The aim of the thesis is to investigate and analyse students’ expressions of pleasure and displeasure and how these are manifested in actions in the teaching of textile sloyd in lower secondary education. The study’s focus is on students’ expressions of pleasure and displeasure in social action in the working processes of textile sloyd and on how these expressions can be related to learning. The empirical material consists of observations, video and audio recordings, individual interviews and focus group interviews, where video and audio recordings were used as stimulated recall. In all, 32 lessons in textile sloyd and 49 students aged 14-15 years were observed at four different schools. Theoretically, the thesis is based on Mead’s practical intersubjectivity and on Dewey’s theory of experience-based learning and dependence on emotions and actions. Pleasure and displeasure constitute valuating partial aspects of emotions. Based on a socio-cultural perspective, emotions are regarded as practices which arise from different predispositions’ dependence on the social context. The study’s analytical approach is hermeneutical. Critical incidents regarding students’ expressions of pleasure and displeasure in social action found in observations and video and audio recordings were analysed in terms of Mead’s concept of gestures. The events were combined with what the students describe as critical incidents of pleasure and displeasure in the interviews and focus group talks. The material was then thematised. Several situations were then subjected to deeper analysis based on sociality and a change in perspective and related to different concepts of learning. The result of the thesis shows a tripartite semantic structure where students’ pleasure and displeasure in textile sloyd are mainly based on textile sloyd’s specific educational community, students’ relationship to the sloyd object and their experience of the working process. Social interaction, humour and mutual acknowledgement proved to be of importance for the function of pleasure and displeasure in the students’ working processes. The students’ experience of pleasure and displeasure depended on their control of the work, the characteristics of different craft techniques and their awareness of time. Pleasure and displeasure in textile sloyd found an expression in four overarching emotional practices with decisive importance for the students’ opportunities for learning: the repudiating, insecure, accepting and incorporating emotional practice. The study also provides an insight into how different cultural factors enable a certain scope for pleasure and displeasure. In this connection, social changes in relation to objects are discussed, as are changes in sociality and emotionality. Based on the pair of concepts of authenticity and ephemerality and closeness and intensity, cultural changes are visualised that are conceivably important for the students’ experiences of pleasure and displeasure in textile sloyd.

Avhandlingens övergripande syfte var att undersöka bildterapins möjlighet att bidra till inre förändring och förbättrad hälsa hos individen. Med inre förändring avses en strukturell och varaktig förändring som sker på ett psykologiskt djupare plan, till skillnad mot en yttre och mer tillfällig förändring. Den bildterapeutiska behandlingen bygger på en kombination av bildskapande och olika grad av reflekterande, bearbetande samtal. En triangulär relation, patient – bild – terapeut, är det som på ett avgörande sätt skiljer bildterapi från andra verbala behandlingsmetoder. Avhandlingens design var främst kvalitativ, med undantag för delstudie I som var en review. I delstudie I granskades studier om bildterapi för tre olika patientgrupper. En kvalitetsbedömning genomfördes med två olika system för evidens. I delstudie II djupintervjuades kvinnor om upplevelser av inre förändring och om den visat sig i utvalda målade bilder. Intervjuerna analyserades med deduktiv och induktiv innehållsanalys. I delstudie III ställdes via e-post två öppna enkätfrågor till bildterapeuter om vad de uppfattade som en inre förändring hos patienten. Data analyserades med tematisk analys. I delstudie IV genomfördes en sekundäranalys av intervjuerna från delstudie II. Utifrån ett teoretiskt perspektiv undersöktes förekomst av vitalitetsaffekter och grundaffekter samt deras betydelse för inre förändring. En deduktiv innehållsanalys genomfördes. I avhandlingen beskrivs inre förändring och förbättrad hälsa ur tre olika perspektiv; en grupp kvinnliga patienters upplevelser, en grupp bildterapeuters uppfattningar samt ur ett teoretiskt perspektiv. Resultatet visar att bildterapi kan bidra till en varaktig inre förändring som innebär identitetsförändring, förändrat beteende och förbättrad hälsa. Kvinnor som inte upplevt en inre förändring fann att bildterapin var ett stöd i vardagen. Existentiella frågor om meningen med livet var centrala både i kvinnornas och i bildterapeuternas utsagor. Resultatet visar att den terapeutiska alliansen och förmågan att utveckla en reflektiv distans till bilden är avgörande för om en individuell inre förändring är möjlig. Vidare är det viktigt med ett utforskande förhållningssätt och samtal om bildens betydelse för att en inre förändring skall