This essay investigates the pupils, in Swedish upper secondary school in the greater Stockholm area, who choose to study the Russian language as a foreign language. The essay asks; who are these students, and what is motivation behind their language choice? In order to answer these two questions the essay uses both interviews and paper survey. The theoretical background ofth is essay is based on the works and theories of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, and thus the question; who are these students is aimed at the students' social and economical background in lines with Bourdieu's theories. The essay also uses the earlier study of Swedish sociologist Mikael Palme, in which he maps the different schools and programs in the greater Stockholm area, in a socio-economical context based on habitus.

This study is grounded in an interest in the Swedish Upper Secondary Schools? role as an educator of democratic citizens, with a specific interest in the moral and cognitive development of Upper Secondary School students. Development in these two areas is treated as results of citizenship education.The purpose of the study is to examine moral and cognitive development of students in Upper Secondary School to see if there are any structural differences to be found between the Upper Secondary School programs that are vocationally oriented and the programs that are preparing for further studies on higher levels ? since these differences have been both theoretically and empirically implied. The study is based on an enhanced version of Lawrence Kohlberg?s stages of moral development (with teachers? evaluations of students? capacity as a reference point of the students? actual level of moral development) as well as on Kieran Egan?s theory of development through the use of cognitive tools (as seen in five different ?shapes of understanding?).

Background: Students, at a secondary upper school, attending a practical programme have a lower physical capacity than students from theoretical programs. Our physical self-esteem has a great significance for our motivation in being physically active and thereby also for our health. The purpose: of this study is to find out if there is a difference between perceived physical self-esteem and objectively measured physical activity between students attending a practical programme and a theoretical programme. Method: Four classes, in a medium-sized town in the southeast of Sweden, participated in the study, two classes from practical programmes and two classes from theoretical programmes. All the students were in their final year at the upper secondary school, when they were part of the study during the autumn of 2011.

International reading comprehension studies, like PIRLS and PISA, state that the reading comprehension of Swedish students has decreased significantly since 2000. As a consequence, the National Agency of Education has made reading comprehension teaching a prioritised field in terms of further education for teachers. There has also been a change in Lgr 11, the national curriculum for compulsory school, where it is stated that teaching in reading strategies shall be a part of the central content throughout compulsory school. When the pupils reach upper secondary school level, reading comprehension education is no longer a part of the curriculum. Today, students at upper secondary school for individuals with learning disabilities currently share the same curriculum as the ordinary upper secondary school.

Being a student in the educational system is in itself a challenging exercise, considering the various parts that may matter in different extent for the students. There is a syllabus, there are different backgrounds and contexts for each student and there is also the knowledge in the subject to consider. This study sets out to explore to which extent teachers and students reflect about the transition from public school to upper secondary school/high school, specifically in the context of History as subject. What do they think about it and how do they work with it?By interviewing five teachers and letting 94 students in upper secondary school completing a survey about this subject (the transition), I can conclude that the matter is complex, both for students and teachers, however still a significant and important issue to discuss.

Background: Students, at a secondary upper school, attending a practical programme have a lower physical capacity than students from theoretical programs. Our physical self-esteem has a great significance for our motivation in being physically active and thereby also for our health. The purpose: of this study is to find out if there is a difference between perceived physical self-esteem and objectively measured physical activity between students attending a practical programme and a theoretical programme. Method: Four classes, in a medium-sized town in the southeast of Sweden, participated in the study, two classes from practical programmes and two classes from theoretical programmes. All the students were in their final year at the upper secondary school, when they were part of the study during the autumn of 2011.

AimThe purpose of the study was to investigate how upper secondary school students experience performance demands during their physical education and health classes (PE-classes). The questions were as following: Are there differing perceptions between the sexes whether students experience performance demands? In what situations do the students feel that the demands on their performance are high during PE-classes? Do the students experience of demands on performance differ whether the physical education and health teacher is male or female? Do students feel unfairly treated by the physical education and health teacher during PE-classes?MethodSeven upper secondary schools in Stockholm?s administrative district were randomly selected to participate in the survey. The principals were contacted for further information and to set a date for performing the survey. The project leaders were present during the days the surveys were taken by students in the social science and natural science programs.

