Despite the growing consensus on the importance of an extended responsibility for business, both the conceptual and practical understanding of “corporate responsibility” has remained limited. Corporate responsibility is still often understood as an add-on to business-as-usual or as a strategy to enhance business performance. In fact, in recent years, the concept of corporate responsibility has become associated with corporate deceit instead of corporate contributions to society, and tends to engender cynicism rather than a sense of hope. In this study I sought to explore a more hopeful and more “radical” conceptualisation of corporate responsibility. By looking at an international sample of “exemplary” values-driven businesses, this study provides insight into corporate responsibility not primarily as a means towards commercial ends but as an expression of a desire to “do good” and create social and/or environmental value. This study paints a picture of the rich, responsible reality of values-driven businesses. It describes their generous, human-centred approach to employees and the internal environment. It explores their deep sense of interdependence with the wider community in which they find themselves, and their extensive engagement with a wide variety of external parties, many of which are not “naturally” connected to business. It creates an understanding of the iterative, emerging and evolutionary nature of the CSR implementation process and the inherent impermanence of CSR “solutions”. While this study gives a comprehensive insight into various, generous and progressive practices, it shows that the essence of a “responsible existence” is not the implementation of certain practices alone, but relates to the willingness and ability to continuously question the established ways and practices of business in light of the higher business aspirations, which, for many, leads to a fundamentally different way of organising, managing and governing the business. At the same time, this study does not provide a glorified account of some kind of “utopian” responsible existence. Instead, it shows the “messy” reality of trying to implement social and environmental values, while faced with multiple demands and when embedded within a social and business context that does not necessarily hold the same values. The thesis describes the various conflicts and compromises related to the implementation of multiple, conflicting commitments and demands, and the different ways in which the sample businesses approach such situations. While the sample businesses are quite capable of gracefully navigating these conflicts in creative and pragmatic ways, the research also indicates that significant compromises are seemingly inevitable, and can, almost imperceptibly, move a company away from its envisaged values and commitments. Finally, this study argues that the currently dominant approach to corporate responsibility in organisational studies, which reflects a rationalised and economic perspective on CSR and business, will be insufficient to describe the rich reality found within these businesses, as it will edit out some of its most essential elements. I conclude this dissertation by proposing an alternative, human existential lens through which corporate responsibility in values-driven businesses can be understood. Through a review of the research findings in relation to three existential themes, I show that a human existential perspective is better suited to explore both the beauty and the struggle of values-driven businesses.

Η παρούσα έρευνα έχει στόχο τη διερεύνηση των απόψεων των παιδιών προσχολικής ηλικίας στην Ελλάδα για τη στοματική υγεία και των πρακτικών που εφαρμόζουν ως προς αυτή. Έλαβαν μέρος 72 παιδιά από Δημόσια Νηπιαγωγεία της Πάτρας και 60 γονείς που κλήθηκαν να απαντήσουν συμπληρωματικά για τις πρακτικές που εφαρμόζονται από τα παιδιά τους. Το εργαλείο που χρησιμοποιήθηκε για τη συλλογή των δεδομένων ήταν αυτό των ατομικών συνεντεύξεων για τα παιδιά και αυτό των ερωτηματολογίων για τους γονείς. Τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας έδειξαν ότι τα παιδιά διέθεταν γνώσεις για τη στοματική υγεία, την οποία αντιμετώπιζαν ισότιμα με τη γενική υγεία, τους τρόπους προάσπισής της και την τερηδόνα, και η άποψη τους για τον οδοντίατρο ήταν θετική. Εντούτοις, σε αρκετές περιπτώσεις οι απόψεις τους φάνηκαν να διαφέρουν σημαντικά από την επιστημονική άποψη. Η συμπεριφορά τους ως προς τη στοματική υγεία κρίθηκε μέτρια. Τα παιδιά βούρτσιζαν τα δόντια υπό την επίβλεψη των γονέων και επισκέπτονταν τον οδοντίατρο για προληπτικούς λόγους, όμως η συχνότητα με την οποία πραγματοποιούνταν αυτά ήταν χαμηλότερη από την ενδεδειγμένη. Ακόμη, κατανάλωναν αρκετά συχνά ζαχαρούχα προϊόντα. Συνολικά, τα παιδιά προσχολικής ηλικίας έδειξαν να διαθέτουν δυνατότητες κατανόησης, γεγονός που σημαίνει ότι με τις κατάλληλες εκπαιδευτικές παρεμβάσεις είναι δυνατό να σημειωθεί βελτίωση στο κομμάτι των γνώσεων και κατ’ επέκταση στο κομμάτι της συμπεριφοράς που υιοθετούν για τη στοματική υγεία. / The present study aims to investigate young children’s perspectives and practices towards oral health, in Greece. The participants of the study were 72 children from public kindergartens of Patras and 60 parents that were asked to respond complementary accordingly their children’s practices. The data was collected through individual interviews for the children and questionnaires for their parents. The results showed that children possessed knowledge about oral health issues, practices sustaining oral health, and decay. In addition, oral health was treated equally with general health and children’s opinion about dentists was positive. However, in several cases, their views were found to differ significantly from the scientific perspective. Their behavior regarding oral health was considered moderate. The children brushed their teeth under the supervision of their parents and visited the dentist for preventive reasons, but the frequency of these was lower than necessary. Yet, children consumed sugary products quite often. Overall, the preschoolers were shown to have capabilities of understanding, meaning that with the appropriate educational interventions the knowledge about oral health may be improved and thus, the behavior they adopt may be improved as well.

