The purpose of this report is to contribute with knowledge about the views within special education. I want to explore and compare the way students with special needs are approached within two different pedagogies in Sweden: Waldorf pedagogy and Montessori pedagogy.I have closely studied these pedagogies, read the literature from existing research and also by conducting two interviews with a representative from each pedagogy Both pedagogies claim that their teaching methods are most suitable for children with reading and writing difficulties..The Waldorf pedagogy was founded in 1919 in Germany by Rudolf Steiner. The pedagogy believes in the development of the students into independent children who can use their bodies as a tool for the learning of knowledge. The Montessori pedagogy was also founded in the beginning of the nineteenth century and stands for developing the students into independent individuals. However, the pedagogical approach to reading, writing and dyslexia is different.

The aim of this graduate essay is to elucidate and compare the approach to learning that emerges in texts about the two educational practices Montessori and Reggio Emilia.The guiding research questions in this study are:What do Montessori and Reggio Emilia that learning is about?The mean Montessori and Reggio Emilia that learning goes to?How do you describe the Montessori and Reggio Emilia justification why it is important to learn? Through a poststructural theoretical framework and text analysis the study focused on what has been written about learning in the traditions of Montessori and Reggio Emilia.The results of the study indicate that both Montessori and Reggio Emilia look at the child in a similar way in which the child have the desire to explore and learn. Both pedagogy traditions think that the child will develop into independent people who can change society in the future for the better and with a democratic basis.The study also reveals how the Swedish curriculum (Skolverket, 98/10) is inspired both by the Reggio Emilia and Montessori traditions through describing how preschool should stimulate and challenge the child's development and learning, utilize and strengthen the interests of children to learn to conquer new experiences, knowledge and skills..

AimThe aim of this essay is by using a motor skill track to see if there exists any remarkable difference in the motor skill profiles between pupils from our montessori school and the mean score in the "Nytidstest". The questions at issue we had were: How is the motor skill profile on pupils in year 2 and 3 practicing Montessori pedagogy? Is the motor skill profile superior or inferior to the mean score in the "Nytidstest"? What factors, if any, concerning the Montessori pedagogy affects the results of the test?MethodWe used a motor skill track consisting of 8 stations sellected from the "Nytidstest" adapted for year 3 (the original test consists of 16 stations). Pupils from year 2 and 3 in our chosen montessori school were tested in groups of 4-5 persons each. We made the tests on two occasions each lasting for 100 minutes at the time.

Genom detta arbete har vi fördjupat oss i matematikundervisningen inom montessoripedagogiken. Vi ville titta närmre på hur man i en montessoriskola arbetar för att nå upp till några av kursplanens mål i matematik. Vi har intervjuat två montessoripedagoger och gjort elevintervjuer där 14 montessorielever från skolår 2 och 3 ingått. Vi har kommit fram till att inom montessori finns en hel del praktiskt materiel att tillgå som hjälper till att underlätta matematikundervisningen..

This study deals with play and the importance of meaning of play in the learning process. The aim is to look in to and analyze four preschool teacher´s beliefs and views about the importance of play for children´s learning and development. The study looks at two different preschools, one based on Reggio Emilia- and the other on Montessori- pedagogy, and the aim is to compare the different views and ways of working that the preschool educators have.The theoretical basis for this study is both rooted in a socio-cultural and constructivist perspective, and deals with the relationships between theoretical concepts mean as play, learning, way of working and pedagogy.The study is based on qualitative research methods that consist of interviews and participant observations. The person?s participants in the study consisted of four active preschool educators, who work in two different preschools.The results of the investigation show that the educators have similar views on the importance of play for the children´s learning process, and this also applies to their way of working.

In Montessori pre-schools early reading and writing is an important feature. By tracing sandpaper letters with their fingers and voicing the sound simultaneously the children connect phonemes to graphemes and normally learn to write between the ages of four and five. 24 sixyear old children who attended Montessori pre-school and 26 six-year old children who had not attended Montessori school were assessed with a test assessing their linguistic awareness.The result showed that the Montessori children were more linguistically aware than the children who hadn?t received any literacy training. The scores of the Montessori children were highest on phonological awareness.

The purpose of this study was to examine how pre-school teachers in Montessori inspired and traditional preschools can work with build and construction with the older children, and what views the pre-school teachers might have on the subject.  The study was implemented through qualitative semi-structured interviews with pre-school teachers. The investigational method was chosen due to the fact that I wanted to gain knowledge about the pre-school teachers? views and perspectives on build and construction activities, and how they might work with it. Another reason was to examine how the view on, and the work with build and construction can resemble and differ between Montessori inspired pre-schools and traditional pre-schools.The result shows that there is both similarities and diverseness between the Montessori influenced pre-schools and the traditional pre-schools, when it comes to how the pre-school teachers reason and work with build and construction.

