D.Litt. et Phil / This dissertation expands our understanding of South African social movements through a study of the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO), a body formed in 1992 as a national co-ordinating structure of regional and local civic associations. It contends that SANCO can only be understood as a ‘two- tiered social movement’. The study draws on a Human Sciences Research Council survey, to which I contributed as a team member, on participant and non-participant observation, semi-structured interviews and primary literature and a case study of one SANCO branch, Alexandra. The focus of this survey was on the experience of SANCO’s leadership both at national and local level. Social movement literature reviewed in this study ignored the issue of tiers or levels in social movements. The study demonstrates that it would be worth re-looking at the analyses of social movements with an eye to assess whether distinct levels exist elsewhere. Whilst tiers are likely to be absent from small movements, there is an inherent tension for organisations that have both local units focused on immediate day-to-day concerns and also national structures that represent broader issues within political circles. The findings of the study defy the dominant view of South African social movements, which emphasise a demobilisation in the post-apartheid period. In the case of SANCO, its demise was substantiated by examining the organisation at a national level, largely ignoring local realities. A two-tiered approach demonstrates that even though local civic organisations experienced difficulties, particularly in the period immediately after the end of apartheid, they continued to thrive.

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / The study sought to explore the priorities and practices of educators with regard to the mediation of moral qualities/democratic virtues related to education for citizenship by means of a case study in one school. In South Africa educators are regarded as among the stakeholders responsible for the mediation of values and morals in children and youth so that they will be effective citizens of democracy. Hence the school is seen as an important context in which this could take place. Citizenship education usually contains a moral element. Practices of moral development generally draw on the work of Kohlberg, which is linked to a Piagetian understanding of development. Vygotsky’s approach focuses on the contribution that the context has on cognitive development and suggests that this may also be important for moral development. However there is little evidence available concerning the effectiveness of specific interventions. Two groups of educators and one group of learners were interviewed. Educators were asked what moral qualities/democratic virtues they regarded as important to nurture in the learners at this school and what they did to nurture these virtues. Learners were also asked the same question and what they saw their educators doing in order to mediate these moral qualities/democratic virtues. Any constraints and successes were explored together with what educators thought could be done to improve the situation. The theoretical understanding of the research was constructivist and it followed a qualitative case study approach. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Before the research was undertaken permission was sought from the Western Cape Education Department and the study was conducted following the guidelines for ethical research set by the American Psychological Association. The main priorities that emerged as moral qualities/ democratic virtues that educators thought were important to nurture, were accountability, respect, and commitment to “being good.” Socially desirable behaviours that were highlighted were the following: economic initiative, citizenship, and politeness and consideration. Cognitive qualities that they thought were important to nurture were the following: open mindedness, literacy, and numeracy. There were also skills that the educators thought were important to nurture in their learners which did not seem to have a moral dimension. The main practices mentioned were: modelling, active instruction and discussion, and discipline. Educators highlighted the importance of consistency throughout the school. Constraints mentioned were the following: lack of discipline, socio-economic factors, and lack of parental involvement. Supportive factors mentioned were parental support, and consistency and collaboration. / South Africa

Studiens syfte är att undersöka vilka uppfattningar om kvinnligt och manligt i medier som finns bland elever i årskurs 4–6. Detta eftersom det i och med den senaste läroplanen, Läroplan för grundskola, förskoleklassen och fritidshemmet 2011, i samhällskunskapsämnets kursplan inte längre enbart handlar om att fostra demokratiska samhällsmedborgare. Samhällskunskapsläraren ska nu även undervisa om ”hur könsroller och sexualitet framställs i medier och populärkultur” (Skolverket, 2011, s. 201). Den teori som inspirerat studien är hermeneutisk fenomenologi. Dessutom är genusteori och normkritisk teori relevanta för att stödja studiens resultat. I studien deltar tjugotre elever som går i årskurs 4–6 på tre olika kommunala skolor. Genom fokusgruppsintervjuer har studien resulterat i att normativa förståelser av genus delas av deltagarna i studien och att de är medvetna om skillnaderna i hur kvinnor och män framställs i medier. De ger även uttryck för att normer kan vara begränsande. Slutsatsen som dras i studien är att det är viktigt med representation av olika samhällsgrupper i medier och att normer begränsar. Därför förespråkas ett normkritiskt förhållningssätt i skolan. / The aim of this study is to examine which perceptions of women and men in media occurs among pupils in the school years 4–6. This is because the latest curriculum in Sweden, Läroplan för grundskola, förskoleklassen och fritidshemmet 2011, the subject civics no longer only includes to educate democratic citizens. The teacher in civics is now obliged to teach about how gender roles and sexuality is presented in media and popular culture. The theory which has inspired this study is hermeneutic phenomenology. Furthermore gender theory and normative criticism theory are relevant theories to support the study’s result. Twenty-three pupils from the school years 4–6 from three different local schools participated in the study. Through interviews in focus groups the study’s result show that normative understandings of gender is shared by the participants of the study and that they are aware of the differences between how women and men are presented in media. They also give expression to how norms can be limiting. The conclusion that can be drawn from the study’s result is that it is important with representation of different society groups in media and that norms are limiting. Therefore a normative criticism approach in school is recommended.

