Teaching mathematics towards mathematical proficiency cannot easily be described since mathematical proficiency is complex and no term alone capture all aspects. The purpose of the study was to examine how mathematical proficiency in conceptual understanding can be discriminated through the concept of subtraction in grade 1 and 3 primary school. Question raised by the study was 1. What different levels in quality can be discriminated in the ways students subtracts?   2. Can progression be discriminated within subtraction operations between grade 1 and 3? Concepts like mathematical artefacts, capability and ability have been useful tools when analyzing the material. Developing mathematical thinking in students is about developing conceptual understanding anchored in the process rather than focus on procedures and outcome. When subtracting with comprehension one knows that subtraction undoes addition since subtraction is the inverse operation of addition.      The methods used are qualitative studies using observations and interviews. The material consists of notes from observations, recordings of interviews and written solutions. The study developed an analysis tool in order to compare the different ways of thinking when doing subtraction activities. Developing the tool was critical in order to compare and discriminate different levels of mathematical thinking. The results indicate that the Swedish curricula in mathematics do not support mathematical teaching towards mathematical proficiencies because it’s lack of concrete measurable goals.

Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka hur lärare i årskurs 1 arbetar med individualisering inom taluppfattning. Taluppfattningen är en av de mest fundamentala delarna inom matematiken och är viktig inför det kommande arbetslivet. Inom ramen av matematikundervisningen är det dock omöjligt att kräva lika arbete av alla elever, där varje barn förväntas arbeta på samma sätt och i samma takt, vilket gör att individualiserade arbetsformer är nödvändiga. Ett individualiserande arbetssätt kan vara avgörande för barnets akademiska framtid, därmed bör undervisningen gestaltas på ett sätt som tillgodoser varje elevs behov.   Med hjälp av nio kvalitativa intervjuer, med utgångspunkt i den fenomenologiska ansatsen, har arbetets två frågeställningar besvarats. Frågeställningarna har dels efterfrågat hurlärare i Västsverige med behörighet i matematik i årskurs 1 arbetar med taluppfattning, och dels varförlärarna arbetar på det sätt de gör.    Resultatet visar att de flesta lärarna utövar nivåindividualisering (undervisningsstoffet anpassas till elevernas kunskapsnivåer), miljöindividualisering (anpassade gruppkonstellationer och lokaler) och materialindividualisering (materialet anpassas utifrån elevernas behov) inom ramen av matematikundervisningen och området taluppfattning. Lärarna i studien hade svårt att besvara varförde arbetar på det sätt de gör, men resultatet visar att de främst jobbar utifrån egna erfarenheter inom området. / The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers in grade 1 work with individualization when teaching number sense. Number sense is one of the most fundamental parts of mathematics and is important for children’s upcoming working life. It is at the same time impossible in mathematics education to expect the same work, in the same pace from every pupil, which makes an individualized approach necessary. Individualization can be crucial for the academic future of the child, hence the teaching should be shaped in a way that accommodates every pupils need.   With nine qualitative interviews, based on the phenomenological approach, have the two issues of this work been answered. The issues have partly asked howteachers in western Sweden with competence in mathematics in year 1 work with speech perception, and partly whythe teachers work the way they do.   The result shows that most of the teachers imply level individualization (the teaching material is adapted to the students' knowledge levels), environment individualization (custom group configurations and premises) and material individualization (the material is adapted to the needs of the students) within the framework of mathematics education and the area of number sense. The teachers of the study had difficulties explaining why they work the way they do, but the results show that their work is based on their own experience in the field.

Denna studies syfte är att sammanställa vad aktuell forskning säger om spels inverkan på grundskoleelevers motivation i matematikundervisningen. Genom en systematisk litteraturstudie sammanställs och analyseras aktuell forskning på området. Resultatet tyder på att implementerandet av spel i matematikundervisning har en positiv inverkan på elevers motivation i matematikundervisning. Inre och yttre motiverande faktorer motiverar eleverna i olika grad och undervisningsformen kan innehålla både inre och yttre motiverande faktorer. Vidare studier om långvarig användning av spel i matematikundervisning rekommenderas. / The purpose of this study is to compile what current research says about the impact of games on primary school students' motivation in mathematics teaching. Through a systematic literature study, current research in the field is compiled and analyzed. The results indicate that the implementation of games in mathematics teaching has a positive impact on students' motivation in mathematics teaching. Internal and external motivating factors motivate students to varying degrees and the form of teaching can contain both internal and external motivating factors. Further studies on the long-term use of games in mathematics teaching are recommended.

Racism is a broad subject and can be discussed in many different contexts. Stemming from the view of the concept of racism presented by Jan Jämte, the aim of this research paper is to analyze how civics textbooks for children in grades 4-6 portray racism.  The research will be performed through the use of a discourse analysis with a ‘what’s the problem represented to be’ strategy. This will be done in order to draw a conclusion on how these textbooks problematize the concept of racism, what is left seen as being unproblematic and what potential effect these factors may have on the pupils. The results show that the textbooks produce a one-sided depiction where individual racism is given a predominant representation and structural racism is nearly completely overlooked. The textbooks do not use the word racism explicitly but instead problematize the concept in sections, where human rights and freedom of speech are discussed. The literature problematizes racism through a juristic perspective were racism is associated with judgements. By problematizing the concept of racism in this way, the student may not fully comprehend what racism is, which in turn creates a risk that they will reproduce racism unwillingly.