In this essay we study the practice of teaching and learning through aesthetic learning processes in a Waldorf School. Through an ethnographic field study three Waldorf teachers have been interviewed about their views regarding in what ways aesthetic learning processes are present in their teaching and how learning through these processes is being carried out practically. For the study a specific class has been observed during three days in a Waldorf School in Stockholm to examine how the aesthetic learning processes are being performed in practice. Through the study we have reached the conclusion that in this particular Waldorf School teaching is being performed artistically and through aesthetic approaches and perspectives. This way of teaching is being carried out not only in the aesthetic subjects but also in the theoretic. The results of the study show that aesthetic learning processes are present in almost all of the subjects in this Waldorf School.

Syftet med min undersökning är att studera sydafrikanska pedagogers perspektiv på barn i behov av särskilt stöd i förskolan och förskoleklassen. I syftet ingår också att undersöka pedagogers syn på vilka resurser som finns för dessa barn. Jag har använt mig av metoden kvalitativa intervjuer för att få öppna och detaljerade beskrivningar från pedagogerna. Pedagogerna menade att barn i behov av särskilt stöd är barn som avviker från kamraterna i kunskaps- och mognadsnivå samt barn med funktionsnedsättningar, sjukdomar eller sociala problem. De sydafrikanska pedagogerna hade två perspektiv på barn i behov av särskilt stöd. Det första är det kategoriska perspektivet och innebär att dela upp barn i kategorier, t.ex. barn med inlärningssvårigheter. Det andra perspektivet är det relationella perspektivet som innebär att miljön och verksamheten runtomkring avgör om ett barn är i behov av särskilt stöd eller inte. Pedagogerna menar att de inte har speciella hjälpmedel för barn i behov av särskilt stöd. För att motivera barnen använder pedagogerna kreativa metoder, till exempel låter de dem skriva i sand, på griffeltavlan och vara delaktiga. De gör vad de kan med de begränsade resurserna. / The purpose of the study is to explore the views from South African educators on children in need of special support in preschool. The purpose also includes to study the educator’s view on what resources there are for these children. I have used the method qualitative interviews to capture open and detailed descriptions from the educators. The South African educators mean that children in need of special support are children who differ from their peers in knowledge and maturity level, and children with disabilities, sicknesses or social problems. The South African educators had two perspectives on children in need of special support. The first is the categorical perspective, which means that they divide learners in categories, for example learners having learning disabilities. The second one is relational perspective which means that the surrounding environment determines if a child is in need of special support or not. The educators mean they don’t have enough resources for children in need of special support. To motivate the children the educators use creative methods, for example write in sand, on the chalkboard and let them be active. They do what they can with limited resources.

