In contemporary educational settings algebra is considered to be of vital importance for student's continuation to more advanced studies in mathematics, thereby affecting their chances for future education and employment. However, a substantial number of students do not benefit from the algebra presently taught in schools and fail to use algebraic reasoning. The purpose of this study was to enhance the understanding of how classroom discourse supports the students' learning of algebra. The study rests on two basic assumptions, firstly mathematics is regarded a discourse, secondly teachers' instruction during lessons and the textbooks used in school are envisioned as potential means for supporting students' algebraic development. The issue of learning was examined through a focus on progression of algebraic discourse in mathematics textbooks, for grade levels 2, 5 and 8. Furthermore, in order to study classroom discourse more broadly, the algebraic discourse of teachers' lesson introduction talks in grade 8, were examined in relation to the algebraic discourse of textbooks. The foundation for the analyses was a discursive perspective and a communicational theory depicting algebraic development as a hierarchical structure of consecutive discursive levels. The mathematics textbooks' and teachers' discourses were analysed regarding the presence of signifiers of algebraic objects, more informally unknowns, and concerning four measures of discursive complexity. Mean value of the number of words constituting the signifier of algebraic object, signifier length equal to or exceeding two words, signifier length equal to or exceeding six words, and as amount of signifiers of algebraic objects of a higher discursive level. The results show that there were signifiers of algebraic objects present in all three mathematics textbooks and in teachers' lesson talks. The number of these signifiers of algebraic objects in the mathematics textbooks grew substantially between grade 2 and 5 with a moderate increase between grade 5 and 8. Also the mean value of the number of words constituting these signifiers of algebraic objects grew between grade 2 and 8, as well as the amount of signifiers of algebraic objects consisting of six or more words. Complexity measured as amount of signifiers of algebraic objects of a higher discursive level grew from grad 2, were there were no such signifiers of algebraic objects, to grade 8 were there were 17 % of the total amount. Thus, the analyses of the textbooks exhibit a progression of increasing complexity in terms of the measures focused in this study. In comparison, the complexity of teachers' discourse is lower than the discourse of any of the mathematics textbooks concerning mean value of signifier length. The amount of signifiers of algebraic objects of a signifier length equal to or exceeding two words were comparable with the amount in the grade 2 mathematics textbook. Concerning signifier length equal to or exceeding six words the amount in the teachers' lesson talks were in the same order of size as the corresponding measure in the mathematics textbook of grade 5. / I det samtida skolväsendet anses algebra ha stor betydelse för elevers möjligheter att fortsätta till mera avancerade matematikstudier. Dessvärre har många elever inte fördel av den algebra som undervisas i dagens skola och kan inte använda sig av ett algebraiskt resonemang. Syftet med den här studien är att öka förståelsen om hur klassrumsdiskurser stödjer elevers algebraiska lärande. Till grund för studien ligger två antaganden. Dels antas matematik vara en diskurs, dels betraktas lärarens genomgångar och matematikboken som används i skolan som medel för att potentiellt stödja elevernas algebraiska utveckling. Lärandeaspekten undersöktes genom att fokusera på den algebraiska diskursens progression i matematikböcker i årskurserna 2, 5 och 8. För att dessutom kunna studera klassrumsdiskurs i ett vidare perspektiv, undersöktes den algebraiska diskursen i lärares lektionsgenomgångar i årskurs 8 och relaterades till den algebraiska diskursen i matematikböckerna. Till grund för analyserna låg ett diskursivt perspektiv och en teori rörande kommunikation där algebraisk utveckling ses som en hierarkisk struktur uppbyggd av olika, på varandra följande diskursiva nivåer. Lärarnas och matematikböckernas diskurser analyserades med avseende på om där fanns uttryck för algebraiska objekt, mera vardagligt obekanta, och med avseende på de fyra måtten på diskursiv komplexitet: medelvärde av antalet ord som utgör uttrycken för de algebraiska objekten, uttryckslängd lika med eller mer än två ord, uttryckslängd lika med eller mer än sex ord och slutligen andelen utryck för algebraiska objekt som är av en högre diskursiv nivå.   Resultaten visar att det fanns uttryck för algebraiska objekt i alla tre matematikböckerna och i lärarnas lektionsgenomgångar. Antalet uttryck för algebraiska objekt i matematikböckerna ökar avsevärt mellan årkurs 2 och 5, med en måttlig ökning mellan årskurs 5 och 8. Därtill ökar medelvärdet för antalet ord som bygger upp dessa uttryck för algebraiska objekt mellan årskurs 2 och 8, tillika med andelen uttryck för algebraiska objekt som består av sex ord eller mer. Komplexitet mätt som andel uttryck för algebraiska objekt tillhörande en högre diskursive nivå, ökade från årskurs 2, där det inte fanns några sådana uttryck för algebraiska objekt, till årskurs 8 där andelen var 17 %. Således visar analyserna att textböckerna ger utryck för en progression så som den har mätts i denna studie. När det gäller medelvärde av uttryckens längd visar en jämförelse att uttrycken i lärarnas diskurs  har lägre medelvärde än någon av matematikböckerna. Komplexitet mätt som andelen uttryck för algebraiska objekt med en uttryckslängd på två ord eller mer är i lärarnas diskurs jämförbar med motsvarande andel i matematikboken i årskurs 2. Komplexitet mätt som uttryckslängd på sex ord eller mer visar att andelen i lärarnas diskurs är i samma storleksordning som motsvarande mått i årskurs 5.

