The purpose of this study is to find out how preschool teachers look at inclusion and the methodology of it. We also examined the findings, to establish if we are able to distinguish the essence from phenomenon. To do this we are using an interpretive phenomenology, to find the essence of inclusion phenomenon and inclusive ways to work. We interviewed six preschool teachers, at two different establishments. The questions raised, were intended to find out the views of participants, with regards the learning concept of inclusion methodology in preschool. We chose to use a qualitative interview technique, which meant that the questions used were particularly standardised. They were asked in a set order and of a basic structure. The survey was of open questions, which gave us the participants view of inclusion methodology. We also use the hermeneutics theory, within the circle of hermeneutics. This is because we wanted to use our experience within to confirm the findings of the study. Our conclusions from the study revealed that knowledge, experience and reflection are important attributes to possess to be able to work inclusively. It also emerged that inclusive practices are not always beneficial. It revealed on some occasions that the practice of exclusion is necessary.

The purpose of this empirical study is to explore the manner in which seven preschool teachers perceive their work environment when dealing with stress. Interviews, combined with a questionnaire are the methods used in this study. During the interviews, they express their feelings and strategies for stress. Coping and the demand-control-support model are theoretical concepts that are used in this study. The results of the study reveal that preschool teachers feel that large groups of children, high noise levels, heavy workloads and high demands make them feel stressed. Their strategies to reduce stress were to divide the children into smaller groups, organize and prioritize their duties and help each other. The results show that a high job satisfaction among preschool teachers is beneficial in reducing stress. The conclusion demonstrates that preschool teachers need more time for planning and reflection, and fewer children in the preschool groups.

In this empirical study I have investigated how preschool teachers relate to the free play at the preschool. At the same time I have investigated how the free play is adapted into everyday practice in the preschool. Previous research shows that children process what they experienced in the free play. The child retrieves content to play with through things they have experienced, such as family life, preschool and so on. To play, grow and continue, it is important that free play may take place and space in the daily activities at the preschool. To do so the preschool teachers must organize time so that the free play can have the space that it requires at the preschool. The method I have chosen for this study is two interviews with two preschool teachers and four observations at a preschool. In the interviews I found out that the preschool teachers believes that participation and the presence of an adult in the free play is of great importance. If you as a preschool teacher are involved in the free play at the preschool, you have to make sure that the free play continues to develop and survives. However, both interview preschool teachers believe that free play is often suffers, as a result of the daily routines at the preschool. In the four observations I have carried out, I have compared the interview responses with what happened in the observations at the preschool.

The study examines the relationship between preschool teacher qualifications, preschool teacher accountability, and it impact on kindergarten readiness in Atlanta, Georgia. The independent variables are preschool teacher work setting, teacher qualifications, teacher professional development, and teacher accountability. The dependent variable is the degree to which the indicator of kindergarten readiness as measured by the Rrisance Screening Instrument. A quantitative survey was distributed to one hundred teachers of four-year-old students in Atlanta, Georgia. Sixty-two teachers of four-year-old students responded via U.S. mail. The results of the study indicate there is a statistically significant relationship between teacher's professional developn~enta nd teacher's accountability to the site administrators. There is also a significant relationship between teachers' professional development and teachers' accountability to central office!state department. Also, there is a significant relationship between teachers' professional development and teachers' accountability to parents. Based upon the results of this study, it is recommended that preschool teachers be afforded the opportunities for professional development. Administrators should expect documents and inspect teaching practices to ensure students are ready for kindergarten.

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This is a study where five preschool teachers with different work experience are interviewed around the concept of leadership in preschool. The purpose of the study has been to visualize variations in the perceptions of leadership and the leadership role based on a phenomenographic approach. In order to gather data for the study, qualitative interviews have been used. The result of the study shows that there is a variation in the perceptions of leadership and that the same individual can have several different perceptions about the concept, depending on past experience and or external factors. These factors may be colleagues' professional experience and or guidance documents. The compilation of the material shows the importance of common rules and approaches in the work team, which in turn leads to the erosion of the limit of leadership. The conclusion of this study is that a major role of responsibility is not perceived automatically and interpreted as a clearer leadership role.

