Student Number: 0111229X. PhD Thesis. Faculty of Science. School of Education / This study is part of a larger national study, the Learners’ Perspectives Study. The main focus of this particular study is to explore, describe and explain learners’ perspectives regarding the incorporation of the everyday in mathematics. Two Grade 8 mathematics classrooms in two different schools, Umhlanga and Settlers are used as sites for empirical data. Learners’ perspectives are sought through a series of post-lesson interviews with different groups of learners for lessons in which the everyday was summoned for a mathematics lesson. During these interviews, learners whether 1. They welcomed or appreciated the use of the everyday in class or not and 2. The everyday inhibited or enabled easy access to mathematics content. In order to understand the background against which these perspectives are held, mathematics lessons wherein the everyday was incorporated were observed, recorded and transcribed. In addition, teachers’ views about these lessons were explored through interviews and activities which incorporated the everyday were analysed. I used Bernstein’s notions of classification and framing as a theoretical lens through which to account for my observations. It became necessary though, to supplement these through Dowling’s domains of text analysis (esoteric, expressive, public and descriptive). I also introduced the notion of authentic/inauthentic and close/far descriptions. It is a combination of these three broad theoretical frameworks which assisted in the provision of a comprehensive theoretical account. The significance of mathematics-everyday aspect in mathematics education is highlighted by the number of studies, as discussed in the study, and different orientations from which this aspect is engaged. What can be teased out of these studies is that mathematics education debates are seldom informed by the learners’ perspectives. The study suggests that most of the learners who participated in the interviews welcomed and appreciated the use of the everyday in mathematics. However, most learners (particularly from Umhlanga) viewed mathematics as a platform to raise genuine concerns about the everyday used. In contrast, some learners (particularly from Settlers) viewed the everyday as vehicles or see-throughs towards the mathematics content. What this study viii suggests is that, firstly, the everyday is multifaceted and the nature of the context summoned tends to influence views learners hold about the role of the everyday in mathematics. Secondly, the study suggests that learners’ perspectives about the everyday cannot be divorced from the classroom context in which they encounter these everyday contexts.

The Circular Economy was developed as a response to the prevailing linear model of material use. The goal of the concept is to eliminate waste and mitigate environmental impacts by transforming the economic system into one that pursues a circular flow of materials and resources, in contrast to the current make-use-waste paradigm. While the concept has gained some momentum in the past years, there is still no definition that is agreed upon by scholars and practitioners. While the goal of the Circular Economy is clear, the perspectives on how this can be achieved differ. This study focuses on the Circular Economy at the city level via a case study of Uppsala, Sweden. The aim of this study is to gather the perspectives of actors active in circularity and to determine whether they agree on how the Circular Economy can be achieved. While there are a large number of actors involved in Circular Economy in Uppsala, this study focuses on two actor groups: the municipality and businesses. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and the actors' responses were analysed in regard to the actor's underlying ideology, their role within Circular Economy and their perception on how a transition to a circular system should occur. The study's results reveal that the actors in Uppsala lack an overall consensus on how the Circular Economy should be achieved, even though they tend to agree on some aspects. Furthermore, the interviewed actors do not take into account the systemic perspective of the transition. In response to this finding, the waste hierarchy was updated with the aim to draw attention to this notion. Additionally, it is found that most of the interviewed actors mention co-operation among different organisations as being the key to achieving the Circular Economy, which could help to promote the Circular Economy in the future.

The combination of theory and practice in all forms of teacher training has always been a topic of debate in policy and research. Research examining university training of preschool teachers in Sweden highlights problems in the application of theory in practice in preschool teacher training. Specifically, the kind of problem identified is the lack of opportunities given to students to apply the knowledge gained through the university courses during their internships at the preschools. As a result a “gap” is created between the theory learnt and the application of this theory into practice, which in turn limits the opportunity for professional development. The meaning of professional development is to improve the knowledge and skills that the students have about their profession. The aim of this study is to understand student perspectives in relation to the combination of academic vs. practice-oriented coursework in preschool teacher training in Sweden. Specifically, this study examines the preferences of undergraduate preschool education students in Sweden regarding academic vs. practice-oriented courses, as well as if and how these courses contribute to their professional development. Final year student of a preschool education program at a college in southern Sweden completed an online survey to assess their perspectives on academically oriented and practice-oriented courses of their program. Students, regardless of whether or not they had previous experience working in early childhood education and care, reported that practice-oriented courses helped them with their professional development. Student also declared that the theory learnt through their academically oriented courses generally proved to be applicable in practice. Two types of future research are proposed in order to capture a wider variety of student perspectives about their training program as preschool education teachers.

