This dissertation demonstrates that the voices of children and the experiences of childhood provide important new perspectives about the settler societies in British Columbia and Alberta during the period 1860 – 1925. It employs a combination of direct quotations from individual children and analysis across the cohort of one hundred historical children as a means to explore both individual personalities and shared child perspectives of childhood. Child-created diaries and correspondence were selected as the principal documentation in this study as a deliberate strategy to privilege children and to enable clear child-centred voices unmixed with those of adults. The intent is to reveal child-centred understandings about the physical and emotional aspects of growing up in Western Canada that are set within the contexts of specific communities, of family life, of sibling relationships, of friendships and separations. Some significant findings include the phenomenon of boarding school within the childhood experience and the realization that many settler children spent childhoods away from family, the difficulty boys shared in achieving masculinity, and the importance placed by girls and boys on charting and comparing their physical growth and attainment of child-centred milestones of achievement. / Graduate

Meaningfulness – a matter of student´s participation and influence in activities in the schoolyard? According to the compulsory school curriculum Lgr 11 (Skolverket 2019), leisure – time centers must conduct teaching that is based on the student´s own interests and needs, to give them a meaningful leisure time. The school´s governing document also states that students have the right to participate and have influence over their stay in its various activities, and that students must be educated to be able to become democratic citizens. In cases where the leisure – time center doesn´t translate the theory into practice, where the intentions of the curriculum do not become at real influence and participation for the students, a gap i created between the educator´s child perspective and the child´s (student´s) own perspective. This can have consequences when it comes to what the various parties regards as meaningful, but can also create the image of sham democracy. Our study wants to shed light on the significance of the gap between the different perspectives, in relation to the concepts of meaningfulness and participation in the leisure activities that take place on the schoolyard. The intention is to examine student´s own experiences as well as which other factors on the yard that can also affect them.Previous research shows that the design of schoolyards and what is available in its environment, can affect student´s experiences of their stay there. At the same time, students are rarely given any opportunity to be involved to influence the design through participation in decisions. This is confirmed in our study. The research also highlights how continuously and actively implementation of democratic values in leisure – time center is of importance for students to fully understand their rights. In our empirical study, we chose the Walk & talk method to bring light to the children´s perspectives and also a small survey with relevant educators to be able to compare the results from their child perspectives. The answer and conclusions we have reached confirm previous research and show the importance of safeguarding student´s rights in the form of participation and influence and that these are complied with in practice. / Meningsfullhet – en fråga om elevers delaktighet och inflytande i aktiviteter på gården? Enligt grundskolans läroplan ska fritidshemmen bedriva en undervisning som utgår från elevernas egna intressen och behov för att ge en meningsfull fritid (Skolverket 2019). Skolans styrdokument säger också att eleverna besitter rättigheter att själva vara delaktiga och ha inflytande över sin vistelse i dess olika verksamheter, samt att eleverna ska fostras till demokratiska medborgare. I de fall där verksamheterna inte omsätter teorin i praktik, där läroplanens intentioner inte blir till reellt inflytande och delaktighet för eleverna, skapas ett glapp mellan pedagogers barnperspektiv och barns (elevers) perspektiv. Detta kan ge konsekvenser när det kommer till vad de olika parterna anser meningsfullt men kan också skapa bilden av skendemokrati. Studien vill belysa vilken betydelse glappet mellan de olika perspektiven har, i relation till begreppen meningsfullhet och delaktighet i de fritidsverksamheter som sker på skolgården. Avsikten är att undersöka elevernas egna upplevelser och erfarenheter tillika vilka övriga faktorer på (skol)gården som också kan påverka dem.Tidigare forskning visar att utformningen av gårdarna och vilka erbjudanden som finns i dess miljö, kan påverka elevernas upplevelse av sin vistelse där. Samtidigt ges sällan eleverna någon möjlighet att vara med och påverka utformningen av dem genom delaktighet i besluten, Detta bekräftas i vår empiriska studie. Forskningen lyfter också fram vikten av att fritidshemmens verksamhet kontinuerligt och aktivt implementerar de demokratiska värderingarna i praktiken för att de ska ha reell betydelse för eleverna. I studien valde vi walk and talk- metoden för att på så sätt lyfta fram barnens perspektiv och en mindre enkät med berörda pedagoger för att kunna jämföra resultaten ur deras barnperspektiv. De svar och slutsatser vi kommit fram till bekräftar tidigare forskning samt visar på vikten av att värna elevers rättigheter i form av delaktighet och inflytande och att dessa efterlevs i praktiken.

