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The aim of this master thesis is to describe specifics of social relationships in schools with multi-age classrooms and to discover differences from schools with single grade classrooms. In particular to understand the enviroment, the relationships among pupils, the functioning, the history of multi-age classroom and its advantages and disadvantages.

The purpose of the research documented in this thesis is to investigate how one particular approach to groupings in one primary school, commonly referred to as multi-age, enables and constrains the practices and actions of its individual teachers. This study is located in a literature that examines the potential that beliefs and belief systems offer for understanding how teachers make sense of, and respond to particular educational contexts. It will be of particular interest to the community of scholars who are investigating the uptake of curriculum innovations in the classrooms of individual practitioners. The philosophical framework underpinning multi-age schooling is significantly different from that operating within the traditional lock-step system. The conventional school organisation has the child move through a predetermined curriculum at a fixed pace, whereas multi-age classes require that teachers focus on needs-based teaching, thus adapting the curriculum to suit the individual student. As a result of this shift in emphasis, it has been common for teachers in multi-age schools to experience dilemmas caused by the dissonance between their own and the school’s assumptions about teaching, learning, knowledge and social relations. However, this clash of individuals’ beliefs and mandated practices is an under-researched area of scholarship particularly within multi-age settings, and is thus the focus of the present research. A framework based on the construct of beliefs and belief systems was used for understanding the personal and idiosyncratic nature of a teacher’s practice. Such a framework proposes that beliefs can be classified in terms of personal assumptions about self, relationships, knowledge, change and teaching and learning. These classifications, rather than being discrete dimensions acting in isolation, tend to be organised into a coherent and interdependent belief system or orientation. The notion of orientation was found to be a suitable framework within which to investigate the interplay between beliefs and practices over a two year period in one school context that is likely to provide challenges and opportunities for professional growth and development. Because the study focused upon the beliefs and practices of six teachers in a multi-age setting, elements of a qualitative approach to research were employed. The research design adopted for this study is grounded in an interpretative approach which looks for culturally derived and historically situated interpretations of the social world. Within this framework a case-study approach to research was used so as to reveal the interplay between the teachers’ beliefs and practices. The study found that the concept of orientations provides a suitable framework for understanding the personal and idiosyncratic nature of a teacher’s beliefs and practices. It was evident that beliefs about self, relationships, knowledge and change were highly significant in shaping the essential nature of teachers’ orientations. It was found that a summary label, based on these four beliefs, could be used to define the thematic nature of each teacher’s orientation. These recognisably different labels demonstrated that each teacher’s four beliefs were not just a pattern, but also a thematically defined pattern. It was also found that whilst some beliefs are thematically central other beliefs are not inherently thematic but are influenced in thematically derived ways. It was the configuration of these core/secondary beliefs that highlighted the importance of investigating belief combinations rather than discrete belief dimensions when attempting to understand the teacher as a person. It was also concluded that the teachers’ orientations in this study structured their practice in a way that was personal and internally consistent, indicating the dynamic coupling of beliefs and practices. It was clear that individual orientations, shaped by core beliefs, framed the challenges and possibilities that the multi-age ethos offered in varied and personal ways. In addition, the study found that the patterns of, and reasons for, change were complex and therefore it is unlikely that professional in-service will succeed if based on only one of the models of change proposed in the literature. The teachers in this study did not experience dilemmas as dichotomous situations but rather as complex and interrelated challenges to their whole belief system. Not all the teachers in this study approached the challenge of change in the same way. It was evident that individuals had constructed their own narrative for the need to change, and that this orientation tended to dominate the self-improvement agenda. Finally, this study demonstrated that not only the educational consequences of an innovation need to be taken into account, but also how well it is implemented in each classroom, and how compatible each teacher’s orientation is with the ethos underpinning the innovation.

Interactions of children and adults in two child care groups were observed and examined. Each group was observed as a same-age multiple caregiver group and eight months later as a multi-age constant caregiver group. Twenty indicators were used to evaluate positive interactions. Analysis showed positive interactions occur in multi-age constant caregiver groups. Multi-age constant caregiver groups enhance the interest of caregivers in children and promote development and interaction of language between caregivers and peers. This study indicates a multi-age constant caregiver group is an alternative to meet the needs of young children by increasing and enhancing positive interactions with caregivers and peers.

