The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers in pre-school and school, how they use aesthetic methods in their activity / school teaching and their experiences of this kind of work method. The study also contains the teacher’s experience of possibilities and difficulties in this kind of work method.   The study is based on qualitative interviews with three teachers in pre-school and school. And the results of this investigation turned out to be three different ways to look at aesthetic as; joyful activity, as a subject - to attract attention of interest and a pleasant working environment.   It also turned out to be how the differences can look between pre-school and school and between younger and older children when using aesthetic activities. Every teacher had different purpose of using the aesthetic methods in their activity / school teaching and that it also was shown different much and in different ways.   In pre-school appears aesthetic activities and children’s play the most and  in pre-school are the aesthetic activities and children’s play the methods that forms the children as it brings joyful activities, curiosity and learning.   In junior school, the younger children, are the children’s play and the aesthetic activities still important. But it doesn’t appear that much like it does in pre-school. Here does the teacher use the aesthetic activities to bring interest of school subjects.   In middle school, the older children, seems the aesthetic activities get another importance. The aesthetic activities are being used to create a relaxing moment from the theoretical subjects and it also being used to create a joyful and pleasant environment.   Everybody also thinks that aesthetic is something positive and that it strengthens the children’s and the students’ developments and learning’s. It also turned out to be that aesthetic helps all students who have any kind of difficulties in school or pre-school. They also think that aesthetic should be included in all pedagogy activities.   When it concern the difficulties of using the aesthetic in school or pre-school, no pedagogy had any experience to share, except that the time of planning for more aesthetic activities seems to be a problem in pre-school.   At school the pedagogy felt that the children became too restless, and the bigger students thought it became foolish. It also emerge that the pedagogy had a worried feeling that the children’s parents thought that aesthetic teaching should be fuzzy, that the children should do something else, more useful.   At school for the older students the teacher gave her opinion more like an advice to us, that if you are going to use aesthetic in your school teaching, you have to think twice, so you don’t force students to participate in activities they don’t feel comfortable with.

This report describes a comparative study of the current pre-school curricula in Sweden and Poland and their practical application on a pre-school situated in each of the respective countries. The objective is to analyze and compare the curricular content in terms of knowledge development and to investigate how each curriculum is made visible in a practical context with the intention of uncovering differences between the pre-schools. The theoretical base of this study is rooted in the framework factor theory and the epistemological foundations of Vygotskij and Piaget. The investigation is qualitative and the main research methods are participant observations and conversation interviews. The frame factors that were considered in the investigation of the scopes of practice are planning, division of work, density of personnel, group structures, preferred way to work and judgment. The conclusion is that these factors also proved to be very diverse in the two pre-schools.   The curriculums and pre-scholar scopes of practice were clearly based on different epistemological traditions. Although the conclusion is not entirely univocal, the investigation indicates that the Polish pre-school is strongly influenced by Piaget, while its Swedish counterpart is influenced by Vygotskij.

The purpose of this study has been to explore the expectations of the primary school on the activities of the pre-school. In order to limit the study I have chosen to compare the expectations found in two different schools. In the first case, the pre-school is integrated with the after-school centre and grade one to three (primary school), into the same building. In the other case, the pre-school share localities with the after-school centre in a separate building, with its own yard, within the primary school area. Since the purpose is rather comprehensive, it has been divided into sub-themes with separate set of questions. The sub-themes chosen are in themselves factors, which I believe to be of importance for the main purpose. I have used a qualitative method, why the answer may not be generalised, but give us a deeper understanding of the main question in my research, I have interviewed teachers and pre-school teachers as well as used curriculums and existing research, in order to shed light on the main question from different scientific perspectives. The result of this study shows, that the integration of the pre-school within the primary school, may be of great importance for cooperation and communication. The primary school’s expectations, however, seems to be more the result of the teacher’s and preschool teacher’s interpretations of the curriculums.

