Time and space is not regulated in the Swedish curriculum. In regard to that freedom, the aim of this study is to examine the choices teacher make when teaching social studies in primary school. The study proceed from the following questions: Which are the didactic tools, in special regard to how the tables are organized, how the time is used and other material resources? Which impact will the didactic tools have on the social relations in the classroom? Which effect does the two questions above have on the constitution of social studies as a school subject? The study is based on a qualitative method including both observations and interviews. The theoretical frame is the one of multimodal design. The results show that teachers’ choices are both conscious and unconscious. Their choices also impact on the social relations in the class and the pupils possibilities to participate. The pupils do not have as much freedom in time and space to express themselves as the teachers do. A fact teachers doesn’t seem to reflect. In what way teachers’ choices have an impact on the constitution of social studies is harder to show.

This study examines what kinds of questions teachers and students ask during science lessons in three primary schools in Sweden. The study is based on the following questions: What kinds of questions do the teachers ask? How do the teachers describe the question asking behavior they use in the lessons? How do the teachers follow up students' answers? What kinds of questions do the students ask and how do teachers handle these inclass? This is a qualitative study based on interviews of four primary school teachers and observations of their Science lessons, covering topics as the solar system, electricity and the lives of the magpie and the squirrel. The theoretical frame of the study is social constructivism, which focuses on how knowledge is constructed in the social context of the classroom through language and other semiotic means. The questions asked by teachers and students are classified into two levels (high-order and low-order questions) based on Bloom's taxonomy. The results of the study shows that teachers mostly ask low-order questions during these lessons and that they ask three times as many questions as the students. In lessons where more “abstract” topics were discussed, such as the solar system, the low-order questions were more frequently asked by the teachers. The students asked questions when they were “invited” to do so and they asked more high-order questions during lessons where “abstract” topics were discussed.

Forskning visar att läroböcker spelar en viktig roll i de naturvetenskapliga ämnena. Samtidigt riktas kritik mot lärobokens utformning där samverkan mellan människans organsystem inte visas tydligt i texter och bilder. I denna studie undersöks hur blodomloppets samverkan med andningen samt med matspjälkningen skildras i läroböckernas texter och bilder som används i grundskolans årskurs 4-6. Intervjuer med fem lärare har genomförts för att undersöka hur text och bild från läroböckerna används i undervisningen. Analyserna av läroböckerna visade att skildringen av hur blodomloppet samverkar med matspjälkningen är tydliga i lärobokens texter medan det saknas bilder på denna samverkan. Den samverkan som sker mellan blodomloppet och andningen är tydlig i både bilder och text. Intervjuerna pekade på att användandet av läroböcker är lågt i de naturvetenskapliga ämnena i grundskolans årskurs 4-6. / Research shows that the textbook plays an important role in science education. However, textbooks has been criticized because of the poor descriptions of the interaction between the human circulatory, respiratory and digestive systems. This study shows how the relationship between the circulatory system, respiratory and digestive system is described in primary school science textbooks in both texts and images. Five teachers have been interviewed to examine how they use the texts and the images from the textbooks in the classroom. Analyzes of the textbooks show that the interaction between the circulatory system and the digestive system is clearly described in texts though there is a lack of illustrative images. The interaction between the circulatory system and the respiration is clear in both images and text. The interviews showed that the use of science textbooks is scarce in primary school year 4-6.

