The aim of this study was to investigate whether teachers are involved in childrenÂŽs play, what their perspectives are on the importance of play and what conditions teachers have to stimulate children in their playing. In this study, I?ve been able to verify that play has a great value for children?s learning development. My method have been interviewing four teachers at a kindergarten in order to examine educators? perspective on the importance of play.The results of my investigation showed that teachers believe that play and role- play have a major impact on children's learning.

AbstractIn this study, the conceptions of a number of teachers in the Swedish primary and lower-secondary school about cultural pluralism, the values connected to this pluralism by the Curriculum for the Compulsory School System, the Pre-School Class and the Leisure-time Centre, Lpo 94, and the possibilities for pupils to gain knowledge about these values, were studied. The conceptions of the teachers were regarded and interpreted as ideology, since the study was made from a point of departure containing an assumption about how the content of the curriculum is of importance for the development of relations of power and dominance between different groups in society. The purpose of the study was to interpret the statements of a limited number of teachers about cultural pluralism, values and knowledge, regarding the ontological, axiological and epistemological assumptions and conceptions expressed therein. The empirical data of the study was gathered through qualitative interviews with eleven teachers working in six different primary and lower-secondary schools in the Mid-Sweden region. The conceptions expressed in the statements given by the respondents were categorized.

I intend to examine how teachers interpret the purpose of preschools and the national curriculum and how they handle any problems rising due to the fact that the curriculum is just an instructional document and freely interpreted. Personnel working within the school system have different opinions on how to maintain a functional educational activity. How do they interpret the national curriculum and why? Are there any similarities or differences between different teacher?s views and is it possible to approach this in a constructive way? Is it really possible that personnel working at Swedish preschools are unaware of their purpose or is there another explanation?In this study I have worked according to the qualitative method and have been conducting interviews with the possibility to open follow-up questions with room for interpretation. A total of six people on four different preschools have been interviewed and their answers have been analyzed as a whole.The result from these six interviews shows that there are both differences and similarities in their interpretations of the purpose of the Swedish preschool.

The purpose of this thesis is to study how preschool teachers can reach the goal of the swedish educational plan to prevent traditional gender roles for children ages 3-6 through drama in education.This is answered by four hypothesis based on Judith Butler's queer theory, George Herbert Mead's social psychological theory and Gavin Bolton and Dotothy Heathcotes drama pedagogical theories. The hypotheses are tested against four teachers' examples of their work.The hypotheses areHypothesis 1: By using the expert's mantle and active observation in teacher-in-role indrama educational exercises, we can see how the children internalize the heterosexualmatrix and the outline of the internalized other.Hypothesis 2: By using the "mistakes" that occur when children repeat performativeacts that do not fit with the heterosexual matrix, these other possible behaviors can bestrengthenedHypothesis 3: Through drama exercises that are not normative teachers can widen theheterosexual matrixHypothesis 4: Through drama pedagogical methods like teacher-in-role teachers canprovide possibilities of other performative acts and the creation of a more tolerantinternalized other.The analysis show that the respondents work within all these hypotheses in different ways and thathypotheses 2 is the one with the weakest support in the interwievs. The examples are also weakregarding the use of Boltons drama pedagogical methods, but that there are a number of othermethods in use.Some of the conclusions are that more theoretical knowledge in the preschool drama pedagogics tocounteract traditional gender roles and patterns, as well as the drama of educational theory need tobe linked to queer and social psychology research. There is also no monitoring of the long term effects of the work..

Studies among parents of children with disabilities have shown that they experience a higher level of parenting stress as well as a lower degree of wellbeing, compared to parents of children without disabilities. However, there is a need to further explore parents? experience on this matter within a Swedish context. The aim of the current study was to examine how parents of preschool children, with and without disabilities, in VĂ€sterbotten, experience the impact of their child. A sample of 67 parents of children with disabilities and 134 parents of children without disabilities took part in the questionnaire study.

The aim of this paper is to clarify the importance of communication between parents and educators, as well as collaboration. The survey involves cooperation between parents and teachers in preschool and in the survey; it is the educators? role and approach that is made visible. The issues I answer with the help of the interviewed teachers in the paper are: In what ways considers the interviewed teachers that can create dialogues with parents about children's daily life and activities? How do you describe the interviewed teachers that they interact with parents in preschool and the various forms of collaboration describe the interviewed teachers that they use in preschool?What difficulties consider the interviewed teachers may apply when creating dialogues and cooperation with parents in preschool Using a qualitative research method, the questions have been answered in the paper..

