The present study investigated the incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into Swedish law through an examination of the juridical difficulties in the state and municipalities. The study employed three methods: Qualitative content analysis, juridical method, and a semi-structured interview. The results show that the incorporation alone is not sufficient but is a project that needs continuous efforts to have thorough effects on children’s rights. As the phrasing of the Convention is vague it results in difficulties in exercising the rights, especially regarding the best interest of the child. Furthermore, the Swedish law prohibits children under 18 years old to bring an action to court in certain issues such as migration cases. Additionally, as Sweden has not ratified the third optional protocol of the Convention regarding the right to seek justice from the Committee on the Rights of the Child in case of a violation of rights on a national level, this further limits children to exercise their rights. On the municipal level, dissemination of information and knowledge regarding the Convention, cooperation between municipal bodies and the government, commitment for change, and access to adequate resources are all important tools for the implementation.

The aim of this study is to contribute to increased knowledge about educators' perceptions of children's rights and how they perceive that it is worked with in preschool. The method used in the study is a semi-structured interview, in which six educators participated. In this essay, we will use the term pedagogues when we refer to those who work in children's groups, the term includes both trained preschool teachers and all other staff. The result shows that the educators have a desire to work and learn more about the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The study also shows that the work with children's rights is usually about what approach one has rather than knowledge and understanding. The teachers' ideas about the subject reflects an uncertainty, which can contribute to children in preschool not being aware of their rights. / Syftet med denna studie är att bidra till ökad kunskap om pedagogers föreställningar av barns rättigheter och hur de upplever att detta arbetas med i förskolan. Metoden som använts är semistrukturerad intervju, där det deltog sex pedagoger. I denna uppsats kommer vi att använda begreppet pedagoger när vi benämner de som arbetar i barngrupperna, i begreppet ingår såväl utbildade förskollärare som all övrig personal. Resultatet visar på att pedagogerna har en vilja att arbeta och lära sig mer om barnkonventionen. Studien visar även att arbetet med barns rättigheter till större delen handlar om vilket förhållningssätt man har snarare än kunskap och förståelse. Pedagogernas föreställningar kring ämnet speglar en osäkerhet vilket kan bidra till att barn i förskolan inte blir medvetna om sina rättigheter.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to contribute with increased knowledge regarding preschool teacher’s notions of children’s participations and influence in preschool. To find out about this we used semi-structured interviews as a method when we interviewed eights preschool teachers in four different preschools in the same municipality. The preschool teachers that have participated in this study work with children in varying ages. To analyze their variations about children’s participations and influence we have used a phenomenographic method.    The result of the study shows that preschool teachers’ approaches differ because they have different ideas about how and to what extent children should be participating and have influence in preschool. The preschool teachers have described that the children have the right to have influence but that they can be limited by the preschool’s routines. The result also indicates that it’s very effective to use varying forms of support to make preschool available for every child. This support can for example be based on the perspectives that are used in special education. Furthermore, the result makes it clear that children’s many ways of communication are taken into account because their opinions are important, as well as their interests. The preschool teachers also described that the communication between adults is important in order to get a consensus view regarding the term’s participation and influence. Some preschool teachers also experienced that their own awareness of their approach affects the children’s participation and influence. / Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie är att bidra med ökad kunskap om förskollärares föreställningar kring arbetet med barns delaktighet och inflytande i förskolan. För att få reda på detta har vi använt semistrukturerade intervjuer som metod när vi har intervjuat åtta förskollärare på fyra olika förskolor inom samma kommun. Förskollärarna som har medverkat i studien arbetar med olika åldrar. För att analysera fram deras variationer i uppfattningar om barns delaktighet och inflytande i förskolan har vi använt oss av en fenomenografisk metodansats. Studiens resultat visar att förskollärares förhållningssätt ser olika ut då de har olika föreställningar om hur och i vilken utsträckning barnen ska göras delaktiga och få inflytande i förskolans utbildning. Förskollärare beskriver att barnen har rätt till inflytande men att de kan begränsas av förskolans rutiner. Resultatet visar även på att det är gynnsamt att använda stöd i olika former för att göra förskolan tillgänglig för alla barn. Dessa stöd utgår bland annat från det specialpedagogiska perspektivet. Vidare synliggörs det i resultatet att barns olika sätt att kommunicera på tas till vara då deras åsikter är viktiga, vilket deras intressen också är. Förskollärare uttrycker också att kommunikationen mellan de vuxna är betydelsefull för att få en samsyn kring begreppen delaktighet och inflytande. Det har också framkommit att förskollärare upplevde att deras medvetenhet om det egna förhållningsätt påverkar barns delaktighet och inflytande.

