The purpose of this study was to identify any changes in attainment, self-esteem, self-motivation and attitudes to physical education between the end of year 6 and the beginning of year 8 (during the transfer from primary to secondary school), and to establish the extent of any differences between gender, age of transfer and school attended. Consideration was also given to the ways in which continuity and promotion was promoted between schools involved in the study. Data was collected on four occasions over a 20-month period. Data pertaining to attainment was collected using observation techniques and teacher assessment, whilst self-esteem and self-motivation was collected using questionnaires. Attitudinal data, information relating to physical education, and continuity and progression data were collected using questionnaires and interviews. Results showed significant increases in attainment, self-esteem and self-motivation between the end of year 6 and the beginning of year 8. Significant differences were evident in relation to gender, age of transfer and secondary school attended. Significant positive relationships were found between attainment and self-esteem, attainment and self-motivation, and self-esteem and self-motivation, allowing a tentative relationship model to be proposed. Changes in attitudes towards physical education were also found. Whilst teachers acknowledged the importance of continuity and progression, links between schools focused on social / pastoral rather than curricular issues. Time, staffing issues and finance were identified as the main constraints to the establishment of links. What emerges is a complicated picture of inter-related factors, with no universal solution. Each teacher must consider this broad range of factors within the context they teach. In order to do this there is perhaps a need to raise awareness amongst teachers of the impact of the transfer between primary and secondary phases of education on pupils across curriculum subjects, and that this should be explicitly considered and planned for.

Forskning visar att läroböcker spelar en viktig roll i de naturvetenskapliga ämnena. Samtidigt riktas kritik mot lärobokens utformning där samverkan mellan människans organsystem inte visas tydligt i texter och bilder. I denna studie undersöks hur blodomloppets samverkan med andningen samt med matspjälkningen skildras i läroböckernas texter och bilder som används i grundskolans årskurs 4-6. Intervjuer med fem lärare har genomförts för att undersöka hur text och bild från läroböckerna används i undervisningen. Analyserna av läroböckerna visade att skildringen av hur blodomloppet samverkar med matspjälkningen är tydliga i lärobokens texter medan det saknas bilder på denna samverkan. Den samverkan som sker mellan blodomloppet och andningen är tydlig i både bilder och text. Intervjuerna pekade på att användandet av läroböcker är lågt i de naturvetenskapliga ämnena i grundskolans årskurs 4-6. / Research shows that the textbook plays an important role in science education. However, textbooks has been criticized because of the poor descriptions of the interaction between the human circulatory, respiratory and digestive systems. This study shows how the relationship between the circulatory system, respiratory and digestive system is described in primary school science textbooks in both texts and images. Five teachers have been interviewed to examine how they use the texts and the images from the textbooks in the classroom. Analyzes of the textbooks show that the interaction between the circulatory system and the digestive system is clearly described in texts though there is a lack of illustrative images. The interaction between the circulatory system and the respiration is clear in both images and text. The interviews showed that the use of science textbooks is scarce in primary school year 4-6.

