According to international and national literacy studies (PISA, PIRLS) Swedish boys are inferior to Swedish girls when it comes to reading. There can be numerous reasons to that statement. One is that Swedish teachers require more knowledge about communication as an important component in literacy. In spite of this shortcoming, Swedish girls manage to gain sufficient literacy. Why is that? The aim of this survey was to examine if there were any differences between girls and boys regarding communication skills when they begin in school.The main questions taken in account were:Which differences and/or similarities in communication skills are discernible between boys and girls this particular preschool?How do boys and girls communicate with each other in different room contexts on this particular preschool?           To be able to answer the questions, I adopted observations and audio recordings from children aged five.

AbstractThe purpose with this essay is to present a picture of the changes in religious education in Sweden, and to make comparisons between Denmark?s and the USA?s model about teaching in religion. I have consequently described the historical development, with the beginning of the establishement of the public school, inte the year of 1842. 1919, a new document about the religious education was released, wich result in some major changes. This was in a time were the debate about religion and the Lutheran State Church of Sweden authority was an issue.

The Catalan movement of Independence is a well debated subject in Spanish news for the last decade. This thesis aims to examine what kind of identityarguments that spanish versus catalan newspapers make about the independence movement, in relation to nationalism and national identity. This is to deeper the understanding about the current complex situation in the Iberian Peninsula. The research shows that identityarguments about the independence movement presented by catalonian newspapers clearly put focus on identifying the ethnic and cultural reasons for the growing nationalism in the region, as well as discussing the political possibilities and obstacles of a sovereign Catalonia. In comparison, the identityarguments presented by spanish newspapers has another view of the situation, where the political aspect of the nationalistic catalan movement, identify the process as defying the Spanish Constitution and challenging the traditional historic unity of Spain.

Barn och ungdomar ägnar idag en betydande del av sin fritid till datoranvändning. I denna uppsats har vi valt att undersöka datoranvändningens eventuella effekter på ungdomarnas betyg i språk. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka om man kan se samband mellan, dvs. positiva eller negativa effekter på, betygen i engelska hos elever i år 9 och deras datoranvändning utanför skoltid. Utifrån detta har vi även undersökt vilken typ av datoranvändning som har dessa effekter, hur lång tid framför datorn som motsvarar dessa resultat, samt om det finns skillnader mellan flickors och pojkars datoranvändning och deras mätbara språkkunskaper.

Taiwan has over the past thirty years experienced a substantial political transformation. Being ruled by Chinese nationalists since World War II, Taiwan started its democratic transition in the late eighties. The new democratic system did not only provide people with freedom to vote, it also marked the beginning of a search for a new national identity. Based on the international theory of constructivism, this paper defines and studies the Taiwanese people?s progression away from a dominant Chinese national identity towards a uniquely defined Taiwanese identity.

A Road project?s frame is built up of a decision- and consultation process, where the results of the preparatory studies are being discussed. The aim with a consultation process is that all theopinions and knowledge from the operators' will be taken into count in the basis of information, that is needed in order to the different involved operators' to take a decision.The aim of the essay was to investigate how the decision- and consultation process for a road project, the E4 section between Uppsala Läby, turned out. The aim is also to bring up how theprocess could have been done more correctly. The study was carried out through a qualitative method with an analysis of materials from the National Road Administration's archives, the associated Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and through interviews of the different operators.My theoretical basis has been a Stakeholder Analysis and its principles, and theory about different executions of social planning.The result showed that the decision- and consultation process has been bursting in democracy and consideration taking of the different operators' opinions, has been poor from the developer?s, in this case the National Road Administration's, side.

The purpose of this work has been to investigate if there are any differences in the valuation process at infringements when highway and railway are built. The work has mainly been concentrated on the negotiation process in which The National Railway Department (Banverket) and The National Road Administration (Vägverket) try to get agreements with the land owners. The agreement includes compensation for infringement effects that affects the landowner?s property. The National Road Department uses the road law (Väglagen) when a highway shall be built.

This masters thesis shows that the changes in the scientific publishing system have affected the academic libraries. Both technological change and the increased prices on scientific journals have forced academic libraries to take action. Some Swedish academic libraries have started publishing the university s own research material. The issue has in many cases been treated more as a library concern, than as a concern for the university as a whole. Neither has there been a national coordination of these matters in Sweden.