Pedagoger i förskolan har ett viktigt uppdrag i att främja barns hälsa och välbefinnande samtett ansvar att ge varje barn förutsättningar att utvecklas och lära sig. Ett sätt att möjliggöradetta är genom inflytande och delaktighet, som ses som en av flera hälsofrämjande faktorer.Det är en grundläggande rättighet att få uppleva delaktighet, uttrycka sina åsikter och blilyssnad till. På vilket sätt barn får förutsättningar till detta i förskolan är något som undersöksi denna studie. Alla barn, oavsett ålder, funktionsvariation och erfarenhet, har rätt att förafram sina åsikter. Därför behöver det finnas metoder som möjliggör att alla barn, även de medbegränsad kommunikationsförmåga, ges förutsättningar till att uttrycka sig. Det kan innebäraatt pedagogerna behöver vara extra lyhörda för barns uttryck, samt erbjuda olika former avkommunikationssätt och uttrycksmedel. Genom intervjuer med sju pedagoger och tolv barnsynliggör vi deras olika perspektiv på inflytande och delaktighet i förskolan. Resultatet visaratt pedagoger har vissa svårigheter att särskilja begreppen, och även om de inte är synonymerså hänger de nära samman. Pedagogerna menar att barnen får vara med och påverka sinvardag och att de är lyhörda för deras önskemål. De beskriver olika metoder och arbetssättsom de använder för att ta tillvara barns åsikter. Barns delaktighet beskrivs som något merkonkret, att få vara med och bli delaktig i det som görs i vardagen på förskolan. Ett viktigtresultat i denna studie är att pedagoger anser att det finns vissa barn som har mer inflytandeoch delaktighet än andra i förskolan. Det beskrivs vara barn som är mer högljudda ochduktiga på att uttrycka sig verbalt. Pedagogerna medger också att det finns vissa hinder sompåverkar barns möjlighet till inflytande och delaktighet i förskolan. Barnen själva uttrycker attdet är de vuxna som bestämmer i förskolan, och att de vuxna bara lyssnar på dem ”ibland”.Barnen berättar att det är mest kring leken som de själva får bestämma om och de ger ocksåsitt perspektiv på hur tillgänglig förskolans lärmiljö och material är. Resultatet visar att barninte har så stor kännedom om sina rättigheter, och inte heller är särskilt bekanta med uttrycksom demokrati, delaktighet och inflytande. De reflektioner som framkommer utifrån studienär hur viktigt det är att förstå begreppen för att kunna arbeta medvetet med inflytande ochdelaktighet i förskolan, och för att det ska ske utifrån demokratiska principer snarare än att detblir en slags skendemokrati. I studien framkommer det att när barn ges inflytande och kännersig delaktiga i förskolans vardag ökar deras trivsel och lärande, något som främjar barnenshälsa och välbefinnande. En viktig faktor utifrån ett specialpedagogiskt perspektiv är att hållai och utveckla det hälsofrämjande arbetet i förskolan utifrån olika skyddsfaktorer. Detta kan vara en viktig roll för en specialpedagog. / Preschool teachers have an important responsibility in promoting children's health and wellbeingas well as a responsibility to give each child the conditions to develop and learn. Oneway to make this possible is through influence and participation, which is seen as one ofseveral health-promoting factors. It’s a fundamental right to experience participation, expressone's opinions and be listened to, and the way in which children are given the conditions forthis in preschool is something that is investigated in this study. All children, regardless of age,functional variation, and experience, have the right to express their opinions. Therefore, thereneed to be methods that enable all children, even those with limited communication skills, tobe given the conditions to allow them to express themselves. This may mean that educatorsneed to be extra sensitive to children's expressions, as well as offer different forms ofcommunication and means of expression. Through interviews with seven teachers and twelvechildren, we understand their different perspectives on influence and participation inpreschool. The results show that teachers have some difficulties in distinguishing between theconcepts, and even if they are not synonymous, they are closely related. The teachers believethat the children can be involved and influence their own everyday lives, that the teachers aresensitive to the children’s wishes and describe different working methods that they use to takeadvantage of children's opinions. The children's participation is described as something moreconcrete, to be able to participate and become involved in what is done in everyday life at thepreschool. An important result of this study is that preschool teachers believe that somechildren have more influence and participation than others in preschool, it’s described aschildren who are louder and can express themselves verbally. The teachers also admit thatthere are certain obstacles that affect children's opportunities for influence and participation inpreschool. The children themselves express that it´s the adults who decide at preschool, andthat the adults only listen to them ”sometimes”. The children say that it´s mostly about theplay where the children themselves decide and they also give their perspectives on theaccessibility of the preschool's learning environment and materials. The results show thatchildren do not have much knowledge of their rights, nor are they very familiar withexpressions as democracy, participation, and influence. The reflections that emerge from thestudy are that it’s important to understand the concepts in order to be able to work consciouslywith influence and participation in preschool, and for it to take place on the basis ofdemocratic principles rather than a kind of sham democracy. The study showed that whenchildren are given influence and feel involved in the preschool's everyday life, their wellbeingand learning increases, which promotes the children's health and well-being. Animportant factor from a special educational perspective is to maintain and develop the healthpromoting work in the preschool based on various protective factors. This can be an importantrole for a special educator.