The study focused on the role of members of the School Management Team (SMT) regarding the manner in which they implement the policy on mandatory school uniform in Swaziland schools. The main question guiding the study was: To what extent is the learners’ right to human dignity protected when teachers enforce the wearing of compulsory school uniforms in Swaziland schools? A qualitative case study approach was employed with empirical data collected using interviews with the SMT members of three schools in the Manzini and Lubombo regions of the Kingdom of Swaziland, as well as an analysis of each of the school official documents. The interviews and the analysis of the documents were aimed at determining the compliance of each school‘s strategy with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland, and all international conventions regarding the protection of children’s right to human dignity in schools. Data was analysed in accordance with acceptable procedures for processing the qualitative data. The researcher’s conclusion based on the data gathered and from the body of literature consulted, presented evidence that suggests that the rights of learners to human dignity is not well-protected in the three schools that participated in the study. Poor learners continue to suffer the humiliation of being undressed of clothing such as jerseys that they wear to school because it is not the prescribed school uniform and is unacceptable. Some suffer corporal punishment because their parents cannot afford to buy them the full prescribed school uniform. Poverty remains a serious challenge to implementing the mandatory school uniform policy. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur Lpo 94 påverkat lärarens yrkesroll i Idrott och hälsa. Undersökningsgruppen består av åtta stycken lärare i södra Skåne. Huvudfrågeställningen lyder enligt följande; Vad innebar Lpo 94 för lärarna i Idrott och Hälsas arbete? Frågan följs även upp av tre stycken underfrågor; Hur upplever lärarna att tolkningen av målen för Lpo 94 förändrats från dess intåg fram till idag? Vad innebar arbetslagen och den förändrade organisationen för lärarna i Idrott och Hälsas arbete? Var lärarna i Idrott och Hälsa redo för förändringen? Detta görs genom en kvalitativ intervjumetod. Resultatet visar på att arbetet med Lpo 94 gått väldigt långsamt och fortfarande inte efterföljs på många skolor. Detta kan till viss del bero på den ökade arbetsbördan som lärarna i Idrott och hälsa upplever. Lpo 94 innebar en ny organisation som genomsyrades av nya samarbetsformer i form av arbetslag, mentorskap och andra former av tidskrävande merarbete. Idrottsämnet och dess nya utformning var inte anpassat för de organisatoriska förändringar som skolan genomgick. Vidare diskuteras och analyseras hur de olika lärarna hanterar det nya uppdraget samt vad de olika värderingarna och handlandena kan grunda sig i. I studien behandlas också ämnet Idrott och hälsa och dess legitimitet i förhållande till andra ämnen samt vilka andra faktorer som påverkat idrottslärarnas arbete efter införandet av Lpo 94. / The aim of this study is to show how the Lpo 94 has affected the teachers professional role in Physical education. Eight teachers from the south of Skåne were used as informants. The main question asked is; What impact did the Lpo 94 have to teachers of Physical education? The main question is also monitored by three subqueries: How do the teachers in Physical education feel that the interpretation of the objectives for Lpo 94 have changed from its entrance until today? What did the “work team” and the changing organization influence the teachers in Physical education? Were the PE teachers ready for the change?A qualitative interview method is used and the results show that the progress of Lpo 94 has gone very slowly and that it still hasen´t been enforced in many schools. According to the PE teachers there are several reasons to why it hasen´t been enforced but a common denominator is the increased workload. Lpo 94 meant new organizations, new cooperation in teams, mentoring and other forms of time-consuming burdens. Physical education and its new design were not adapted to the organizational changes that the school underwent at the same time. Further discussed and analyzed in the study is how the various teachers handled the new assignment and what their different values and actions can be based on. The study also deals with Physical Education and its legitimacy in terms of other school subjects and other factors that have affected the PE teachers work after the introduction of Lpo 94.

