The purpose with this essay is to investigate how different theories about literary competence can help us understand why Sven Delblanc’s novel Änkan and Mara Lee’s novel Ladies have generated so many various interpretations as they have. To fulfill this purpose a comparative study of book reviews about the two novels Änkan and Ladies has been made. The theories about literary competence that have been used in this study are Joseph Appleyard’s theory about reader-roles, Judith Langer’s theory about imaginary worlds and Magnus Persson’s theory about genre perspectives. The results that are presented in this study are that those book reviews that express expectations about the novels as being genre-typical are often more disappointed about the reading experience than those readers who have expectations about the novels as being genre-transgressing and with deeper meaning. The discussion about genres has therefore given an interesting perspective about the correlation between the readers’ expectations and the many, various interpretations that follow.

In Sweden upper secondary school education is organised in programmes. One of these programmes is the Technology programme that covers five orientations, one of which is Design and Product Development. This thesis is based on the idea that a clearer link between upper secondary school and the demands of professional life in the area of product development is beneficial to both students and industry. Product development is performed in cross-functional teams were understanding of others competences is important. It is therefore argued that, in order to enhance both teaching and learning, interdisciplinary considerations need to be explored. In this thesis, we turn to engineers and industrial designers. The aim of the present study is to get professional actors’ views on knowledge and skills needed within the field of design and product development and to examine whether there are key areas that facilitate an interdisciplinary approach suitable to focus on for educational purpose. As artefacts play a central role in product development the informants’ views on different products/artefacts are also examined. This reasoning results in an a two-part overall research question (a) What thoughts do professional engineers and industrial designers express regarding necessary knowledge and skills, and (b) what relevance does this have for upper secondary school teaching of product development? This overall research question is examined through two sub- studies, both performed at the same time, one conducted as a semi- structured interview and the other using the repertory grid technique. Twelve engineers and industrial designers are interviewed. The first study examines the informants’ thoughts on knowledge and skills required in their work. The same informants’ interpretations and valuations of artefacts are examined in the second sub-study. In sub-study 1 two topics of significance to the informants are identified. These topics are: [1] To act within the team (Figure 4). The ability to navigate and position oneself within a team is, according to the interviewees, a necessary skill in design and product development work. Its character can be described as including specific vocational knowledge and skills as well as issues of general and interdisciplinary nature as collaborating, compromising, communicating, and leadership. The second topic [2], to CAD (Figure 4) includes both skills with CAD software and the ability to understand relationships between a CAD model on screen and the final product. The third topic [3] - a valuation of artefacts - is the outcome of sub- study 2 (Figure 4). This topic was found interesting and further analysed, resulting in the development of a comparison procedure. The result demonstrates how the interviewees interpret and discuss artefacts’ functionality linked to cultural values. These three topics are found to be relevant for technology education at upper secondary school level geared towards design and product development to explore. To act within the team can inspire the development of activities in which project and teamwork are in focus. The purpose of the CAD model in product development is to visualise a product that does not yet exist. To CAD highlights the complexity of this visualisation ability. In the educational context the students can train this ability by developing digital models into physical models or prototypes. Valuations of artefacts, the interviewees associate artefacts’ functionality with certain characteristics. In education students should learn that we are not neutral in our relations to products and other artefacts. In conclusion, a need for teachers to discuss artefacts from different perspectives such as sustainability, usability, identity and so on is also pointed out. / <p>QC 20150212</p>