Beveik nuo pat autorių teisių apsaugos pradžios greta autorių teisių buvo įtvirtinti ir autorių teisių apribojimai. Autorių teisių apribojimai yra viena iš keleto autorių teisių ir visuomenės teisės į informaciją, saviraiškos laisvės, teisės į privatumą, mokslą bei kitų prigimtinių žmogaus teisių suderinimo priemonių, kuri įstatymų specialiai numatytais atvejais riboja autorių turtines teises, suteikdama kūrinių naudotojams teisę atlygintinai ar neatlygintinai naudotis kūriniais be autoriaus ar kito autorių teisių subjekto sutikimo. Atsižvelgiant į autorių teisių apribojimų paskirtį suderinti autorių teises su kitomis prigimtinėmis žmogaus teisėmis, autorių teisių apribojimų sampratą lemia atitinkama autorių teisių ir kitų prigimtinių žmogaus teisių pusiausvyra. Veikiama daugybės skirtingų veiksnių, autorių teisių ir kitų prigimtinių žmogaus teisių pusiausvyra nuolat kinta, o reaguodama į šiuos pokyčius, nuolat kinta ir autorių teisių apribojimų samprata. Pastaruoju metu vis dažniau manoma, kad dėl įvairių veiksnių, ypač dėl technologinių, šiuolaikinė autorių teisių ir kitų prigimtinių žmogaus teisių pusiausvyra yra gerokai pakreipta autorių pusėn, dėl ko autorių teisių apribojimų išlikimui kyla didelė grėsmė. Atsižvelgiant į šias problemas ir siekiant, kad ateityje autorių teisių apribojimai išliktų ir galėtų tinkamai įgyvendinti savo paskirtį, teisės literatūroje pateikiama daugybė pasiūlymų kaip autorių teisių apribojimai ateityje galėtų ir turėtų būti reformuojami... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Almost from the very beginning of the copyright protection copyright limitations by copyright has been established. Copyright limitations are one of a number of copyright and the society’s right to information, freedom of expression, right to privacy, education and other human rights inherent and harmonization measures that restrict the author’s economic rights with the specifically provided cases by the laws giving users the right repayable or gratuitous to use works without the permission of the author or other copyright subject. In view of purpose of copyright limitations to combine copyright with other inherent human rights copyright limitations are determined by the appropriate copyright and other inherent human rights balance. Copyright and other inherent human rights balance is constantly changed by influencing of many different factors and conception of copyright limitations constantly changes too. Recently, it has increasingly thought, that due to a variety of factors, especially technological, modern copyright and other inherent human rights are significantly tilted the balance toward the author, on what copyright limitations are creating a serious threat for survival. In view of these problems and on purpose to remain the future of copyright limitations and could properly fulfil its purpose, legal literature contains numerous suggestions on how copyright limitations in the future could and should be reformed. These above mentioned copyright limitations on the... [to full text]

Teachers' use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the classroom has largely been studied to date with a focus on what is lacking. An important aspect that seems to have been understudied is how teachers' own histories and experiences of ICT connects to their teaching practices - in essence, focussing on what is 'present' and not what is 'missing'. This study examines five teachers working in the same school, but working very differently with ICT in their classrooms. The narratives of their lived experiences highlight the acquisition of their beliefs, attitudes and their in situ behaviours about the role of ICT in the classroom. A critical look at the factors responsible for shaping such behaviours suggests the value of understanding individuals' experiences when planning for technology-utilization, rather than prescribing a "teacher-proof" (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988) approach to technology uptake.

Teachers' use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the classroom has largely been studied to date with a focus on what is lacking. An important aspect that seems to have been understudied is how teachers' own histories and experiences of ICT connects to their teaching practices - in essence, focussing on what is 'present' and not what is 'missing'. This study examines five teachers working in the same school, but working very differently with ICT in their classrooms. The narratives of their lived experiences highlight the acquisition of their beliefs, attitudes and their in situ behaviours about the role of ICT in the classroom. A critical look at the factors responsible for shaping such behaviours suggests the value of understanding individuals' experiences when planning for technology-utilization, rather than prescribing a "teacher-proof" (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988) approach to technology uptake.

