This thesis explores the everyday practice of school bullying by examining children's participation in peer group activities as well as in school-based anti-bullying activities within an educational setting. The empirical material is drawn from a long-term (1 year) ethnographic study conducted among preadolescent children in a 5th grade class in a Swedish elementary school. An ethnomethodological approach is used in analysis of ethnographically based fieldnotes, and in detailed analysis of video recordings collected during participant observations.    The first study examines, through elaborated investigation of a peer group's everyday peer encounters, how social exclusion is situated within the flow of intricate, subtle and seemingly innocent interactions. In this, the study offers detailed information about how girls' everyday peer group interactions, taken across a range of activities, may be consequential for the process of social exclusion.    The second study examines the interactional moral work accomplished within the situated practice of ART classroom sessions on moral reasoning used as part of the school's anti-bullying prevention program. The study contributes an understanding of the interactional managment of children's moral stance-taking, something that has previously been overshadowed by the quest to project the outcomes for individual children's moral reasoning. The third study examines a gossip dispute event, in which a group of girls take action against another girl for reporting school bullying to the teacher. The study demonstrates how, as the gossip dispute unfolds, the girls accused of bullying appropriate and even subvert the social organization of the school's anti-bullying program, and manage to turn the tables so that the girl initially reporting to be a victim of bullying is cast as an instigator, and the girls accused of the bullying as victims of false accusations.    The thesis illuminates the complex meanings and functions of social actions referred to as bullying within a school context and in the literature. Also, it sheds light on the difficulties that come with teachers' attempts to structure children's social relationships. All in all, the thesis illuminates the need to challange an individualistic approach to bullying, recognizing the social and moral orders children orient to in their everyday life at school.

This thesis focuses on the problem of learning processes in an organization that has decided to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It is based on an assumption that there is interdependency between learning about the CRC and its implementation. The aim is to understand the conditions for individual learning and group learning in the organization. The empirical material consists of 52 interviews, notes and written material from the UN, the Swedish government, and regional levels. The research design is qualitative and the method used is abduction and retroduction. Sensitizing concepts have also been used. The regional context is a county council which has decided to implement the CRC by educating a "pilot-group", and whose task will be to integrate the CRC in the organization. The theoretical frame is mainly constructivistic; learning is an "inside-out" process. It is the individual who does the learning, but these individuals meet in the pilot-group and create knowledge based on their own experiences. The most significant results point out that learning about the CRC is a prerequisite for implementation. Once the individuals have learned about the CRC and how to understand and interpret its implicantions, they also know what has to be done in the administration in order to speed upp and secure implementation. Other important results show how the individuals act depending on to their position in the organization. The administration directors show passive resistence by not including the question on the agenda. The operations managers show active resistence by not taking the CRC into consideration in their contracts "because then you have to show what you have accomplished".

Avsikten med min undersökning var att få mer kunskap om hur förskolepersonal arbetar med pedagogisk dokumentation som ett arbetsverktyg i deras dagliga verksamhet. Det är ett arbetsverktyg som ska tillämpas av all förskolepersonal ute i verksamheten. För att ta reda på vilka erfarenheter förskolepersonal har av pedagogisk dokumentation var en kvalitativ intervjumetod det bästa sättet eftersom informanterna genom en kvalitativ metod får svara på frågorna utifrån deras egna erfarenheter. Jag vill också ta reda på hur de gör för att synliggöra varje barns behov. Jag har hänvisat till och använt relevanta tidigare undersökningar för att analysera resultaten från min studie. Resultaten visar att pedagogisk dokumentation är ett arbetsverktyg som ska användas för att synliggöra verksamheten och barnens lärprocesser. Lärprocesser sker när barnen utmanas i deras lärande, där nya idéer och kunskaper växer fram. På så sätt finns det möjlighet att strukturera verksamheten utifrån barnens olika behov och intressen menar mina informanter. Samtliga informanter har en föreställning om hur dokumentationen ska gå till men hur det verkställs ser olika ut, beroende på erfarenheter. Det är enligt samtliga informanter en process som ständigt ska utvecklas där nya möjligheter och infallsvinklar ska hjälpa dem framåt. Genom mina resultat anser jag att pedagogisk dokumentation bidrar till att säkra aktiviteter i inlärningen som är baserade på barnens intressen och behov. / The purpose of my study was to gain further knowledge on how preschool staff works with pedagogical documentation as a tool in their daily activities. It is a tool that should be used by all preschool staff. To find out what experiences preschool staffs have about pedagogical documentation a qualitative interview method was used as the best way to get informative answers, as preschool staff could respond with their individual experience as base. I also wanted to know what they do in their documentation to make every single child’s needs visible. I have referred to findings from relevant previous research which I applied to analyze findings from my study. The finding indicates that preschool staff considers pedagogical documentation as a tool that should be used in order to visualize activities and children’s learning process. A learning process develops when children are challenged in their education, when new ideas and knowledge appear. By documenting practice and children’s learning process there is opportunity to structure activities based on children’s various needs and interest, according to the preschool staff. All preschool staff has a view on how documentation should be done but how it´s executed differs depending on each ones personal experience. All preschool staff considers it to be a process that constantly should evolve, where new possibilities and views can be made visible and contribute to exploration of new possibilities and views going forward. The findings in the study shows is that pedagogic documentation can contribute to secure activities in teaching that are based on children’s interests and needs.

