Existing research on inclusive education deals primarily with the effectiveness of inclusion programs and the theoretical frameworks behind their limitation. However, no extensive research has been conducted that explores the role of the socio-cultural context and the development level in determining the best way in which the educational needs of children with special needs can be met. Recognizing that the effectiveness of different special education services may depend on the socio-cultural context as well as the development level, this literature review seeks to identify the ideal method of treating children with disabilities in developed and developing countries. By assessing the global theoretical approaches behind special education, the tenets of inclusive education, the role of the socio-cultural context and the significance of development on the success of inclusive education, this paper concludes that the needs of special education children in developing countries are best met through positive community attitudes and the development of vocational skills. In comparison, children with disabilities in the United States are served most effectively through positive community attitudes and inclusive school cultures.

Technological enhancements and economic gains are the dominant focus of normalized research of workplace e-learning programs. This is not, however, equivalent to discovering whether or not workers are actually experiencing any socially and culturally meaningful learning from workplace e-learning programs. This thesis advocates socio-cultural inclusiveness research on workplace e-learning programs. Socio-cultural inclusiveness research takes into account the learning needs of workers with respect to their various social differences and culturally unique identities that affect, mediate, and interpret workers’ learning. The intent is to transform perceptions of workplace e-learning programs, from technological artefact to ideational discourses. Discourse Analysis is applied as a socio-cultural approach to ten passages that have been extracted from ten examples of normalized research published over the past decade. This is done to explore whether a normalizing paradigm is noticeable and how such a normalizing paradigm might lead workplace e-learning programs to socially marginalize and culturally exclude workers. To discursively analyze the passages and identify a normalizing paradigm, this thesis applies ‘Discourse model’ as ‘tool of inquiry’. Discourse models reveal heuristic, taken-for-granted assumptions about what is socially normal and culturally representative in talk and text. The normalizing paradigm that does emerge from this cursory analysis, constructs normalized e-learning as the conflation three assumptions: technological proficiency; economic efficiency; and, training consistency. This normalizing paradigm socially justifies workers in the workplace through normalized e-learning. To promote democratized counter discourses, this thesis puts forward critical perspectives, taxonomies, and frameworks that enable praxis of socio-cultural inclusiveness research. This thesis relies on three critical perspectives to discursively resist three formal biases inherent in normalized e-learning that emerge from this normalizing paradigm. Using a critical pedagogy perspective, this thesis reflects on the formal bias of ‘standardization’ and its alignment with ‘training consistency’ to discuss ‘worker-worker’ alienation from ‘pedagogical standardization’. Taking a critical culture perspective, thesis hones in on the formal bias of ‘categorization’ and its alignment with ‘economic efficiency’ to elaborate ‘worker-work’ alienation from ‘cultural categorization’. With a critical history perspective, this thesis focuses on the formal bias of ‘operationalization’ and its alignment with ‘technological proficiency’ to expand on ‘worker-identity’ alienation from ‘ahistorical operationalization’.

The purpose of this study is to create an understanding of how parents and preschool teachers experience induction at preschool. The induction creates collaboration between preschool teachers and parents where the interaction and socio-cultural factors have been key theories for the work task. The method used has been of qualitative nature where interviews were made with parents and preschool teachers. In these interviews, they shared their insights of how they experienced the interaction and communication during induction. I asked the parents what they felt was good communication and interaction during the induction. The same question was given to preschool teachers to respond to and also if there was something that worked less good during induction. The results show that parents and preschool teachers feel that induction works well satisfactory and that it is important that the interaction work well between both parts. A good start encourages cooperation and communication between parents and preschool teachers,and everyone is keen on that the child should be in focus.

The aim of this thesis was to use qualitative approaches to show how teachers in primary school reason on their way to meet and communicate with children who have ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). Research questions of the study were as follows: How does teachers in primary school reason about their way to communicate with children with ADHD? Do the teachers use some specific methods or means of communication with students who have ADHD? Do the teachers reason about their way how to handle conflicts with students who have ADHD? I collected my empirical material through a qualitative interview method. My theoretical starting points were interaction theory and the socio-cultural perspective. I have used these theories to analyze my material. The material has also been analyzed and set against previous research on children with ADHD, and against the background. The results show that all of the informants believe that communication and to build relationships with children who have ADHD have a significant role in these children to get a good education. The result shows that work with children who have ADHD are complex and constantly need to be evaluated and developed for the individual.

