This thesis is an investigation into conceptions of ‘understanding mathematics in depth’, as articulated by two specific groups of novice secondary mathematics teachers in the UK. Most participants in the sample interviewed have completed one of two government funded mathematics subject knowledge enhancement courses, which were devised with an aim of strengthening students’ understanding of fundamental mathematics. Qualitative data was drawn from semi-structured interviews with 21 subjects and more in-depth case studies of two of the sample. The data reveals some key themes common to both groups, and also some clear differences. The data also brings to light some new emergent theory which is particularly relevant in novice teachers’ contexts. To provide background context to this study, quantitative data on pre-service mathematics Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students is also presented, and it is shown that, at the university in the study, there is no relationship between degree classification on entry to PGCE, and effectiveness as a teacher as measured on exit from the course. The data also shows that there are no significant differences in subject knowledge and overall performance on exit from PGCE, between students who have previously followed a subject knowledge enhancement course, and those who have followed more traditional degree routes.

This thesis discusses the subject knowledge of university librarians, gained through education and/or experience in the field. The aim was to investigate the subject knowledge for university librarians, how the existence of subject knowledge or the lack thereof affects the librarians’ work and how the users’ view on the librarians' subject knowledge. I also wanted to investigate if there were differences between librarians at the interdisciplinary libraries and special librarians and whether there were differences between disciplines. This thesis is based on professional theory and librarian occupation as a profession or semi-profession. Additionally I explored what previous studies (mostly American) had said about the subject knowledge of university libraries, both general and divided into different disciplines. For this study I used online questionnaires to 274 librarians, library assistants and other staff of university libraries and 169 users. The questionnaire for the libraries was sent out to contacts at selected libraries, which in their turn asked the staff at these libraries to participate. For user survey I asked users in the libraries personally to participate and then sent out email to them. The responses were analysed mainly on the basis of computer generated results in the web tool and these results was published in the form of tables and diagrams in the study. The results of this survey was mainly that the portion of librarians with subject background was quite low, particularly in terms of subject specific degree, and that experience was relatively high. They are also differences between librarians on interdisciplinary libraries and librarians on subject specialized libraries, mainly that the proportion of completed degree in library science is higher for the subject librarians and the proportion who think that subject knowledge is important is lower in the same group. There are also differences between different disciplines, mainly in the terms of degree, both in library science and other topics, experience, and if the subject knowledge is important in the field. Based on these findings I could conclude that the librarian occupation is a semi-profession rather than a profession. The main conclusions was that librarians think that subject knowledge is important but that this is not seen to the same extent in their education or training although that it partially counterbalanced by experience. Its users find the librarians' subject knowledge partly is quite poor but that they nonetheless receive sufficient help. There are according to me possible methods to raise the subject knowledge of university librarians, mainly by trying to associate librarians with appropriate education to subject libraries and to create a specialisation on university librarianship.

Music production is a relatively new subject in upper secondary school who place high demands on the teacher's expertise in many areas of knowledge, such as sound technology, composition, arranging and leadership. A music teacher education by deepening specialization in music production was not started until 2011, as teacher graduates before 2015 lack formal training in the subject. The purpose of the study is to highlight the teacher's view of what it takes to teach the subject music production in upper secondary school and how the application of their skills may seem teaching. The study consists of four interviews with teachers who teach music in upper secondary school. The study shows that teachers need to be multi-skilled to teach the subject music production. In addition to traditional music skills they must have significant knowledge of music technology, and be familiar with today's musical trends and cultures. The study shows that there are great advantages to being able to play one or more instruments as music production teacher, and having experience in the music industry is considered a must in order to make the lessons as realistic as possible. The challenge for today's music teachers is the need to constantly develop their skills to contribute in a meaningful and reality-grounded education in a constantly changing music industry. / Musikproduktion är ett relativt nytt ämne på gymnasiet som ställer höga krav på lärarens kompetens inom många kunskapsområden, till exempel ljudteknik, komposition, arrangering samt ledarskap. En musiklärarutbildning med fördjupad inriktning mot musikproduktion startades inte förrän 2011 så undervisande lärare med examen före 2015 saknar formell utbildning i ämnet. Syftet med studien är att belysa lärares syn på vad som krävs för att undervisa i ämnet musikproduktion på gymnasiet samt hur tillämpningen av deras kunskaper kan te sig i undervisningen. Studien består av fyra kvalitativa intervjuer med lärare som undervisar i musikproduktion på gymnasiet. Studien visar att lärare behöver vara multikompetenta för att undervisa i ämnet musikproduktion. Utöver sedvanliga musikkunskaper så måste de ha betydande kunskaper om musikteknologi samt vara insatta i dagens musikaliska trender och kulturer. Studien visar att det finns stora fördelar med att kunna spela ett eller flera instrument som musikproduktionslärare och att ha erfarenhet av musikbranschen anses vara ett måste för att kunna göra undervisningen så verklighetstrogen som möjligt. Utmaningen för dagens musikproduktionslärare är att de ständigt måste utveckla sina kunskaper för att bidra med en meningsfull och verklighetsförankrad undervisning i en ständig föränderlig musikbransch.

