The aim of this study has been to investigate whether people with siblings that have disability have been personally affected when making choices about their studies and careers based on their upbringing with their siblings. The method chosen was qualitative data and consists of six interviews with people who are familiar with the chosen problem area. In conclusion, our results do not show a link between choices of study in relation to the sibling's disabilities. However a link was found between career choices, many choose to work in the area of health and well-being. This link was also found in literature we have researched, people living with disabled siblings have chosen careers and jobs within health and well-being.

Läsning och skrivning är förmågor som återkommer i skolans alla ämnen, inte bara i ämnet svenska. Därför är det mycket viktigt att alla elever får en god start på sin läs- och skrivutveckling. För att kunna anpassa undervisningen till alla elevers individuella behov krävs fler än en utvecklingsmetod. Det innebär att en pedagog som enbart bedriver läs- och skrivutveckling efter en metod riskerar att inte nå fram till alla elever. Följden av det kan bli att dessa elever får en anpassad undervisning hos specialläraren eller specialpedagogen på skolan. Detta trots att de egentligen inte har läs- och skrivsvårigheter, de har bara inte fått rätt verktyg. Svenska elever har under en tioårsperiod presterat allt sämre i olika undersökningar inom läs- och skrivutveckling, såväl i nationella som i internationella undersökningar. Detta var en av anledningarna till att vi ville fördjupa oss inom ämnet. Syftet med vår uppsats är att ta reda på hur sex stycken pedagoger i årskurs 1 resonerar kring sin läs- och skrivundervisning. Vi kommer även att undersöka vilka läs- och skrivutvecklingsmetoder de använder sig av, vilka faktorer de stödjer undervisningen på samt hur dessa pedagoger resonerar om individualisering. I undersökningen kommer vi att använda oss av kvalitativa intervjuer för att därigenom få en djup förståelse av pedagogers val av metoder kring läsutveckling.  Resultatet visar att pedagogerna i undersökningen är medvetna om fördelarna med en varierad läs- och skrivundervisning som bygger på fler än en metod. Det var däremot få som beskrev sin undervisning som varierad. Intervjupersonerna beskrev fyra faktorer som påverkar deras val av läs- och skrivutvecklingsmetod: skolans påverkan, elevernas lust att lära samt erfarenhet och utbildning. De hade svårigheter att uttrycka vad de grundade sin läs- och skrivundervisning på. Faktorer som framkom var styrdokumenten och Vygotskijs teorier om lärande. Pedagogerna uttryckte att de individualiserar sin undervisning, men främst för de elever som var i behov av särskilt stöd.

 Enligt styrdokumenten skall elever rustas inför dagens samhällsliv, fortsatta studier och kommande arbetsliv vilket förutsätter att eleverna kan möta och förstå texter av olika slag. För att klara de nationella proven i åk 3 krävs att eleverna behärskar olika texttyper och vi vill med denna studie se hur arbetet med olika texter i en åk 3 ser ut samt vilka relationer mellan klassrummets textarbete och styrdokumentens intentioner vi kan utlä-sa. Vi är även intresserade av om undervisningen kring texter är inspirerad av literacy-forskning eller en mer traditionell syn på läs- och skrivinlärning. Vi tänker oss att denna studie kan leda till att verksamma lärare och lärarstudenter får upp ögonen för hur arbe-tet med olika texter kan se ut för att uppnå styrdokumentens intentioner. Vi har i studien använt oss av en empirisk kvalitativ observationsstudie för att få ett så trovärdigt resul-tat som möjligt. Resultatet visade att eleverna mestadels arbetade med texter av berät-tande karaktär och att undervisningen framför allt speglar en traditionell färdighetssyn där mycket fokus ligger på grammatik, form och struktur utan något större samman-hang. / As the policy documents reads students must be prepared for today´s society, further studies and future working which implies that students can understand and encounter different types of texts. To cope the National Tests in third grade the students must mas-ter different types of texts and with this study we want to study the work with texts in a third grade classroom, and also how the relation between classroom activities and policy documents may be understood. We are also interested in different Theories of reading and writing, and thus if text activities are inspired by literacy research or a more tradi-tional skill discourse. We imagine that this study can conduce to the active teachers and student teachers can take notice of the importance of early introduction of different types of texts for the students. In this study we have used an empirical qualitative obser-vational study to get a so credible result as possible. The result showed that most of the texts that the students worked with were of narrative character and that the education was based primarily on a traditional skill discourse whit focus on grammar, form and structure without any larger context.