La problématique de notre recherche, puise sa source d’un constat réel que matérialisent les énormes difficultés que rencontrent les enfants libyens dans l’apprentissage de la lecture. L’hypothèse de départ sur laquelle nous nous sommes étayés, part du postulat que l’échec d’assimilation rapide des processus du codage et d’encodage chez l’enfant libyen, résulte non seulement de la non reconnaissance de l’enfant libyen dans le modèle culturel et familial que proposent les manuels, mais en plus, de l’inadaptation de la méthode d’apprentissage de la lecture aux spécificités sociales et culturelles de la Libye. La non adéquation de la méthode d’apprentissage aux spécificités sociales et culturelles, se trouve aggravée par la mauvaise structuration des référents dans le manuel scolaire, tant au plan du contenu que celui du contenant. La distanciation entre la symbolique utilisée dans le langage populaire (arabe parlé dans les familles) et ceux du langage officiel (arabe classique pratiqué à tous les niveaux de l’administration), précipitent l’échec d’apprentissage de la lecture à commencer par les enfants du CP. L’objectif de notre travail consiste, au terme d’une recherche laborieuse, à mettre entre les mains des différentes instances gouvernementales libyennes, un nouveau manuel, adapté aux spécificités locales tout en s’inspirant des avancées réalisées dans les sciences de la didactique et de la pédagogie, constatées en Occident. / Our research them relies on real observation of the difficulties encountered by the Libyan pupils in the field of reading.We started from the supposition that the Libyan child's failure is due to the fact that child does not identify with the social and cultural models proposed in this school books.It is also due to the discrepancy between the reading methods and Libya socio-cultural specificities. Such as discrepancy is deepened by the inadequate organization of the references in the school handbook at the level of forms as well as usersThe difference between the colloquial language spoken within families and the official one based on classical written Arabic used in all the Libyan official administrations quickens the failure of the reading apprenticeship from the first year of primary education.Our aim in this research is to provide the Libyan officials with a new method more adapted to the local specificities, and in the same time enriched with the most relevant didactic and pedagogical achievement obtained in the west.

The purpose of this study was to increase knowledge about how teachers view the importance of reading lessons in year one. The study also examined how teachers practically work with reading homework and how these teachers felt that it benefited the students' reading development. The study was conducted using semi-structured qualitative interviews with eight teachers working in primary school. All teachers who participated in the study are certifiedteachers to teach Swedish in primary school. The study is based on the socio-cultural perspective and pragmatism. Which means that students learn best in connection between theory and practice and where language is in focus. The results showed that the teachers who participated agreed that the ultimate purpose of the reading homework is to increase the students' reading fluency with the help of mass training. The teachers consider the reading homework necessary in year one. Repetitive reading is presented as an important aspect in students' early reading learning by both research and teachers. Reasons why teachers choose to work with reading homework differ somewhat. But the time aspect in school is something that teachers are critical of. The result shows that the teachers mean a certain reading must take place at home. Because of this the reading homework is considered a good aid by the teachers.