In this research project, that was carried out in Iceland, an attempt is made to construct and develop a questionnaire administrators can use as a “device” to shed light on and evaluate certain aspects of the administration in their school. The research is based upon a quantitative method that was chosen in order to secure a maximally objective approach of those who carry out the evaluation. The enactment of the Compulsory School Act from 1995 significantly increased the independence of principals. Likewise, the wage agreements 2001-2004 and 2004-2007 extended the scope of administration within the schools. The Act granted principals the warranty and opportunity to enhance the uptrend in school activity. This thesis is part of that uptrend. Theories and concepts put forth and developed by Bert Stålhammar and Tomas J. Sergiovanni concerning the role of the principal were a point of reference in the choice of questions in the questionnaire. Four schools were chosen to participate in the research. All the principals answered the questionnaire, one female and three males. The total number of respondents among the teachers of the four schools was 103. The methodology used to verify the reliability of the questionnaire is a statistically reliable measure and an effective instrument to gather extensive information and with the aid of statistics and a good software program it is easy to present it in an explicit manner. The information contained in this thesis may be used in various ways, e.g. the direct statistical findings of the questions and the comparison of the findings for teachers and the principal (frequency tables, cf. the report of the schools). But it may also be viewed as a manual for those who intend to pose this questionnaire in their school or another comparable one and how the findings of such a questionnaire should be read and interpreted. Principals of other schools do not need to carry out the factor analysis but can utilize the findings of this survey, i.e. the 25 questions that came under the five factors (F1-Interaction with the principal, F2-The policy regarding teaching and pedagogy, F3-Collaboration and flow of information, F4-Praise to teachers and pupils and F5-Teachers’ professionalism).

A major dilemma for music teachers in Sweden is that the educational system since 15 years dictates that local adaptations should be made, since all students shall be assessed equivalently. In this study I have examined what strategies music teachers have in the grading process, and specifically how they do to grade equivalently. Previous research shows that Swedish music teachers have difficulties when it comes to make use of regulatory documents. Working conditions for Swedish music teachers also often differ from other teacher groups (e.g. it is usually only one music teacher at a school) and therefore, and because of the fact that the area is largely unexplored, new knowledge and understanding is needed.The thesis consists of two parts: A web survey (quantitative and qualitative parts) and core questions in the survey (on how to grade equivalently in music). I emanate in my reasoning from a music teacher’s awareness but with an open approach. With socioculture influences and a critical approach I question the prevailing circum- stances. With the qualitative approach, I aim to get close to the material and identify music teachers' strategies for assessment in accordance with the requirements of national equivalence.More than 600 music teachers contributed to the survey, representing around 50% of all final grades that are written each year in Swedish compulsory school music. The outcomes show that during the last decade an ongoing professionalization has taken place among music teachers. The findings also include knowledge about how impor- tant note taking is for equivalence and the problems music teachers have with physi- cal conditions for the teaching (such as group sizes and instrumentation). Also the gut felling, as a cultural tool, is observed in a particular way in the assessment work. Last, the picture of “music teachers as their own curriculum” is suggested to be revised. Since music teachers need to adjust to local conditions, and now have a greater knowledge and experience in the mechanism of grading equivalently, it is suggested that music teachers are forced to be their own curriculum.