Racism is a broad subject and can be discussed in many different contexts. Stemming from the view of the concept of racism presented by Jan Jämte, the aim of this research paper is to analyze how civics textbooks for children in grades 4-6 portray racism.  The research will be performed through the use of a discourse analysis with a ‘what’s the problem represented to be’ strategy. This will be done in order to draw a conclusion on how these textbooks problematize the concept of racism, what is left seen as being unproblematic and what potential effect these factors may have on the pupils. The results show that the textbooks produce a one-sided depiction where individual racism is given a predominant representation and structural racism is nearly completely overlooked. The textbooks do not use the word racism explicitly but instead problematize the concept in sections, where human rights and freedom of speech are discussed. The literature problematizes racism through a juristic perspective were racism is associated with judgements. By problematizing the concept of racism in this way, the student may not fully comprehend what racism is, which in turn creates a risk that they will reproduce racism unwillingly.

Ämneslärarutbildningen idag baseras på proposition 2009/10:89 som bygger på de förändringar som införandet av proposition 1999/2000:135 innebar och syftar till att studenterna under sin verksamhetsförlagda utbildning och utbildning ska utveckla kognitiva, kulturella, kommunikativa, kreativa, kritiska, sociala och didaktiska kompetenser. Under min egen ämneslärarutbildning i samhällskunskap har jag upplevt svårigheter i att skapa delaktighet hos eleverna jag undervisat, då det har funnits en osäkerhet kring mina egna kompetenser och förmågor. Sociala och didaktiska kompetenser antas vara särskilt viktiga för lärares förmåga att skapa delaktighet. Syftet med undersökningen är att undersöka hur fyra lärarstudenter i samhällskunskap upplever och beskriver sin egen utveckling av sociala och didaktiska kompetenser i skapandet av delaktighet i undervisningen. Empirin visar att respondenterna i synnerhet kopplar delaktighet till en relation mellan lärare och elev och till deras sociala kompetens. Resultatet visar också att ämneslärarstudenterna upplever att de utvecklat sociala kompetenser i störst utsträckning och att de saknar didaktiska kompetenser i vissa avseenden. Slutligen visar resultatet att respondenterna upplever att de har goda ämneskunskaper men att de efterfrågar mer verksamhetsförlagd utbildning för att få möjlighet att utveckla sina sociala och didaktiska kompetenser ytterligare. / The teacher education program today has a focus on enriching and develop the student’s different competences, during their practice. My own experience from the teacher education program with a major in civics is a difficulty to form an inclusive classroom due a feeling of missing crucial competences. The purpose with this study has been to establish how four teacher students in civics defines and portrait the term inclusion and their work to form an inclusive classroom during their practice in civics, linked to their own perception of their social and didactic competences. The result shows that the respondents in particular links the term inclusion to the social interaction between the teacher and the pupil and to their social competence. The result shows that the respondents seem to describe themselves to have a good academic and theoretical knowledge, but they are demanding more practice to develop and strengthen their social and didactic competences, something they feel a lacking.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur lärare upplever att undervisningen bedrivs gällande barnkonventionen samt om undervisningen har förändrats till följd av att barnkonventionen blivit lag. Syftet med studien var också att undersöka hur lärare och elevers kännedom är gällande barnkonventionen. En kombination av datainsamlingsmetoder användes, intervjuer med både lärare och elever samt enkätundersökning bland lärare. Fyra lärare och åtta elever deltog i intervjuerna och 82 lärare deltog i enkätundersökningen. Resultatet av studien visar på att eleverna har kännedom om att barnkonventionen finns men kunskapen gällande innehållet varierar bland eleverna. Lärarnas kännedom om barnkonventionen är god och resultatet visar på att majoriteten av lärarna som deltagit i föreliggande studie upplever att de arbetar med barnkonventionen dagligen i och med skolans värdegrund. Själva undervisningen om barnkonventionen sker i samband med FN-dagen eller barnkonventionens dag. Lärarna som deltagit i studien menar att undervisningen inte förändrats i och med lagstadgande av konventionen. Resultatet av studien visar på att en stor majoritet av de lärare som deltagit i föreliggande studie upplever att de inte erbjudits varken information eller vidareutbildning gällande barnkonventionen under deras verksamma år. En majoritet av de deltagande lärarna menar även på att kunskap om barnkonventionen inte ingick i deras lärarutbildning. / The purpose of this study was to examine how teachers experience that the teaching is conducted regarding the Convention on the Rights of the Child, CRC, and whether it has changed as a result of the CRC becoming law. The purpose of the study was also to investigate how teachers and pupils' knowledge is about the CRC. A mix of methods was used, interviews with both teachers and pupils as well as survey among teachers. Four teachers and eight pupils participated in the interviews and 82 teachers participated in the survey. The study comes to the conclusion that the pupils are aware about of the CRC but the knowledge about the content varies among the pupils. The teachers' knowledge of the CRC is good and the result shows that the majority of teachers who participated in the present study feel that they work with the CRC on a daily basis because of the school's values. The actual teaching of the CRC takes place in conjunction with “FN-dagen” or “barnkonventionens dag”. The teachers who participated in the study do not experience that the teaching has changed as a result of the CRC becoming law. The results of the study show that a vast majority of the teachers who participated in the present study feel that they lacks further education or information regarding the CRC. A majority of the participating teachers have also stated that knowledge of the CRC was not included in their teacher education.

