The aim of this study was to investigate how preschool teachers think about preschoolscience, what they consider science to be and how they deal with specific curricular objectivesrelated to science.Science is a part of our everyday life, it is a prerequisite for understanding everydayphenomena and how the world is working. Nevertheless it is often dropped in favour of othersubjects in Swedish preschools.The eight preschool teachers participating in this study are all working in the samemunicipality in the western part of Sweden with children aged 1- 5 years. The method used inthis study was interviews. The interviews were recorded to facilitate the transcriptions.The results show that preschool teachers find that science is an important subject that shouldbe introduced to the children early on in life. They also show that preschool teachers considerscience to have a preventive effect on the learning to the children, and it is needed for them tounderstand everyday processes and phenomena.

The aim of this work is to examine how a number of class teachers reason about and find their work while teaching students who have reading and writing difficulties / dyslexia. The empirical study was intended to answer the question based on three questions.The work is based on a qualitative method as empirical material gathered in semi-structured interviews. Six classroom teachers, one male and five female teachers were interviewed. The interviewees were from six different schools in Stockholm Municipality and were between 27-61 years old.Most of the classroom teachers feel that there are approximately 4-5 students with reading and writing difficulties / dyslexia in each class. Half of the teachers feel that students with dyslexia may be different as they are quiet, unsecure and shy.

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 this master thesis is to investigate if and how the school library in Linnéskolan in Älmhult is working towards the learning goals that can be find in the different school documents that are represented by the municipality of Älmhult. This includes goals for the school, for the school library and for the subject of social studies in the ninth grade. We also want to investigate if the school library helps the students to reach the learning goals and if there are any factors that can be improved in the school library. We have used an evidence based approach to define factors in the school library that can be improved. In the chapter that describes our theoretical approach, we have also discussed three different pedagogical theories; teacher-centered teaching, individual constructivism and social constructivism.

This essay is about security and safety in the city. More precisely it is concerned about the role of the institutions that aims to raise the perceived security and safety and their understanding of these concepts. I study two of the municipality's project in this field in the city of Malmö. Documents concerning these projects are analysed with a discourse analysis inspired by Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau as well as Michel Foucault. The two projects consist of one discourse each; the surveillance discourse and the discourse about meetings.

This Master's thesis examines segregation between Swedes and immigrants in school, and more specifically segregation between the two elementary schools Vikingaskolan and Tunaskolan in Lund. This case provides a particularly interesting puzzle, since Lund doesn?t have any pronounced immigrant districts, and was also recognized nationally as best municipality for its schools (2004). In this thesis we try to understand the segregation between the two schools in Lund as an implementation dilemma.The theoretical framework applies a model designed by Lennart Lundquist, which includes three potential causes for implementation problems: the implementer doesn?t understand the decision, the implementer can?t apply the decision, the implementer doesn?t want to carry out the decision.

This paper is the result of a study of competition and cooperation in regard to tourism between the five largest municipalities in Norrland in northern Sweden. The municipalities are Luleå, Skellefteå, Umeå, Sundsvall and Gävle. The aim was to study the relation between competition and cooperation between these municipalities. An important theoretical aspect in this study is coopetition, where competition and cooperation occur at the same time. The studies on coopetition in the Nordic kontext is limited and the main literature on coopetition study the relationship between firms. This study however takes a geographical standpoint and aims to fill the gap in the literature on how competition and cooperation are connected to each other between chosen municipalities. To do this the tourism strategies of the municipalities were studied thoroughly. These written strategies provided information about how the municipalities view their competitive advantages and disadvantages and some general information about how they cooperate with the nearest regions. To find out how the municipalities think about competition and cooperation with the other four specific municipalities interviews were made with experts on the tourism field in each municipality. The results show that the municipalities do not have established strategies for how they are to be competitive compared with other specific municipalities. They do not see it as profitable to compete, instead they should complement each other. At the same time however, most of the municipalities mostly cooperate with municipalities in a short distance from them, and due to lack of resources only briefly or not at all with the municipalities studied here..