Den fria leken på förskolan är ett ämne som vi upplever har diskuterats mycket på senare tid. Studiens utgångspunkt har varit sex förskollärares uppfattningar om den fria lekens betydelse på förskolan. Metoden som använts har varit kvalitativ och utgått från öppna och ostrukturerade intervjuer med förskollärare på sex olika förskolor, i en kommun i Västra Götalands län. Genom intervjuerna har vi studerat på vilket sätt den fria leken används i verksamheten samt hur stort utrymme den får i relation till styrda aktiviteter. Vi har även undersökt vilken roll förskollärare har i leken samt vilka positiva effekter den har. Resultatet av studien visar att förskollärarna ser fri lek som en viktig del i förskoleverksamheten då den utvecklar många förmågor hos barnen, vilket även många författare belyser. De upplever dock att det är svårt att få tiden att räcka till då de har som åsikt att även de styrda aktiviteterna är betydelsefulla för barnen och verksamheten. Förskollärarna är av olika åsikter vad gäller hur de ska agera då barnen leker, några anser att de vuxna ska vara delaktiga medan andra menar att barnen bör få leka ostört. Studien tar även upp hur förskollärarna upplever föräldrars syn på fri lek samt vikten av att kunna motivera för föräldrar vad den fria leken har för betydelse. / The free play at preschool is a topic that we feel has been much discussed recently. Starting point for the study was the six preschool teachers' perceptions of the importance of free play in preschool. The method used has been qualitative and assumed open and unstructured interviews with preschool teachers in six different preschools, in a municipality in Västra Götalands län, Sweden. Through interviews, we have studied the manner in which free play is used in preschool and how much space it gets in relation to controlled activities. We examined the preschool teachers’ role in the play and its positive impact. The results of this study show that preschool teachers see free play as an important part in early childhood education as it develops many abilities of children, as many authors highlight. They feel that it is difficult to make time enough when they have the opinion that even the controlled activities are important for children and preschool. Early childhood educators are in different opinions regarding how to act when children play, some believe that the adults should be involved while others believe that children should play undisturbed. The study also discusses how preschool teachers perceive parents' views on free play and the importance of being able to explain to parents what the play means for the children.

No description available.

Studie- och yrkesvägledningenhar de senaste åren varit utsatt för politisk debatt. Många experter, forskare och politiker har uttalat kritik kring verksamheten, framförallt för att granskningar visat att engagemanget kring området varit bristfälligt på skolorna. Utredningar har gjorts, projektarbeten har satts igång och rekommendationer har getts ut, allt för att öka måluppfyllelsen enligt områdets styrdokument. Syftet med studien är att granska problematiken från skolans eget perspektiv, genom att dokumentera röster från skolans insida. Elever, lärare och studie- och yrkesvägledare har genom enkäter fått uttala sig om sina personliga erfarenheter, uppfattningar och preferenser angående verksamhetsområdet. Resultatet visar på att studie- och yrkesväglednings verksamheten anses som viktig av skolans elever och personal. Den visar emellertid också på att samsynen av verksamheten är dålig mellan de olika grupperna, där lärarna står längst bort från styrdokumentens intentioner. Resultaten visar dessutom att delar av skolans omvärldsorientering, angående kultur och föreningsliv, inte riktigt uppfattas som studie- och yrkesvägledande aktiviteter. / Study and vocational guidancehas in recent years been subject to political debate. Many experts, researchers and politicians have expressed criticism about the guidance, mainly because studies have shown that the engagement of the area has been inadequate at schools. Investigations have been made, projects have been undertaken and recommendations were released, all to increase the compliance rate, according to the area's governing documents. The purpose if this study is to examine the problem from the school´s own perspective, by documenting the voices from those inside the school. Students, teachers and guidance counselors have through questionnaires been able to express their own personal view of experiences, perceptions and preferences regarding counseling activities at school. The result shows that guidance and counseling activities are deemed as important by the school's students and staff. The result also, however, shows that the convergence of educational and vocational guidance is poor between the different groups at school, whereteachers are furthest away from the policy documents intentions. Furthermore they also show that parts of the school's social orientation, regarding culture and clubs, are not really perceived as educational and vocational guidance activities.