The purpose of my study is to determine students’ attitudes to the Natural Science subject. I want to contribute to scientific discourse about different learning styles that can respond to childrens’ requirements in teaching as well as to determine the student’s experience of learning styles. The studies were carried out at an upper secondary school in Stockholm (spring term 2011) for three different classes. I have used qualitative interviews to determine student's experiences and quantitative analysis of student's evaluations of science subjects they have been taught. In my research I concluded that pupils’ attitudes to science are quite common. I also suggest that students with negative attitudes to science have a basis in the student's difficulties with science learning. I also found that the students have different ways of learning. By making the students aware of their best way to learn they can develop individual strategies for attaining new information. The traditional teaching methods that exist in today's education system impart knowledge in the form of finished facts. This can lead to pupils having difficulties in learning. Therefore teachers must adapt their teaching styles and methods to a way that fits all of the students’ different ways of processing information and learning. Schools need to find different approaches to the teaching of its pupils. My conclusion is that if teachers adjust their methods of teaching the Natural science subjects to suit each student learning - styles, this can increase their ability to learn and therefore increase their comprehension of the subjects.

Syftet med studien är att få en fördjupad kunskap om innebörden av Time som begrepp samt att ge en bild av hur erfarna lärare hanterar ämnet i sin undervisning. Denna studie har sin teoretiska utgångspunkt i det sociokulturella perspektivet och hur medierande redskap används i undervisningen. Den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun användes som metod för att få svar på mina frågor. De fem informanterna arbetar i antingen Värmlands eller Örebro Län. De är alla verksamma pedagoger på nivåerna från gymnasium upp till musikhögskola och de undervisar i olika musikämnen. Resultatet visar att ämnet handlar om hur man, som musiker, placerar sina toner i förhållande till en given puls samt att alla informanter understryker att Time är viktigt och bör undervisas i. Flera redskap används för att lära ut ämnet Time, och i de fall val av redskap sammanfaller mellan informanterna, är det ändå uppenbart att de används på olika sätt. / The purpose of this study is to acquire a deeper knowledge of the concept, Musical Time, and to show how experienced teachers apply this in their teaching. This study has its theoretical base in how the sociocultural perspective tools are used in teaching. The method used to attain the results is the qualitative research interview. All of the five informants work in either Värmlands Län or Örebro Län. They are active teachers who teach in different levels from high school up to music academy. The results show that Time is about how musicians place their rhythms in relation to the pulse and that all of my informants view the topic as being important and should be taught in all forms of musical education. The tools applied are many and it is not uncommon, in cases where only one tool is used, that the teachers use it in several different ways.

The purpose of my report was to find out how music can benefit the language development of children, whilst getting a glimpse of how the educators in preschools use music as a tool for the language development of children. During the course of the report I’ve used the sociocultural perspective theory as a foundation to stand on, this is most of all visible in my analysis and discussion of the result.   In the result we can see that the educators possess insight in the importance of music in childrens development, and that they therefore give music a lot of room in their work. Songs where rhyme and language play are allowed are common elements at the preschool that attracts the children and makes them want to partake. Songs sung with movement is a commonly used combination which also serves to further lift the childrens language development when they, through movement, give meaning to the lyrics.   It does however take a devoted educator to make music with the preschool children and to support them and making them want to do it. The educator must be aware of the importance of the social interaction to make use of music seem important to the children. When music is made that moment has to be a harmonic and safe moment to create room for the children to learn and grow, not least in a linguistic manner. Educators who aren’t aware of how they present themselves to the children, and how doesn’t show any interest or curiosity in what’s being done will rub off their emotions onto the children increasing the risk of no learning or development taking place.

