The purpose of the study is to examine how pedagogues practice their authority over children in conflict situations at preschools. How are children treated based solely on them being children? And how do preschool teachers validate children’s experiences of conflicts? To get answers I proceeded by using a qualitative data collection method and a hermeneutical analysis. I collected the material for the study by observing and interviewing pedagogues to both get an idea of ​​how they act in practice and how they reason about conflict situations in the preschool. The essay is based on a childhood sociological theoretical perspective that recognizes the importance of social and cultural context. The study’s results show that pedagogues practice their authority over children in conflict situations, but that it is done in different ways. How they practice authority, treat and validate children’s experiences depend on the pedagogues’ child perspective. Even though all the pedagogues in the study want what’s best for the children, the various conflict situations have completely different outcomes, since the pedagogues interpret children and their actions in very different ways, resulting in different responses and attitudes towards the children. The consequences of these different ways to respond need to be questioned and reflected upon. It’s time that the way pedagogues practice their authority and the way they see children is brought up for discussions within the world of preschool education.

The purpose of this study is to investigate young children’s possibility to participation and influence in preschool settings. The specific questions were:  If and how do preschool teachers work with young children's influence and participation? In what way is the preschool teachers approach closely related to young children's opportunity to influence and participate? The results show that preschool teachers do work with young children’s influence and participation by keeping them involved in the preschool settings and considering their interest when planning the activities. The teachers also interpret the children’s ability to express their wishes and needs through nonvocal communication such as gestures and body language. The teacher's approach was shown as closely connected to the children opportunity to influence and participate in consideration to how close the teacher was to the child’s perspective and how they viewed the child. In summary this study concludes that the children’s ability to exert influence and participation will increase by endeavouring to come close to the child’s perspective and balancing the routines of the preschool settings as well as taking the child’s individuality into consideration.

The purpose of this study is to examine, analyse and compare to what extent the preschool teachers' child perspective influences their attitude towards different forms of circle time. More specifically, our aim is, firstly to examine how preschool teachers see children's possibilities for influence and participation depending on the form of circle time, and secondly how children are included or excluded within different forms of circle time. We will be using the following questions as a guidance to draw a conclusion: • To what extent does the preschool teacher's child perspective impact on their approach in circle time? • To what extent does the form of circle time affect the inclusion or exclusion of children according to the preschool teachers? • How is the children's influence and participation affected by different forms of circle time? This is a qualitative study based on both semi-structured interviews with preschool teachers and observations of circle time. The fieldwork was carried out at four different preschools in the Stockholm area. The main theoretical frame is based on several notions that are of importance at preschool: inclusion and exclusion, influence and participation, and preschool teachers approach on children. The results show that the child perspective of the majority of the preschool teachers respects the children's own way of thinking and therefore builds on a free will, leads to a more harmonious atmosphere without demonstrative admonitions. The majority of the preschool teachers prefer circle time with a small number of children in order to be able to show consideration both for the tranquil and the go-ahead child's behaviour. The results also show that circle time with less children improves the children's possibility for influence and inclusion compared to traditional circle time. This is because it gives the preschool teacher more time to focus on and notice every single individual. It is the preschool teacher's responsibility to create a circle time that is interesting for the children. This can be achieved either by giving the children more influence or by allowing them to decide if they want to participate at circle time.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to describe children’s own perspectives on being scouts and to describe the scout movement as a cultural phenomenon. The thesis is based on interviews with 34 members of the movement and studies of archive material and contemporary documents. It is also based on a social constructivist view of knowledge.</p><p>The results show that the movement seems to lack profile and is decentralised and secularised from the children’s point of view. They say that the movement’s history, the scout law, the scout oath and religion do not have great meaning. The movement has changed and membership today is not what it used to be. The children are scouts, but not too “scouty”.</p><p>The informants find that outsiders think that the movement is “geeky”, but it can have a high status among elderly people. The informants react to the “geekiness” by not caring, hiding the fact that they are members, not telling anyone or protesting against other people’s views on the subject. This “geeky” label and the informants’ reactions to it can be seen as an unexpressed initiation rite to becoming a scout. It is something the members have to go through to be seen as worthy scouts.</p><p>Being a scout is not considered rebellion against adults. Scouts can be seen as lacking youth culture patterns, adapting to an organized recreational activity. However, being a scout can be considered rebellion against other youngsters; some informants for example wore the scout uniforms in school. Some informants think that they have the correct picture of the movement and that outsiders have the wrong one. This strengthens their feeling of togetherness. Thus they are rebellious by being well-behaved. They fight against a dominating culture. Hence the scout movement works as a subculture even though it was created by adults.</p>