Syftet med denna studie var att ta reda på hur mycket biologi man kan få in i verksamheten genom att uppmärksamma när ämnet naturligt visar sig hos barnen under utomhusvistelse, i deras egna lekar, upptäckter och utforskande. Bakgrunden till min undersökning är att den svenska förskolan sägs befinna sig i en brytningstid, med större fokus på ämneskunskaper och att läroplanen samtidigt poängterar vikten av att ta tillvara barns perspektiv, frågor och idéer. För att få svar har jag gjort observationer på två olika förskolor/avdelningar. Även enkäter har skickats till de medverkande pedagogerna. Resultatet av mina observationer visar att barnen ofta uppmärksammar olika djur och växter och andra områden inom ämnet biologi när de vistas ute i naturen. Att vistas i naturmiljö tycks alltså skapa bra förutsättningar för ett lärande inom ämnet biologi som är barninitierat. Att även pedagogerna från de två deltagande förskolorna anser det, framgår av deras svar på enkätfrågorna. / The intention with this study was to investigate how much biology you can implement into the pre-school activities by recognizing when the subject naturally appears when the children are outdoors, through their own games, discoveries and explorations. The background to my investigation is that the Swedish pre-school is said to be in a transition state with more focus on subject knowledge at the same time as the curriculum points out the importance of taking care of the children's perspective, questions and ideas. To get answers I have done observations at two different pre-schools/departments. Also, questionnaires have been sent out to the teachers who participated in the study. The results of my observations show that the children often pay attention to various kinds of animals, plants and other parts of biology when they are out in the nature. Being outside in the nature seems to create a good basis for education within the subject, which is initiated by the children themselves. That even the teachers from the two participated pre-schools think. So was made clear through their answers on the questionnaires.

In our study, the problem area is that concept teaching in mathematics is too low to be able to achieve mathematical understanding. Mathematics also has two different parlance ​​that make teaching difficult and create a lack of clarity about which one of these parlances to use at which occasion and how these parlances ​​should be interpreted and how they are linked.  We have conducted an interview study with semi-structured interviews. The respondents consist of 16 teachers who were selected through our inclusion- and exclusion criteria. The material was transcribed, coded, and categorized, and we used the socio-cultural perspective as a theoretical framework to analyse the material.  One conclusion we can draw from the results of this interview study is that the teachers in this study express that they are aware that cooperative learning is beneficial for students' understanding of concepts, but that organizational problems such as lack of planning time, too few educators and too large classes make it is difficult to conduct a developing concept teaching. This can be a reason why the textbook takes up a lot of space in the classroom. Another conclusion we can draw is that the teachers in this study express that they have subject knowledge and that their pedagogical knowledge at certain times is not sufficient, especially when it comes to supporting students who need extra support and students with Swedish as a second language. Another conclusion we can draw from the results is that the students have difficulty transferring the concrete to the abstract in mathematics. This may be because the language used by the students is the everyday one, which does not correspond to what the students encounter in the textbooks and on tests. As the students get the smallest speaking space, they also rarely get the chance to use any of the language. The use of everyday language is not advocated in the socio-cultural perspective, but can be questioned when students do not encounter the correct language in everyday life, and can become an element in the teaching that can not relate to everyday life.

