I Ur och Skur Preschools base their teaching on outdoor activities and all educators are called leaders, disregarding their educational background.The purpose of this study is to find out how the leaders of six I Ur och Skur Preschools are working, specifically with the written language, in the outdoors environment. The study discusses the concept of literacy, methods leaders use and the advantages and disadvantages they experience with outdoors education and the thoughts they have about outdoor activities. The basis for this study is the objective pursued in the curriculum: "Preschools should strive to ensure that children develop an interest in written language and an understanding of symbols and their communicative functions". Respondents have also been asked what outdoors education means to them on a personal level.To achieve my research results five qualitative interviews, with room for follow-up questions, were conducted. One of the respondents felt that she lacked time but still wanted to participate and doing so by answering questions by email.

The purpose of this study is to, from the preschool teachers? point of view, deepen the knowledge about influential factors regarding a mandatory report from Preschools to the Child Protective Agency (CPA) when suspecting child maltreatment and feeling uneasiness regarding the child. The purpose is also to furthermore investigate collaboration between Preschools and the CPA in Hagfors municipality. The study has the following questions: How do Preschools teachers handle their suspicions and uneasiness about a child being maltreated? Which factors can be influential on whether or not the suspicions are reported to the CPA? Which experiences do preschool teachers have of collaboration with the CPA?The study is based on qualitative methods in the formof individual interviews.

This is a qualitative study with four interviews, in four different Preschools, in the same municipality. By making it so, it becomes a case study to describe a phenomenon in a municipality which also is the definition for this investigation. The purpose of my study is to examine what it means, in a municipality, to have different types of introduction at preschool. Where I ask the question why Preschools choose to have a specific method of introduction and what are the basics and ideas behind the choice of the method? What significance do these different methods have to attachment theory? What do teachers think about the advantages and disadvantages with their choice of method?The versions of introductions are many and may vary; the duration of the introduction may vary from 1-3 days up to 3 weeks.

This study is about the work around festivals and traditions that takes place in multicultural Preschools. The purpose of this study is to describe and reflect upon the work around festivals and traditions in multicultural Preschools from the view of five preschool teachers who are active in their profession.  The purpose is also to investigate which festivals and traditions that are given attention at preschool and for what reason according to the preschool teachers.The method of research chosen in this study is qualitative in the form of individual interviews with the intention of obtaining and interpreting the descriptions and reflections of the informants around the subject. The results will be analyzed from an intercultural perspective.The results show that all investigated Preschools celebrate the traditional Swedish festivals Christmas, St. Lucia?s day, Easter and Midsummer, and that these festivals take up lots of space in terms of time and labor.

In this essay I have chosen to explore how computers are used in Preschools. The study was done as a survey. How does preschool seize the children´s culture? In today´s society ICT and computers are a big part of children´s everyday life and reflects on their upbringing.Since I am using computers as a pedagogical tool in teaching the children at my preschool, I find this topic interesting to explore.Are the teacher´s using computers for an educational purpose with the children at Preschools or are they using it in other ways?Do the teachers think they have the required knowledge to computers usage in teaching the children in a pedagogical way?What is the teacher´s attitude towards computers in preschool?The essay starts with a introductorial background section where I talk about my own experiences of using computers with the children in my preschool, and then referring to the society then and now, school law, curriculum, teachers' computer skills, media situation amongst children and young people, computer use in Preschools/schools and health effects. I have composed a survey based on the answers of 50 teachers in 30 different Preschools and in nine different municipalities.The result of the survey is reported and concludes with a part of discussion, where the results are put up against the introductorial background section.

This is qualitative study of, four teacher´s views on the use of iPad in teaching and learning. In addition, I will examine the disadvantages and advantages of iPad use as a teaching tool in Preschools.My questions are:What is the practical use of tablets in Preschools today?Are preschool teachers using the tablet as a teaching tool? If so, how?Is the use of tablets in Preschools contributing to children´s social interaction, as well as between children and teachers` social interaction?The purpose of this study was to find out how the four teachers uses the iPad as a teaching tool in the interaction between children in preschool. I have chosen to use Vygotsky?s and John Dewey´s theories.