Η ακόλουθη μελέτη επιδιώκει να φωτίσει τη δράση δύο σημαντικών φορέων δράσης του ελληνικού εκπαιδευτικού συστήματος, του υπουργείου Παιδείας και της Δ.Ο.Ε., σχετικά με την επιλογή των στελεχών της πρωτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης. Η προσπάθειά μας έγκειται στο να αναδείξουμε όσα συμβαίνουν ή δε συμβαίνουν τη στιγμή που η επίσημη πολιτεία και ο οργανωμένος κλάδος των εκπαιδευτικών της πρωτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης αλληλεπιδρούν, προκειμένου να αντιμετωπίσουν το προαναφερόμενο πρόβλημα. Το ερευνητικό μας υλικό συνίσταται από γραπτά τεκμήρια (νόμοι, προεδρικά διατάγματα, τεύχη του δημοσιογραφικού οργάνου της ΔΟΕ (Διδασκαλικό Βήμα), δελτία τύπου, ανακοινώσεις, αποφάσεις, ψηφίσματα). Για την περιγραφή και την ανάλυση αυτών των κειμένων χρησιμοποιούμε τη μέθοδο της ανάλυσης περιεχομένου. Για το σκοπό αυτό διαμορφώθηκε επαγωγικό σύστημα κατηγοριών, κατηγοριών δηλαδή που πήγασαν από τα δεδομένα των υπό ανάλυση κειμένων. Η θεωρητική προσέγγιση που υιοθετούμε αντλεί το εννοιολογικό της περιεχόμενο από τρεις περιοχές της πολιτικής επιστήμης: τις θεωρίες περί πολιτικής κυριαρχίας, τις απόψεις για τις ομάδες πίεσης, καθώς και τους κορπορατιστικούς ιδεότυπους διαμεσολάβησης συμφερόντων. Οι πρώτες μας παρέχουν μια εικόνα της λειτουργίας του κράτους. Οι δεύτερες αναλύουν τη δράση της Δ.Ο.Ε. ως ομάδας συμφερόντων, ενώ με την τρίτη θεώρηση επιδιώκουμε τη συνάρθρωση των δύο φορέων (Δ.Ο.Ε. – ΥΠ.Ε.Π.Θ.), έναν τρόπο σύνδεσης των οργανωμένων συμφερόντων ενός κοινωνικού χώρου με τις δομές του κράτους. Τα ευρήματά μας δείχνουν ότι η ισχύς του κράτους και των αποφάσεων του πολιτικού συστήματος στα ζητήματα της στελέχωσης της εκπαίδευσης είναι καταλυτική. Το πολιτικό πεδίο δύναμης διαθέτει τη νομιμοποιημένη δυνατότητα παρέμβασης στα περισσότερα από τα στάδια της επιλεκτικής διαδικασίας. Το σημαντικότερο όλων: μπορεί να καθορίζει τη νομική παραγωγή, η οποία με τη σειρά της ρυθμίζει σε μεγάλο βαθμό το συγκεκριμένο ζήτημα. Η Δ.Ο.Ε. θα παραγάγει θέσεις για το στελεχιακό (δυναμικό), οι οποίες σε αρκετές περιπτώσεις δε θα διαμορφωθούν ανταποκριτικά σε αντίστοιχες πρωτοβουλίες του υπουργείου Παιδείας. Η τελευταία διαπίστωση είναι ιδιαίτερα εμφανής μετά το 1980. Κάτι τέτοιο δεν μπορεί να λεχθεί με βεβαιότητα, τουλάχιστον για το χρονικό διάστημα πριν το 1974. Η υπαγωγή των σχέσεων των δύο φορέων σε κορπορατιστικές λογικές διαμεσολάβησης συμφερόντων εντοπίζεται σε αρκετά τμήματα των δεδομένων. Απαιτεί, όμως, περαιτέρω επεξεργασία. Τα ευρήματα την επιβεβαιώνουν μόνο εν μέρει. Η πρόταξη των επιλογών του κράτους δε συνεπάγεται κατ’ ανάγκη τον κορπορατιστικό «χειρισμό» ή την εξασφάλιση της συναίνεσης της Δ.Ο.Ε. (εκτός από τη σαφή περίπτωση της επταετίας). Η τελευταία εκδοχή προσιδιάζει περισσότερο σε λογικές κρατισμού, παρά στις κορπορατιστικές αντίστοιχες. Τέλος, το πεδίο έρευνας γίνεται περισσότερο πολύπλοκο εξαιτίας των επιβιώσεων σε κάθε περίοδο άλλων μορφών άρθρωσης συμφερόντων (συντεχνιασμός, αυταρχικός κορπορατισμός, πελατειακές σχέσεις). Η προσπάθεια διαφύλαξης του ερευνητικού εγχειρήματος απαιτεί την περαιτέρω εξέταση της πλευράς αυτής. Επιπλέον, την πιθανή συλλογή πρόσθετων δεδομένων και τη διαμόρφωση νέων / διαφορετικών αναλύσεων, προκειμένου να σχηματίσουμε μια πιο σαφή εικόνα για τα συνδικάτα των εκπαιδευτικών της χώρας μας, αλλά και για το ίδιο το εκπαιδευτικό σύστημα. / The aim of this study is to shed light on the action of two major actors of the Greek educational system; the Ministry of Education and the Hellenic Primary School Teachers' Federation (H.P.S.T.F.), during the years 1964-2004, regarding the selection of administrative executives. Our effort lies in highlighting what is happening or not happening, when the State and the organized sector of primary school teachers interact and deal with the aforementioned problem. Our research material consists of written documents (laws, decrees, Issues of the journal of the H.P.S.T.F. “Didaskaliko Vima”, press releases, announcements, decisions, resolutions). For the description and analysis of the texts we use the method of content analysis. For this purpose an inductive system of categories was formed, i.e. the categories derive from the actual content of the analyzed texts. The theoretical approach, which we adopt, draws its conceptual content from three areas of political science: the theories of sovereignty, the views on lobbying and the ideal type of corporatist mode of interest intermediation. The first area provides an insight into the function of the State. The