Intercultural learning is an aspect in all matters of teaching, including civics. Although it is not specified “how” intercultural learning should be included or defined in civics. In the curriculum LGR 11 for the elementary school the concept of intercultural learning is explicitly included but in GY 11 for the upper secondary school its excluded, at least explicitly. Furthermore, there is ambiguities about the definition of intercultural teaching. Although tolerance, equality, and social justice are aspects that intercultural teaching strives to develop. In relation to the report ICCS 2016 attributes such as tolerance, values and understanding norms in other cultures indicated to be somewhat lacking in students, attributes that intercultural learning is supposed to develop. The purpose of this master thesis is to interview upper secondary school teachers in civics about their perception of intercultural learning, in what ways intercultural learning occurs in teaching and how the teachers perceive support for intercultural learning in GY 11. To study this, I have used semi-structured interviews. Their answers were later analysed through three theoretical aspects based on Lahdenperäs (2004) definition of intercultural learning. These are student-active and experience-based teaching, culture contrastive perspective and emotionally process one’s own ethnocentrism. The result show that intercultural learning is unusual when the interviewed teachers reflect upon their teaching planning. The teachers did not or only barely understood the concept of intercultural learning. After the interviews were analysed, it showed a mixed result about how teachers reflect and understand intercultural learning and how they include it in their teaching. Sometimes the teachers mentioned aspects that indicate the use of intercultural learning and at other times responses indicated otherwise, even aspects that intercultural learning is supposed to oppose. Perceived support about intercultural teaching in the curriculum GY 11 deemed to be somewhat lacking and could be improved upon. Although the teachers mentioned that it might be difficult to include more aspects in the curriculum due to the overload in work it might cause. The results also showed that intercultural teaching might be an area to study further upon because of the interesting reflections by the teachers, that might aid the understanding of how intercultural teaching could be included in teaching. / Interkulturellt lärande är en aspekt som ska ingå i all undervisning, däribland i samhällskunskapsdidaktiken men hur det ska inkluderas och definieras är inte tydligt. I läroplanen LGR 11 finns interkulturellt lärande explicit inkluderat, dock i GY 11 saknas begreppet trots att det är ett ämne som ska inkluderas i all undervisning. Interkulturellt lärande är ett otydligt, brett begrepp som det råder osäkerheter kring i forskning. Interkulturellt lärande ska dock inkludera moment som utvecklar kunskaper kring tolerans, social rättvisa, jämlikhet med elevers olika erfarenheter och utbytet av perspektiv. I relation med egenskaperna interkulturellt lärande ska utveckla så kan betydelsen av interkulturellt lärande ställas mot ICCS 2016 som visade brister hos elevers kunskaper inom områden berörande tolerans, värderingar och normer. Examensarbetets syfte är att ta reda på aktiva samhällskunskapslärares uppfattningar om interkulturellt lärande, hur lärarna inkluderar det i sin undervisning och vilket uppfattat stöd i GY 11 erbjuder, genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Svaren analyseras med hjälp av tre teoretiska aspekter skapade genom Lahdenperäs (2004) definition av begreppet interkulturellt lärande. Dessa utgångspunkter är: Studentaktiv och erfarenhetsbaserad undervisning, kulturkontrastivt perspektiv och känslomässig bearbetning av sin egen etnocentrism. Resultatet visar att interkulturellt lärande är ett ovanligt begrepp att ta hänsyn till i samhällskunskapsundervisningen. Endast en av lärarna kände till begreppet ”interkultur” och kunde ge en generell förklaring av dess definition, dock inte ”interkulturellt lärande”. Analysen visar ett blandat resultat över huruvida lärare reflekterar kring interkulturellt lärande i undervisning. Samtliga lärare gav respons som indikerar på att de emellanåt hade aspekter som berör interkulturellt lärande dock samtidigt gavs aspekter som interkulturellt lärande ska motverka såsom bearbetningen av etnocentrism. Upplevt stöd från läroplanen om interkulturellt lärande kan utvecklas, då det ansågs som ett viktigt ämne men att det finns annan problematik, såsom tidsbrist för ytterligare tillägg i undervisningen. Dock utifrån analysen kunde en slutsats dra att det är ett område som är av värde att studeras vidare inom då intressanta uppfattningar av lärarna visade på faktorer som kan vara användbart i reflektioner om interkulturellt lärande i undervisning.