The diploma thesis deals with the issue of social-emotional climate in the elementary school class whose pupil is a child with special educational needs. The theoretical part focuses on the development of relationships among the people who influence the classroom climate and on creating a favourable classroom climate with all its positive features. It discusses disruptions of the classroom climate by a pupil with special educational needs and thus also the related competencies of the teacher in charge of the classroom climate and possible ways of diagnosis, intervention and support options. In the practical part, ten teachers from two selected elementary schools provide their insight on the degree of influence the pupils with special educational needs who attend their class have on the classroom climate. The aim of the research was to find out whether the classroom climate is significantly influenced by the presence of a pupil with special educational needs and if it raises the need for special care of the classroom climate. Semi- structured interviews with teachers have revealed that in order to achieve educational goals, it is necessary to create a favourable classroom climate and to maintain or improve it according to the teacher's knowledge and experience, including the possibility of...

Precis The diploma paper is concentrated on the subject of a school class climate and the related occurrence of bullying in various types of primary schools. Its theoretical part deals with the description and definition of the main topics: the classroom climate and the bullying in classroom. At the same time it focuses on the description of a student, teacher and their relationship; description of the display and prevention of bullying and last but not least it presents the conception of an alternative school. The practical part deals with research among the students as well as the teachers, with the goal to find out what the climate in the classroom is, to which degree bullying occurs, how much is education about abuse and bullying emphasised and what is the relationship between a student and a teacher. It simultaneously compares the unanimity of views between the student and the teacher on the given topic. In order to gain the needed data, students were given a questionnaire and a semi-standardised interview was carried out with the teachers.

The diploma thesis is based on the presentation of adaptation courses as a specific form of primary prevention of bullying in a school class. The thesis concerns with the adaptation courses methodology of Agentura Wenku s. r. o. These courses emphasize cranking of processes which are essential for healthy functioning of the school class. The positive climate which is created during the courses help to minimalize the appearance of risk behaviour such as bullying. The first part of the thesis introduces bullying in the school environment, forms of its prevention and the importance of positive social climate in a school class for functioning of prevention programmes such as adaptation course. The methodology created by Agentura Wenku s. r. o. is described in detail in the second part of the thesis. The thesis describes didactic process and specific games which are used by the agency in its programme including Zpětné vazby (feedback) - a reflexive method which differs the adaptations courses of Agentura Wenku s. r. o. programmes from other courses offered by competing agencies. The last part analyses the results of a brief survey of the attitude of teachers concerning the discussed topic. KEYWORDS adaptation event, bullying, prevention, adaptation, risk behaviour, classroom climate, teambuilding

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The aim of this dissertation is to increase understanding of being a pupil in a remedial class. The thesis is based on interviews, questionnaires, and observations and includes parents, teachers, and pupils in ten remedial classes. Fifty-five percent of the studied pupils had no specific diagnosis. The thesis is based on five articles emanating from the interdisciplinary BASTA project (Basic skills, social interaction and training of the working memory). Article I focuses on self-concept, with a rating scale completed by the children. In Article II ethical issues related to the methodology of interviewing children are stressed. Article III focuses on teaching children in remedial classes, and is based on questionnaires completed by teachers and parents. Article IV is based on interviews with pupils. Article V is based on interviews with teachers and on classroom observations, and highlights the classroom climate. The theoretical approach used is a sociocultural perspective. From this perspective, learning is seen as becoming involved in different discourses, where interaction is seen as part of learning and development. The results of the thesis show that the pupils become bearers of the school’s perspective and blame the referral to remedial class on shortcomings in themselves. In transferring to the remedial class the pupils can lose their friends. Factors that reinforce this construction are the structured teaching and organisation of the classroom. These may hinder the pupils both in terms of friendship and of learning of subject knowledge. The main result is, however, that what the pupils in remedial classes primarily learn is to be pupils in remedial classes.

The diploma thesis is focused on development of cooperative skills within one selected class of elementary school, which lead to improved climate class. To meet the objektive of choosing tools drama education, its methods and exercises. The thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part is based on psychological content, it characterized by cooperation, it deals with the cooperative learning and the role of the teacher. It justifies need to develop cooperation between pupils. The drama in education discussed in conjunction with cooperation and describes its methods and exercises. The practical part is used quality research for monitoring, analyzing, implementing and reflecting cooperation in third grade of elementary schools. This thesis seeks to use dramatic methods as tools for the development of cooperative skills of pupils.

The prevalence of the English language has enhanced the importance of both understanding and being able to communicate in English in different manners, such as orally. As this has become an important skill to master in school, it was of interest to research upper secondary school teachers’ beliefs and experiences concerning what constitutes pedagogically effective oral production assignments in the classroom, how the participating teachers work to reduce students’ anxiousness towards oral production in English, and how they plan and work towards a classroom climate that enhances students’ motivation towards oral production. It also becomes of interest to compare previous research and concepts to see whether misconceptions and mismatches exist and potentially suggest implications for professional development. To understand teachers’ experiences and beliefs, a qualitative semi-structured study was conducted with five English teachers. The results showed a variety of strategies that the teachers found effective, but one similarity for three out of five teachers was strategies where students work in groups. Regarding how the teachers work to reduce anxiety towards oral production, the results showed that four out of five teachers mentioned that small group tasks reduce anxiety. As to how the teachers plan and work towards a motivating classroom climate, four out of five teachers used strategies that took students’ interest, personal engagement, and/or students’ enjoyment into consideration when aiming for a motivating classroom climate. To research teacher cognition is important since teachers’ beliefs might affect what they do in the classroom and therefore affect students learning experience.

