Sweden is a multicultural country and because of this the Swedish school-system should be adapted so that all pupils can develop their linguistic skills so that they can participate andunderstand the education. By using scientific work from other researchers and my own experiences from a general point of view, I noticed that pupils with foreign origin perform less good in mathematics than pupils with Swedish origin, in the Swedish education system.The purpose of this research is to find out if communication and interplay between the pupils makes it easier for them to understand mathematics and its? concepts. My research involves acertain school class were all pupils have another etnicity then the Swedish one. My aim was to find out if the pupils reached the knowledge-goals for mathematics in the third grade.

A change has occurred in terms of recruitment to teacher education. From having been an educationof high status and reputation, a reduced application rate has led to lower admission requirementsand thus that students with much lower educational qualifications entering, which in turn means thatthe education status and reputation have been reduced significantly. Mathematics, on the other hand,has always been a topic of high status and reputation. Although there are few students who chooseto study to be a mathematics teacher. By conducting a survey of students on teacher educationtoday, both with mathematics and other approaches, I wanted to get answers to my questions aboutwhat influences students' choice of education: who are the students studying to be teachers inmathematics? Do they distinguish themselves from the student teachers who studies to be teachersin other subject specializations? Pierre Bourdieu's sociological ideas about cultural capitaltransmitted from parent to child constitute the theoretical framework of the study.Early in the study, I noticed that there is a difference between students studying to be a teacher inpreschool, primary or middle school and them studying to be a teacher in secondary and highschool, especially in terms of the mathematics student teachers.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the teacher's background affect students' approach to mathematics teaching. Characteristically, in Sweden today is that mathematics is perceived as difficult subject and that the number of foreign teachers has increased. The study examines a phenomenon which the relationship between the teacher's language accent and substance difficulties.The method used for data collection is questionnaires, in order to investigate the phenomenon as the relationship between the teacher's accent and substance difficulties.The investigation has been carried out based on the students' point of view, both secondary and primary school pupils. What difficulties have arisen in teaching?  What is the biggest obstacle to achieve the goals of mathematics, to understand the teacher's language accent first in order to understand the subject, or that mathematics is difficult in itself to be understood as a substance.The result clearly shows that the teacher's accent does not affect teaching and students' view of mathematics as a subject.

The aim with this master thesis is to analyze a scientific material concerning the context between learning and child/student development, and factors which controls process of learning, to create an image with quality account and teaching in mathematics, which then can raise the mathematical knowledge among students.The phenomena which stand in focus for the investigation is: why there is a negative tendency for development of knowledge in mathematics, among the Swedish students that TIMSSs investigations showed in intercultural comparison within the years 1993, 1999, 2003 and 2007.The method is the ethnographical method, which is based on: analyzing scientific theories about learning child/student development, factors which controls process of learning, and factors which controls process of learning the most and qualitative empiric investigation with qualitatively analyzes the questionnaires, which is about factors which are controlling the process of learning and factors which are controlling the process of learning the most.Result of the theoretical and empiric analyzes shows that factors as school environment, attitude for subjects and teaching, controls and influence the learning. To end a unenthusiastic tendency as a negative development of mathematical knowledge among students that is shown in TIMSS investigation and to elevate the students' performance in mathematics, an elevated qualitative account and teaching in mathematics, by the factors named. Safe school environments as the intercultural meeting place, the teachers influence part to the students' subjects' attitude in mathematics and goal related grading criteria in teaching, is all required for e qualitative teaching in mathematics..

The purpose of this study has been to compare teachers' differing methods of teaching mathematics and their perspectives on the learning process in a municipal school to a Waldorf school. The study has examined which approach best promotes student engagement and learning in mathematics in the first three years of schooling. The study is based on four interviews. The informants? accounts are interpreted using theories from previous research.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate how some teachers make use of the results of the national tests in mathematics to plan their teaching. The questions are how they plan their teaching in mathematics and if they use the results of the national tests to compare with their own teaching.   Five teachers in mathematics has been interviewed. I have used unstructured interviews with open-ended questions, and I have been able to ask follow-up questions based on their answers. The analysis of the survey is made from a systems theory approach.  The result of the survey shows that teachers make use of student performance to look at their own teaching of the current group of students. However, there is not enough time to rehearse and repair the deficiencies discovered in the national tests, which for some is perceived as a stress factor.