Today many children have limited experiences with the outdoors or nature. In most suburbs where people originate from many countries and have various ways of understanding nature is it perhaps in preschool that several children for the first time experience nature.This survey is qualitative and the main research methods are participant observations and interviews. The theories used in this study are mainly based on the thoughts of Dewey and Vygotskij as well as on ideas from outdoor education and different ways or ideas of understanding nature.The purpose with this study is to make clear in what ways nature is used by the teachers in preschool activities and how this work is done in preschools in multicultural suburbs. Questions at issue are: What way of understanding nature are the teachers trying to convey to the children? How is nature used in the ordinary outdoor activities by the preschool teachers? What are the teachers experiences of success and problems in this work?The conclusion is that nature is used in preschool activities in many ways.

The aim of this study was to identify and make transitions in Swedish preschool-class-9-years elementary schools visible with a special-needs educational perspective. Transitions in focus were those between preschool-class and primary school, between grade three and four and the last between grade six and seven.In the 1960?th Swedish elementary school were devided into three levels; primary school, intermediate level school and upper level lower secondary school. Those levels were officially removed when the curriculum of 1994 was introduced. However, in some way such levels still exist, for example in organisation and structure of schools, the curriculum and teacher education.How did school leaders design transitions between levels and which tools were used? What kind of information was transferred to help children with special needs and what was the role of the special pedagogue in the transition process?The study was a combination of a quantitative and qualitative method, a questionnaire survey complemented with qualitative interviews with special pedagogues in three schools in a middle-sized Swedish town.The result of the study shows that schools in focus had a work plan.

This essay deals with the complexity that I perceive in the collaboration processes between preschool and parents. In the essay I present my interpretation of two self-perceived situations where my experience has been that the cooperation has not worked satisfactorily for either part. As a basis for my conclusions I use different theories and studies within the domain. My own experiences - both from ten years of working in preschool as well as from an eight-year experience of being a parent also comes into use. The purpose of my essay is to investigate how different horizons of understanding can come into collision, and how limitations in our own understanding of the perspectives of others can complicate collaboration between educators and parents.In the first story I discuss a situation where, in my professional role, I go into a conflict with a parent about how we have chosen to implement some changes.

Studies among parents of children with disabilities have shown that they experience a higher level of parenting stress as well as a lower degree of wellbeing, compared to parents of children without disabilities. However, there is a need to further explore parents? experience on this matter within a Swedish context. The aim of the current study was to examine how parents of preschool children, with and without disabilities, in VĂ€sterbotten, experience the impact of their child. A sample of 67 parents of children with disabilities and 134 parents of children without disabilities took part in the questionnaire study.

The purpose of this study was to find out whether young womenŽs conceptions on femininity are based on school culture or other possible factors. The theory chosen for this study is the sociological perspective. A theory where sociologists such as Emile Drukheim, Talcott Parsons and Pierre Bourdieu are all prominent. The discussion links to Habitus and their theories on social, cultural and collective groups. A qualitative method has been used.

The national curriculum states that the school actively should promote that women and men have equal rights and opportunities and that there is a responsibility to counteract traditional gender patterns. However do research observations show that teachers often treat girls and boys differently. Studies show that the teachers are influenced by their conceptions and their expectations of gender behavior. The aim of this study is to examine how teachers in preschool and primary school discuss gender awareness and how they state that they work with gender awareness according to the curriculum goals of counteracting the traditional gender patterns.The study is inspired by the phenomenographic research approach and the empirical material has been collected by qualitative interviews with eight teachers in preschool and primary school. The empirical material has together with earlier research and theories been analyzed and discussed in order to reach a conclusion.

In the context of world globalization, Sweden has today become a multicultural society, where many different cultures, religions, values and approaches are trying to co-exist. When the Swedish government's integration policy was put into effect, one sought to open the way for a more peaceful coexistence between majority and minority people. The intention was that everyone, through mutual interaction, would learn to come together and learn to respect each other's differences. It was suggested that an intercultural approach should permeate all education, including preschool activity. There are particular guidelines for a culture and tradition promotion work within the preschool in the new revised curriculum (Lpfö 98, rev.

The aim of this thesis is to make a contribution to the field of design oriented theory, regarding young children and their way to digital competence. My research question is: How can a preschool with a certain pedagogical ICT-design give the children affordances for media play and for developing a digital competence?The European Parliament points out digital literacy as one of the Key Competences for life long learning. A digital competence is built on basic ICT (Information and Communication technology) skills. Skills you can develop any time during life, weather you are young or old.

The study seeks to investigate four preschool teachers? views of making literacy learning a pleasurable experience in preschool class and to identify any differences in their views. The study is based on interviews with four teachers with at least ten years? experience of work in preschool class. The teachers work in three different municipalities.