The aim with this study is to study how young children’s influence expresses itself in some educators’ stories about their work with children. The study also looks at the relations between pedagogues’ approaches to children and aims at identifying the educator’s perspectives of children. To get to know more about this I have interviewed five pedagogues who work with children in the ages of 3-6 years in different fields at a preschool area in India.The result shows that childrens’ influence and participation for the educators involves children selecting activities. A consequence of this is that the teacher is the one who decides when and what kind of influence the child can practice. Furthermore the teachers express different views on the child which sometimes are contradictory but still coexist. A conclusion of the study is that the images of children that the pedagogues are expressing have to be looked upon in relation to the context of the activity. The context of the activity becomes therefore also central for how the children’s influence expresses itself. / Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka hur barns inflytande kommer till uttryck i några pedagogers berättelser om sitt arbete med barn. Studien syftar även till att undersöka pedagogernas förhållningssätt i relation till olika bilder av barn. För att närma mig studiens intentioner har jag intervjuat fem pedagoger som arbetar med barn i åldrarna 3-6 år och inom olika professioner på ett skolområde i Indien. Resultatet visar att barns inflytande enligt pedagogerna involverar barns möjligheter att välja aktiviteter. Resultatet visar även att lärarna är de som avgör när och vilket slags inflytande barnen har möjlighet att utöva. Vidare visar resultatet att lärarna ger uttryck för varierade bilder av barn som ibland kan verka motstridiga men samtidigt samexisterar. Studiens slutsatser visar att de bilder av barn som pedagogerna bär med sig måste ses i relation till den kontext verksamheten utformas i. Verksamhetens kontext blir på så sätt även avgörande för hur barnens inflytande kommer till uttryck.

In this study I aim to contribute to the field of feminist corpomaterial intersectional pedagogies, which I understand as a part of the broader field of feminist postconstructionist pedagogies. Against the background of feminist postconstructionism I wish to overcome binary understandings of for example discourse/materiality, theory/practice, male/female and mind/body in pedagogies. To follow this through I have analysed how affects and emotions are present in a classroom by studying the possibility of taking a starting point in the body while rethinking the anti-oppressive and norm critical pedagogical idea of the self-reflective teacher. In order to challenge the idea of the teacher as a neutral, universal and rational knowledge producer, I have in this study analysed how one can affectively and emotionally situate teacher-bodies and participant-bodies in a classroom.   The analysis was carried out on the basis of empirical material collected at a workshop on corporeality and norm critical pedagogy organised in a teacher-training program at a Swedish university. The workshop was conducted as intra-active-research and the material consists of my field diary, eight written interviews, one oral interview and my experiences from leading the workshop. I argue in this study that teacher-bodies affectively and emotionally could be situated as both following a corporeal schema, an expected plan for how a teacher-body should act and move, and also as stepping away from and disrupting this schema. Further on I argue that teacher-bodies could be situated as memory banks and as working from memory. I stress how important it is in pedagogic situations to be aware of the ways in which bodies in a room affect and are affected by each other, in other words; how bodies “do not end at the skin”. This affective and emotional situatedness shows how it is possible to overcome the idea of teachers and students as bodily neutral. I also argue that it might be important to integrate workshops on corporealities in teacher training. This could be one possible way to start to think on one’s affectively and emotionally situatedness as teacher, something I claim as required if one aspires for a feminist intersectional corpomaterial pedagogy.

This thesis analyses the difficulties encountered in the promotion of usability, especially in relation to occupation health issues, when developing IT systems in a public authority. It examines what happens when User-Centred Systems Design (UCSD) approaches are introduced to organisations with in-house systems development for their employees. It studies how stakeholder values affect the outcomes in terms of usability, occupational health, and institutional acceptance. Moreover, new methods are examined and evaluated as potential tools for assisting the adoption of UCSD. These methods are for example Field studies for system developers, Usability coaching for stakeholders and Management views of usability. A stated aim is to influence systems development in practice. Hence an action research paradigm has been employed, carrying out research and change in real life settings, gathering and analysing data using qualitative techniques. This thesis is based on a constructivist perspective, where theories in the areas of learning and organisational change have been used in order to better understand the research questions. The research demonstrates that most people are enthusiastic to, and interested in, UCSD with a focus on the computerised work environment. Many of the stakeholder groups, such as managers, users, project managers and system developers, changed their construct of identity as well as practice when UCSD was introduced. However, this research shows that there are several values that affect systems development and hinder usability work. These include for example value of rationality and objectivity, and differing values and perspectives underpinning descriptions and discourse on work and systems development. Values such as automation, efficiency, and customer satisfaction shape the development of new technology, and ultimately the tasks, work practices integrated in IT systems. Moreover, the results demonstrate that even though many consider usability as important, few take active responsibility for it, as the title of this thesis suggests.