Certification programs have grown exponentially over the past decade to respond to the increasing demand for more green and sustainable modes of operation from the part of customers. These schemes can be used as powerful tools to assist in the conservation of natural, human and cultural resources, helping better protect popular tourist destinations for future years to come. However, despite their potential to help codify important principles such as ecotourism and sustainable tourism, certification programs are currently facing several challenges that are hindering their overall practices. Much of the present tourism literature has examined the environmental aspect of these programs and the monitoring challenges they are currently facing. However, little research has explored the socio-cultural side of certification programs even if current literature increasingly demonstrates the strong connection that exists between environment, community and local culture when aiming to properly develop tourism in host destinations. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the importance and feasibility of adopting socio-cultural criteria in existing certification programs as to achieve proper sustainability. This goal is attained by using a qualitative research approach and by examining Green Globe certified hotels on the island of Barbados. The results of this research confirms that the culture, history, geography and/or policies of a tourist destination can shape and influence certification programs and their overall practices. This study also provided several examples of social and cultural actions that hotels could adopt, or have already adopted, demonstrating that it is feasible for certification programs to require tourism businesses to adhere to socio-cultural criteria before achieving certification. Moreover, results revealed several benefits that the accommodation sector can gain by becoming environmentally, socially and culturally responsible. The main conclusion of this study is that socio-cultural practices are necessary components to properly achieve newer designations of ecotourism and sustainable tourism, and therefore, certification programs need to include and/or make mandatory socio-cultural criteria in their programs. It is hoped that this information can provide guidelines on how to further implement both environmental and socio-cultural criteria for both certification programs and the accommodation sector. Although this research revealed interesting information on the socio-cultural aspect of these programs, much remains to be examined on this matter and recommendations for future studies are suggested at the end of this thesis.

El objetivo de este estudio es mostrar diferencias y similitudes en la comunicación en los actos de habla de pedir y de saludar en el español de la variante peruana y en el sueco, y además acercarnos a eventuales problemas que puedan surgir en el encuentro entre estas dos culturas. Muchos autores han realizado estudios sobre actos de habla en relación con la cortesía, pero ninguno se ha centrado en estos dos actos de habla específicos entre las culturas peruana y sueca, es por ello interesante llevar a cabo este tipo de estudio. En encuestas distribuidas mayormente por internet se preguntó a 15 informantes peruanos y a 20 informantes suecos por su percepción de la cortesía; también contestaron preguntas sobre cómo realizarían peticiones y saludos con personas de diferente grado de cercanía. Se parte de la premisa generalizada de que la cortesía se muestra de diferentes maneras y en situaciones dependiendo de la cultura. Nuestra hipótesis es que pueden surgir malos entendidos en el encuentro entre la cultura peruana y sueca puesto que la manera de realizar los actos de habla difiere por diferencias culturales; concretamente, a la hora de pedir algo, el grupo de peruanos intenta no imponerse a su interlocutor. También pensamos que los peruanos saludan con más contacto físico que los suecos, quienes evitarían este contacto. Los resultados indican que el uso de estos actos de habla puede provocar malos entendidos en ciertos casos. Por ejemplo, difiere el uso de la cortesía, ya que los informantes peruanos usan la cortesía mayormente cuando saludan, ofrecen o piden algo con cuidado, mientras que los informantes suecos usan la cortesía al escuchar problemas y opiniones de los demás. Se han constatado algunas diferencias que podrían provocar malos entendidos en una interacción intercultural. Respecto a las peticiones, los informantes peruanos evalúan el pedir la sal a una persona mayor como una falta de respeto, y, en lo que a los saludos respecta, los besos no son usados por los informantes suecos en prácticamente ninguna de las respuestas obtenidas, mientras que los abrazos son usados en menor grado por los informantes peruanos que por los suecos. Queda así corroborada la hipótesis en cuanto al aspecto general de que hay posibilidad de que las diferencias en la concepción de la cortesía cause malos entendidos, pero no en cuanto a la forma de saludarse, con contacto físico por parte de los informantes suecos, y a las peticiones, puesto que los informantes peruanos también piden la sal, en casi la misma extensión que los suecos.

In this essay, I have examined what has been studied and presented in the theory of ICT in schools. I have based my theory on Arne Trageton’s book Att skriva sig till läsning – IKT i förskoleklass och skola (2005) and theories on children’s reading and writing development. The purpose of this study is to determine how teachers and children experience teaching with Trageton’s ICT-based model Att skriva sig till läsning and whether the model is beneficial for children's first reading and writing. Through qualitative interviews with two pedagogues from the same school and some children from first grade, I have received answers to my two questions: How do pedagogues and children experience ICT-based teaching in the context of children's first reading and writing? How do pedagogues experience the reading and writing development in first- and second-language students when using ICT-based teaching? The results showed that both pedagogues and children were positive about the model in which the computer was used as a writing tool in learning to read and write. The teachers felt that the model was suitable for all children according to their conditions. The children saw the writing as very enjoyable. For the ICT-based teaching to work properly, the technology has great significance. The usage of computers is not a problem for neither the pedagogues nor the children. Access to computers is perceived as the reason why there are only two scheduled ICT-based lessons a week