A number of studies have been published concerning preschool teachers’ child perspectives. Over the past 50 years the construction of the preschool child in Swedish preschool policy documents have deve­loped from mainly depicting a dependent, immature, becoming child to a more rational, competent, being child. But what about the guardians’ child perspectives? Have they changed in a similar way? The aim of this study is to add to the understanding of the preschool-home cooperation, through exami­ning guardians’ constructions of the preschool child and how the constructions may influence their needs and expectations of what preschools have to offer. The method used to obtain data for analysis was qualitative interviews. Five guardians were interviewed and the audiotapes transcribed verbatim. Both audio and text were studied multiple times to discern pat-terns, expressions that could be interpreted as representing specific constructions of the preschool child. The theoretical framework for the study is social constructionism. In short, social constructionism is part of the post modern movement that unites in its’ critique of universal truths. Instead, knowledge is looked upon as constructed in a specific context, such as time and culture. In this study this means a belief in that there is no one, universal child but a number of views of what children are. The data was analyzed through different accepted constructions of children. The results showed four different constructions of the preschool child that could be interpreted from the interviews; the unchangeable, the curious knowledger, the social and the playing. In terms of needs and expectations, the guardians are likely to have very different views of what preschools should offer de­pending on which construction they express. Many of the quotes depict the child as a primarily social being, which is coherent with previous research on guardians’ views of preschool. The results of the study implicates that guardians come to the preschool context with a wide range of different constructions of what a preschool child is and what it needs. There is, at least in theory, often a gap between the perceived child that preschool is made for by policy documents and teachers and the percieved child by the guardians. To ensure that the cooperation between preschool and families works as good as possible, professionals in preschool need to be humble to this fact and understand that the different expectations and demands we experience from guardians are rooted in more than plain opinions and whimsicality. Namely, a firm belief in what is best for the children.

This study aims to explore children’s perspectives on conflict resolution within their peer groups. Children’s peer groups and cultures are a crucial setting for social and emotional development and can be reflective of broader peer cultures. This is an area of great importance within child studies and has been influenced by Corsaro’s ideas around children’s social worlds (Corsaro, 2009:321). More specifically, this study is built around the following research questions: 1) What do children perceive as positive ways to solve a conflict? 2) What do children perceive as negative ways to solve a conflict? 3) How do children perceive the role of adults in conflict resolution? Previous literature provides an insight into this topic that comes often through the adult lens (Jones, 2020: 479). This study aimed to include direct child participation in research, allowing agency and voice in the research made about them (Corsaro, 2009:321). To address the research questions, a qualitative study with twelve children in their second year of school, around the ages of seven and eight, was conducted. The children were given an opportunity to talk about their perspectives and viewpoints by engaging in discussions, by using arts-based methods and creating visual materials in the forms of mind-maps and lists as are common within Participation Visual Methods (PVM) research.The written data that was derived from the creative methods was analysed using thematic analysis, with the direct observations and visual drawings used to support our interpretations. The main themes that arose from this study can be explained using verbal, non-verbal and ambiguous strategies for resolving conflicts. Further subthemes such as displaying pro-social behaviours, apologising, compromising, and hostile expressions were identified through our data analysis. This study contributes to sociocultural research in child studies. This study grants insight into child-centred research about navigating conflicts as fundamental components of human relations.

Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med kunskap kring fysisk aktiv lek i förskolans utemiljö utifrån barns perspektiv. Studien är relevant för förskolan då den kan ge kunskaper som kan påverka planering av verksamheten på ett sådant sätt att de bidrar till barns fysiskt aktiva lek och barns framtida hälsa. Baserat på tidigare forskning framkom faktorer som eventuellt kan påverka barns fysiska aktivitet och motoriska utveckling. I dessa studier har förskollärare intervjuats och barn har endast observerats. Utifrån det formulerades två forskningsfrågor där syftet blev att undersöka hur barn uttryckte fysisk aktiv lek på försöksgården. Studien har ett kvalitativt förhållningssätt och empirin bearbetades och analyserades utifrån den sociokulturella teorin med begreppen medling och appropiering. Resultatet visade på att barnen använder flera redskap i förskolans utemiljö i sin fysiskt aktiva lek. Det blev tydligt i resultatet att förskolan utemiljö har en påverkan på hur barns fysiskt aktiva lek blir. Vidare i diskussionen omsätts resultaten i tidigare forskning och jämför samband mellan denna studie och den tidigare forskningen. / The purpose of this study is to contribute knowledge about physical active play in the preschool's outdoor environment from a child's perspective. The study is relevant for preschool as it can provide knowledge that can influence the planning of the activities in such a way that they contribute to children's physically active play and children's future health. Based on previous research, factors that could potentially affect children's physical activity and motor development were revealed. In these studies, preschool teachers have been interviewed and children have only been observed. Based on this, two research questions were formulated where the aim was to investigate how children expressed physical active play in the experimental yard. The study has a qualitative approach and the empiricwas processed and analyzed based on the sociocultural theory with the concepts of mediation and appropiering. The results showed that the children use several tools in the outdoor environment of the preschool in their physically active play. It became clear in the result that the preschool outdoor environment has an impact on how children's physically active play becomes. Furthermore, the discussion translates the results into previous research and compares the relationship between this study and the previous research.