Sex and relations has an important role in society. Students have the right to sex education. Studies have shown that Swedish sex education is inadequate. It is important to strengthen youth’s ability to conscious and responsible choices regarding sexuality and relationships. To raise a student perspective on how the education can be improved. The study was conducted using qualitative, semi-structured interviews. Six students were interviewed, and the data was later analyzed through a content analysis. The result showed that students are satisfied with the biological aspects of sex education. However, the students lacked a psychological perspective. Few students had received sex education in other subjects than biology. Students want more time for sex education, and that the education has a greater depth. They believe that young adults need to learn more about consent, sexuality, relationships and how to talk about sex. Students want to study the subject from a broader perspective. Students also want to have a greater influence over the education they are given. Teachers have an important role to play in counteracting the fact that sex is a taboo area, and they need to talk more with students about these topics.

The aim of this study is to examine perceptions among civics teachersactive in upper primary and secondary schools in Sweden regardingdisinformation. In particular, the study focuses on ways in which disinformation inthe classroom interacts with media literacy as well as deliberative democraticideals. The study design is based in qualitative research and has been conductedthrough a series of interviews with said teachers, analyzed mainly through thetheory of deliberative democracy with focus also on media literacy. In terms ofresults, perceptions among teachers on the subject of disinformation generally linesup with established research in the fields of disinformation, deliberativedemocracy and media literacy. In particular, teachers of both primary andsecondary school in my sample calls for increased efforts when it comes to medialiteracy as the modern digital media landscape calls for extensive knowledge andskill in discerning credible sources from fake news. / <p>21-01-20</p>

The aim of the study is to examine how the labour market is depicted in course booksfor Sweden's upper secondary social studies courses, by comparing textbook contentfor different educational tracks. The case study is based on qualitative text analysiscombined with some quantitative elements. It investigates themes, language andassignments as well as the extent and depth of depictions of the labour market. Thetheoretical lens used draws on Basil Bernstein's concept of knowledge organisation;the distinction between vertical and horizontal knowledge structures.Although the results show some similarities between the tracks, the findings point todifferences in expectations placed on students in different tracks in terms of languageproficiency, cognitive load and their expected societal roles. The study aligns withprevious research within the field suggesting that tracking contributes to sustainingsocial divisions. / <p>21-01-20</p>

This diploma thesis deals with regional history and its incorporation into teaching through project method on second level of basic school. The aim of the thesis is to create a project proposal based on theoretical knowledge. Project method of teaching implemented within the Citizenship education and History for the second grade of basic school. The first part of work is defined the concept regional history and its location in FEP for Elementary Education and the attention is paid to interdisciplinary links between Citizenship education and History subjects. Then are captured regional history knowledge needed to implement the project. This part is divided into several historical stages with an emphasis on the period of World War II due to sufficient information for the preparatory phase of the project. The next chapter informs about Project teaching method, its historical development, individual project phases and the distinction between thematic and project teaching. The positives and negatives of project teaching are also presented. The final part of the diploma thesis presents the concept of didactic project and describes partial didactic procedures aiming to implement proposed project. The resulting proposed project "Fragments of our city" is intended for pupils of the sixth and ninth classes...