to taxation right, which is high in the region and ensured by a strong catchment area.

This study examines how formal mathematics can be taught in the Swedishsecondary school with its new curriculum for mathematics. The study examineswhat a teaching material in formal mathematics corresponding to the initialcontent of the course Mathematics 1c could look like, and whether formalmathematics can be taught to high school students.The survey was conducted with second year students from the science programme.The majority of these students studied the course Mathematics D.The students described themselves as not being motivated towards mathematics.The results show that the content of the curriculum can be presented withformal mathematics. This both in terms of requirements for content and studentsbeing able to comprehend this content. The curriculum also requires thatthis type of mathematics is introduced in the course Mathematics 1c.The results also show that students are open towards and want more formalmathematics in their ordinary education. They initially felt it was strangebecause they had never encountered this type of mathematics before, but somestudents found the formal mathematics to be easier than the mathematicsordinarily presented in class.The study finds no reason to postpone the meeting with the formal mathematicsto university level.

International research has shown that through the involvement of the school library and the school librarian in the daily school work with the pupils, the pupil´s learning can be increased and reading comprehensions significantly improved.One purpose of this master`s thesis is to study the school librarian as a brand, representing the school library as well as the school librarian and whether there is a correlation between different comprehensions of the professional role of the school librarian. This is done by examining whether there is a difference between a specific librarian´s own perception of their professional role, compared to the image of the school librarian among teachers and principals working in the same school district and by comparing the profile the school librarian expresses with the image that is conveyed through communications via webpage, written and oral information given on services and competences provided by the school librarian and work carried out by her.A difference of comprehension of the school librarian´s competence and work, could be part of an explanation as to why the correlation between the involvement of school librarians in the school work and the improved learning achievements of the pupils has not resulted in the expected measures, regardless of the investments in school librarians and school libraries. The school librarians´ school identity could be difficult to establish. Whether or not the profiles and images of the professional role are consistent with each other is a much more manageable purpose which could go a long way of explaining the circumstances of the school libraries.That is the reason why we have examined whether the comprehension the school librarians have of themselves corresponds with the idea/ conception/ image conveyed to their surroundings, and with the idea/conception/image encompassed by people in their immediate surroundings..