Syftet med föreliggande avhandlingsarbete är att få större kunskap om några av förutsättningarna för förskolans pedagogiska verksamhet och få veta mer om vad som faktiskt sker ute i förskolans barngrupper. I avhandlingen kartläggs tolv förskollärares föreställningar om förskolan och uppfattningar om arbete, lek och inlärning samt hur de agerar i barngrupp med avseende på dessa begrepp. Föreställningar och uppfattningar hos tjuogoen lärarkandidater har också kartlagts, dels vid böljan av deras förskollärarutbildning, dels efter avslutad utbildning.1981 presenterade Socialstyrelsen en ny arbetsplan för förskolan. Den kan betraktas som ett försök till lösning av olika problem inom förskolan som utvecklats under en period av ca tio år. Arbete, lek och inlärning framställdes i arbetsplanen som centrala begrepp vilka gav struktur och innehåll åt förskolans pedagogiska verksamhet. I avhandlingen fokuseras föreställningar och uppfattningar. Dessa kan definieras som strukturerande och integrerande principer av övergripande art som är avgörande för hur en individ tolkar och värderar omvärlden. Förskollärarnas och lärarkandidaternas föreställningar och uppfattningar kartlades genom intervjuanalyser. En särskild kortsorteringsuppgift konstruerades och gavs i samband med intervjuerna. Förskollärarna observerades också i barngrupp.Resultatet visar att några av förskollärarna hade föreställningar om förskolan som "en institution för kompensation" eller som "en institution för utveckling". De flesta av dem såg förskolan som "en institution för anpassning". De hade även skilda uppfattningar om arbete, lek och inlärning. De olika uppfattningskategorierna kan sägas ge uttryck för ett mer eller mindre "pedagogiserat" eller "psykologiserat" synsätt; "vuxencentrerat" eller "barncentrerat" synsätt Observationerna visar att förskollärarna inte helt agerade i enlighet med den syn de gav uttryck för i intervjuerna. De agerade mer lika varandra i praktiken än vad man hade anledning att anta. De flesta av dem uttryckte i sin praktik att förskolan är en institution för "anpassning", endast få gav uttryck för "utveckling" och ingen alls för "kompensation". De uppfattningar som främst kom till uttryck i praktiken var att arbete är "förelagd uppgift", lek är en "terapeutisk nödvändighet" och inlärning är "social träning". I avhandlingen diskuteras resultaten i belysning av förskolans utveckling under 1970-talet. Professionalisering, yttre förutsättningar för verksamheten och förskolans tradition är begrepp som också används i diskussionen och för förklaring av resultaten. / The purpose of this dissertation is to acquire greater knowledge of some of the conditions of the educational activities of pre-school as well as of what is actually going on in pre-school. The study examines twelve pre-school teachers' notions of pre-school and conceptions of work, play and learning and how they interact with children with respect to these concepts. The notions and conceptions of a group of twenty-one trainee teachers have also been studied at the beginning and at the end of their training. In 1981 a new plan for pre-schooling was presented by The National Board of Health and Welfare which can be regarded as an attempt at solving pre-school problems arisen the last ten year period. Work, play and learning were the central concepts in the plan, providing pre-school, day-nurseries and part-time-groups, with structure and content. In the study, notions and conceptions are key-words. They can be defined as structuring and integrating, comprehensive principles determining how an individual interprets and evaluates the surrounding world. Notions and conceptions are examined through interview analyses. A special classification item was designed and administered in connection with the interviews. The pre-school teachers were also observed interacting with the group of children for fifteen hours.The results show that some of the pre-school teachers had notions of pre-school as "an institution for compensation" or as "an institution for development". Most of them regarded pre-school as "an institution for adjustment". They also had different conceptions of work, play and learning. The categories of conceptions express a more or less "educationalized" or "psychologized" attitude, an "adult-referenced" or "child-referenced" attitude. Regarding the conceptions of activities it is maintained that the trainee teachers have become "educationalized" in the course of their training. They expressed fewer notions that can be described as "child-referenced" or " psychologized". The observations show that the pre-school teachers did not act quite in accordance with the view they expressed in the interviews. They acted more uniformly than could be expected. The practices of most pre-school teachers indicated pre-school as "an institution for adjustment", only rarely "development", never "compensation". The most frequent conceptions expressed in their practices were that work is "assigned tasks", play is a "therapeutic necessity" and learning is "social training". The results are dicussed in the light of the development of pre-school in Sweden during the 1970s. Professionally, frame-factors, tradition in pre-school are important concepts for the understanding of the results. / digitalisering@umu

The current study evaluated the effect of a teacher conducted play intervention on pre-school aged children’s compliance in child care settings. Study participants included 11 children ranging in age from 2 to 5 years old and seven early childhood education teachers within seven classrooms across five child care centres. Teachers were trained to conduct daily 5 minute play sessions consisting of contingent praise, mirroring, and warm responsiveness. A combination ABAB and multiple baseline design was used to demonstrate the effect of the play intervention. Pre-treatment observations revealed varying degrees of recurring child compliance difficulties. The play intervention was associated with improved rates of compliance for each participant child regardless of differences in age, gender, and level of compliance difficulties. The intervention is discussed with regard to its potential as a pro-active, non-intrusive strategy for improving young children’s classroom compliance.