Omkring 10-20 % av personer med lumbalt diskbråck opereras. Operationen syftar främst till att behandla utstrålande smärta i nedre extremiteter. Beteenderelaterade faktorer kan påverka smärtupplevelsen vid långvariga smärttillstånd och viss forskning finns om hur resultatet av diskbråcksoperation påverkas av olika biopsykosociala faktorer.Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur smärtintensitet var associerat till vissa beteenderelaterade faktorer före och två år efter lumbal diskbråcksoperation, samt om dessa faktorer preoperativt kan predicera smärta efter diskbråcksoperation. Studien är en longitudinell deskriptiv kohortstudie där associationer analyseras. Data samlades in med en enkät före och efter operationen.Preoperativt besvarade 59 personer enkäten, två år senare upplevde 20 personer ingen smärta och besvarade därför inte de beteenderelaterade frågorna.

The subject of religion in Swedish schools is the single most talked about topic in the curriculum. One explanation could be that it is the oldest subject in Swedish schools and the topic has undergone the biggest change through time. This process of change has been anything but undebated. The subject of religion within schools has met debates through almost its entire history, partly from the state and from the church, but also from the teachers and the students. Debates concerning the existence of Christianity in Swedish schools as well as the Swedish traditions constantly reoccur in today?s government debates and various media but in different versions.

The purpose of the survey was to find out how early childhood teachers work with the curriculum of I Ur och Skur with children between 1-3 years in the forest and how such educators are using the outdoor pedagogy in the forest environment in preschool.In order to answer the study's aim and objectives interviews were performed with six teachers in I Ur och Skur kindergartens.What emerged from this study is that forest excursions are a central part of the curriculum and is seen as their educational place. The teachers are working to create a feeling of security among the youngest children of enjoying the woods and also to raise an interest in the children. Natural materials are used during the forest stay and no other toys or materials.The results reveal that educators work to get the smallest children to use and develop their imagination at play and at the same time they are involved with the children in their discovery of the woods. With the smallest children in kindergarten it involves being on the level of children and as a teacher to have the flexibility to change the forest stay environment if needed..

The national spatial planning guidelines and the subsequent legal regulation in the Natural Resources Act and the Environmental Code has been a part of the Swedish planning system for almost 40 years. In the recent years, critics have claimed that the regulations are outdated and does not work the way it was intended. This paper examines closer why it is perceived that the regulations does not work, with a focus on how the national interests are managed in the municipal planning. Why is the national interests not applied in the municipal planning as intended? Is the error in the system or in the implementation of it? The aim of this essay is to study the gap between theory and practice by studying how the land management provisions in the Environmental Code is applied in five selected municipalities. The aim is also to find interesting issues for futher studies of the topic.

 This study aims to deepen the understanding of which opinions and perceptions the teachers in the study have about the national goals, as well as local, when they plan their lessons in science studies for the younger ages. We wish to illustrate which goals these teachers find most important, their opinions on how they use these and how the different goals affect their design of teaching. The study also aims to examine which syllabuses, national or local, the teachers believe have an effect on their planning. Data were collected by interviews with four teachers, combined with questionnaires sent to 25 teachers teaching in science studies in forms 1-6. To analyse the data, key terms from Vygotsky and a sociocultural theory was used, such as situated learning, artifacts, the zone of proximal development, thinking in group and mediation. The data was also interpreted and examined by recent studies regarding this subject. The results show that the teachers find their own knowledge, the national syllabus and their colleagues as most important for their planning.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether and how some teachers in primary education in a multicultural area discussing the interculturality in their teaching with students from grades 1-3. It also aims to examine how students? cultural interactions in the classroom are expressed..

This study of leadership is comprised of two parts. The first part presented in this study is a theoretical study of leadership and the second part is an empirical study. The empirical study is comprised of six qualitative interviews that examine the perception of leadership among educators working at a school in the inner city.The work is based on the following issues; Do educators think that there is a link between educational work and leadership? Do educators see a link between leadership and goals, and guidelines that are written in Lgr11 and the Education Act? Does the perception of leadership depend on what training the educators have?In this study I use a hermeneutical approach where I try to create an understanding of the interviewees by interpreting their responses, actions and opinions during the interviews.The material gained from the empirical study has been analyzed and interpreted and then related to the theoretical study. The results show that leadership is something that everyone in the school system is in need of whatever their education.