The following paper is about degrading treatment in Preschools and the essay discuss degrading treatment according to the Swedish school law, in Preschools and the chosen focus for this study is three to four year old children. The aim is to see whether or not preschool children proceed with degrading treatment towards other children and if preschool teachers believe that children this young have the ability to do so. The questions for this study are: Can children proceed with degrading treatment towards each other? Which conflicts evolve through children?s interactions? Can children in pre-schools have a degrading behavior? To answer these questions participant observation at two Preschools and interviews with four preschool teachers were chosen as method. The perspective of this paper is based on the view on children as actors, which is used to acknowledge and enhance the possibilities of letting the children?s own voices be heard.

Background: The request for the Reggio Emilia practice has expanded enormously the last couple of years within the Swedish Preschools. This particular practice describes the environment as a third educator. This third educator is supposed to work as - not only a tool - but also a support to ease children's learning experiences and help develop their mind. Previous research has shown that design of, for instance, furniture has a way of affecting the children's learning process and development.Aims: The purpose of this study is to see how two different teams of preschool educators on two differed Reggio Emilia inspired Preschools work and handle the physical indoor environment. Method: We started out by contacting Reggio Emilia inspired Preschools.

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.

Abstract   Study: Degree project in teacher education, Advanced level, 15 hpUniversity of Skövde.Title: ?The aim is for them to manage as much as possible on their own? ? a qualitative study of Preschools´ indoor environment as a pedagogical tool for the independence of children.Number of pages: 31Author: Jenny Karlsson, Marie PerssonTuto: Gunvi BrobegDate: 2009-01-28 Keywords: Independence, indoor environment, preschool, pedagouge This study aims at examining the indoor environment of three different Preschools as a pedagogical tool for the independence of children. Is the design of the premises adapted to the height of the children? Can they themselves reach the material they need and is it possible for them to reach their outdoor clothes or do they constantly have to ask for help? In order to acquire a deeper understanding of the different views of the three Preschools, the question is asked: what are the pedagogues thoughts of the indoor environment of their own preschool in the perspective of childrens independence and what affects their choice of furnishing, planning etc? The preschool curriculum clearly states that the children must be given the opportunity to develop their independence. We have experianced that the pedagogues feel that they are unable to plan the environment as they wish and thus, interest is also pointed towards the question: are there any limiting factors that affect the design of the indoor environment, and, that being the case, which are they? The study is based on qualitative observations and interviews because it is in its interest to discern patterns and categories rather than quantity.

The Swedish preschool combines both education and care from a holistic point of view. This makes it even harder for both parents and the educators to make an objective evaluation on their own preschool. In Sweden we are proud to have one of the world?s best Preschools. It is regulated by the government and is obligated to undertake critical evaluation from the state and the parents that are the consumers of these services.

In this study, I examine how educators are working with gender. My focus has been on gender and literature. The questions I asked is how educators choose the books that are read in the Preschools and if they discuss literature from a gender perspective? I used two methods in this study, observations and interviews. My main base of theory is Lev Vygotskijs? sociocultural theory.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the lunchtime from a language development perspective. It will compare two Preschools with different ways of organizing mealtimes and observe the conversations between teachers and children. It will also study the ways in which a meal is served and how it affects the conversations. In one of the Preschools the children eat in a proper dining room where the food is served as a buffet while in the other preschool the children eat in the preschoolarea and the food is served in bowls on the tables. I also want to investigate how two of these preschool teachers reflect on the mealtimes as part of the language development plan.

Studies in the recent years have showed that the preschool playground is important for both the physical and emotional development of children. The Botkyrka local government has decided to improve their preschool playgrounds in order to take advantage of these studies. The administration of childcare and education in Botkyrka is arranging a network between the different Preschools where they work together to improve their outdoor environments. The network is arranging workshops and seminars where people from the different Preschools can come and gain inspiration for improvements of their own Preschools. The administration of properties has created a document where they describe the changes that are supposed to be made to the different outdoor environments. Through the administration of properties and the person who is responsible for the outdoor environments I was introduced to their work with the preschool playgrounds.

Sweden is currently a country in which a large amount of children?s time has changed to be spent within institutions, for small children these institutions are Preschools. These are places where notions are created regarding what children are, what?s good for children, what?s normal and desirable regarding children. The purpose of this study has been to decipher what?s considered desirable and what notions or ideas regarding children are prevalent in Preschools with an I Ur och Skur profile.