No description available.

The aim of this study was to investigate how organizational and child-related factors, as well as the general approach, affect the child's participation and the extent to which children are involved in the child protection agency child care investigations. Based on the following questions, the study investigated to which extent, and in which way, children are involved in investigations: 1. To what extent and in what way are children involved in the Swedish child protection agency? 2. How are children's involvement affected of child-related factors? 3. How are children's involvement affected of organizational factors? The result has been analyzed based on Michael Lipsky's Street-level-bureaucracy (2010), in addition, Harry Shier`s (2001) participation ladder has also been used. The result showed that most of social workers considered that the factors of time, workload, competence development and staff density affects children's participation. Drawing on the answers from the study, we conclude that there is generally a high level of participation within the Swedish child protection agency. Children hold a significant place in social welfare investigation cases, although social workers could involve them to a greater extent in the decision making process.

This study is written within the framework of the theme of democracy and children's rights. The aim of the study is to contribute knowledge of preschool teachers’ perceptions of children's influence in relation to the pedagogical doc-umentation in preschool. The questions in this study intend to answer how pre-school teachers describe and create opportunities for children's influence in relation to pedagogical documentation and what challenges and opportunities they experience in this work. The methodology used in the study is semistruc-tured interviews of preschool teachers and to process the data in this study, a phenomenographic analysis model is used. The theoretical tool used in the analysis is Shiers (2001) participatory model. A basic principle of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNICEF Sverige, 2009) is the right to be heard and to have their views taken into ac-count. The use of pedagogical documentation in preschool activities can be seen as a way to make children's voices heard, but are children beeing given the opportunity to influence what is documented about them and how? The study's results and analysis show that the interviewed preschool teachers define children's influence in relation to pedagogical documentation in a similar way, but that the children are given different opportunities for influence depending on context. / Denna studie skrivs inom ramen för temat demokrati och barns rättigheter. Studiens syfte är att bidra med kunskap om förskollärares uppfattningar om barns inflytande i relation till förskolans pedagogiska dokumentation. Frågeställningarna i studien ämnar ge svar på hur förskollärare beskriver och skapar möjligheter för barns inflytande i relation till pedagogisk dokumentation samt vilka utmaningar och möjligheter de upplever i detta arbete. Den metod som används i studien är semistrukturerade intervjuer av förskollärare och för att bearbeta studiens data används en fenomenografisk analysmodell. Det teoretiska analysverktyg som används är Shiers (2001) delaktighetsmodell. En grundprincip i FN:s konvention om barnets rättigheter (UNICEF Sverige, 2009) är rätten att bli hörd och få sina åsikter tagna i beaktande. Användandet av pedagogisk dokumentation i förskolans verksamhet kan ses som ett sätt att göra barns röster hörda, men ges barn möjlighet att påverka vad som dokumenteras om dem och hur? Studiens resultat och analys visar att de intervjuade förskollärarna definierar barns inflytande i relation till pedagogisk dokumentation på liknande sätt, men att barnen ges olika möjligheter till inflytande beroende på kontext.

