The aim of this paper is to investigate how teachers in Swedish schools abroad reason about their work developing the Swedish language as the students live in a non-Swedish speaking country although going to a Swedish school. Furthermore the study intends to examine the teachers' attitudes towards the impact the Swedish language has upon the school. Research questions:What thoughts do the teachers signify in reference to the language development of the students?How do the teachers reason about the role of the Swedish language in the school?In order to answer these questions, qualitative measures has been used in terms of observations and interviews. The study is based upon a social constructivist perspective with the idea that reality is socially constructed.

Politicians attract their voters by promising more jobs and investment in education, health and social care. Against this background, I wonder how the situation of artists will be affected by the followingquestions:? What political views on the artist's position in society appeared in propositions of Socialdemokraterna and Moderaterna?? In what way did these propositions influence the conditions of artists?? How have the artists of Värmland been affected by different (Socialdemokraterna and Moderaterna) cultural policies? With my investigation I find out more about the artists' conditions on a national level, but I also investigate the situation in Värmland. By examining policy proposals and reports, I learn more about the issues. I also conduct a survey and three in-depth interviews to obtain opinions from various sources.The respondents are the cultural departments of Värmland and representatives from cultural organizations.What is clear from my research is that politicians differ on some issues, especially those relating to commercialism and artist salaries.

The aim of this master?s study is to examine the function of the public library in the local community at present. I have searched for the answers to the following questions: Which position has the public library in the local cultural policy? What characterizes each library and which are the priorities? What is the local profile of the public library? What cooperation partners does the public library have and what do they mean to the library? Does the public library intensify the local community in any way? To answer this, I have made three qualitative case studies. Interviews and collection of documents were carried out in three different communities.

The purpose of this masters thesis is to examine the fanzine, a form of amateur publication, in Sweden, both in the traditional paper form and the more recent electronic form. It deals with what is distinctive about the fanzine as a publication and also as a social and cultural product. It also looks upon how the fanzine uses the Internet and the new possibilities it brings. The people behind 18 fanzines, 10 electronic and 8 in paper, have answered a questionnaire about how they produce, publish, distribute and promote their fanzines, what they think about the fanzine as a mode of expression, and how they use the Internet. The masters thesis uses theories within cultural studies as a theoretical approach to the fanzine.

Studien syftar till att få djupare insikt i hur professionella musikers övning i fri improvisation kan se ut. I bakgrundsavsnittet ges en överblick av begreppen ?improvisation? och ?fri improvisation? och därefter följer en presentation av tidigare litteratur och forskning inom ämnesområdet. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt utgörs av det sociokulturella perspektivet på lärande och kommunikation.Studiens datamaterial består av kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra professionella musiker inom fri improvisation. I resultatavsnittet beskrivs informanternas syn på improvisation, fri improvisation och frihet, deras redskap för övning samt deras användande av tillägnade färdigheter.

Questions concerning the Cultural Heritage must be integrated in social planning.Therefore there is a need for adequate methods for cultural environmental analysis, toreceive knowledge that is relevant in an integrated conservation. The thesis is a review ofmethods for cultural environmental analysis and discusses the qualifications necessary fora method in order to receive adequate information as well as it discusses what kind ofinformation to be considered relevant. The thesis also analyzes a specific method forcultural environmental analysis in order to exam if it has got the qualifications concludedas necessary if it is to be used in an integrated conservation. The conclusion is that amethod for cultural environmental analysis should collect information about the entireenvironment (integrated information about nature and culture, in a historical perspectiveand how it is today), about social structures, physical remains (buildings etc) and what thecollected information tell about the history of the studied area, as well as what is importantin the landscape of today. Information about how the environment should be treated in thefuture is also of importance.

The purpose of this study was to look into how learners of Swedish as a second language and some teachers of the subject think and reason about the choice between Swedish or Swedish as a Second Language and literature in Swedish at upper secondary schools. Similar studies have earlier been carried out at upper secondary schools in areas dominated by immigrants while the present study has been accomplished in a small municipality with comparatively few immigrants. The study is based upon qualitative interviews which have been analysed through the socio-cultural theory regarding those artifacts, communication and that mediating second learners of Swedish and their teachers and schools are using in their choices between Swedish or Swedish as a Second Language as well as selection of literature in literature teaching.  The study also shows how learners of Swedish as a second language perceive the choice between the two options of Swedish courses at advanced upper secondary school and how their teachers look upon their choice and the information given. Furthermore we will also get to know the learners of Swedish as a second language and their teachers? view on teaching Swedish literature at advanced upper secondary B-level in Swedish.