Purpose: Reading aloud to children and having a conversation about a book, which is read to them, has attracted much attention as important factors that influence children's language development. Language development for children is one of the most important tasks that the preschool- teachers have, and according to “Läroplanet”, all children must have the opportunity to develop their language. The aim of this study was to examine how reading aloud, and by letting them speak about a certain book, “boksamtal” impacts preschool-children`s ability to develop their language according to preschool- teachers. Method: I have used a qualitative method by interviewing four preschool- teachers. Moreover, I applied a literature review related to the topic. The information given in the interviews has been analyzed by the use of socio-cultural theories and previous researches. To get a better answer to the main question of the purpose, I have arranged four sub-queries. These are the following questions: How can reading aloud and book discussion influence language development according to preschool- teachers? How does the teachers describe how reading aloud and book discussion can match children`s interests? What prerequisites and obstacles were there when reading aloud and discussing books according to teachers? How the teachers describe the role of the environment, in which reading aloud and book discussion is taken place, for language development? Results: The study shows that reading aloud occurs as a daily activity in the general preschool. Those preschool teachers we spoke to have been reading aloud to children, but not all of them have actually discussed books with children at all. In order to stimulate children for reading books and let them have a conversation and expose them to books, texts and the literature environment, in which the reading takes place to adapt to their interests, age and level of language skills. Groups with many children are perceived by preschool teachers to have a negative impact on book discussion. Conclusion: My study shows that these preschool teachers are conscious about the positive impact, of reading aloud and letting them discuss their books, on children's language development,  but due to some negative factors , the time deficiency for instance,  they priority reading aloud in front of book discussion. The teachers consider that for development, they must stimulate children`s interest to reading and book discussion, which together with environment around the children must be adapted with children`s age, interest and language skill level.

Syftet med arbete är att undersöka hur lärare använder sig av barnboken Fia och djuren (Kruusval 2007) för att synliggöra matematik för barn i åldern 5-6 år på förskolan. Vi observerade lärarna i en högläsningssituation, därefter intervjuade vi dem för att få en djupare bild av hur de tänkte kring högläsning och matematik. Resultatet på undersökningen visar att lärarnas kunskaper och erfarenheter kring ämnet matematik har en avgörande betydelse för vilken form av matematik som synliggörs i högläsningen. Resultatet visar också att det är av stor vikt att lärarna utmanar, uppmuntrar, stödjer och samtalar med barnen om den matematik som är både synlig och dold i boken. / The purpose with the work is to examine how teachers use the children book Fia och djuren (Kruusval 2007) to make mathematics visible for 5-6 year old children in preschool. We observed the teachers in a reading aloud session and then we interviewed them to get a deeper picture of how they were thinking around the subject of reading aloud and mathematics. The result of the examination shows that the teachers’ knowledge and experiences around the subject of mathematics have a crucial meaning for which form of mathematics that is visible in the reading aloud session. The result also shows that it is of great importance that the teachers’ challenges, encourage, support and discuss with the children about the mathematics which is both visible and hidden in the book.