Ett av skolans uppdrag är att utbilda medborgare till att besitta en digital kompetens. Detta för att klara av den ständiga digitala utveckling som sker i vår moderna värld. Eleverna möter olika slags texter i skolan, både tryckta och digitala. Somliga elever har även digitala läromedel, vilket innebär att de digitala texterna blir något som de möter dagligen. Samtidigt har forskning visat att det finns fem förmågor som behöver behärskas för att kunna hantera digitala texter. Dessa fem förmågor står inte explicit utskrivna i läroplanen för grundskolan, förskoleklass och fritidshem (Lgr11) utan lärarna behöver på egen hand försöka tolka in dem i sin planering av undervisningen.  Frågan blir således: Har läromedelsutvecklarna dessa fem förmågor i åtanke när de producerar sina digitala läromedel? Hur anser högskolelärarna och grundskollärarna att de tar hänsyn till förmågorna i sin undervisning? Studien har därmed som syfte att öka kunskapen om vilka sätt som finns bland de tre yrkeskategorierna att behandla dessa fem förmågor som forskning har visat krävs för hantering av digitala texter. Syftet ämnas uppnås genom två frågeställningar som behandlar hur yrkeskategorierna möjliggör utveckling i de fem förmågorna och vilka didaktiska val de gör med hänsyn till de fem förmågorna i sin undervisning.  För att möjliggöra en uppfyllelse av syftet och dess frågeställningar har en fenomenografisk ansats använts tillsammans med en kvalitativ metod i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Fortsatt analyserades materialet ur ett sociokulturellt – samt didaktiskt perspektiv. Studiens resultat visade att stöttning är viktig för att eleverna ska kunna utveckla förmågorna. Detta är i enlighet med vad den sociokulturella teorin betonar som viktigt. Samtliga informanter visade kunskap om vilka konsekvenser som brister i förmågorna resulterar i, men huruvida undervisningen anpassades efter förmågorna varierade beroende på lärare. Det digitala läromedlet kan dock ge fördelaktiga förkunskaper för digitala texter vilket verkar gynna eleverna när de sedan är ute och Googlar på internet. Slutligen delger samtliga lärare att tidsbrist har en negativ påverkan på deras möjligheter till stöttning i undervisningen. Grundskollärarna ansåg även att deras digitala kompetens inte var tillräcklig och att fortbildning efterfrågades. / One of the school's missions is to educate citizens to possess digital skills. This is to cope with the constant digital development that takes place in our modern world. Students encounter different kinds of texts in school, both printed and digital. Some pupils have digital teaching materials as well, which means that the digital texts become something that they encounter daily. At the same time, research has shown that there are five abilities that need to be mastered to be able to handle digital texts. These five abilities are not explicitly stated in the curriculum for the compulsory school, preschool class, and school-age educare (Lgr11), which results in teachers that need to interpret the abilities into their own teaching.  The question is: do teaching aid developers have these five abilities in mind when producing their digital teaching materials? How do university teachers and primary school teachers consider that they take the abilities into account in their teaching? The study thus aims to increase knowledge of the ways that exist among the three professional categories to deal with these five abilities that research has shown are required for handling digital texts. The purpose is intended to be achieved through two questions at issue that deal with how the professional categories enable development in the five abilities and what didactic choices they make regarding the five abilities in their teaching.  To enable the purpose and its questions to be fulfilled, a phenomenographic approach has been used together with a qualitative method in the form of semi-structured interviews. The material was analyzed from a socio-cultural and didactic perspective. The results of the study showed that support is important for pupils to be able to develop their abilities. This is in line with what sociocultural theory emphasizes as important. All informants showed knowledge of the consequences that shortcomings in the abilities result in, but whether the teaching was adapted to the abilities varied depending on the teacher. However, the digital teaching aid can provide beneficial prior knowledge for digital texts, which seems to benefit the pupils when they are out Googling on the internet. Finally, all teachers report that lack of time has a negative impact on their opportunities for support in teaching. The primary school teachers also felt that their digital competence was not sufficient, and that further education was in demand.

Where do beginner readers read in the English, mainstream primary school and where could they read? Emma Jane Dyer This thesis explores design for the beginner reader in Year One by evaluating existing spaces in the English primary school and imagining new ones. Three significant gaps identified in the literature of reading, the teaching of reading and school design are addressed: the impact of reading pedagogies, practices and routines on spatial arrangements for beginner readers inside and beyond the classroom; a theoretical understanding of the physical, bodily and sensory experience of the beginner reader; and the design of reading spaces by teaching staff. The study uses a design-oriented research methodology and framework proposed by Fällman. A designed artefact is a required outcome of the research: in this case, a child-sized, semi-enclosed book corner known as a nook. The research was organized in three phases. First, an initial design for the nook was created, based on multi-disciplinary, theoretical research about reading, school design and architecture. Secondly, empirical research using observation, pupil-led tours and interviews was undertaken in seven primary schools to determine the types of spaces where readers read: spaces that were often unsuitable for their needs. Thirdly, as a response to the findings of phases one and two, the nook was reconceived to offer a practical solution to poorly-designed furniture for reading in schools and to provoke further research about the ideal qualities of spaces for the beginner reader. The study demonstrates how the experience of the individual reader is affected by choices made about the national curriculum; by the size of schools and the spaces within them where readers can learn; by the design of classrooms by teachers; and by regulatory standards for teaching and non-teaching spaces. In developing a methodology that can stimulate and facilitate communication between architects, educators, policy-makers and readers, this thesis offers a valuable contribution to the ongoing challenge of improving school design for practitioners and pupils.