This study aims to investigate the impact of using stories in pre-school mathematics teaching in Saudi Arabia. An intervention was designed to promote interactive teaching and learning in eight classrooms across three private schools. Integral to the intervention was a series of five stories especially written by the researcher based around the same central characters; reflecting the cultural setting familiar to the children, and with a problem-solving storyline. The stories include a range of mathematical facts, skills and concepts applicable to young learners. Additional resource materials to accompany the stories were also designed and provided for the participating teachers. The researcher adopted a qualitative, constructivist, technical action research approach and three data collection tools were used: a bibliographical questionnaire for the teachers; pre- and post-interventions semi-structured interview schedules, and classroom observations. A thematic analysis of the pre- and post-intervention data was undertaken in order to monitor the impact of using the stories in the pre-school classrooms. The study considers the findings from the data in relation to both the teachers’ and the children's’ experiences pre- and post-intervention. In particular, the impact of the intervention on teachers’ subject knowledge, attitudes, confidence and classroom practice is discussed along with the impact on children’s engagement and enjoyment of mathematics; their mathematical understanding and thinking skills. The study concludes that using stories to teach mathematics had a positive impact on the quality of teaching and learning mathematics. Using the stories prompted a positive change in teacher’s and children’s attitudes and feelings towards mathematics; a greater understanding of key mathematical ideas; and an appreciation of the value and uses of mathematics in everyday life. The implications from the study highlight the importance of providing appropriate training for pre-school teachers (and elsewhere) and the pivotal role that using stories can play in ensuring high quality mathematics teaching and learning.

Syftet med undersökningen är att se på fysik med de minsta barnen på förskolan, hur det uppfattas och hur det arbetas med. Har man bra material för att arbeta med fysik och känner man att man kan det? Metoden som används i undersökningen är intervjuer av det kvalitativa slaget. Fyra förskollärare och två förskolechefer intervjuades utifrån 2 frågescheman som skiljde sig lite åt ifall man var förskollärare eller förskolechef.  Resultatet visade att förskollärarna ansåg att de inte hade så jättemycket kunskap inom fysikområdet och att det kan vara lite knepigt att arbeta med. Att se vilket material som passar att använda i en fysiksituation sågs inte som superlätt av två stycken medans två ansåg att det mesta gick att använda. / The purpose with this survey is to look at physics with the smallest children at the preschool, how it is perceived and how it is worked with. Do they have good materials to work with physics and do they feel that they can work with it? The method that is being used in this survey is interviews of the qualitative style. Four preschool teacher and two preschool directors was interviewed according to a schedule that was different if you were a preschool teacher or a preschool director. The result showed that the preschool teachers considered that they didn’t have that much knowledge in physics and that it was a little bit tricky to work with. To see which material that would fit best to use in a physics situation was perceived as hard by two teachers while two teachers thought that most materials could be used.

This study is concerned with the development of subject knowledge in pre-service teachers of secondary physical education (PE) during their one year Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) course. It investigates the knowledge bases for teaching which pre-service teachers recognised, developed and prioritised, as well as the key influences that impacted on their subject knowledge development. Adopting an interpretive methodology informed by constructivist grounded theory, the study employed interviews, lesson observations and post-lesson reflections as principal research methods. Pre-service teachers were seen to make wide-ranging progress in their subject knowledge, including the development of content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of curriculum and knowledge of pupils. Through this they advanced their view of the nature of PE and how they wanted to teach it. The research highlights, that the process of knowledge development in PETE is socially constructed and complex. Much of the pre-service teachers development was influenced by various communities of practice, particularly their school placements PE departments, but also their University-based learning community. Of these, the legitimised practices within the PE departments were found to be especially important to pre-service teachers development. University-based learning was credited by pre-service teachers with enhancing their holistic understanding of the learning process, developing those aspects of critical pedagogy that were under-developed in schools. The impact of different subject knowledge profiles and the consequences of knowledge deficits are identified. This raises questions about the role and development of subject knowledge within PETE and calls for a re-vitalised debate on the nature of the knowledge in PE. Framed within an ever-changing policy landscape is the need for enhanced and stable partnerships that promote shared visions of PETE, an essential part of which is the need to collaboratively design and evaluate explicit knowledge development pathways which allow pre-service teachers to fulfil their potential and genuinely decide how they want to teach PE.