The purpose of my report was to find out how music can benefit the language development of children, whilst getting a glimpse of how the educators in preschools use music as a tool for the language development of children. During the course of the report I?ve used the sociocultural perspective theory as a foundation to stand on, this is most of all visible in my analysis and discussion of the result. In the result we can see that the educators possess insight in the importance of music in childrens development, and that they therefore give music a lot of room in their work. Songs where rhyme and language play are allowed are common elements at the preschool that attracts the children and makes them want to partake. Songs sung with movement is a commonly used combination which also serves to further lift the childrens language development when they, through movement, give meaning to the lyrics. It does however take a devoted educator to make music with the preschool children and to support them and making them want to do it.

Within literature, politics and science, there is a claim that ?tree avenues are important?. But the question and the goal for this essay are to explore the pretext to how and why. Planting tree avenues is a 4000 year old tradition and they are a common element in the Swedish and Scanian landscape since the 18th century. They were first mainly planted by aristocratic land-owners or on their initiative, but since the 19th century also by farmers.

Our increasingly globalized world has contributed to that more Swedish companies has expanded their business to more distant areas. One of these Swedish companies that now stands before their first international expansion is the Swedish fast-food chain Max AB. Max has chosen to start their expansion in Saudi Arabia, a country far away from Sweden, not only in terms of geographical distance but also in cultural. The cultural differences that Max will encounter may affect the business and result in to various adaptations that must be done in order to establish successfully. The thesis investigates the existing circumstances for the fastfood business in Saudi Arabia and shows which adaptations international fast-food chains should or must do as a result of the cultural distances they encounter.

This is a two year master's thesis in the field of museum and cultural heritage studies. The purpose of the thesis is to examine different opinions among museum employees about the role of museums. The thesis also aims to find out to what extent and in what way these opinions are influenced by the museum's own policy documents, the national cultural policy and the academic field of museum studies. I have conducted qualitative research interviews with six employees from three different cultural history museums. The theoretical framework of the thesis is based on Laruajane Smith's term authorized heritage discourse.

A lot of habitats have declined or disappeared as the old cultural landscape changed to the modern agricultural landscape of today. Places such as power line corridors, racing tracks, gravel pits and military training sites have become refuges for many species associated with the old cultural landscape. These sites have been exposed to ecological disturbances that create the same type of habitats that were found in the old cultural landscape.The military training sites in Sweden has an impressive diversity of species. Disturbances from the military exercises have created habitats that are important for a wide range of species.The purpose of this thesis is to study some of the ecological disturbances occurring in the military training sites of the Swedish Armed Forces and examine how they affect different types of habitats. The thesis explains through litterateur and field studies the reason to the rich biodiversity often found at military training sites.

In a municipality in the county of Stockholm there is a preparatory class which accepts newly arrived children from other countries. In the preparatory class the education is focused on teaching students the Swedish language so that they eventually, after about 3-4 -terms, can be transferred to a "regular" class.For students with a different native language, it takes about 5-7 years longer to learn the knowledge-based language that is used in school (Gibbons 2009: foreword). This requires education in school to be linguistically developing.The purpose with this essay is to gain knowledge on how pedagogues can work in a linguistically developing manner with students who have Swedish as their second language. The comparison between education in a preparatory class and education in two regular classes at two different schools is also part of that purpose.What is the education considering linguistically developing work methods like in the preparatory class and the" regular" classes? Are there differences and similarities between the preparatory class and "regular" classes education when it comes to linguistically developing work methods? Which part of the education is adapted to a linguistically developing perspective that fits students with Swedish as a second language?Theories as the socio cultural theory, the proximal zone, and Jim Cummins model, concerning among other things language and knowledge development, is brought up and linked to the study of differences and similarities between schools.

The purpose of this study is to propose and formulate quantitative indicators to help measure an aspect of the Environmental Objectives in Swedish legislation: ?A Good Built Environment, Interim Target 2.? The governmental bill 2004/05:150 suggests changes to Interim Target 2: By 2010 built environments of cultural heritage value will be identified and placed under long-term sustainable management. Following the revised formulation regarding sustainable management, indicators should be formulated to measure the fulfilment of sustainable management of built environments of cultural heritage value. An important part of management takes place at the municipal level of planning, where detailed development plans include regulations to protect built environments of substantial cultural heritage value. As a result, this study is focusing upon the regulatory function of the Swedish Planning and Building Act in respect to the built environments of cultural heritage value.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om det finns grundläggande skillnader i undervisningsmetoder och pedagogiska förhållningssätt mellan fiolpedagoger inom genren svensk folkmusik. Jämförelsen fokuserar på lärare med respektive utan formell musiklärarexamen inom genren. Fyra kvalitativa telefonintervjuer har legat till grund för undersökningen där de med respektive utan examen representerats av två personer var. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten för studien har varit det sociokulturella perspektivet. Studiens resultat visar att det är mer som förbinder än som skiljer de fyra pedagogerna åt.