Syftet med denna studie var att utveckla kunskapen om skickliga lärares ledarskap i förhållande till elevers utmanande beteende. Studien genomfördes med sju lärare som arbetade i sju olika skolor. Frågorna som undersöktes var hur skickliga lärare agerar för att utveckla lärandet hos elever med utmanande beteende och hur skickliga lärare beskrev sitt stöd till elever med utmanande beteende. Dessa frågor undersöktes genom strukturerad observation och efterföljande intervju. I den strukturerade observationen användes ett observationsprotokoll inspirerat av CLASS. CLASS bygger på begreppsapparaten Teaching Through Interactions (TTI), en teori om hur lärare interagerar med elever och hur det främjar lärande. TTI består av de tre domänerna Emotionellt stöd, Klassrumsorganisering och Lärandestöd. TTI användes även tillsammans med KASAM (Känsla av samhörighet) som teori i analysen av resultatet. Studien visade att stödet för lärandet till eleverna löpte genom alla tre domäner inom TTI med betoning på Emotionellt stöd och Klassrumsorganisering. Det innebar att lärarna arbetade för att det skulle vara lugnt i klassrummet innan eleverna kunde lära sig men att de därmed inte nådde fram till den nivå av metakognition och högre tänkande som Lärandestöd till stor del står för. Framtida studier kan inriktas på att studera hur arbetet med att utveckla utmanande elevers lärande kan ske genom det didaktiska ledarskapet och Lärande stöd i stället för att börja med Emotionellt stöd och Klassrumsorganisering. / The aim of this study was to develop the knowledge of skilled teachers' leadership in relation to students' challenging behavior. The study was conducted with seven teachers who worked in seven different schools. The questions investigated were how skilled teachers act to develop the learning of students with challenging behavior and how skilled teachers described their support for students with challenging behavior. These questions were investigated through structured observation and subsequent interview. In the structured observation, an observation protocol inspired by CLASS was used. CLASS is based on the concept Teaching Through Interactions (TTI), a theory about how teachers interact with students and how it promotes learning. The TTI consists of the three domains Emotional Support, Classroom Organization and Learning Support. TTI was also used together with KASAM (Sense of belonging) as a theory in the analysis of the results. The study showed that support for students learning was evident in all three domains within TTI with an emphasis on Emotional Support and Classroom Organization. This meant that the teachers worked to make the classroom quiet before the students could learn, but that they did not reach the level of meta-cognition and higher thinking that Learning Support largely stands for.Future studies can be focused on studying how the work of developing challenging students' learning can be done through didactic leadership and Learning support instead of starting with Emotional support and Classroom Organization.

The primary purpose of study is to identify predictors of willingness to communicate (WTC) and of actual frequency of English communication at work inside and outside the foreign language classroom among 439 university students (male = 226, female = 213) learning English in Japan. Based on Wen and Clément’s (2003) theory of L2 WTC, I replicated Peng and Woodrow’s (2010) structural path model using the variables of state L2 communicative confidence, L2 learning motivation, positive classroom climate, L2 WTC, with the newly added variable of actual speaking frequency. A hypothesized structural model was examined in two contexts, WTC inside the classroom and WTC outside the classroom. Inside the classroom, communicative confidence was the predictor of L2 WTC. L2 WTC and L2 learning motivation were predictors of actual frequency of L2 communication. Positive classroom climate was a mediating variable that indirectly predicted L2 WTC through state L2 communicative confidence and task motivation. In contrast, outside the classroom, state L2 communicative confidence, L2 learning motivation, and positive classroom climate were the predictors of L2 WTC. State L2 communicative confidence, task motivation, and positive classroom climate were the predictors of actual frequency of L2 communication. The results supported Wen and Clément’s (2003) model and Peng and Woodrow’s (2010) study. Second, Dӧrnyei and Kormos’ (2000) study was replicated to investigate a significant difference for the four types of the students’ speaking behavior between pretest and posttest. A repeated-measures ANOVA was performed for English turns, Japanese turns, English words, and interjections with 13 students (male = 8 and female = 5) aged 18-19. The 13 participants were part of those who completed the first questionnaire. There were no significant differences for the four dependent variables. Finally, a qualitative content analysis was performed using transcribed interview data with nine university students (6 male and 3 female students), who completed the first questionnaire. Ten variables emerged from the interviews. Four variables—teacher support, group cohesiveness, L2 learning motivation, and perceived communicative competence—supported both quantitative (Peng & Woodrow, 2010) and qualitative studies (Cao, 2011; Peng, 2007, 2012). Four additional variables—security of speaking, interlocutors, small group, and topic familiarity—supported qualitative studies by Cao (2011) and Kang (2005). The other two variables—point system and tests—were new variables identified in this study. Positive classroom climate and task motivation (Dӧrnyei & Kormos, 2000) were key variables influencing state L2 communicative confidence, L2 WTC, and L2 Use. As a result, I propose that task motivation and positive classroom climate should be added into MacIntyre et al.’s (1998) L2 WTC model. / Teaching & Learning

Abstract The aim of the essay is to investigate how two teachers in grades 4–6 work with reading comprehension in their teaching in order to enable the pupils’ reading development. The methods used in the study are questionnaires and observations which were then subjected to qualitative analysis. The result shows that both teachers use various strategies to facilitate the pupils’ development in reading comprehension. The empirical data revealed the teachers’ opinion that reading comprehension is about moving freely between different reading comprehension strategies so that the pupils can own their own learning. Judging by the observations, the classroom climate and the teacher’s competence are of great importance for the pupils’ learning.