The current study evaluated the effect of a teacher conducted play intervention on pre-school aged children’s compliance in child care settings. Study participants included 11 children ranging in age from 2 to 5 years old and seven early childhood education teachers within seven classrooms across five child care centres. Teachers were trained to conduct daily 5 minute play sessions consisting of contingent praise, mirroring, and warm responsiveness. A combination ABAB and multiple baseline design was used to demonstrate the effect of the play intervention. Pre-treatment observations revealed varying degrees of recurring child compliance difficulties. The play intervention was associated with improved rates of compliance for each participant child regardless of differences in age, gender, and level of compliance difficulties. The intervention is discussed with regard to its potential as a pro-active, non-intrusive strategy for improving young children’s classroom compliance.

Under förskoleåren behöver barn utveckla en förståelse för tal, lika väl som de måste erövra det talade språket. Barns möjligheter att lära matematik påverkas av hur deras första möte med matematiken ser ut. Uppsatsen är en fallstudie vars syfte är att beskriva hur The English School i Älmhult, arbetar med taluppfattning. För att kunna ge en så fyllig bild som möjligt har vi genomfört observationer och intervjuat de två lärarna som arbetar med denna åldersgrupp samt intervjuat skolans rektor. Vi har även tittat närmare på de styrdokument som, förutom Lpfö 98, ligger till grund för verksamheten. Vi har mött en verksamhet där matematiken lyfts fram och fokuseras på redan i tidig ålder. Lärarna presenterar och introducerar matematik för barn på ett mycket medvetet och strukturerat sätt.

<p>Under förskoleåren behöver barn utveckla en förståelse för tal, lika väl som de måste erövra det talade språket. Barns möjligheter att lära matematik påverkas av hur deras första möte med matematiken ser ut.</p><p>Uppsatsen är en fallstudie vars syfte är att beskriva hur The English School i Älmhult, arbetar med taluppfattning. För att kunna ge en så fyllig bild som möjligt har vi genomfört observationer och intervjuat de två lärarna som arbetar med denna åldersgrupp samt intervjuat skolans rektor. Vi har även tittat närmare på de styrdokument som, förutom Lpfö 98, ligger till grund för verksamheten.</p><p>Vi har mött en verksamhet där matematiken lyfts fram och fokuseras på redan i tidig ålder. Lärarna presenterar och introducerar matematik för barn på ett mycket medvetet och strukturerat sätt.</p>

The aim of this essay is to analyze six picture books from a gender perspective. Research and investigations shows that children's literature has a big influence on how young children understand norms and values related to gender identity. It is written in the Swedish curriculum for the non-compulsory school system that the pre-school should counteract traditional gender roles. In this essay, six picture books with stories that take place in a pre-school or a pre-school class are being analyzed. Two of them, according to their market strategy, challenges established gender norms. I have investigated if there are any differences between how the educator as a character and the pre-school are portrayed where a girl contra a boy has the leading role. The focus of the essay is on the educator’s approach towards the main character as well as how the pre-school or pre-school class is being portrayed. I have also compared the two books that challenges established gender norms with the other four. Qualitative content analysis has been used as method. Both the text and illustrations are interpreted and analyzed in the essay. The main theory that is applied in the analysis is the gender theory, in which the term "gender" refers to social constructions, rather than biological phenomenons, of femininities and masculinities. In conclusion it can be stated that the girl characters have a more positive relationship to the educator and the pre-school than the boy characters. In the books which have boys as main characters the relationship with the educator is implicitly or explicitly negative or distanced. In all of the books, in which boys hold the leading role, the pre-school or pre-school class is portrayed as a quite gender-segregated environment. This is an image that is not as noticeable in the books which have girls as main characters. It can also be interpreted that the books that are introduced to the market as challenging of gender norms in some aspects confirm, rather than challenge, established gender norms.

In this article research work educational institutions and primary teachers`s view on children`s pre-school education is analyzed. This issue is topical as continuity of pre-school and primary school education influences the quality of education in primary classes a lot. The issue is even more topical because of the newness of a pre-school education branch in Lithuanian educational system, this fact causes a lot of problems. The object of the research - primary education. The aim of the research – to find out how administration of educational institutions and primary teachers evaluate the role of pre-school education in children`s preparation for school and which model of pre-school education they give top priority to. Tasks: To examine the problems of pre-school education in scientific literature; to find out points of view of administrators of different educational institutions on children`s preparation for school; to examine primary teachers` point of view on children`s preparation for school; to accomplish a comparative analysis of the data and give recommendations for improvement of the work. The methods of the research: Theoretical: Analysis of scientific management, psychological, pedagogic, sociological literature and the newest educational documents. Empirical: Primary teachers and school administration, pre-school administration questioning; Statistic: A quantitative analysis was accomplished, the methods of statistical and comparative analysis were described. The... [to full text]