Denna studie undersöker mellanstadielärares erfarenheter om hur de arbetar för att främja elevernas motivation och måluppfyllelse i ämnet historia och hur motivationen påverkas. Lärarna som intervjuades fick beskriva sina upplevelser och erfarenheter av att arbeta med historieämnet i klassrummet. Syftet med denna studie var att få en inblick i hur lärare kan göra historieämnet intressant och eleverna engagerande och motiverade samt belysa vilka undervisningsupplägg, arbetssätt och arbetsformer som dominerar i historieundervisningen. Studien utgår ifrån pragmatismen och självbestämmandeteorin, eftersom pragmatismen sammanför det psykologiska tankesättet och beskrivs som en faktor av hur en individ lär sig, utvecklar och strävar efter en inre och yttre kapacitet. Självbestämmandeteorin beskriver tydligt hur motivationen kan påverkas av yttre faktorer och där syftet är att utveckla en inre motivationen för att bli mer självstyrd och självständig i sitt utförande.  Det som betonades i intervjuerna utifrån mellanstadielärarnas tankar och erfarenheter, var att eleverna bäst lär sig genom praktiska arbeten, dramatiseringar, estetiska lärprocesser och diskussioner i par, grupp och helklass. Fokus för lärarna låg i att skapa ett historieintresse och engagemang hos eleverna för att främja deras motivation. Det framkom även andra viktiga aspekter som kan påverka elevernas motivation och engagemang, vilket lyfts i resultatdelen. Studien visade på behovet av att som mellanstadielärare levandegöra historieämnet för att eleverna ska utveckla goda förmågor. Detta genom att göra lektionerna verklighetstrogna, måla upp bilder för eleverna, men även skapa en känsla av den tid som varit. Variationen är även den del i undervisningen som ligger till grund för intressanta och tongivande lektioner i historia för att skapa historieintresserade elever. Vidare i resultatet kom mellanstadielärarna fram till att elevernas tidigare erfarenheter lyfts in i undervisningen för att eleverna ska utvecklas tillsammans som grupp och individer, viket följaktligen skapar nya historieintressen. Slutsatsen av denna studie visade på att om lärarna är intresserade och engagerade i historieundervisningen, och skapar utvecklande och intressanta lektioner, då främjas motivationen hos eleverna något som genererar i en ökad måluppfyllelse.

The purpose of this thesis was to research what factors determines the teachers choice in using outdoor educational activities in their mathematics teaching as well as when and where the outdoors mathematics teaching is being used. The research that lies behind the study shows that there is a knowledge gap in the research on outdoor mathematics, since most of the research conducted today is focusing on a more general use of outdoor pedagogical activities irrespective of which subject content it`s applied on. The relevance of the study therefore becomes an important source of knowledge for teachers and students in teaching education. The survey was conveyed by a questionnaire as a research method with the purpose of being able to examine how the use of outdoor mathematics occurs today, in correlation to factors such as professional experience, education or which grade the teacher mostly teaches. The result of the survey showed that many teachers today use outdoor educational activities in their mathematics teaching. The purpose of the use of outdoor mathematics was primarily to vary their teaching and to concretise the subject content. The result also shows that the forest was the place that is best suited for outdoor mathematics according to the teachers. The teachers, however, shed light on the lack of time when planning and implementing lessons, class sizes and human resources as obstacles for outdoor educational activities. / Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vilka möjliga faktorer som påverkar lärares val att använda sig av utomhuspedagogiska aktiviteter i matematikundervisningen samt när och var matematikundervisning utomhus används. Tidigare forskning som ligger till grund för studien visar att det finns ett kunskapsglapp om utomhusmatematik i undervisningen då merparten av forskning behandlar en mer generell användning av utomhuspedagogiska aktiviteter oberoende vilket ämnesinnehåll som tillämpas. Studiens relevans blir då en viktig kunskapskälla för verksamma lärare och studenter vid lärarutbildningen.  Undersökningen genomfördes med enkät som datainsamlingsinstrument med syfte att undersöka hur användningen av utomhusmatematik ser ut idag, i relation till faktorer såsom yrkeserfarenhet, utbildning eller vilken årskurs läraren till störst del undervisar i. Resultatet av undersökningen visade att många lärare använder sig av utomhuspedagogiska aktiviteter i sin matematikundervisning. Syftet med utomhusmatematik anser lärare framförallt är att variera sin undervisning och för att konkretisera ämnesinnehållet. Resultatet visar även att skogen är den plats som lämpade sig bäst för utomhusmatematik. Lärare belyser dock tidsbrist vid planering och genomförande av lektioner, klasstorlek och personalresurser som hinder.