kunna ske. En bildterapeutisk förändringsprocess innehåller vitalitetsaffekter och grundaffekter. Den leder till ökad insikt och medvetenhet om känslor. Den förbättrar självbilden, ökar autenticitet och autonomi, samt ger vidgade perspektiv. Avhandlingen bidrar till ökad kunskap om inre förändring och förbättrad hälsa genom behandling med bildterapi. Genom att beskriva och visa på att inre förändringar sker, beskriva vad i terapin som upplevs och bedöms som en inre förändring och att bekräfta inre förändring utifrån bakomliggande teorier, kan avhandlingen bidra till att avmystifiera den konstnärsmyt som ofta omger bildterapin och göra den mer förklarbar. Avhandlingen kan bidra till förbättrad kommunikationen mellan bildterapeuter och vårdgivare avseende metodens möjligheter och begränsningar. Vården kan därigenom överväga att använda bildterapi både som ett komplement eller ett alternativ till annan behandling. / The overall aim of the dissertation was to investigate the ability of art therapy to contribute to inner change and improved health in the individual. Inner change refers to a structural and lasting change that occurs on a psychologically deeper level, as opposed to an external and more temporary change. Art therapy treatment is based on a combination of image creation and a different degree of reflective, processing dialogue. Art therapy is distinguished from other verbal therapies by a triangular relationship, patient – image – art therapist. The thesis design was primarily qualitative, except for study I, which was a review. Study I involved examination of studies of art therapy for three different patient groups. A quality assessment was carried out using two different evidence systems. In study II, interviews were carried out with women about their experiences of inner change and whether these were exhibited in selected painted images. The interviews were analysed using deductive and inductive content analysis. In study III, two open questions were sent to art therapists about what they perceived as an inner change in the patient. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. Study IV entailed a secondary analysis of the interviews from study II. Based on a theoretical perspective, the occurrence of vitality affects and basic affects and their importance for inner change were investigated. A deductive content analysis was conducted. This thesis describes inner change and improved health from three different perspectives: a group of female patients, a group of art therapists and a theoretical perspective. The results show that art therapy can contribute to a lasting inner change that involves identity change, changed behavior and improved health. Women who did not experience an inner change found that art therapy provided support in everyday life. Existential questions about the meaning of life were central to both the women's and the art therapists’ statements. The results show that therapeutic alliance, attachment and the ability to develop a reflective distance to the image is crucial to whether an individual inner change is possible. Furthermore, an exploratory approach and reflective dialogue about the importance of the image is important for an internal change to occur. An art therapeutic process of change contains vitality affects and basic affects. It leads to increased insight and awareness of feelings. It improves self-esteem, increases authenticity and autonomy, and provides widening perspectives. The thesis contributes to increased knowledge of inner change and improved health through treatment with art therapy. By showing that inner change occurs, describing what, is experienced and perceived as inner change, and by confirming inner change by theories, the thesis may demystify the myth of artistry that often surrounds art therapy and make it clearer. The thesis may contribute to improved communication between art therapists and caregivers with regard to the method’s possibilities and limitations. Caregivers can therefore consider using art therapy as a complement or as an alternative to other treatments.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka erfarenheterna, hos föräldrar till barn med diagnos inom autismspektrum, av att delta i föräldrastödsmodellen Samspel i fokus, personalens erfarenheter av arbetet samt om och i vilken utsträckning det finns en överensstämmelse mellan föräldrarnas och personalens erfarenheter. En kvalitativ retrospektiv ansats har använts där åtta föräldrar till fem barn intervjuats tre till fyra år efter att de deltog. Intervjuer genomfördes även med samtliga tre personer som arbetar i verksamheten. Uppföljande filmade samspelssituationer mellan föräldrar och barn samt en träff för återföring genomfördes av personalen efter att föräldrarna intervjuats. Personalens erfarenheter av de uppföljande filminterventionerna undersöktes via gruppsamtal och föräldrarnas via telefonsamtal. Resultatet visar att föräldrarna upplevt att deltagande i Samspel i fokus bidragit till att de fått ökad förståelse för hur de kan bidra till barnets samspelsutveckling och några av dem menar att det inneburit ett genombrott i möjligheten till kontakt med barnet. Föräldrarnas erfarenheter av deltagande visar att de upplevt att personalen bidragit