<p>This study focused on the level of success Unicef in Paraguay had in communicating its message concerning child street-workers to the press in Asunción. We also examined how the communication works between Unicef and the journalists, and how child street-workers appear in the press according to our sources. We based our study on the theoretical understanding of media logic and planned communication. These theories were useful to explain the possibilities and obstacles Unicef faces in its communication with the press. Our study builds on qualitative research interviews with journalists, communication staff at Unicef and the coordinator of the Global Agency of News, an organization that monitors how children appear in the Paraguayan press.</p><p> </p><p>We found that the communication between Unicef and the journalists is very important and highly valued by both Unicef and the Paraguayan newspapers. The relationship builds on constant trade, where both parts depend on each other. Unicef needs attention from the press in order to spread its message to the general public. The journalists need Unicef because the organization works as a trustable information source to back-up their articles regarding childhood.</p><p> </p><p>No one in our study was satisfied with the way child street-workers appear in the press. The children are often showed as victims or criminals and children’s rights are not always considered. A central problem is that awareness about children’s rights is low, both in the Paraguayan society and among many journalists. Unicef succeeds quite well in their communication with the journalists that are already aware of children’s rights. But the organization does not succeed in communicating with a big part of the press, as a lot of articles are still discriminative towards child street-workers.</p>

This thesis explores caregiving ideology and social interaction in Tanzanian families with a focus on guidance and control of young children. The study is set within a context of social change in terms of urbanization as well as the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The aim of the study was to explore how the conditions for children’s participation are shaped within local deology and situated practice. A qualitative study was undertaken inspired by the traditions of language socialization, sociocultural theory and discursive psychology. Data was collected in one urban and one rural district in the coastal region in Tanzania. The thesis contains four articles. Article one and two are based on data from focus group discussions with parents and grandparents exploring caregiving responsibilities. The first study explores caregivers’ discourses regarding the responsibility of guidance and control of children related to social change. The analysis constructed two interpretative repertoires: guidance and control as a community matter and guidance and control as a family matter. These repertoires are related to an ideological caregiving dilemma regarding parental authority and individual rights. The second study investigates caregivers’ discourses regarding early childhood discipline strategies. The analysis suggested a model illustrating various levels of power asymmetries related to corporal punishment, conceptualized in terms of to beat with care, to treat like an egg, as if beating a snake and the non-care of non-beating. Article three and four are based on video recorded data and present analyses of moment-to-moment, multimodal sequences of interaction. The third study explores how siblings in Tanzania actively engage in their own socialization concerning caregiving responsibilities through the negotiation of guidance and control between younger siblings, older siblings and adults. The forth article presents findings from analyses of naturally occurring literacy events. The analysis shows how participation is negotiated in terms of  symmetries and asymmetries between younger and older siblings. Norms and values belonging to the social order of the formal school are enacted parallel to the social order of participatory learning with roots in everyday interaction in the home. The four studies illustrate conditions of participation in terms of symmetries and asymmetries in early childhood relationships. The findings are also discussed in terms of a caregiving dilemma regarding individual rights versus parental authority. This dilemma is identified both in lived and theoretical ideology as presented in caregivers’ discourses and the ideology of children’s rights. / Avhandlingen behandlar omsorgsideologi och social interaktion i  tanzaniska familjer med fokus på vägledning och kontroll av yngre barn. Studien är situerad i en kontext som präglas av social förändring med avseende på urbanisering och implementeringen av konventionen om barns rättigheter. Syftet med studien var att utforska hur förutsättningar för yngre barns deltagande skapas inom ramen för lokala ideologier och som lokala praktiker. Data samlades in i en urban och en rural miljö utmed den Tanzaniska östkusten. Avhandlingen innehåller fyra delstudier. I analysen av data användes kvalitativa metoder som har sin teoretiska grund i språksocialisation, socio-kulturell teori och diskursiv psykologi. De första två artiklarna baseras på fokusgruppdiskussioner med föräldrar samt mor- och farföräldrar. Den första artikeln utforskar diskurser med avseende på ansvaret för vägledning och kontroll av barn relaterade till den aktuella sociala förändringen. Analysen konstruerade två tolkningsrepertoarer: samhällsansvar för vägledning och kontroll och familjeansvar för vägledning och kontroll. Dessa repertoarer är relaterade till ett ideologiskt omsorgsdilemma som rör föräldrars auktoritet och barns individuella rättigheter. Den andra studien utforskar diskurser rörande disciplinering och kroppslig bestraffning av små barn. Analysen presenterar en modell som illustrerar hur olika disciplineringsstrategier representerar olika former av  maktasymmetrier i form av a) att slå med omsorg, b) att behandla som ett ägg, c) som att slå en orm och d) icke-omsorgen i att inte slå. Studie tre och fyra är baserade på videoinspelat material och presenterar analyser av multimodala sekvenser av interaktion. Den tredje studien utforskar hur syskon under måltidssituationer bidrar till sin egen socialisation genom förhandlingar mellan yngre syskon, äldre syskon och vuxna. Den fjärde studien presenterar fynd från analyser av spontana läs- och skrivhändelser i barns vardag. Analysen visar hur förutsättningar för deltagande förhandlas i termer av symmetrier och asymmetrier mellan yngre och äldre syskon. Normer och värden som tillhör den tanzaniska skolans sociala ordning kan återfinnas i förhandlingar parallellt med informellt lärande med rötter i vardaglig interaktion i hemmiljö. De fyra studierna illustrerar förutsättningarna för deltagande i relationer genom att analysera symmetrier och asymmetrier i familjerelationer under de tidiga barndomsåren i Tanzania. Fynden tolkas också som omsorgsdilemman som rör individens rätt i motsats till auktoritet och anpassning till traditionella värden. Detta dilemma kan spåras både i praktisk och teoretisk ideologi i föräldrars och mor- och farföräldrars diskurser inom den kontext som barnrättsideologin skapar.