Föreliggande studies syfte är att undersöka hur fyra lärare på lågstadiet arbetar och resonerar när det gäller att få elever att kommunicera muntligt. Studiens teoretiska ram bygger på ett observationsverktyg som fokuserar på tre dimensioner i det kommunikationsstödjande klassrummet: miljö, lärtillfällen och interaktioner (Dock-rell, Bakopoulou, Law, Spencer & Lindsay, 2012:15). För datainsamling används sys-tematisk observation och semistrukturerad intervju. Observationerna visar lärarnas arbete för att stödja elevernas muntliga kommunikation. Bänkar placerade i grupp resulterade i grupparbeten och kommunikation inom gruppen. Lärarna uppmuntrade eleverna att tala genom individanpassade och ledande frågor. I intervjuerna framkom att det bör vara fritt från objekt på väggarna framåt i klassrummet så elevernas kon-centration inte störs. Varierande lärtillfällen där kommunikationen står i fokus är vik-tigt för att eleverna ska kunna utveckla sin muntliga kommunikativa förmåga, till exempel genom att återberätta en text. Kroppsspråket är ett komplement till det ver-bala språket som minskar upprepningar, t.ex. att genom en handrörelse visa elever att de ska räcka upp handen. Resultaten från observationerna och intervjuerna visar att samtliga lärare dagligen berör de tre dimensionerna i arbetet att inkludera alla elever i muntlig kommunikation. Av studiens resultat kan slutsatsen dras att de tre dimen-sionerna miljö, lärtillfälle och interaktion påverkar varandra och har inverkan på ele-vernas förmåga att kommunicera muntligt.

Den här studien studerar hur lärare i årskurs 1–3 säger att de förbereder och stöttar sina elever inför och under muntliga framställningar. Fem lärare har intervjuats om vilka stödstrukturer de använder sig av under lektioner med fokus på muntlig framställning. Som en teoretisk bakgrund och analysverktyg kommer studien använda sig av ett sociokulturellt perspektiv, och särskilt begreppet scaffolding (stödstrukturer). Resultatet kategoriseras som antingen yttre eller inre stödstrukturer. Inre stödstrukturer behandlar det läraren gör för att stärka elevens självkänsla och bygga upp ett tryggt klassrumsklimat, medan de yttre stödstrukturerna innebär att läraren använder sig av mer konkreta hjälpmedel för att stötta eleverna att bli bättre och tryggare talare. De tydligaste stödstrukturerna lärarna i studien använder är: att förhålla sig till elevens proximala utvecklingszon, att modellera och ge eleverna strategier samt att ge återkoppling på elevernas muntliga framställningar, lärarna använder även stödstrukturer som syftar till att skapa ett gott klassrumsklimat.

The aim of the study is to elucidate how primary school teachers perceive the relationship between classroom leadership and multicultural environment. This is done through focus group interviews with primary school teachers from two multicultural schools that serve as representative cases. The result suggests that teachers consider it challenging and instructive to lead groups in multicultural environments. They underline that a leadership competence that emphasizes both good structure and clarity is fundamental to both the learning process and to giving students the right opportunity to perform and feel comfortable. Furthermore, teachers believe that intercultural competence is of particular importance so that misunderstandings in different teaching situations can be prevented. The study therefore points to the importance of multicultural competence or intercultural sensitivity among teachers in such environments as a prerequisite for good classroom leadership.

The objective of this study was to examine the accuracy of Swedish primary school students’ EFL self-assessments. Self-assessment is an important component of formative assessment, which is the main tool used by Swedish primary school teachers when evaluating EFL proficiency. In the study, a survey and a vocabulary picture test were conducted. The survey consisted of Likert-scale statements and was used for students’ EFL self-assessments. It was followed by an English vocabulary picture test to evaluate students’ English vocabulary. To investigate whether there was a correlation between the results of students’ self-assessments and their results on the vocabulary picture tests, a Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was produced. Furthermore, results were also analysed by individual, item, and gender. In conclusion, EFL self-assessments made by the students were found to have a weak correlation of 0.22 to their results on the English vocabulary picture test. Thus, the findings of this study indicate that young Primary School students’ EFL self-assessments should not be used as the sole evaluation of English proficiency.

In the theoretical part, the work first deals with school evaluation, its connection with educational goals and its functions. Then the theoretical part introduces the types of school evaluation, as well as its methods and types. The main part of the theoretical part of this work deals with verbal evaluation. First, the concept of verbal evaluation will be defined. Then the work introduces the types of verbal evaluation. The work then deals with the topic of criteria and its connection with verbal evaluation. The following chapter deals with diagnostics and observations before writing verbal evaluation. The next chapters are devoted to the very creation of verbal evaluation. First, the work deals with what should be the content of verbal evaluation and then the principles of its writing and formulations. Next, we will show the advantages and disadvantages of this form of evaluation. The last chapter deals with verbal assessment in students with specific learning and behavioral disorders. The aim of the work is to find out whether the recommendations are fulfilled and the rules stated in the literature are applied in practice, or what deviations from these recommendations arise. The practical part deals with the analysis of verbal evaluations, which are supplemented by a questionnaire. The analysis...

The diploma thesis deals with the religious education at the church elementary school in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part describes the church elementary school, its history and its relation to the Framework Education Program for the Elementary Education and to the official documents and then it describes the religious education itself from the perspective of the aims and contents. The next part describes the participants of the religious education - the teachers of religious education and the characteristics of the children in the 4th and 5th grade in terms of developmental psychology. The final chapter of the theoretical part is dedicated to the researches that were carried out in the church elementary schools and in the religious education. The practical part of my diploma thesis is devoted to the research, which was carried out by means of questionnaire method. The aim of the practical part was to find how pupils of the 4th and 5th grades at the church elementary school in Prague view the subject of religious education using the questionnaire construction. The results of the research show that the pupils have mostly a positive relationship toward the subject. They consider it as a rather relaxing and amusing subject. In their eyes, the subject is connected to the faith and its symbols....