The aim of this inquiry was to investigate the most appropriate measures to reduce noise impacts from road traffic on the Nydala recreational area in Umeå municipality due to the planned re-routing of the E4 motorway to an existing road along this area. The sound environment is an important part in the experience when we are visiting recreational areas. Noise is not only disturbing; the liberty from unwanted sounds also allows us to perceive natural sounds that are a benefit for the cultural experience. Therefore it is important to take actions to protect this well used area from traffic noise. The reasonable options to avoid noise impact in this case are to lower the speed limit, using a noise reducing coating or use noise protection screens and walls.

This is a study on the outcome of the Swedish Forest Agency´s mission to provide individual advice to private land owners about precommercial thinning. The study was conducted in Sala municipality and included forest owners that had received private individual advice from a Swedish Forest Agency consultant as well as forest owners that had not received individual advice. One of the central issues was to make comparisons between these two groups. The survey was carried out by telephone interviews combined with a smaller field study. The questions were designed to provide information about to what degree the forest owners had been affected by the advice and if there had been a change in the way in which precommercial thinning was performed. In terms of the amount of precommercial thinning that had been carried out, no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups.

The purpose of this master thesis is to find out if library activities in civil society may be seen as a complement to public activities. The incitement lies in a discussion in the research activities of social sciences and among politicians, where the opinion is that civil society may function as a complement to governmental policy. The NGO-library Föreningen Miljöbiblioteket i Lund and the municipality of Malmö stad where chosen as units for examination. The common feature of the two units is the global task introduced by the UN, to create a sustainable development. The material used is exclusively concerning domestic information activities.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to, from a users perspective, investigate which factors affect the library use for six persons with disabilities or visual handicaps. My method has been a case study and the methods applied are interviews and observation. As a theoretical framework I use Tom Wilsons theories and models about information behaviour and transform them to a model about library use. Answers are sought to the following questions: - What does the library use look like for six persons with disabilities or visually handicaps? - How do they experience the library in their own municipality? - Which factors affect the disabled persons library use and experience of the library? All interviewees showed a very positive attitude towards the library and the majority of them visited the library regularly or received audio books by mail.

 Collaboration is a tool many organizations use to achive a certain goal. In previous research it can be read about both advantages and disadvantages of collaboration and also that a well-functioning collaboration is difficult to achieve. In previous research there is a shortage of scientific researches illustrating the outcome of collaboration. I have chosen to examine the cooperation between the social services and schools of the municipality of Växjö. The purpose of this essay is to understand what experiences staff working with children/young people in school and social services have of collaboration between each others organizations.

The question of direct citizen participation in politics and administration is a contestable one. Its proponents claim that it has positive consequences even for the more "traditional", representative democracy, since participation leads to an increased political knowledge and increased political interest, and thus creates a revitalised democracy. Critical voices have however been raised to the validity of this claim. Critics have also pointed out direct participation as problematic, because it leads to problems of political inequality: a difference of political influence between ? on the one hand, the citizens participating directly and those that restrict their political participation to voting, and ? on the one the other hand ? between the institutions, for example schools, that employ, and don?t employ this method of direct citizen influence.In this essay, these two points of criticisms are tested in the context of user-boards in elementary and secondary schools.

A school should be a safe place for all students. The existence of discrimination, harassment and offensive behavior should according to Swedish school law not exist in the school environment. Since the year 2006, when a law on equal treatment was passed, all the schools in Sweden must have a treatment plan that is revised annually to prevent discrimination, harassment and abusive treatment.In this master thesis, I will examine the equal treatment plan between four different elementary schools in Nynäshamn.The purpose of this paper is to examine how the equal treatment plan exposes the bullying and the types of problems and solutions addressed in the elementary schools equal treatment plans. Based on the purpose, I have formulated two questions:How do the elementary schools in Nynäshamn municipality describe bullying in the equal treatment plan?What kinds of problems and solutions are addressed in the equal treatment plan evaluations?This thesis is based on text analysis and content analysis on the schools equal treatment plans.The study is based on the theories from a norm critical perspective.The conclusion of the study is that all four schools treatment plan see abusive behavior as something serious and preventive.

The purpose of this master thesis is to examine the opinion about school libraries among principals at the independent schools in the municipality of Lund. In order to fulfil my purpose I used a qualitative method with an introductory questionnaire, which gave background material to the interviews. All seven principals answered the questionnaire and five of them agreed to participate in an interview. Another two interviews were made with two informants, this material was included in the background material. As theoretical framework I have used literature about the school library development, the role of the principal for development and David V.