This quantitative study, with qualitative elements, intended to investigate the empathic ability among students and its change during social work education in Sweden. The study used a self-assessment form in the form of a questionnaire sent out to 8 of the 15 universities around the country. Respondents who participated in the survey studied in semester 1 & 2 and semester 6 & 7. The instrument which were used, measure the empathy level of the respondents and was a Swedish translation of the instrument, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) which is a proven self-assessment form. IRI consists of 28 questions divided into 4 areas (subscales), which together provide a score, where a higher score corresponds to a greater capacity for empathy.

Sammanfattning: Min studies syfte är att synliggöra vad leken har för betydelse för barnens sociala utveckling. Den beskriver leken och dess betydelse för att barnen ska utvecklas genom den. Den lyfter även fram pedagogernas syn på leken och hur de hjälper till för att stötta barnen under tiden de är i fritidshemmet.Frågeställningarna som studien bygger på är vad leken innebär för eleverna och hur den påverkar elevernas sociala utveckling och hur pedagogerna som arbetar i verksamheten ser på leken samt hur de stöttar eleverna i deras utveckling.En strukturerad kvalitativ intervjumetod och en ostrukturerad observation ligger till grund för studien. Intervjuerna har jag gjort i tre grupper om fyra barn i varje grupp, detta gjorde jag tre gånger med olika barn. Jag intervjuade även fyra pedagoger som arbetar i verksamheten.

The purpose of this study is to find out how four preschool teachers view children?s free playing and its impact on their learning. My main questions are:How do the teachers view the children?s free playing?In what ways does the children?s free playing affect their learning, according to the teachers?This essay is based on a qualitative study in which I have interviewed four female preschool teachers of different ages. I highlight various theories of children?s playing and learning in preschool, by theorists such as Vygotsky, Lillemyr, Knutsdotter Olofsson, Lindqvist, among others.

The purpose of the essay is to draw attention to my approach in relation to a boy I choose to call Emil, and how I can increase my understanding of his behavior. I explore conceivable reasons for why he breaks down so often, especially when other children are given attention. Is he simply unusually egoistic, and to a large degree only able to see to his own interests, or am I overlooking the real reasons for his actions.In order to explain the reasons for Emil?s apparent frustration in sensitive situations, I explore the significance of attachment theory. I argue about possible effects of Emil?s parents? way of describing and guiding him, as well as how I, and my colleagues, risk fulfilling and amplifying negative expectations.As the prime reason for his repeated sense of unhappiness seems linked to a lack of empathy, I explore different ways of understanding this, as well as how I might contribute to fostering compassion.

The purpose of this thesis is to study five pedagogue?s view of the free play and their view of the importance of the free play for children´s learning and development. I have chosen to use a qualitative research method in the form of interviews with five pedagogue´s from a preschool. The main research questions asked were:What have the pedagogues of view on the free play? How important believe the pedagogue that the free play is for children?s learning and development? What has emerged in the study is that educators have a positive view of the free play. They believed that the free play is important for children´s skills.

The intention with this essay is to investigate how the narration of the South Korean film Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Park Chan-wook, 2002) relates to the Hollywood pictures of today. An important change which David Bordwell pays attention to is an intensifying of former stylistic paradigms in what he denominates as intensified continuity. That said, Bordwell and Kristin Thompson are in agreement on that the new films still are predominantly classical. The neoformalistic standpoint which Thompson and Bordwell use appears however to contain some problematic implications.

Declining union memberships are a fact in both Sweden and Finland. At the same time, the autonomous labour market parties and the high membership rates are the most significant factors for the two countries compared to Europe and the rest of the world. These two factors have in turn been developed and strengthened since the beginning of the twentieth century. By autonomous labour market parties I refer to the fact that the labour market parties themselves through collective bargaining are agreeing on the labour market conditions, without interference from the government.This paper is therefore taking it's stance in the question of what happens with the autonomous labour market parties when the membership rates are in decline. With this in mind, this paper describes the judicial development, the collective agreement and labour market structures, the legal consequences of collective agreements and the opportunities of industrial and sympathy action in both Sweden and Finland. The two countries' systems of labour law have caught some negative attention, hence two of the most discussed cases of recent years are given some attention as well. The collective judicial conditions are very similar in both Sweden and Finland regarding the labour market main actors' collaboration, the collective agreement structures and legal consequences and the opportunities of industrial and sympathy action.