Syftet med detta arbete är att hela tiden ha ett barnperspektiv och på så sätt ta reda på hur barn med diagnosen autism kan tänka om och uppleva sin undervisningssituation. För att vidga perspektivet undersöker vi hur lärare och assistenter beskriver inlärningssituationen för de barn som är med i vår undersökning.Litteraturavsnittet ger en översikt av tidigare forskning om autism och vilka svårigheter och möjligheter som diagnosen autism kan innebära för barn i skolan. Vidare beskriver vi olika pedagogiska metoder och strategier som lärare kan använda.Genom en studie i form av intervjuer och observationer tar vi reda på vilka tankar barn med autism har om sin inlärningssituation. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna i denna studie baseras på det sociokulturella perspektivet, det salutogena perspektivet och det variationsteoretiska perspektivet.Sammanfattningsvis pekar resultaten av våra undersökningar på att barn med autism kan berätta om sin inlärningssituation i skolan. De beskriver vad de har lätt för, vad de har svårt för och vilken hjälp de behöver av lärare och assistenter. Några av resultaten är att en del barn får för mycket hjälp, andra får inte den hjälp de behöver och att flera barn inte tillräckligt mycket tränas till att bli självständiga individer. Det flera barn tycker är svårt är: Att skriva texter, när de inte vet vad de ska göra och att sitta med i samlingar och lyssna på andra. Det alla barn tycker är lätt är saker som de tycker om att göra och som de själva bestämt. Vi tror oss se att barn med autism som har egna strategier för att hantera vardagen fungerar bättre. Alla barnen behöver visuellt bildstöd för att få struktur. I vår uppsats jämför vi barnens upplevelser om sin egen inlärningssituation med lärares och assistenters och vi ser att de är ganska lika. Barnen kan berätta för oss att de behöver hjälp men har inte alltid förmågan att be om hjälp när de behöver.

The aim of this thesis is to describe children’s own perspectives on being scouts and to describe the scout movement as a cultural phenomenon. The thesis is based on interviews with 34 members of the movement and studies of archive material and contemporary documents. It is also based on a social constructivist view of knowledge. The results show that the movement seems to lack profile and is decentralised and secularised from the children’s point of view. They say that the movement’s history, the scout law, the scout oath and religion do not have great meaning. The movement has changed and membership today is not what it used to be. The children are scouts, but not too “scouty”. The informants find that outsiders think that the movement is “geeky”, but it can have a high status among elderly people. The informants react to the “geekiness” by not caring, hiding the fact that they are members, not telling anyone or protesting against other people’s views on the subject. This “geeky” label and the informants’ reactions to it can be seen as an unexpressed initiation rite to becoming a scout. It is something the members have to go through to be seen as worthy scouts. Being a scout is not considered rebellion against adults. Scouts can be seen as lacking youth culture patterns, adapting to an organized recreational activity. However, being a scout can be considered rebellion against other youngsters; some informants for example wore the scout uniforms in school. Some informants think that they have the correct picture of the movement and that outsiders have the wrong one. This strengthens their feeling of togetherness. Thus they are rebellious by being well-behaved. They fight against a dominating culture. Hence the scout movement works as a subculture even though it was created by adults.