Titel: Pedagogers förhållningssätt till inomhusmiljön Författare: Bozica Möller och Katja Ferragamo Nyckelord: Inomhusmiljö, Montessori, Reggio Emilia Handledare: Nils Andersson Examinator: Mia Karlsson.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka olika pedagogiska inriktningars arbete med momentet geometri, för att få en inblick i vilket arbetsätt de har med former, rumsuppfattning och mätning som här representerar begreppet geometri.Studien beskriver de olika inriktningarnas kunskapssyn och arbetssätt som framkommit genom intervjuer av pedagoger inom Reggio Emilia, Montessori och I Ur och Skur.Alla de pedagogiska inriktningarna arbetade med geometri på skilda sätt utifrån sin inriktning, alla fick med de delar som här representerar geometri men kunskaperna hos pedagogerna kring geometri på djupet var skiftande och det handlar ofta mer om hur insatt pedagogen är i såväl ämnet som arbetssättet..

Uppsatsen är ett examensarbete inom kursen Praxis, forskning och utvecklingsarbete. Det valda problemområdet är: Specialpedagogik i montessoriskolan. Forskningsansatsen är inspirerad av en socialkonstruktivistisk- och etnografiskteoriansats utifrån studiens problemområde och syfte. Studiens syfte är: Att undersöka och lyfta fram hur specialpedagogik gestaltar sig i montessoriskolan. Studiens upplägg utformas som praxisforskning och genomförs som en komparativ fallstudie vid två montessoriskolor.

I detta arbete jämför jag Waldorf (muntlig undervisning och eurytmi), Montessori (ser barnet i dess egen utveckling) och förhållningssättet inlärningsstilar (individanpassat klassrum för maximal inlärning). Syftet med arbetet är att beskriva metoderna och att jämföra likheter och skillnader. Arbetet är indelat i; en inledande del där jag beskriver syfte, metod och ger en bakgrund till varför jag valt detta ämne, en litteraturdel där jag går igenom de tre metoderna Waldorf, Montessori och inlärningsstilar samt deras syn på den lärande eleven och dess miljö, min egen erfarenhet där jag berättar om hur jag använt och kommit i kontakt med dessa metoder, en undersökning där jag jämför åtta klassers inlärningspreferenser med varandra och därefter presenterar jag min slutdiskussion. Min hypotes när jag började detta arbete var att stökiga klasser har en majoritet av kinestetiskt/taktila elever och att dessa kan bli hjälpta av programmet inlärningsstilar. Min hypotes gick inte att bevisa genom detta arbete..

The comprehensive aim of the essay is to discuss the abilities of developing individual, communicative and cooperative skills, related to The Swedish National Agency for Education, for pre-school children in Montessori and Reggio Emilia-inspired pre-schools. The importance of the choice of pre-school for lifelong learning is discussed and examined. The two educational profiles are presented and the theories of communication, collaboration and individual work are the basis for the analysis of the results. The collection of empirical data is done through observations and interviews with pre-school children. First, the informants construct a fantasy animal on their own and then together with a partner.

 I skolan används olika redskap i undervisningen, men hur skulle det vara om man kunde använda sig av ett material som var i stort sätt självrättande! Det syfte vi har för den här studien är att undersöka hur och om Montessorimaterial kan införas i skolan som ett hjälpmedel och extramaterial. Vi vill likaledes se hur materialen kan vara ett redskap att hjälpa eleverna i sin språk- och kunskapsutveckling. Denna studie etablerades genom observationer och loggboksskrivande, i två klasser på två olika skolor. Resultatet visar att det är möjligt att använda sig av Montessorimaterial, men att det krävs tid i början och att det då mest är ett extramaterial. Den slutsats som kan dras utifrån det data som vi har samlat är att materialet kan vara bra att använda och går att använda sig av i skolan.

This work is about how teachers describe their work with mathematics in a traditional nursery school and a Montessori preschool. Another aim is to study how children mathematise on the two different preschools and to see if there are any differences between the various educational theories and practices mathematising. I have used two methods wich is interviews with preschool teachers, and observation of the children. The results of my study was that differences exist but the biggest difference is the material that Montessori uses. The difference between the teachers' way of teaching mathematics is to Montessori preschool places great emphasis on the material and how it is used, while in the traditional preschool puts the emphasis on learning through interaction with others.

The use of out-door pedagogy in the school has been frequently high-lighted during recent years. To which extent out-door education was practised in the school depends on the opinions among the active teachers. The aim of this study was to examine the opinions on out-door pedagogy among teachers in classes 4-6 of the elementary school and to find out to which extent the teacher used out-door teaching. The study was based on qualitatively structured interviews with 4 teachers having different lenght of teaching experience. The results of the interviews showed that the teachers had different opinions on the definition of out-door pedagogy.