till att synliggöra barnets utvecklingspotential där möjligheten till ögonkontakt framstår som särskilt betydelsefullt. I föräldrarnas berättelser framkommer vidare att de upplevt att personalen förmedlat en tilltro till deras förmåga som samspelstödjare, vilket de även fått bekräftelse på via bilden som verktyg. Resultatet av intervjuerna med personalen visar en tydlig teoretisk medvetenhet och samsyn gällande föräldrastödsmodellens innehåll, vilken överensstämmer med hur föräldrarna beskriver sina erfarenheter av deltagande. De uppföljande filminterventionerna visar enligt personalen, förutom betydande framsteg hos barnen avseende deras samspelförmåga, att föräldrarna tydligt tagit till sig bärande idéer som de arbetat med under tiden i Samspel i fokus. Slutligen framkommer att föräldrarna upplevt den uppföljande filminterventionen som värdefull, genom att den på ett konkret sätt visat hur de kan hjälpa barnet vidare i sin utveckling samt att de fått bekräftelse på sin föräldraförmåga. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the parents of children with autism spectrum disorder experience of participating in the parent support model Interaction in focus and the staff´s experience working with children and parents. The purpose was also to investigate whether and to what extent there is a consensus between parent´s and staff's perception of the content. Through a qualitative retrospective design, eight parents of five children were interviewed, three to four years after they participated in the intervention. Interviews were also conducted with all three working in the team. A follow-up film intervention, of interaction situations between parents and children, was carried out by staff after the parents were interviewed. Staff's experiences of the follow-up film interventions were investigated through group interviews and parents through telephone interviews. The result shows that the parents felt that participation in the support model, Interaction in focus, contributed to greater understanding of how they can support the child's interaction development and some of them experienced that it was a breakthrough in the possibility of contact with the child. Parents' experiences of participation, shows that they felt that the staff helped to make visible the child's development where the possibility of eye contact, are particularly important. In parents' stories reveals further that they felt that the staff conveyed a belief in their ability to support the child´s interaction development, which they also received confirmation via the visual image as a tool. The result of the interviews with the staff shows a clear theoretical consciousness and consensus regarding the intervention content which is consistent with how parents describe their experiences of participation. The follow-up films shows, according to the staff, in addition to significant progress in the children regarding their interaction skills, the parents clearly embraced the fundamental ideas as they worked on during Interaction in focus. Finally, it appears that parents experienced the follow-up film intervention as valuable, though it in a concrete way gave keys how to help the child progress in their development, and that they received confirmation of their parenting skills.

The study explores the meaning of knowing how to reason about justice in civics in upper secondary school. This is examined through the analysis of students’ conceptions of justice, and of their conceptions of civic reasoning about justice. It is also examined through the analysis of civic education practise. In the study, teaching was designed using Variation Theory and the theory of intersubjectivity in Activity Theory, and examined and evaluated in three Learning Studies. The empirical material consists of filmed and transcribed research lessons and interviews, as well as of written pre- and post-tests. The material was first analysed using phenomenography, and then analysed using content-oriented conversation analysis. Students’ conceptions of justice were found to move between the conception of justice as (A) a universal value, (B) a personal value or (C) a value of principle. Students’ conceptions of civic reasoning about justice were found to move between three conceptions: (a) reporting about justice, (b) analysing causes of different perspectives on justice or (c) critical reasoning about principles of justice. The critical aspects of knowing how to reason about justice in civics that students needed to discern were the relativity of justice, the basis for arguments for principles of justice and the analysing as well as the criticizing aspects of reasoning. The subject-knowledge that the teachers expressed in their teaching was one condition of the practise of civics that was found to be of importance for the students’ learning. Others were the assumed purpose of the practise of civics and a genuine need for the intended knowledge in the practice. Communicative actions that seem to facilitate these conditions are real learning tasks and a subject-specific language and variation of critical aspects as mediating tools. The findings are discussed in relation to theories of justice in political science and to the practise of civics education.