The population of asylum seekers puts new challenges on the Swedish health care since their difficulties are complex; having both atraumatic background and a continuing worry about the asylum process.This study aims at investigating how health care professionals working with asylum seekers are affected emotionally using the theoretical concepts of empathy, compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction. Nine qualitative interviews with health care professionals were conducted and the material was analyse dusing thematic analysis. Results were deductively found in thematerial, using the asylum process itself along with the concepts of empathy, compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction as themes. Previous findings regarding empathy and its relations to compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction were confirmed. This was furhter developed in this study through its focus on health care professionals working with asylum seekers..

This essay takes its starting point in the research on digital technology and theories on learning to apply the research on history teaching. The theories on learning from Illeris and Selander are used to find out how the digital technology should be used in upper secondary school, since there is no extensive research on how the new technology should be used in upper secondary school. From that point the essay?s primary goal is to investigate how teachers use digital technology, if they choose a particular study field while working with the technology. Furthermore it investigates whether or not the technology is an appropriate mode of operation when developing abilities such as historical consciousness and historical empathy.

Within the Swedish school and the public library communities it is generally held as a truth that reading of fiction develops the empathic ability of the reader. This opinion is also expressed in political guiding documents for the school system and cultural sector. This paper's main hypothesis is that there is no assembled theoretic ground for the statement that reading of fiction develops the empathic ability. The investigation consists of two parts, the first being theoretical and the second empirical. Definitions of what empathy and reading is, are reviewed in the first part.

The quest to determine if non-human animals have emotional lives similar to man goes a long way back and is yet to result in a clear answer. The aim of this particular literature study is to determine whether or not the African elephant may host feelings of empathy and display altruistic behaviour. In search for an answer to this question, scientists have chosen to first evaluate the cognitive abilities of said species. They have done this through the testing of tool use, mirror self-recognition, memory and the ability to coordinate with another when performing a task etc. It is generally thought, that in order for complex emotion to exist within an individual, cognition, as an awareness of the self and others, must first be present.

The purpose of the study is to examine different situations and behaviors for students diagnosed with AD / HD and see if there are times where their diagnosis will be extra visible. This will ultimately see how and where these children may need support in their daily lives, and about the support they receive is relevant to their needs. Questions I intend to examine: Are there situations for students throughout the school day in which ADHD diagnosis becomes extra visible? If so, what situations? How is the diagnosis in these situations?It is estimated that about 3-6 percent of school children have AD/HD. It causes difficulties with concentration as well as impulse and activity control.

The purpose was to investigate whether using two type of interventions (i.e., Four rooms of change in school and EQ- workshop) in addition to curriculum guidelines can affect character development in children 10-12 years of age. The data was collected using the test Junior Temperament and Character Inventory (J-TCI; Cloninger, CR, 1994) in three elementary schools among students in fifth grade who had been involved in any of the two interventions for the past two years or no intervention at all.The J-TCI scales were used to, besides the seven personality dimension it measures, create a self-constructed empathy scale. A total of 55 participants were included in the study (girls n = 26 and boys n = 29). Statistical testing with MANOVA showed no significant main effect on empathy or any personality trait. There was however an interaction effect between intervention and gender on the character traits.

Empirical research shows that a possible reason why Swedish students mathematical knowledge deteriorates can be a too big focus on imitative reasoning, i.e. recalling solutions or follow algorithms, and a lack of creative mathematical reasoning, i.e. when a student construct his/her own solution and motivates its plausibility with mathematically well-founded arguments. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine if, and in what way, lecturers can provide students an opportunity to learn creative reasoning by simulating creativity in their presentations of examples. Six lectures were observed and 22 task situations were analyzed with respect to three aspects; reflection, plausibility and mathematical foundation, which are to be present in the situation if the reasoning will be seen as simulated creative.

This study examines working teachers? thoughts and views regarding multilingual children in assembly situations. The purpose of the study was to increase my knowledge and understanding surrounding the educators? approach when it comes to integrating multilingual children in common activities. By using semi-structured, qualitative interviews with six working educators in three different pre-schools, I examined their thoughts and approaches to working with multilingual children in assembly situations.