The aim of this thesis is to examine compulsory schools' material conditions in relation to students' learning opportunities and schools staffs’ opportunities to educate. The thesis consists of four published peer-reviewed articles. The empirical data was collected through extensive fieldwork during 2010-2011 in three Swedish schools (ages 14-15), characterized by different social demographics. The material is primarily classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and policy documents. Analysis in the thesis draws mainly on Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical framework, but also on contemporary developments institutional habitus by Diane Reay and positional capital by Jacques Lévy. Also, materiality as an educational concept is used to reflect and discuss schools’ prerequisites as institutions of education. The first article investigates how school practice emerges for pupils and the importance it has on their perceptions of their own lives in the school, it also considers and discusses the utility of the theoretical tool school habitus. The study was furthermore a critical examination of the reproductive and/or social levelling effects that school practice could have on pupils. The second article explores and compares the schools' access to ICT and classroom teaching. The third article examines the role of the family and its importance for school staff and pupils in the daily operations of the school. In addition, it scrutinizes how socioeconomic conditions affect the middle- and working-class schools' abilities to navigate in relation to families. The fourth article examines material conditions in all three schools with a focus on pupils and school staffs’ perceptions and actions in school practices, and how materiality shapes schools' institutional habitus. The analysis displays that schools’ materiality has major significance for the forms of institutional habitus and which ideals and values about education are developed in the different schools. It also displays that schools’ material conditions are closely interwoven with pupils’ educational backgrounds and the socioeconomic structure of the local neighbourhood. Schools’ material preconditions affect the pedagogical work of the teachers in classrooms and principals’ acting space to follow and implement the schools’ missions according to steering documents. Viewed as preworld, the local area and resources in the schools shape pupils’ sense of worthiness and thus their visions of a possible future in regard to educational and- workinglife carriers. The thesis discusses and concludes that the title The Subtle Inequality illustrate a process where phenomenon such as school choice, teacher shortage or schools’ abilities to compete are taken for granted. They are seen as “natural” and given, thus they hide the existing, objective material preconditions as the sources that shape differences in the educational system. To overcome these differences, the thesis reflects on the need to give all schools in Sweden equal material starting points.

Syftet med studien är att ta del av erfarenheterna bland några elever på introduktionsprogrammet som inte nått målen för årskurs 9 i svenska i grundskolan. Studien skulle ge svar på bland annat hur eleverna upplevt skolans försök att hjälpa dem nå målen. Andra frågor som skulle besvaras var om eleverna hade egna funderingar kring vad skolan kunde ha gjort för att främja lärandet, om de känt sig inkluderade och delaktiga samt om de hade övriga erfarenheter från grundskoletiden som har varit av betydelse för dem. En kvalitativ metod användes och genom livsberättelser framkom de vuxna informanternas erfarenheter. Två intervjuer genomfördes med de tre deltagarna. Resultatet visar att trots skolans insatser så nåddes inte målen. Informanterna anser att skolan hade kunnat göra mera genom att ge dem bekräftelse, lyssna på dem, ge dem mera hjälp och att inte alla elever med olika behov av stöd ska sitta i samma grupp. De berättar om rädsla att framstå som dumma och att de känt ett utanförskap. Slutligen så kan det konstateras att ur informanternas perspektiv så har skolan inte levt upp till sina åtaganden enligt skollagen, Salamancadeklarationen och Barnkonventionen genom att inte anpassa den ordinarie skolmiljön, inte låta eleverna vara delaktiga och framförallt genom att inte upprätta åtgärdsprogram. / The aim of this study is to examine a few adult students’ experiences from compulsory school where they did not achieve the goals in Swedish. The study was also supposed to point out if the students had any thoughts about how the school could have supported their learning, if they felt included and involved and if they had other experiences from compulsory school. Two interviews were made with the three respondents. A qualitative method was used and the data is collected from their life stories. The result shows that despite the school’s efforts, the respondents did not achieve the goals. The respondents talk about their need of corroboration, that the teachers should have listened to them, given them more help and the unsuitability to put all the students with learning difficulties in the same room. The respondents talk about fear of looking stupid and a feeling of exclusion. From the respondents’ perspective it is obviously that the school did not undertake its responsibility according to the Swedish school law, the Salamanca Declaration and Convention on the Rights of the Child by adjusting the ordinary environment in the classroom, letting the respondents be involved and most of all, by ignoring their duty to write åtgärdsprogram, i.e. individual programmes for higher achievement.