For phenomenology, subjective experience is essential, as is the relationship with the other. But despite these central themes, the relationship between bodies is not primary focus. Philosophical understanding of bodily encounter is lacking. It is for this reason I have put Maurice Merleau-Ponty in dialogue with psychoanalyst and paediatrician Donald Winnicott who claims that the meeting between bodies is vital. Merleau-Ponty talks about the body's relationship with the other based on an intentional act of the subject. How the body comes into being with the world. Winnicott talks about the subject as continually developing through the interaction of bodies where the intention is expressed somewhat differently. He argues that it ́s not always the child's intention that matters. Winnicott also claims that my own body has not always had the experience of being a separate body. There is a phase in development where the child is a subjectobject as he puts it. With no border between the other. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the formation of subjectivity. The thesis contribution is a complement to philosophical understanding of subject-construction with the desire to point toward the responsibility of the body who has come further in life.

Through my own professional experience, the essay explores how place may have significance for exercising practical knowledge. It also sheds light on the conditions and qualities surrounding my, as therapist, presence in interpersonal meetings, as well as perspectives in relation to meetings around life issues. Of special notice is place as nature and garden. With support in stories as representations and in dialogue with philosophers, several different perspectives and analyses are shown about the place's importance for the pursuit of practical knowledge. The drive of the research is supported by three themes, place, body, meeting. They lead the survey forward in dialogue with Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Martin Buber preferably together with geography professor, Edward Relph and researchers and writers within the fields of practical knowledge and naturebased interventions. The essay uncovers a complex area of understanding. It puts emphasis on the relationship between us as humans and our environment. In this relationship, place is of importance to practical knowledge. Interplay and movement between different approaches emerges as a common denominator.

The overall aim of the Educational Process Reflection (EPR) studies has been to develop a better understanding concerning interaction between adults and children and the conditions for children’s peer play and interaction within the pre-school arena. The ultimate goal of the present study is to explore how practitioners through the use of EPR may develop the dimension of social interaction between practitioners and children and between children, in order to consciously create a more healthy and inclusive experience for all children and especially for children at risk. The study is based on a hermeneutic and a socio cultural perspective and a combination of activity theory and object relation theory. The methodology draws on activity theory and Yrjö Engeström’s (1987) development work research and specifically a more elaborated version of learning activity termed Educational Process Reflection, which is a model for professional development created in the previous EPR-studies presented in Bygdeson-Larsson (2005a; b; 2006). It builds on practitioners´ observations of peer play interactions and practitioners retold experiences of interaction with the children. The model consists of an oscillation between EPR-sessions and pre-school practice. The results of the study are presented in a narrative way and show how changes in pre-school grow out of collaborative reflection combined with new theoretical perspectives. The practitioners´ competence or professionalism concerning the interactive dimension was improved and individual children at risk got new and better conditions for being included in positive peer play and interaction experiences. The pre-school turned out to become a resilient environment for children in peer play and interactive difficulties. The main results illuminate and give an understanding of how practitioners´ ways of working with children in peer play problems or special needs turned out to become more resilient and how children got better possibilities to be included in positive ways. It also enhances the understanding of how the processes in peer play situations changed for the better for other children and how the whole climate in the pre-school also seemed to change and become more inclusive. Overall the results of this study bring about an enhanced understanding of the complexity of the pre-school seen as an activity system and the need for new tools concerning interactive processes. This study implicates that pre-school practitioners own investigation and reflection of interactive processes in pre-school is essential, and may well be used before applying a categorising or diagnostic approach concerning children in special needs. This study has implications for professional development, researcher-practitioner co-operation and consultative activities concerning pre-schools and children. The present study implies that all these activities have an advantage of taking the dynamics of the pre-school as an activity system into account before focusing on practitioners or children as individuals.