The aim of this study is to describe and to interpret how fathers are concieved by their children. Various aspects of the male parent and the relationship between the child and his or her father are beeing investigated from the childs point of view. Forming an understanding of the fathers significance from the childs perspective is of particular importance for the study. This perspective is being formulated from a position that looks upon the childs socialization and the identityshaping processes as primarily a matter of "what children do with what is done to children".The empirical data in the study was obtained by interviewing one hundred children, seven and ten year old girls and boys, partly from Umeå and partly from some small villages a few swedish miles away from the town. The semistructured interviews were made with children from five different schools and from eighteen different school-classes.Data show that a vast majority describe a fairly close relationship to a father with clearly anti-patriarchal characteristics. The middle-class father is seen as a more family-oriented parent, more equal to his spouse than the working-class father who is more likely of beeing described in traditional terms. Some gender-related patterns are shown that concerns different orientations towards the father. While the boys tend to view their fathers in direct relation to themselves - him and me - the girls are more likely to describe their male parents as familyfathers and from a perspective that sees him as a partner to the mother.From the characterization the children made of their fathers from the family-drawings, four different cateogories, representing various perspectives on the father, were identified: The Positive, the Ambigous, the Disappointed and the Neutral.The symbolic interactionism, based on the works of George H. Mead, is argued to be a fruitful theoretical framework for understanding the socializationprocess in which the childs concepts of its father are being shaped. From a perspective on the cultural modernization and its impacts on parenting and the relationship between fathers and children, it is also claimed that there are reasons to beleive that the tendencies of release from a traditional determination not only put new burdons on parents and children in modern society, but also provide a widening of possibilities and a powerful potential for forming more "normalized", non-authoritarian and non-oppressive, interaction-based relations betweenchildren and their fathers. / digitalisering@umu

Mitt syfte med denna studie är att bidra med kunskap hur förskollärarna på en åldershomogen förskola arbetar med barns delaktighet och inflytande, hur arbetet skiljer sig för de olika åldersgrupperna och hur förskollärarna kopplar sitt arbete till läroplanen. Jag har använt mig av intervjuer med fyra förskollärare samt en förskolechef på en åldershomogen förskola för att besvara mina frågeställningar. Resultatet av min undersökning visar att förskollärarna lägger stor vikt vid att barnen ska få delaktighet och inflytande över sin vardag på förskolan. Detta gör de genom att synliggöra det enskilda barnet med hjälp av den pedagogiska dokumentationen. Därefter anpassas verksamhetens arbetssätt och miljö efter de behov samt intressen som barnen visat uttryck för. Detta ansåg förskollärarna hade blivit lättare efter att de börjat med åldershomogena barngrupper till skillnad från när man hade arbetat med åldrarna 1-5. / The purpose of this study is to bring further knowledge into how educators in homogeneous pre-schools work with children's participation as well as their ability to influence their daily school life. The study will also identify what the differences are for different age groups and how educators connect their work with the curriculum. The results have been accumulated by interviewing four educators and a principal in a homogeneous pre-school. The results of the study show that the educators believe that it is important for children to participate and have a say in day to day pre-school life. The use of pedagogical documentation is a tool used to help notice every individual child. Through this documentation they are able to adjust their way of working, the education level and the surrounding environment to cater to the children's interests and needs. The results also show that the educators found it easier to include a child's needs and interests when working with children of the same age.