Syftet med examensarbetet är främst att undersöka hur genus framställs i barnlitteratur samt fokusera på bibliotekariens roll i samband med utlåning av barnböcker till förskolan och vårdnadshavare. Som förskollärare ser vi boken som ett pedagogiskt redskap och som ett stöd i ett genusarbete. Vi har erfarenheter av att boken har ett stort användningsområde och de flesta böcker lånas via biblioteket. Därför ser vi att bibliotekarien har en viktig roll för förskolan i deras bokutbud. LpFö98 tar upp genusarbetet som en del av verksamheten, vi anser att det är vår skyldighet att ha kunskap om genus och dess betydelse för kommande generationer. Vi har valt att analysera barnböcker utifrån ett genusperspektiv för att få en inblick i hur könsrollerna framställs. I studien finns en fördjupad del där bibliotekarierna beskriver sin roll för förskolan och deras syn på genus.   Slutsatsen i arbetet är att de stereotypa könsrollerna framhävs till viss del i våra valda barnböcker. Studien tydliggör bibliotekariernas nära samarbete och betydelse för förskolan och vårdnadshavare. Slutligen framkommer bokens betydelse som ett pedagogiskt redskap för barnens identitetsutveckling.

Av olika anledningar klarar inte alla föräldrar av att tillgodose sina barns behov vilket kan påverka barnen och deras utveckling negativt. För att få barnets perspektiv på hur det är att växa upp under sådana förhållanden genomför vi denna studie med syftet att få ökad kunskap och förståelse för hur det kan vara för ett barn att växa upp i en familj där föräldrar av olika anledningar brister i sin omsorgsförmåga. Det är en litteraturstudie baserad på självbiografier där numera vuxna personer retrospektivt beskriver hur de upplevt sin barndom. Vi har använt oss av narrativ metod eftersom det ger oss möjlighet att få en fördjupad förståelse av berättarens upplevelser. Våra resultat visar att det sker en förändring av roller i familjen och att barnen får axla mycket stort ansvar hemma. De tar hand om hushållet, syskon och även sina föräldrar. De upplever rädsla på grund av det oförutsägbara agerandet från sin förälder och utanförskap, speciellt i skolmiljö. Det sociala nätverkat kan vara avgörande för att stödja dem i deras liv och ge dem en positiv utveckling, tyvärr har samhället inte full ut kunnat ge dem det stöd de behöver. / For different reasons not all parents are capable of giving their children what they need and that may have a negative effect on children´s development. In order to get the children´s perspective we carry out this study. The aim of this study was to get more knowledge and understanding of children´s experiences of growing up in a family where the parenthood is lacking, based on autobiographies where now grownups describes their experiences of childhood in a retrospective. We use a narrative method because it allows us to reach a deeper understanding of their experiences. Our result shows that there i a change in roles in the family and that these children take on a big responsibility for their family and home. They take care of basic housework, their siblings and their parents. They experience fear because of the unpredictable behavior from their parents and alienation, especially in the school environment. The social network is crucial to support them and give their life and development a positive direction, but sorry to say the society haven´t been able to give them enough help.

In this survey study, the investigator studied parental involvement in mathematics learning of grade one and grade two children; also parents¡¦ needs; and finally, relationship of involvements to needs. In order to conduct the survey, the investigator referred to Epstein (1995) and developed a questionnaire. There are 3 parts in the questionnaire: background information (6 parent variables and 8 children variables), parental involvement and parents¡¦ needs. A total of 958 parents from 40 classes completed the questionnaires; they came from ten elementary schools (2 classes in each grade). Data analyzes were completed by descriptive statistics, t tests, ANOVA-one way, and, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. First, results on parental involvement are two: among the items in Epstein, the involvement is highest in Learning at Home category and lowest in Decision Making category; and, three among the six parent variables and seven among the eight children variables were related to parental involvements. Second, results on parents¡¦ needs indicated that the overall parents¡¦ need is high. Third, there is positive correlation between parental involvements and parents¡¦ needs. Finally, the investigator closed with recommendations for future research and practice.