When young people are placed in residential care, the staff have a responsibility to ensure that the youth have a safe environment where they can thrive and develop. Residential staff also have responsibilities to ensure the rights of youth during the residential care. This study aims to examine how staff consider themselves to treat the youth in residential care. Furthermore the study aims to examine how the staff consider themselves to ensure youth their right to be heard and have an impact on their own lives, in agreement with Article 12 of the UN convention on the rights of the child (CRC). A qualitative method has been used in order to answer the study's purpose and issues. Five interviews were conducted with residential staff, four of which were environmental therapists and one who was a manager. The results show that the staff consider themselves to respond well to the youth, however, a good treatment is difficult to define and therefore hard to achieve. Furthermore, it appears that the knowledge about children’s rights varies among the staff, which can have negative effects on how they manage to reassure youth their rights to be heard and have an impact on their own lives, in agreement with Article 12 of the CRC.

This study focused on the level of success Unicef in Paraguay had in communicating its message concerning child street-workers to the press in Asunción. We also examined how the communication works between Unicef and the journalists, and how child street-workers appear in the press according to our sources. We based our study on the theoretical understanding of media logic and planned communication. These theories were useful to explain the possibilities and obstacles Unicef faces in its communication with the press. Our study builds on qualitative research interviews with journalists, communication staff at Unicef and the coordinator of the Global Agency of News, an organization that monitors how children appear in the Paraguayan press.   We found that the communication between Unicef and the journalists is very important and highly valued by both Unicef and the Paraguayan newspapers. The relationship builds on constant trade, where both parts depend on each other. Unicef needs attention from the press in order to spread its message to the general public. The journalists need Unicef because the organization works as a trustable information source to back-up their articles regarding childhood.   No one in our study was satisfied with the way child street-workers appear in the press. The children are often showed as victims or criminals and children’s rights are not always considered. A central problem is that awareness about children’s rights is low, both in the Paraguayan society and among many journalists. Unicef succeeds quite well in their communication with the journalists that are already aware of children’s rights. But the organization does not succeed in communicating with a big part of the press, as a lot of articles are still discriminative towards child street-workers.