I denna studie undersöker vi hur personalen på en anstalt i Sverige bemöter barn som besöker ett fängelse. Mötet kan på många sätt vara känsligt och barn med frihetsberövade föräldrar behöver tas emot av personal som förstår dess livssituation. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer vill vi förstå hur barnperspektivet på anstalten yttrar sig, vilken kompetens som finns hos personalen samt om det finns något samarbete mellan olika myndigheter för att stödja barnet.  I resultatdelen framförs och diskuteras nio intervjuades åsikter i förhållande till tidigare begrepp och forskning. Sammanfattningsvis menar vi att alla intervjuade har ett barnperspektiv men att lagar och föreskrifter ibland hindrar personalen att möta barnet ur barnets perspektiv. De anställda på anstalten ska jobba för att den intagne inte ska återfalla i brott samt att upprätthålla säkerhet. Att vara barn till någon som sitter i fängelse är speciellt. När barnet kommer till anstalten måste höga säkerhetskrav balanseras med vad barnet uttrycker och behöver. Vidare ser vi att ett större samarbete mellan socialtjänsten, kriminalvården och andra myndigheter skulle kunna stödja barnet och hans/hennes familj under förälderns fängelsevistelse. / The aim of this essay is to study how the staff at a Swedish prison approaches children that visit the prison. The meeting can in many ways be sensitive and children with imprisoned parents need to be welcomed by employees that have an understanding of their situation. The method used is qualitative interviews. Through these interviews we explore the child perspective at the prison, the employee’s competence and if there is any cooperation between different authorities to support the child.  In total we have interviewed nine persons and their views and reflections are compared with established research. We conclude that all the interviewees apply a child perspective in their work. However sometimes laws and regulations in effect hamper the staff’s ability to meet the child from the child’s perspective. The prime objectives for the employees at a prison are to maintain security and to help the inmates towards a life outside the criminal sphere. To be a child and have a parent in prison is difficult. When the child visits the prison his/her needs and feelings has to be balanced with the security demands at the prison. We also argue that it would be helpful for the support of the child and his/her family if social services, The Prison and Probation Service and other authorities would have a closer cooperation.

Studien behandlar begreppet det kompetenta barnet och dess komplexitet. Denerfarenhet vi har genom att vara verksamma i förskolan innebär att vi uppleverbegreppet används utan någon större eftertanke eller notis av dess betydelse. Syfte medstudien är att förklara och förstå innebörden av begreppet det kompetenta barnet iförskolan. Studiens litteraturgenomgång berör aktuell forskning inom området,begreppet det kompetenta barnet och barnsyn. Datainsamlingen som ligger till grund förstudien består av åtta kvalitativa intervjuer med förskollärare och genomfördes med stödav fenomenografin. Resultatet visar att förskollärarna förklarar begreppet, detkompetenta barnet utifrån tre olika kategorier. Dessa tre kategorier är; det kompetentabarnet genom färdigheter och självständiga handlingar, det kompetenta barnet sommöjliggörs genom miljön samt det kompetenta barnet förklaras genom inneboende viljaoch drivkraft. Resultatet visar även hur det kompetenta barnet kommer till uttryck iförskolans verksamhet; Barnet som kompetent genom förskollärarens syn på barnetsamt barnet som kompetent genom hur förskollärare uppfattar sin egen yrkesroll. Idiskussionsdelen diskuteras hur begreppet det kompetenta barnet beskrivs avförskollärare och hur det kompetenta barnet kommer till uttryck i förskolansverksamhet. / The study focuses on the complexity of the concept the competent child. From ourexperience of working in preschool we have been aware of the fact that this concept isbeing used without any further consideration or observance of its true meaning. Thepurpose of this study is to explain and understand the signification of the concept thecompetent child in preschool. The literature on which the study is based concernscurrent research within the field, the competent child and outlook on children. Thecollections of data that the study is based on contains of eight qualitative interviewswith preschool teachers were made supported by phenomenography. The result showsthat preschool teachers explain the concept, the competent child by three categories.These three categories are; the competent child through skills and independent actions,the competent child who is made possible through the environment and the competentchild being explained through inborn will and driving force. The result also shows howthe competent child is expressed in the daily activities in preschool. The child ascompetent through the preschool teacher`s outlook on children and the child ascompetent through the way, in which the preschool teacher perceive her/his ownprofessional role. In the discussion part, the way preschool teachers explain the conceptthe competent child, is being discussed and how the competent child is expressed in thedaily activities in preschool.