This study examines how teachers at Kingsley Elementary School feel about the multiage program now as compared to when the program was first implemented. There were 28 teachers and two administrators interviewed to determine their perceptions of the positive and negative influences of the multiage program. The purpose of the study is to reveal the success or failure of the multiage program at Kingsley Elementary School and to explore the process used by the school to implement the process. The approach to this study is qualitative and uses interview data from both former and current Kingsley staff. Five research questions were formulated. The field effort concentrated on the respondents' perceptions of the developmental process of the multiage program. Results suggest that the teachers' and administrators' perceptions of the multiage program at Kingsley Elementary School are basically for traditional methods. During the analysis, suggestions emerged from the interviewees to improve the multiage program. Some of these suggestions could be used as a guide for other school systems that are beginning implementation of a multiage program.

In an effort to assist self-guided artists in constructing meaning and creativity through the technique of printmaking, the author has compiled a curriculum to engage these artist/students in thoughtful research, discussion, art-making, and critique. In this qualitative case study there are eight participants from age 14 to 79, with varying educational and art experience, who enrolled in a relief print workshop with no recompense other than participation. The particular benefits of learning relief printing are described. The author's goal is exploration of student responses to a curriculum centered around constructing meaning and engaging in introspective and informed discussion. In fostering open inquiry and analysis, the author was able to cultivate a place of personal discovery in a community class and gain insights into teaching, learning, and curriculum design.

Twenty years ago, kindergarten was a year of informal education designed to help a child develop some readiness skills, adjust to school, adjust socially and learn through play. Readiness for elementary education was defined in terms of attitude and motivation rather than in specific academic achievements. The hazards of the academic model for young children is supported by recent research. Elkind (1986), for example, confirms that young children do not learn in the same ways as older children and adults. Because the world of things, people, and language is so new to infants and young children, they learn best through direct encounters with their world rather than through formal education. During the '80s there has been an increase in the number of high-risk children entering kindergarten who may not be ready for that experience. Perhaps in response to this trend, kindergarten, rather than serving as a readiness program for future schooling, has become an experience for which children need to be prepared entering kindergarten. The National Association of Early Childhood (1987) notes that expectations have become increasingly high and unrealistic, as the curriculum from upper grades has been pushed down to lower levels, thus doom large numbers of young children to the increased possibility of failure. As a result of this change, there has been quite a controversy over the policy of kindergarten retention. Although grade retention is widely practiced at all levels, research suggests that it does not help children to "catch up." While retained children may appear to do better in the short term, they are at much greater risk for failure than are their non-retained peers (Shepard and Smith, 1990). The provision of an extra year of schooling prior to first grade is intended to protect unprepared children from entering too soon into a demanding academic environment where, 'it is thought, they will almost surely experience failure. Yet Shepard and Smith (1988) note that, "depending on the philosophical basis of kindergarten retention, which differs profoundly from one district to the next, the extra year is meant either to be a time for immature children to grow and develop learning readiness or a time to work on deficient prereading skills" (p. 34). So the criteria by which retention decisions are made are critical. The question of which criteria determine a child's kindergarten retention becomes paramount. The study examines this question by addressing the following issues: 1. Current practices regarding kindergarten retention;2. The percentage of kindergartners retained each year (locally and statewide); 3. The effects of kindergarten retention; 4. The ways in which teacher pressure, parents, standardized tests, and basal reading programs contribute to kindergarten retention; and 5. Alternatives to kindergarten retention. There will always be a group of children who lag behind their kindergarten classmates. Before we create a new program, however, we need to examine the effects of kindergarten retention. It is the intent of this study to provide county school supervisors and others with information which would enable them to take action to reverse the negative effects of past practices. This information can assist those responsible for decision-making as they struggle to make the correct decisions regarding the placement of young children.

