The aim of this study was to provide an in-depth understanding of how a single private provider conducted an application for re-accreditation in line with the recently revised accreditation framework set out by the Council on Higher Education. This framework aims to promote an integrated approach to accreditation and increased autonomy for higher education institutions with regard to the reaccreditation of programmes. The research unpacked how accreditation was understood and applied within the context of the institution, placing emphasis on understanding the elements that promoted or inhibited quality as well as the tensions and contradictions that arose within this process. The driving question addressed by this research was: How does management within a South African private higher education institution engage with the re-accreditation process? Literature revealed that there is limited research on understanding quality assurance in private higher education in South Africa, and specifically on accreditation. Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) was considered the most effective lens to interpret the findings of this study, as research indicates that it is for teasing out the historical and cultural contradictions within as well as between people, tools and the environment within complex educational systems. Multiple data-gathering techniques, including semi-structured in-depth interviews, participant observations and documentation reviews, were conducted. The findings of this study illuminate the critical role of management and their respective interpretations of quality in the shaping of the application for re-accreditation, that balanced quality development and accountability requirements. The study highlighted contradictions and issues that inhibited meaningful engagement with accreditation as well as the enhancement of programme and institutional quality.

In the last decade, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are increasingly used as models for teachers’ joint efforts in developing their teaching. The overall aim of this licentiate thesis is to expand the knowledge of PLCs in mathematics, by deepening the understanding of aspects that influence the establishment, organization, and implementation of PLCs in mathematics. Specifically, the aim is to contribute with an overview of how PLCs in mathematics are organized and framed, and also to explain what may enable and hinder PLCs in mathematics. To fulfill the purpose, two studies are conducted where Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) is used as a conceptual and analytical framework. In the first study, previous research of PLCs in mathematics are synthesized through a configurative literature review, resulting in a description of how PLCs in mathematics are organized and framed. In the study, similarities, and differences between different models of PLCs in mathematics are examined regarding subjects, objects, mediating artifacts, rules, community, division of labor and outcomes. The result shows three different activity systems, with different objects or motives for implementing the PLCs. The activity systems vary concerning the use of mediating artifacts, and what norms regulate the activity system, but are similar regarding participants, context, and division of labor. In the second study, contradictions, and their manifestations in PLCs in mathematics are analyzed. Contradictions may enable or hinder the work of PLCs depending on whether they are identified or not. Contradictions, and their manifestations, are in the study examined through interviews with teacher leader coaches with experience in coaching teacher leaders of PLCs in mathematics. In the study, four contradictions, in and between activity systems, are identified. These four contradictions are manifested through 26 conflicts and dilemmas. The identified contradictions are connected to the norms and traditions that are part of mathematics as a discipline as well as the teacher profession. Taken together, the result of the two studies can be useful in establishing, organizing, and implementing future PLC endeavors. / Kollegialt lärande har det senaste decenniet blivit väletablerat i skolans värld som modell för lärargemensam undervisningsutveckling. Det övergripande syftet med den här licentiatavhandlingen är öka kunskapen om kollegialt lärande i matematik genom att fördjupa förståelsen för aspekter som kan påverka etablering, organisering och genomförande av kollegialtl ärande i matematik. Mer specifikt är syftet att bidra med en kunskapsöversikt över hur kollegialt lärande i matematik kan organiseras och inramas, samt att hitta möjliga förklaringar till vad som möjliggör och vad som hindrar kollegialt lärande i matematik. Detta görs genom två studier där verksamhetsteori använts för att konceptualisera och analysera kollegialtl ärande. I den första studien sammanställs tidigare publicerade studier om kollegialt lärande i matematik i en konfigurativ litteraturstudie, vilket resulterar i en kunskapsöversikt över hur kollegialt lärande i matematik kan organiseras och inramas. I studien analyseras likheter och skillnader mellan olika metoder för kollegialt lärande i matematik med avseende på de verksamhetsteoretiska begreppen subjekt, objekt, medierande artefakter, regler, gemenskap, arbetsdelning och utfall. Tre olika objekt, det vill säga motiv för att genomföra kollegialt lärande, identifieras som konstituerar tre olika verksamhetssystem, där objekt, normer och medierande artefakter skiljer sig åt. Subjekt, arbetsdelning och gemenskap är lika mellan de tre verksamhetssystemen. I den andra studien analyseras vilka motsättningar, det vill säga oförenligheter, som manifesteras i kollegiala lärgrupper i matematik. Motsättningar kan hindra eller möjliggöra kollegialt lärande beroende på om de identifieras eller inte. Motsättningar och deras manifesteringar har studerats genom att lärledarcoacher, som coachat lärledare för kollegialt lärande i matematik, intervjuas. I studien identifieras fyra motsättningar inom och mellan verksamhetssystem, manifesterade genom 26 konflikter och dilemman. De identifierade motsättningarna är sprungna ur matematikämnets och läraryrkets traditioner och normer. De två studiernas resultat sammantaget kan vara användbart vid organisering och genomförande av framtida kollegiala lärprojekt.

