In this study we have focused on the operational management of the public pre-school in Sweden. We have studied how the governance system is designed, why it is designed this way and what impact it has on the operational management. This has been analyzed from a theory stating that there are two types of organizations: pay-driven and function-driven. Through a case and document study we came to the conclusion that the pre-school is a function-driven organization but is nowadays acting on a market and have adopted characteristics of a pay-driven organization. We connect this change to the phenomenon New Public Management.

The aim of this study is to investigate into the use of discussions in the classroom to help the pupils develop a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts and operations. The empirical data contain interviews with two teachers and observations from their lessons. The purpose of the interviews was to find out what importance the teachers ascribed to the ability of their pupils to talk about mathematics, and how they organised their classes to encourage mathematical discussions. With the observations, I was able to see the interaction in the classroom and hear discussions between the teacher and the pupils, as well as between the pupils themselves.The interviewed teachers proved to share my own belief in the results of researchers like Malmer (1999) and Löwing (2006) about the importance of verbal discussion, argumentation and reflection during mathematics classes. But convictions derived from the research of others are one thing, the practical application of the wisdom in the classroom another.

My purpose in this work was to find out how staff in a middle sized school uses its local Equal treatment plan in its work against bullying. But also to see how the use of a standardized anti-bullying program works to prevent bullying. I have interviewed the principal, teachers, and what we in Sweden call a ?fritidspedagog? and the members of the anti-bullying team to get answers to my questions.  The conclusion of this study is that the school follow and work according to what the Equal treatment plan states, both in terms of prevention, as in working with actual bullying cases. The school has also followed the National School Agency's recommendations on what should be the local Equality plan, but also to follow up and revise it each year. The interview shows that the staff at the school placed great emphasis on talking and discussing with students about how to behave towards each other, they also brought up things that happened at one time and talked about this. The staffs were very committed to work towards the prevention of bullying and the same was true with the school's headmaster.

The aim of this study is to look at the identity of the public library, and to examine one way to make the identity of a specific library strong. PUNKTmedis is a newly opened library in Stockholm, aimed solely at people between 13-19. The question to be answered was: How can it affect the image of the public librarys identity when you aim the activity towards a specific user group? To answer this question, the qualitative method of case-study was used. Five interviews were carried out, with representatives from three different groups: users, politicians and librarians.

In a global context the traditional democratic process is facing new challenges. Scholars are talking about a transition from government to governance, where local and regional networks as well as international collaboration are an important part in how regional policy is produced and implemented. In this paper the processes in regional projects funded by the European Union are considered, and related to the traditional democratic process. The study has been fulfilled through informant interviews with representatives from four EU-projects. The interviews are supplemented by a qualitative text analysis of current statutes.

The purspose of this study is to investigate how teachers are working to individualize mathemathics education relative to high-performing students and how they define the therm individualization. According to the Swedish curriculum the teaching process should be based on the students prevoius knowledge and experiences. The teachers should in their preperation take every student in to consideration. To be able to investigate these subjets I prepared following questions:What does the concept of individualization in mathematics mean for the teachers?What does it mean to work with an individualized mathematics teaching?How does teachers individualizes teaching mathematics relative to high performing students?This study is based on a qualitative method with both interviews and observations.

The main purpose of this paper is to examine how students in school year nine in the Swedish school come in contact with history outside of the school context. The paper also focuses on, if and how the students consider the contact with history as something different than, or similar to the history education that takes place during school hours, the student´s interest in history will also be examined. To gather the student?s opinions on these subjects, I have done interviews with eight students divided into two groups, with one group consisting of four girls and one group with two boys and two girls. The interviews took place at the students school located in a smaller city in Värmlands län, Sweden.

AbstractThis examination project studies two groups of students, who are in the last year of the mandatory school attendance in Sweden (15 years old and in school year nine), their views and thoughts about the Swedish school. The purpose of this study is to examine how the students in the study thinks about the role that the Swedish school have, and should have in the society, and how, and if the fostering mission that the Swedish school have, has any implication on the student?s opinions. I have also studied if the student?s trusts the Swedish school.I have made my study on interviews with two groups of students, one with four boys and one with four girls.