second area analyzes the action of H.P.S.T.F as an interest group, while with the third area we seek to interlink the two stakeholders (H.P.S.T.F - Ministry of Education), thus looking for a way to relate the organized interests with the Solid State Structures. Our findings prove that the power of the state and the strength of the political system’s decisions, regarding educational staffing issues, are crucial. The political field of force has the legitimate power to intervene in most stages of the selection process. Most importantly it can determine the lawmaking, which in turn determines this matter to a large extent. The H.P.S.T.F takes a stand on staffing issues, which in many cases are not on the same line with the initiatives of the Ministry of Education. This became especially evident after 1980, whereas this was not the case before 1974. The fact that the relations between the two actors have been incorporated under the corporatist logic of interest intermediation can be traced in most of the findings. Nevertheless further processing is required because the findings only partially confirm this fact. The fact that the State’s decisions precede, does not necessarily imply the corporatist "handling" of the issue or that the consent of the H.P.S.T.F is guaranteed (apart from the clear case of the dictatorship). The last approach is more akin to the logic of Statism, rather than to the corresponding corporatist logics. Finally, the research field becomes more complicated because of the survival in each period of other forms of interest group systems (guild mentality, authoritarian corporatism, clientelism). The effort to preserve the product of the research endeavor requires further examination of this aspect. Moreover, a collection of additional data is potentially required, as well as a new / different analysis, in order to gain a clearer picture of the Teachers’ Unions in our country and of the educational system, itself.

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Tyrimo tikslas - nustatyti jaunesniojo mokyklinio amžiaus vaikų konstrukcinio intelekto ir mokyklinio nerimastingumo sąsajas. Šiuo darbu siekiama nustatyti, ar berniukai ir mergaitės patiria vienodą nerimo lygį mokykla, ar yra savęs vertinimo skirtumų tarp berniukų ir mergaičių, kaip intelekto koeficientas pasiskirsto tarp berniukų ir mergaičių. Taip pat siekiama išsiaiškinti, ar aukšti intelektiniai gebėjimai įtakoja vaikų mokyklinį nerimastingumą, somatinius nerimastingumo požymius, aukštą / žemą savęs vertinimą. Nerimastingumo sąvoka šiame darbe apima mokyklinį kontekstą. Tyrimas buvo atliktas, naudojantis J. C. Raveno Spalvotomis progresuojančiomis matricomis – vaikų konstrukciniam intelektui nustatyti, ir S. Saransono sukurta, S. Feldo ir J. Levio modifikuota „Vaikų mokyklinio nerimastingumo skale“ – mokykliniam nerimastingumui nustatyti. Tyrimas atliktas dvejose Kauno miesto mokyklose. Apklausta 150 mokinių. 9 anketas teko anuliuoti, kadangi mokiniai anketas atliko neatidžiai ir žymėjo bet kokius atsakymus, nepriklausomai nuo to, ar jam atsakymas tinka, ar ne. Duomenų analizei buvo panaudoti 141 tiriamojo duomenys. Aukštesnio už vidutinį konstrukcinio intelekto kategorijai priskirti vaikai, kurių IQ lygus ar didesnis už 112. Tyrimas atskleidė, kad patiriamas nerimas dėl kontrolinių darbų nepriklauso nuo konstrukcinio intelekto lygio, mokinių, kurie patiria rūpestį mokykla, intelektiniai gebėjimai gali būti aukšti, žemi ar vidutiniai. Aukštą ar labai aukštą nerimą dėl... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Objective of research is to define the correlation of structural intelect and school anxiety of junior pupils. This work is aimed to define whether boys and girls undercome the equal level of anxiety that is related to school and the presence of differences in self-esteem between boys and girls, as well as the intelligence quotient proportion between boys and girls. It is aimed to clarify whether high intellectual faculties influence shool anxiety of children, the features of systemic worries, high/low self-esteem. In this paper the definition of anxiety covers school context. The research was made by applying Raven's coloured progressive matrices to define the structural intelect of children and using "School Anxiety Scale for Children" that was developed by Saranson and modified by Feld and Lewis in order to define the school anxiety. The research was performed at two schools of Kaunas. 150 pupils were interrogated. 9 questionnaires had to be cancelled as pupils were not attentive while filling in the questionnaires and marked irrelevant answers, despite the fact of its personal actuality. The data of 141 investigated persons was used for the data analysis. The children that were attributed to the above the average structural intellect category were the ones with IQ equal or over 112. The study has revealed that anxiety related to tests does not depend on the level of structural intellect of the pupils that experience school related anxiety and their intellectual faculties... [to full text]