<p>Environmental issues are highly topical today and most people are more or less concerned. It is important to start with environmental work and environmental studies in early ages, already in school. The purpose of this essay is to examine what a school can do for the environment and to see how a school can work with these issues. Furthermore, what is passed on to the pupils and how involved are they in the work for a sustainable future?</p><p>The study was conducted by the means of qualitative interviews with four teachers and the head of environmental questions at the school.</p><p>The school is new since fall 2006 and they have just started with the environmental work, says the ones I interviewed. But they all think it will be better in the near future. At this school both adults and children are very interested and involved in the environmental work. The school has several recourses to facilitate the practical environmental work, both children and adults are fully engaged. The recycling process is well developed at the school, they rather recycle than consume. The higher grade students have more classes about global environmental issues while the lower grades do concentrate on the nearby environment, on a level that fits the children. The lower grades at this school are more involved in the work for the environment than the higher grades.</p><p>At the school there is a good will to develop the environmental work and they have a great potential to do so.</p> / <p>Miljöfrågor är högst aktuellt och det är något som berör oss alla. Det är viktigt att vara medveten och delaktig redan i tidig ålder för att göra arbetet för ett hållbart samhälle vardagligt och det är därför viktigt att börja med miljöarbete och miljöundervisning redan i skolan. Syftet med arbetet är att få kunskap om vad en skola kan göra för miljön, hur en skolas miljöarbete ser ut, vad förmedlas till barnen och hur medvetna och delaktiga är de i skolans miljöarbete.</p><p>Undersökningen gjordes med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra pedagoger och skolans miljöansvarig.</p><p>Skolan är ny sedan hösten 2006 och har därför inte mer än kommit igång med sitt miljöarbete påstår de intervjuade, men alla är överens om att det kommer att se bättre ut framöver. På skolan är både vuxna och barn intresserade och engagerade i miljöarbetet. Skolan är utrustad med flera verktyg för praktiskt miljöarbete och dessa används både av personal och elever. Källsortering är ett väl fungerande system på skolan och de återanvänder istället för att förbruka. I undervisningen på högstadiet pratar man mer om den globala miljön än i de lägre stadierna. I de lägre stadierna arbetar de med miljö på barnens nivå, de pratar om och arbetar med sådant som barnen kan relatera till och som barnen kan vara med och påverka. De lägre stadierna är över lag mer engagerade i miljöarbetet jämförelsevis med högstadiet.</p><p>På skolan finns en vilja att förbättra miljöarbetet och det finns en stor potential för att genomföra detta.</p>

<p>This paper examines the ideological content of the compulsory school policy of the Swedish Liberal Party. The aim of the study is to investigate whether the Liberal Party does really represent a liberal policy for the compulsory school, or if it is more accurately described as conservative. The analysis is carried through by two separate critical examinations of the Liberal Party motion on school politics to the parliament and the Conservative Party motion on school politics to the parliament respectively. A comparison is then made between the ideological contents of the two documents. The specific party policies are linked to universal definitions of liberalism and conservatism with the help of an analytical tool consistent of a series of educational philosophies. Difference is made between ideologically motivated purposes and concrete policy recommendations in the motion texts.</p><p>The results of the ideological content analyses and the comparison show that the compulsory school policy of the Liberal Party can be categorized as conservative, not only vis-à-vis a universal definition of liberalism and conservatism, but also in comparison with the compulsory school policy of the Conservative Party.</p>

The purpose of this study is to investigate some teachers in special school´s perceptions of the meeting of compulsory school and special school. In this study, ethnocentrism is used as a theoretical framework, the theory which is built on the meeting between groups and how they interact. The study has a phenomenographic onset, which is a qualitative method. The gathering of data was made through interviews, one to one. Five interviews were made and analyzed by the use of phenomenographic analysis. Five categories were identified: Inclusion, commitment and interest, knowledge about special school, to be forgotten, and differences in cognitive approach. In the sample space the underlying structures was discussed by ethnocentrism, as well as previous literature and research. Some common points of contact between ethnocentrism and previous research on the meeting could be found. What the study also found was that four out of five respondents felt a sense of belonging in school, while one felt that the Special school was excluded from the regular school. The respondents could all agree on the fact that several factors affected the meeting. These five categories could be seen as areas of improvement in schools that want to work in an inclusive manner. These factors were also lifted in previous research on special school and inclusion.