Sammandrag  Syftet med detta arbete har varit att undersöka elevers uppfattning om sina möjligheter att vara skapande i skolan, vilka förutsättningar som finns för skapande verksamhet och kulturupplevelser samt hur man uppfyller det styrdokumenten säger gällande estetisk verksamhet i en landsortsskola.  Kvantitativ metod i form av enkätundersökningar har använts tillsammans med strukturerade observationer. Undersökningen har genomförts på mellanstadiet i en landsortsskola i västra Värmland och omfattats av 151 elever och åtta lärare. Det empiriska materialet visar att eleverna har störst möjlighet att vara skapande i de ämnen där observationerna pekade på god måluppfyllelse, där eleverna var delaktiga i sitt eget lärande samt då lokalerna var ändamålsenliga. Materialet visar även att man i liten omfattning erbjuder kulturupplevelser i skolan.  Arbetets forskningsavsnitt stödjer den skapande verksamhetens betydelse i skolan genom att behandla styrdokument, utveckling och lärande, skapandeprocessen samt betydelsen av upplevelser och intryck. / Abstract  The aim of this study has been to examine students' perception of their ability to be creative in school, what conditions that exist for creative activities and cultural experiences, and how to the school comply with the steering documents regarding arts in school.  Quantitative method in the form of questionnaires has been used along with structured observations. The research has taken place in a primary school in western Värmland and involved 151 pupils and eight teachers. The empirical data indicates that students have the greatest opportunity to be creative in subjects where the observations pointed towards good target achievement, where students were involved in their own learning as well as were the physical premises were appropriate. The material also indicates that the pupils are offered cultural experiences only to a very limited extent in school.  This study’s research section supports that the creative activities are highly relevant to school by discussing policy documents, development and learning research, creative process and the importance of experiences and impressions.

During my practical training I have seen what after-school offers children. Large groups of children and little staff, often results in that the children had to play freely until they go home. Few activities are offered to the children and the staff is busy looking after the children and ensures that they are not fighting. The purpose of this study is to find out how children feel about their leisure activities and if they think they are being offered a meaningful leisure. The main research questions were: How do children experience their leisure-time? Do after-school offers children a meaningful leisure and is it the children's interests and needs that govern the activities and the environment? How do the number of children in the leisure group affect the leisure time? The methods to collect data in the study are observations and interviews. The study was done in an after-school in Stockholm with children between 7-9 years old. The children in the after-school think that they spend too much time outdoor, that they have too few excursions, too little time indoors and too few activities. Most children experience that it is the teachers who decide at leisure-time and that there are teachers who determines what, when and where children can play. The kids want to get a chance to decide about their leisure and what they want to use it for. What the children in the study wants to do and what they are allowed to do, isn´t really the same, and therefore from a children's perspective, they hasn´t been offered a meaningful leisure.

The purpose of this study is to increase the knowledge of individualism also how individualism is applied in a teacher’s classroom. Based on the curriculum, teaching is tailored to each and every student’s expectations and needs.  My research has been qualitative and includes four interviews with practicing teachers in two multi-cultural schools in the city of Stockholm. I have investigated how these four teachers perceive individualism, also how they individualize when teaching to meet all students' expectations and needs according to them. In the analysis, the teachers’ methods have been applied to the theories and previous studies that were introduced in the theoretical chapter.  Research results show that the teachers perceive individualism as a way of targeting the individual students during their lessons. Through individualism it is also possible for the teacher to abide by the curriculum which says to tailor teaching to each student’s expectations and needs. Prominent individualism methods that have been demonstrated were when teachers tailor their teaching according to student’s different backgrounds, experience and interests, also by getting to know each student.

This paper argues that a contextual version of Bernard Huss' model of "Better homes, Better fields, Better hearts" can make a positive contribution to poverty alleviation in rural KwaZulu-Natal. The model addresses both the material and non-material aspects of poverty. It seeks to achieve integral human development by empowering the poor, especially women, to be self-reliant. Poverty eradication remains one of the greatest challenges facing South Africa, and analysts concur that it is largely a rural problem. Women who head the majority of rural households are the most affected by poverty which also exposes them to the risk of HIV infection and sexual violence due to their economic dependence on men. Gender equality is a critical aspect which the model seeks to address in order to counter particular cultural injustices which subject the majority of women to male subordination. The model is therefore interpreted in the context of poverty and underdevelopment in rural KwaZulu-Natal and it endeavours to confront the challenges of poverty and unemployment at the grassroots level. It is argued in this paper that women should become the main beneficiaries of the contextual version of the model and begin to participate fully in decision-making in respect of the strategies to alleviate poverty in rural areas. The model recognizes the agency of the poor as an imperative factor in the development praxis and discourse, for this reason it is a pro-poor approach. It is also argued in this paper that the Missionaries of Mariannhill should revive the model and use it in their mission work in rural communities of KwaZulu-Natal. The model has the capacity to broaden the scope of mission work and address both the material and non-material aspects of poverty. It provides a practical response to the Christian commitment to assist the poor in the endeavour to alleviate poverty and mitigate the impact of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in rural communities. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.