Despite the increasing policy and academic attention given to child poverty in recent years, little is known about children’s perspectives and their experiences of risk, coping and resilience in the context of poverty. The existing child poverty literature is dominated by studies from economics and developmental psychology, which for the most part overlook not only the perspectives of children in poverty but also their use of coping strategies and experiences of resilience. Much can be inferred, however, from studies of the lives of children in developing countries in terms of the active role poor children play in their lives and their families’ lives. Additionally, a small but growing number of qualitative child poverty studies in Europe and North America (e.g. Ridge, 2002) have highlighted the resourcefulness and optimism of many children living in poverty. They have shown the merit of prioritizing children’s perspectives and experiences or minimally setting them alongside the perspectives of adults in order to understand their lives and concerns fully. This thesis builds on these studies by exploring the lives of children living in poverty that go beyond their material disadvantage or survival. It highlights the priorities, concerns and responses of children living in a context different from the one covered by most of these studies. It also explores the theoretical concepts of coping and resilience to establish whether these constructs can be reliably applied in a society that is very different from the one in which they were developed. The study focuses on Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world. It addresses the perspectives and experiences of twenty-six children (11 girls and 15 boys) between the ages of 11 and 14 in Kolfe area, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Addis Ababa. It employs qualitative research methods such as semi-structured individual interviews, daily diaries, drawings and timelines with the children. The key finding of the study is that the majority of these children perceive that relationships that are characterized by conflict are more damaging than material poverty. This suggests that research and interventions focusing on poverty not only undermine children’s positive experiences and agency but also obscure their real priorities and concerns. The children’s accounts further suggest that the theoretical concepts of “coping” and “resilience” are applicable to Ethiopian children, although as in other contexts how the children understand and experience them is influenced by the culture and environment in which they live.

This thesis has conducted interpretive qualitative research to investigate the impacts and limitations of LMS Moodle in distance students’ learning process from distance students’ perspectives. The qualitative data was collected from mediated semi-structured interviews with distance students participating in a Master program at Linnaeus University. Through empirical findings and analysis, the positive experiences and limitations of using Moodle in facilitating distance learning process have been revealed from distance students’ perspectives. The positive experiences include that LMS Moodle was used by distance students for interacting with other students, teachers and accessing study contents during their distance learning process. Moodle was used to know new classmates, teachers and the new learning system, recruit group members for the collaborative works, communicate with teachers and other classmates, and obtain significant information about courses. Especially, accessing study contents in Moodle easily was critical for distance students' learning. However, there were still some limitations. Distance students preferred Facebook to Moodle for student-student interaction during the process of collaborative works. The interaction with teachers was not adequate and timely for distance students. The limitations also include unsatisfactory Moodle interface design and poor usability of Moodle.   Some suggestions about improving LMS Moodle in different ways had also been acquired from the research. The suggestions from distance students mainly focus on integrating Moodle with other web conferencing platforms for improving the quality of student-student, student-teacher interaction in Moodle, ameliorating the interface design of Moodle, and adding Moodle tutorials. The result will help the development of LMS based on distance students' needs and finally benefit distance students' learning process.

In this study I have investigated what perceptions educators have about educational documentation and how teachers perceive that pedagogical documentation helps to discover and visualize learning. I have also investigated how teachers perceive that the size of the child group and the systematic quality work affect the work of educational documentation. The purpose is to investigate educators perceptions of these tools to contribute to the development of pre-school work. I have done a qualitative study in the form of interviews. In the study, I have taken the phenomenological research effort as a starting point and the result shows that there are both equal and different perceptions about the systematic quality work and the work on educational documentation.

This Master Thesis examines cooperation between Russia and the Czech Republic in the spheres of foreign trade and investment relations. The analyzed period is primarily over the last decade with the concentration on the current trends. The analysis is carried out through evaluation of present level of trade volumes and investment flows between countries, search of obstacles and incentives for mutual cooperation in these areas, countries' governmental and other sources of support, etc. The Thesis considers trade and investment perspectives for relation development and mutual cooperation between Russia and the Czech Republic as well. One of the study's purposes was to provide recommendations for improvement of the business environment in Russia and making its national economy attractive for foreign capital. The study shows that, even though the share of the Czech Republic in the total trade volume between the EU and other non-EU member states makes up about 1%, the trade volumes in relations between this country and Russia remain significant. The largest category of Czech exports to Russia are machines and means of transport; Russian exports to the Czech Republic are energetic commodities, raw materials and mineral oil. As a matter of fact Russia's economic growth in later years has largely been driven by its energy exports. The country's dependency on energy sector demands structural changes in the national economy, modernization is critical for its long-term economic growth. The analysis emphasizes that Russia should adopt experience of the Czech Republic, as a highly industrialized country, use Czech innovative technologies and equipment, enter into joint projects with the Czech Republic, and so on in order to ensure future growth in today's competitive world. This is necessary especially in the light of the fact that Russia close to gaining membership to WTO, which can potentially facilitate trade and investment flows between the country and the EU, including the Czech Republic.

The thesis deals with perspectives of the regulation of credit institutions in the Czech Republic, Europe and worldwide.