There have been debates on the big differences in mathematics knowledge concerning pupils in Sweden and Finland. Especially, one common issue in the discussions of education is the Pisa test results, which take up in the media. In the Pisa research the Finnish pupils get through well year after year. Because of the discussions about the distinct school systems in Sweden and Finland, I found it interesting to investigate the divergence of the curriculums in these two countries. The main research questions asked were, what are the main differences and similarities in the Swedish and Finnish curriculums in primary school? Such as, is the assignment of primary school similar in Sweden and Finland?In my study I analyzed and compared by means of the curriculum especially mathe-matics teaching in primary schools in grade three in Sweden and in grade two Fin-land.

This thesis which is about working with mathematics teaching has no effect/impact on performance and understanding of pupils. The study is intended to gain insight on working in mathematics education which has an impact on performance and understanding of students who are ethnically Swedish and foreign ethnic. In order to compare the ethnic Swedish and foreign students of ethnic understanding, I judged from their performance on the tests taken in year three. The qualitative approach permeated the work, both interviews and observations which were included in the survey. The qualitative study was chosen to get an understanding of how mathematics teaching is conducted in two different areas.

This study aims to highlight and analyze eight secondary teachers' views and thoughts on mathematics. Hopefully this study will provide a deeper understanding of how teachers think and reason about their subject and how this affects their teaching. The study was conducted using a qualitative interview method, based on interviews with eight middle school teachers who teach in school mathematics for grades 6 - 9. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed and analyzed. After the interview analysis one can conclude that the teachers? thoughts concern three main themes: the importance of mathematics, children?s lack of basic knowledge and the teachers? lack of time.In discussion and analysis the teachers conceptions of the own subject is being analyzed, and that is the foundation of this study.

In my study I have chosen to examine the mathematics in children's free play and everyday situations, with focus on sorting and classification. The purpose of the study was to see how children express their mathematical knowledge. I have chosen to use a qualitative method in my examination, here I did observations in a children's group where the children were between three and six years old. I also did interviews with the teacher's on the department to see how they relate to the mathematics and how they formulate the department to achieve as good a learning environment as possible.The result shows that the teacher's approach is incredible important to the children's learning ability and that they are always present to challenge and discuss together with the children. The observation indicates that children use mathematics all the time in their everyday situations and that it is the interaction between individuals and environment that affects children's development. .

Enterprise learning is a pedagogic concept that implies that the students, in correlation with development of theoretical, subject specific knowledge, also develops enterprise competences that will be useful in their everyday life and on the labour market. Enterprise learning has grown over the last ten years, as well in school practicing as within research. In the mathematics subject, a strong educational tradition has delayed the introduction of enterprise learning. At the examined school, enterprise mathematics has been introduced during the spring term of 2010. This examination focuses on which of the enterprise competences that are developed and how they are developed.

The purpose of this study is to examine in what extent primary school teachers, teaching children in the age of 6 to 9, choose to use digital tools in their teaching of mathematics. I also want to examine what these teachers think, in terms of advantages and disadvantages, about using digital tools on their mathematics lessons. Finally I want to examine what skills they possess about digital tools.I am using a quantitative method to collect my data. The quantitative survey consisted of a questionnaire survey of ten questions that 38 primary school teachers have answered.The results of my study show that the teachers to some extent use digital tools when they teach mathematics and that the availability of various digital tools are generally good. But it turns out that the availability of tools is not a guarantee that they are used in teaching of mathematics.

This thesis which is about working with mathematics teaching has no effect/impact on performance and understanding of pupils. The study is intended to gain insight on working in mathematics education which has an impact on performance and understanding of students who are ethnically Swedish and foreign ethnic. In order to compare the ethnic Swedish and foreign students of ethnic understanding, I judged from their performance on the tests taken in year three. The qualitative approach permeated the work, both interviews and observations which were included in the survey. The qualitative study was chosen to get an understanding of how mathematics teaching is conducted in two different areas.

The purpose of this study is to examine discursive change regarding mathematics and language in the Swedish primary school curriculums. The study analyzes pedagogical discourses represented within the curriculums and how they represent different pedagogical theories in relation to discursive and social practice. The analysis shows a change towards a more language oriented curriculum discourse in mathematics which still carries an intertextual and discursive heritage from the prior curriculums. In relation to the early curriculums of the Swedish primary schools the former explicit differentiation of students becomes implicit as the language skills become of increasingly importance..

The purpose of this study is to investigate how power is distributed in the mathematics classroom and how students achieve agency when ICT (Information and communication technology) is used as a teaching tool. Three learning situations, structured by mathematics, are analysed: in the first situation mathematics is taught in a traditional way, in the second mathematics is taught in interdisciplinary projects, and in the third mathematics is taught using ICT as a pedagogical tool. The theoretical concepts of power and agency are used as analytical tools within a socio-political framework. The concept of power is used to assess the students? ability to influence their learning and degree of inclusion in the three learning situations.