Movement can be described as something that happens in kindergarten almost every day. Movements were either planned in gatherings or in spontaneous moments in the preschool. The curriculum for the preschool (National Agency for Education, 2010) says that as a preschool teacher, you should be responsible for encourage the child's motor development, the child will then be able to maintain the support it needs during this process. The purpose of this study was to find out how the movements looked at various preschools of 1-3 years old children, the focus ended up on the indoor movements. In this study interviews were used with preschool teachers, who were asked to answer various questions about the youngest child's mobility needs. The results of the study showed that movements in various forms was important for preschool teachers, because they were aware of the interaction between the children and that the surfaces in the preschool gave opportunities to the youngest children to meet the challenge in movements that they needed. The obstacles were on the preschool teachers themselves who had to stop the all too lively movements indoors.

Syftet med denna studie är att ta reda på hur förskollärare aktivt arbetar med miljö- och naturvårdsfrågor i förskolans verksamhet, samt om arbetet kan påverkas på grund av förskolans geografiska placering. I studien har fyra intervjuer gjorts på fyra olika förskolor, varav alla respondenter varit examinerade förskollärare. Det som framkommit under studiens gång är att alla mer eller mindre arbetar med miljö- och naturvårdsfrågor, och att de alla anser att det är ett viktigt arbete då vi endast har en miljö och bör ta hand om denna. Alla deltagare anser att det är genom utevistelse som barnen lär som allra bäst, då de i samspel med naturen och djuren som lever där, bildar en respekt för den och på så vis kan börja förstå den. / The purpose of this study is to find out how preschool teachers actively working with environmental and conservation issues in preschool, and if the work could be affected because of the preschool geographic location. In the study, four interviews were made ​​in four preschools, of which all respondents were a preschool teacher. What emerged during the study was that they all worked with environmental and conservation issues, and they all think it is an important work because we only have one environment and we all should take care of it. All the participants believe that it is through outdoors children learn about the environment, it is when they are in harmony with nature and the animals that live there, they can begin to form a respect for the environment, and then begin to understand it.

This thesis takes as one point of departure the concept of the expanded curriculum where curricula encompass both the formal steering documents, as well as that which goes on within the framework of preschool education and through the actors in preschools. The overarching purpose is therefore to generate knowledge about what conditions for learning the work of teachers make possible when curricula are created in preschool settings for children aged between 1 and 3. The purpose is also to contribute with knowledge about what these created curricula would mean for children’s agency, and the importance they can have for children’s opportunities for learning and development. The three empirical studies consist of digitally recorded interviews with teachers and video observations with a focus on teachers’ communication with children in preschool. The discussion in the overarching text is constructed around three aspects that emerge in the overall results of the studies. First, the studies reveal how teachers’ work can be likened to a limiting curriculum which, on the one hand, is entirely child-centered, with the children as seen actors, but, on the other, can be interpreted as entirely teacher-centered. Secondly, there is the discussion about the affirmative curriculum, where children are presented as affirmed actors. In other words, content becomes those things that children are interested in, and their modes of expression are seen, affirmed and often repeated. Finally there is the discussion about the possibilities and dilemmas related to an expanding curriculum where children are regarded and treated as real actors in the sense that their intentions and expressions are taken seriously as relevant challenges. The current curriculum text for Swedish preschool can, in this sense, be seen as an obstacle in that its formulations are extremely broad-based, as discussed related to the results of this thesis.

The aim of this study was to capture preschool-teachers thoughts and experience basing on the obligation. Are there any policies and procedures for preschool-teachers to use when suspicion that a child is being abused occur. Are there some factors that may affect preschool-teachers to report to the social service? How does the preschool-teacher find the contact with the Social Service? I conducted four interviews with four preschool-teachers, two of these preschool teachers are employed at the same municipal preschool and the other two are employed at two other preschools. The interviews were semi-structured and were conducted at each individual’s workplace. To analyze my result, I used symbolic interactionism as a theory. The result shows that pree-schoolteachers find it difficult to use the mandatory notification law and lack of routines and not functional collaboration between the preschool and the social service are also some reasons why preschool teachers finds it difficult to report.