The purpose of this study is to examine how adult students, studying at an upper secondary school for adults, search for information for their independent tasks in different subjects. These independent tasks are frequent in most subjects and are a part of the ?investigation-work?. For most adult students this is a new way of learning. Fifteen qualitative interviews with adult students have been conducted.

Democracy is now a legitimate claim not only in the society but even in the classrooms. According to the 1994 Curriculum for the Non-Compulsory School System, Lpf 94 in Sweden, are all pupils in all types of schools ought to have a high level of possibilities to be able to influence their education. But many studies have led to unsatisfactory results about the actual situation in schools. Swedish students are critical of the limited opportunities they have in influencing their own learning process. This essay is only one among the many studies that have dealt with school democracy during the last 50 years.

The aim with this study is to examine how students and teachers value source criticism. Partly, this regards how teachers practice this in their teaching and how students work with it during lessons ? but also how students value source criticism in situations where the teacher not has pointed out that this topic is part of the actual assignment. Moreover, there is a focus on investigating how students who are critical of the sources take this into account in their daily lives; for example, when they surf on the Internet or when they discuss news articles or other media. This essay is based on interviews with students and teachers, using a qualitative method. The results of this study show that both students and teachers find source criticism to be of major importance.

In this thesis, the results of a survey regarding grade progression between secondary and upper secondary school in a municipality in the north of Sweden serve as the starting point for a study of the experiences and expectations of a number of 16 year old girls who are in the first year of upper secondary school. The study is performed by means of focus group interviews with female pupils from the three largest upper secondary schools in said municipality in an attempt to gauge their experiences of grades, grade assessment, teacher practices and perceived differences in how boys and girls are treated. The results show that most of the girls are disappointed with upper secondary school so far. Many of them feel that secondary school was both more fun and more rewarding in a sense of learning. Their appreciation of how this more rewarding atmosphere affected their grades differed between the various groups.

In this thesis, the results of a survey regarding grade progression between secondary and upper secondary school in a municipality in the north of Sweden serve as the starting point for a study of the experiences and expectations of a number of 16 year old girls who are in the first year of upper secondary school. The study is performed by means of focus group interviews with female pupils from the three largest upper secondary schools in said municipality in an attempt to gauge their experiences of grades, grade assessment, teacher practices and perceived differences in how boys and girls are treated. The results show that most of the girls are disappointed with upper secondary school so far. Many of them feel that secondary school was both more fun and more rewarding in a sense of learning. Their appreciation of how this more rewarding atmosphere affected their grades differed between the various groups.

This master's thesis deals with the interest in comics among students at the social science programme in an upper secondary school. The history of comics and the reading habits of comics have also been examined. For the completion of this study 54 students, 19 boys and 35 girls, took part in a questionnaire. The results of this statistical survey shows that the department of comics at Malmö city public library plays an insignificant role concerning the interest and reading of comics for the students. The main readings of comics for the students are in the daily paper, which resembles reading habits of adults.

The main purpose of this study was to inquire into personality and the state anxiety in relation to career decidedness scale among students in upper secondary school. The participants were 124 students in three grades and respectively non vocationally oriented classes. The participants were asked to grade themselves on a scale in relation to the statements regarding, state of decidedness for career choice, personality (NEO FFI, Costa & McCrae, 1985. Sweden, Gerontologic Center) and anxiety (AnTI, Wells, 1994). The results showed no significant relationship between personality and state of anxiety that could be connected to the decidedness for career choice.

The aim of this thesis is to look for signs of students? understanding of algebra by studying how they make the transition from arithmetic to algebra. Students in an Upper Secondary class on the Natural Science program and Science and Technology program were given a questionnaire with a number of algebraic problems of different levels of difficulty. Especially important for the study was that students leave comments and explanations of how they solved the problems. According to earlier research, transitions are the most critical steps in problem solving.