The aim of this dissertation was to whether the VŠE students perspective of the segment is the same as the coaches' perspective using a questionnaire research of the VŠE students and coaches too, and comparing both the students' and coaches' segments and suggesting possible solution. The questionnaire research was based in The Czech Republic area. The theoretical part of the dissertation is organized the way so it would introduce the involved ones into coaching. Firstly, it introduces the term coaching, differences between coaching and psychotherapy, ethical codex of the coaching, various genres and the methods of the coaching. Secondly, it explains dimensions of the mutual corporation, the coaches' and coached people roles, expenses, the form of quality, expected benefits, expectation of the co-operation and its form. Conclusions of this dissertation can be beneficial for organizations AIESEC, RPC VŠE, Koučink klub VŠE, The Head Office of the VŠE, coaches segment, future segment students' employers and for students themselves. There are included couches, companies providing coaching and professional associations under the coaches segment.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / O objetivo desta dissertaÃÃo à explicitar a relaÃÃo entre verdade e poder, isto Ã, entre perspectivismo e agonismo, no pensamento de Nietzsche. Primeiramente, reconstruÃmos, em termos analÃticos, o conceito nietzschiano de niilismo, que, em nÃvel teÃrico, significa anti-fundacionismo, anti-realismo e anti-correspondencialismo. O niilismo nietzschiano Ã, assim, o diagnÃstico de nosso tempo como o momento da crise das noÃÃes de fundamento, verdade e mundo. Entretanto, Nietzsche nÃo à apenas um niilista, pois propÃe uma filosofia experimental, para a qual, a verdade nÃo à concebida como descoberta, mas como criaÃÃo, experimento, perspectiva, e, enquanto tal, como indissociÃvel do poder. Em seguida, elaboramos um balanÃo do debate acerca do perspectivismo e chegamos a duas questÃes centrais: o problema da referÃncia ao devir e o problema da auto-referÃncia do perspectivismo. Em funÃÃo de suas respostas a essas questÃes, entendemos que a leitura pragmÃtica do perspectivismo à aquela que oferece mais vantagens, pois consiste no aprofundamento de uma postura anti-realista e na destranscendentalizaÃÃo da subjetividade. Ademais, o perspectivismo pragmÃtico rejeita a idÃia de correspondÃncia, para propor um conceito perspectivista de verdade, que a entende como pluralidade de perspectivas condicionadas natural, histÃrica e lingÃisticamente. Nesse contexto, a utilidade se torna o critÃrio de verdade, porÃm, enquanto utilidade situada em relaÃÃes de poder, utilidade agonÃstica. Portanto, no terceiro movimento, apresentamos um perspectivismo agonÃstico que parte da genealogia do agÃn da palavra, isto Ã, da retÃrica tal como era praticada no tempo da democracia grega. Cremos que, assim, nÃo sà à possÃvel reconstruir o perspectivismo nietzschiano em termos pragmÃticos, mas contribuir, atravÃs da introduÃÃo da questÃo do poder, no debate sobre o pragmatismo. Em conclusÃo, ensaiamos uma resposta perspectivista agonÃstica aos problemas apontados: reduzindo seu comprometimento ontolÃgico ao mÃnimo, sustentando uma posiÃÃo radicalmente anti-fundacionista, anti-realista e anti-correspondencialista, o perspectivismo agonÃstico entende que tanto o devir quanto o prÃprio perspectivismo sÃo como ficÃÃes, interpretaÃÃes, perspectivas, o que, de resto, nÃo acarreta circularidade, mas uma confirmaÃÃo do perspectivismo. / The aim of this text is to explain the relation between truth and power, that is, perspectivism and agonism, in Nietzscheâs thought. Firstly, we rebuild in analytical terms the nietzschean concept of nihilism, which so means anti-foundationalism, anti-realism and anti-correspondentialism in the theoretical field. Thus, nietzschean nihilism is the diagnosis of our time as the moment of crisis of the notions of foundation, truth and world. Nevertheless, Nietzsche is not a bare nihilist, for he proposes an experimental philosophy, within truth is not conceived as discovery but as creation, experiment, perspective, and so as inseparable of power. Afterwards, we elaborate a balance of the discussion on perspectivism and point two central questions: the problem of the reference to becoming and the problem of the self-reference of perspectivism. Facing these problems, we consider the pragmatic interpretation of perspectivism as the one which provides more advantages since it deepens her anti-realism and detranscendentalizes the subjectivity. Furthermore, the pragmatic perspectivism rejects the idea of correspondence in order to propose a perspectival concept of truth which thinks truth as natural, historic and linguistic conditioned plurality of perspectives. Inside this context, a situated within power relations utility, that is, an agonistic utility becomes the criterion of truth. Therefore we present an agonistic perspectivism based in the genealogy of the agÃn of word, that is, the rhetoric as it was practiced by the sophists during the time of the birth of democracy. Accordingly, we believe that it is not only possible rebuild the nietzschean perspectivism in pragmatic terms, but also contribute with the introduction of the question of power in the discussion on pragmatism. Finally, we assay a agonistic perspectival response to the pointed problems: reducing his ontological commitments to the minimum, sustaining a radically anti-foundationalist, anti-realist and anti-correspondentialist position, the agonistic perspectivism understands that becoming and perspectivism itself as fictions, interpretations, perspectives, what entangles no circularity at all but rather a confirmation of perspectivism.