I have chosen to write this essay on language development in a preparatory class due to the fact that I live in a city where diversity is big and newly arrived students from different countries are constantly increasing in schools. My study has been made in a preparatory class in Södertälje. The National Agency for Education highlights the deficiencies in preparatory classes and believes that education is not adapted to each student's knowledge and maturity and it is therefore difficult for students to reach the goals in school. According to studies by the National Agency for Education, it appears that many newly arrived students do not recieve study guide in their native language, a resource that they are entitled to. Teachers and principals do not take charge of  students knowledge from previous school attendance in their home countries such as mathematics, history and other subjects.

The overall aim of this study is to clarify the situation in school for children with language disorder from the parents? perspective.Data were collected through five interviews with parents who have children of different ages and with various diagnosis within the language disorder spectra. A qualitative method based on a narrative inquiry was used and each interview was based on a interview guide with the following themes: the child?s difficulties, starting school, the school?s pedagogy, homework, action plans, participation and the future.Each story has its own themes, but there are also themes that are common in all interviews. One common theme in the parents? stories is that school has a lack of knowledge when it comes to language disorder.

This master thesis is based on the sociocultural perspective. A qualitative research study was conducted to investigate children's attitudes towards reading, texts and libraries.The theoretical background is constituted by ideas from the new sociology of childhood, literacy-studies and reader-response theory.The study was conducted with 23 children, 13 girls and 10 boys, participating in focus groups.The results of the study reveal that children's literacy-activities in school are strongly influenced and limited by adults. Children's interest in pictures and non-fiction-reading do not correspond to the school institution that favors traditional media and fiction. The study also reveals a gender division between children's literacy-activities that tends to grow with age. All the children in the study regard libraries as book-houses and wished for libraries that combine activity and serenity.The thesis shows the importance of being aware of, and engage in, children's reading-interests and reading-practices if the reading stimulating activities in schools and libraries are to be successful.

Syftet med denna studie var att ta reda på elevers uppfattningar om laborativt material i matematikundervisningen. Även hur liknande form av undersökning kunde gynna läraren till att få reda på vilken typ av undervisning som eleverna föredrar. Motivationen som låg till grund för studien var erfarenheter utifrån VFU (verksamhetsförlagd utbildning) samt erfarenheter av forskningslitteratur. En stor del av forskningen har påvisat att elever som arbetar med laborativt material i matematik presterar bättre än elever som inte arbetar med laborativt material. Därför förespråkar forskningslitteraturen inom detta område att lärare borde arbeta med laborativt material under alla åren i skolan.

Title: From preschool to preschool in school ? Expectations between parents, teachers and childrenAuthor: Maria Rask GradinMentor: Niclas JärvkloTerm: Spring 2012 AbstractThe aim of this study is to draw attention to the expectations between parents, children and teachers at preschools and teachers in the preschool in the school at the transition to preschool in the school. I also want to know how the mission is defined, and how it is met. Two preschools and two preschool in the school are the focus of my investigation. I interviewed teachers and parents, sent surveys to parents, observed children playing school and interviewed children about their thoughts and expectations for the preschool in the school there.The survey results show that all parties, except perhaps the children who did not express an opinion thereon, wants better cooperation between the preschool and school.

This thesis, entitled The Headmaster and the Music, is based on interviews with four headmasters, who are all working in the Swedish compulsory school. The purpose is to investigate how they view music, both in general and as a school subject. Since the research on this topic is scarce, the study can be described as explorative.The result shows that the headmasters? personal experiences have an impact on the way they view music. Four different focus points on music in school have emerged from the material, and these represent the four very different views that each headmaster holds.

The purpose of this study has been to compare the present with the future syllabus of mathematics. With a text analytical approach has questions about how the structure is different, how the look at knowledge has changed and which learning theory that characterizes the two syllabus been answered. As a theoretical framework I adopt three different learning theories, behaviourism, cognitivism and the socio-cultural perspective. The pervious research I have looked at is the concept of knowledge an the underlying theories to previous curriculum. During the increase results in the greatest difference seen in the structure.