In the curriculum for Swedish pre-school the focus is mainly on five concepts. These are care of the children, learning, influence, rearing and security. These concepts are to characterize the activities of the pre-school in Sweden. Back in time the focal point of pre-school activities for young children was mainly on security. The learning part became more prominent as the children grew older. When speaking to teachers and parents I do sense that some believe this is the case even nowadays. They seem to suppose that pre-school for young children are only babysitting and not until the children get older they will get the opportunity to start learning. Is this how pre-school for the youngest children is functioning? My aim with this essay is to find out how the pre-school teachers are motivating their work and also how they are using the curriculum. In my search for significant material for my essay I visited two pre-schools where I interviewed four teachers and also performed observations. The empirical material I came across during interviews and observations was then compared to previous research made by other researchers. My result shows that teachers of pre-schools for younger children strictly work among the goals of the curriculum. The activities all have an obvious purpose and are linked to the curriculum. One of the main activities in investigated pre-schools is playing. Playing sessions are according to the teachers used for many reasons. By playing the children will not only learn how to behave in a group but also attain knowledge of new words and concepts, imaginativeness and taking turns. Likewise activities such as different kinds of language activities, singing and creating appear to be common in these pre-schools. The care of the children do occupy a big part of the day at pre-schools for young children but even so, these moments are used for learning.

Tyrimo aktualumas. Mokykloje kiekvienas vaikas turėtų jaustis reikšmingas ir saugus. Tačiau, realybėje būna priešingai. Įgyvendinant optimaliausias vaikų smurtavimo problemų sprendimo galimybes, svarbiausias vaidmuo tenka ugdymo institucijoms. Pedagogai turi informacijos apie vaikus, kurios neturi tėvai ir kitos institucijos, nes pedagogai dažniausiai pirmieji gali pastebėti pavojaus ženklus. Tačiau, mokytojai ne visada pajėgūs suteikti kokybišką pagalbą visiems vaikams. Todėl į smurto prevencinę veiklą mokykloje yra būtina įtraukti visą ugdymo įstaigos personalą, o svarbiausia pačius vaikus. Tyrimo objektas – vaikų įtraukimas į smurto prevenciją mokykloje. Tyrimo tikslas - teoriškai pagrįsti ir empiriškai ištirti vaikų įtraukimo į smurto prevenciją mokykloje būdus, priemones. Tyrimo instrumentas – interviu socialiniams pedagogams (dalyvavo 4 socialiniai pedagogai), anketinė apklausa mokiniams (dalyvavo 138 mokiniai) ir mokytojams (dalyvavo 74 mokytojai). Tyrimo metodai: teoriniai, empiriniai, statistiniai. Išanalizuoti kokybinio ir kiekybinio tyrimo rezultatai rodo, kad Joniškio rajono mokyklose stipriausiai pasireiškia psichologinės vaikų tarpusavio smurtavimo formos, kurias įtakoja smurtinis elgesys šeimoje, psichologinės problemos, vaiko charakterio savybės bei socialinių įgūdžių stoka. Kovojant su smurtu, mokykla numato ir realizuoja prevencinės veiklos priemones (akcijos kovai su smurtu, psichologo ir socialinio pedagogo organizuojamos paskaitos), kuriose įtraukiama... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The relevance of research. At school every child should feel important and safe. Reality, however, shows the contrary. Implementing most optimal possibilities of solving children violence problems educational institutions are the ones that play the crucial role. Educators dispose of the information about children not available to their parents or other institutions being the first to notice danger signs. Educators, however, are not always able to provide quality assistance to all children. Therefore violence prevention activity at school should involve the whole staff of educational institution, and most importantly the children themselves. The object of research – involvement of children into violence prevention at school. The objective of research – to give theoretical grounding and empirical investigation of methods and measures of involvement children into violence prevention at school. The instrument of research – an interview for social pedagogues (4 social pedagogues participated), a questionnaire survey for schoolchildren (38 schoolchildren participated) and for teachers (74 teachers participated). The methods of research: theoretical, empirical and statistical. The results of qualitative and quantitative research analysis demonstrate that psychological violence forms that are influenced by violent behaviour in the family, psychological problems, child’s character properties and lack of social skills are most widely expressed in Joniškis district schools. In the... [to full text]