Mixing ages in school classes became more and more common during the last dec-ades of the 20th century. From being a way to organise classes out of necessity they have now come to be something which is implemented on the basis of pedagogical arguments. The aim of this research has been to improve our knowledge of classes where pupils are not of the same age. A study of the pupils’ perspectives has been my main interest. (Age) homogeneous class can been looked upon as a result of the authorities’ deci-sion to have a fixed age for children to start school and their decision that certain courses should be completed within a defined period of time. Terms and the data concerning heterogeneous age groupings are ambiguous and cannot be fully understood without knowledge of national and sometimes even local contexts. Practices within age heterogeneous classes may differ greatly. A great deal of individual work takes place in age heterogeneous classes. Whether the class is non-mixed or mixed-aged does not seem to have a major im-pact on cognitive or non-cognitive abilities among the pupils, but there are suggestions that age heterogeneous classes might be disadvantageous to pupils in problematic situations. I am able to show that more than 30% of pupils in grades 1-3, close to 25% in grades 4-5, about 15% in grade 6 and a couple of percent of Swedish pupils in the later school years are taught in mixed-age groups. My own empirical research focuses on pupils’ experiences. My investigation has a ‘life-world’ oriented approach inspired by phenomenology. Pupils in grades 5 and 6 from three schools in three different socio-economic settings were interviewed. These pupils had experienced both mixed-age and single-age classes. The life-world of pupils seems to be something different from that encompassed by the philosophy about the advantages of mixing the ages in classes. Pupils find it diffi-cult to maintain or create relationships when only a few pupils of the same sex, who have started school at the same time, can be together in a class for a long time. Be-cause of the importance of social relationships almost every pupil in this investigation wished to be in a single-age class during the following year. It is the importance of common experiences rather than age that is central. Pupils stated that having things in common to study in their everyday schoolwork makes it easier to communicate and contributes to stable friendships. In my conclusion I focus on what it means to have relationships and how these are important for human identity. I also try to show how relationships are important in learning situations at school and for pupils’ opportunities to expand their knowledge. / digitalisering@umu

Mixing ages in school classes became more and more common during the last dec-ades of the 20th century. From being a way to organise classes out of necessity they have now come to be something which is implemented on the basis of pedagogical arguments. The aim of this research has been to improve our knowledge of classes where pupils are not of the same age. A study of the pupils’ perspectives has been my main interest. (Age) homogeneous class can been looked upon as a result of the authorities’ deci-sion to have a fixed age for children to start school and their decision that certain courses should be completed within a defined period of time. Terms and the data concerning heterogeneous age groupings are ambiguous and cannot be fully understood without knowledge of national and sometimes even local contexts. Practices within age heterogeneous classes may differ greatly. A great deal of individual work takes place in age heterogeneous classes. Whether the class is non-mixed or mixed-aged does not seem to have a major im-pact on cognitive or non-cognitive abilities among the pupils, but there are suggestions that age heterogeneous classes might be disadvantageous to pupils in problematic situations. I am able to show that more than 30% of pupils in grades 1-3, close to 25% in grades 4-5, about 15% in grade 6 and a couple of percent of Swedish pupils in the later school years are taught in mixed-age groups. My own empirical research focuses on pupils’ experiences. My investigation has a ‘life-world’ oriented approach inspired by phenomenology. Pupils in grades 5 and 6 from three schools in three different socio-economic settings were interviewed. These pupils had experienced both mixed-age and single-age classes. The life-world of pupils seems to be something different from that encompassed by the philosophy about the advantages of mixing the ages in classes. Pupils find it diffi-cult to maintain or create relationships when only a few pupils of the same sex, who have started school at the same time, can be together in a class for a long time. Be-cause of the importance of social relationships almost every pupil in this investigation wished to be in a single-age class during the following year. It is the importance of common experiences rather than age that is central. Pupils stated that having things in common to study in their everyday schoolwork makes it easier to communicate and contributes to stable friendships. In my conclusion I focus on what it means to have relationships and how these are important for human identity. I also try to show how relationships are important in learning situations at school and for pupils’ opportunities to expand their knowledge. / digitalisering@umu

This diploma thesis deals with education at composite school and its problems. It is a case study at a particular primary school, which is not fully organized. The thesis is divided into two parts - theoretical and practical. The theoretical part contains three chapters. In the introductory chapter there is described the current conception of Czech education system. This system is related closely to curricular system of education in the Czech Republic. The first chapter is also focused on curricular documents - The Framework Educational Programme for Basic Education and National Programme for the Development of Education in the Czech Republic (White Paper). The second chapter deals with a teacher's personality. The aim is to describe the teacher's role in educational process at primary schools. Concerning teachers, there is also described their profession, characterization of their personality and definition of the teachers' role. The last chapter is concerned with education at composite primary schools and it is aimed especially at the characterization of specific attributes of composite schools education. The second part of the thesis is a practical part and it has qualitative character. The practical part is a detailed prezentation of the case study of a concrete composite school. This part describes pedagogical-educational influence of the school on its pupils. There are also described local teachers, pupils and their parents. There were used different methods for this research - observation, in-depth dialogue and qestionnaire.