Orientador: Rodolfo Langhi / Resumo: O atual crescimento das pesquisas envolvendo o ensino de Astronomia não se reflete na Educação Infantil, ignorando a necessidade de um ensino sistematizado nesta etapa escolar. Partindo do método materialista histórico-dialético são necessárias pesquisas que se debrucem sobre esse objeto a fim de superar as aparências e sanar esta problemática apresentada no ensino dessa etapa escolar. Logo, o trabalho se estrutura de forma a responder a seguinte questão: é possível ensinar Astronomia Observacional na escola de Educação Infantil, visando propiciar o desenvolvimento infantil no processo de ensino e aprendizagem? Assim, partindo das teorias críticas pedagogia histórico-crítica e psicologia histórico-cultural, buscou-se organizar um experimento didático que trabalhe o ensino do conceito de constelação para uma turma da Educação Infantil, se organizando a partir do conteúdo-sujeito. Isto possibilitou olhar para a construção do conceito em seu formato histórico contextual, expondo o movimento e constituição daquilo que se compreende historicamente como o conceito de constelação, apresentando um sistema conceitual de tal conteúdo que contemple então a unidade fundamental deste, compreendido aqui como observação celeste. Quanto à questão do desenvolvimento humano, da criança em idade pré-escolar, verificou-se as atividades dominantes e acessórias que guiam o desenvolvimento humano, fundamentado a partir da psicologia histórico-cultural, objetivando a periodização do pensamento e da ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Therefore, the work is structured to answer the following question: Is it possible to teach Observational Astronomy in the preschool, aiming to provide child development in the teaching and learning process? Thus, starting from critical theories, which are: historical-critical pedagogy and historical-cultural psychology; The aim was to organize a didactic experiment that worked on the teaching of the concept of constellation for a kindergarten class, organized from the subject-content. This allowed us to look at the construction of the concept in its contextual historical format, exposing the movement and constitution of what is historically understood as the concept of constellation, presenting a conceptual system of such content; and for the dominant and accessory activities that guide human development, based on historical-cultural psychology, with studies on the periodization of human development, preschool age children, and the stages of thought; expressing them in a didactic experiment that sought to relate the assumed content to the preschool age child, which was elaborated following philosophical ideas of historical-critical pedagogy. Therefore, the place where this research sought to manifest was in the didactic experiment, where we propose actions as possibilities for the teaching of Astronomy in Early Childhood Education. Thus, this research aimed to develop a didactic experiment that considers the subject content, developing such an experiment in a class of Infant... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Skogsbränderna har en stor betydelse för den biologiska mångfalden. Det brandpåverkade landskapet och dess dynamik skapar viktiga substrat och livsmiljöer för många pyrofila arter. På grund av att skogsbränderna har minskat i antal sedan 1800-talet, har kontrollerade naturvårdsbränningar utförts som ett komplement för dessa sedan 1980-talet. De kontrollerade naturvårdsbränningarna skapar de miljöer och substrat som många arter är beroende av. Eftersom tidigare mänsklig verksamhet satt prägel på skogarna återfinns idag ett stort antal fornlämningar och övriga kulturhistoriska lämningar i skogsmarkerna. Det är en utmaning att utföra naturvårdsbränningarna så att dessa lämningar inte skadas. Det råder också en brist på tydliga riktlinjer om hur Länsstyrelserna ska förhålla sig till naturvårdsbränningar i områden med lämningar. Denna studies syfte var att undersöka vilken inställning Länsstyrelserna har till naturvårdsbränningar i områden med fornlämningar eller övriga kulturhistoriska lämningar. Nyckelord: Naturvårdsbränningar, fornlämningar, övriga kulturhistoriska lämningar, Länsstyrelsen Keyword: Prescribed burnings, ancient remains, other cultural-historical remains, County Administrative Boards

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This Bachelor’s Thesis discusses the Swedish artist and photographer Birger Gabriel Sjöberg. He was born in Varberg, Sweden in the year of 1835 and died 40 years later, in the year of 1875. During his short-lived life he accomplished creating both paintings and photographs connected to his hometown. These are now of value by culture-historical means. By answering question formulations regarding his living, education and esthetic production, the main purpose is to give a synoptic presentation of both his life and work. Since Sjöberg is not a part of the widely known context of art history, the thesis also strives to bring a light to a mostly unknown and unwritten artist. This study contains of two main parts, one biographical part, and one iconological part were a chosen number of his paintings and photographs are discussed. Throughout the iconological part, the works are analysed by means of Heinrich Wölfflin’s Principles of Art History. The introducing of the works is to give an overall apprehension about what he achieved concerning his creating in both work and private life.

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In this current study, discussions were conducted in three focus groups with preschool teachers. In each focus group, two preschool teachers from two municipal preschools in a medium-sized city participated. The purpose of the research was to create a basic knowledge of how rough-and-tumble play (R&T) are perceived, interpreted and handled by preschool teachers. The cultural-historical theory of Vygotsky is used as a theoretical basis for this study. The results show that among preschool teachers there is a tendency to allow this kind of play in a limited form. The results also highlight the preschool teachers' insecurity in relation to children's rough-and-tumble plays. That uncertainty can take place because R&T games require a balance between being allowed, restricted and forbidden during a game. Furthermore, preschool teachers' awareness of the connection between their experiences and the approaches described about R&T plays are demonstrated. A lack of preschool teachers' consensus on R&T games also emerged in the study. / I den aktuella studien genomfördes diskussioner i tre fokusgrupper med förskollärare. I varje fokusgrupp deltog två förskollärare från två kommunala förskolor i en mellanstor stad. Forskningssyftet var att skapa en grundläggande kunskap om hur bråklekar uppfattas, tolkas och hanteras av förskollärare. Den kulturhistoriska teorin av Vygotskij användes som en teoretisk grund för den här studien. Resultatet visar att det bland förskollärare finns en tendens att tillåta bråklekar i en begränsad form. I resultatet lyfts även förskollärares osäkerhet gentemot barns bråklekar. Den osäkerheten kan uppkomma eftersom bråklekar kräver en balans mellan att vara tillåten, begränsad och förbjuden under en lek. Vidare påvisas förskollärares medvetenhet om en koppling mellan deras erfarenheter och de föreställningar som beskrivs kring bråklekar. En brist på förskollärares samsyn kring bråklekar framkom i studien.

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