Pakankamas vaisių ir daržovių vartojimas – tai neabejotinas gerų sveikos mitybos įpročių pagrindas. Vaisiai ir daržovės ypač svarbūs jaunam organizmui, nes jų pakankamas vartojimas vaikystėje susijęs su sumažejusia rizika sirgti širdies bei kraujagyslių ligomis, tam tikromis vėžio formomis ir kitomis lėtinėmis neinfekcinėmis ligomis tiek jaunystėje, tiek vyresniame amžoiuje. Moksliniais tyrimais įrodyta, kad vaikai, vartojantys mažiau vaisių ir daržovių, yra linkę turėti viršsvorį ar net būti nutukę, o vaikystėje susiformavę tinkami šių produktų vartojimo įpročiai dažniausiai išlieka ir suaugus. Darbo tikslas – nustatyti ir įvertinti Lietuvos bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų pradinių klasių mokinių daržovių ir vaisių vartojimo ypatumus. Darbo uždaviniai: 1. įvertinti pradinių klasių mokinių daržovių ir vaisių vartojimą ir jo atitikimą sveikos mitybos rekomendacijoms; 2. nustatyti veiksnius, galinčius daryti įtaką mokinių vaisių ir daržovių vartojimui; 3. įvertinti mokinių nuomonę ir žinias apie daržovių ir vaisių vartojimą bei sveiką mitybą. Atsitiktinės atrankos būdu tyrimui buvo atrinktos 72 Lietuvos Respublikos bendrojo lavinimo mokyklos. Buvo išdalinta 3750 apklausos anktetų, gauta 2402 teisingai užpildytos anketos. Atsako dažnis – 64,1% . Statistinė duomenų analizė atlikta naudojant SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) statistinę programinę įrangą (13.0 for Windows versija) ir Epi Info (Version 5.1) kompiuterinę programą. Išanalizavus atlikto tyrimo duomenis... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Adequate consumption of fruits and vegetables is the undisputed evidence of healthy nutrition skills. These foods are extremely important for the children because of their ability to protect against cancers and cardiovascular diseases and the consumption of these foods during childhood is associated with decreased risk of stroke and cancer. It is scientificly proven that higher fruit and vegetable intake was associated with a lower risk of overweight or even obese and healthy eating habits formed by consumption of fruits and vegetables tend to persist into adulthood. The objective of this research – to evaluate and assess the pecularities of the fruits and vegetables consumption among primary classes of Lithuanian schools. The tasks of the paper – assessment of the fruits and vegetables consumption and concordance with healthy nutrition recommendations among primary school pupils, evaluation the circumstances affecting fruits and vegetables consumption among primary school pupils, assessment of the knowledge and opinion of primary school children about fruits and vegetables consumption healthy eating. In this randomized study 72 general education schools of the Republic of Lithuania were selected. 3750 questionnaires were distributed, 2402 correctly filled questionnaires received. The response rate – 64,1%. The statistical data was processed with the help of SPSS 13.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) and Epi Info (Version 5.1). As the reserch data shows, it is... [to full text]

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of an intervention that focuses on phonics, decoding, reading speed and phonological awareness for 8-9 year old children in reading difficulties. Participants were selected on the basis of screening test results in grade one (decoding and reading comprehension). The participants were divided into two groups, an intervention group (A1, n=10 children) and a control group (A2, n=10). A1 received 30 minutes of intense reading instruction every day for six weeks from special educational needs teachers on top of their usual classroom based reading instruction. The control group received only their usual classroom-based reading instruction. Both groups completed a pre-intervention test and a post-intervention test to determine the effect of the intervention. Both groups were tested for decoding, phonological awareness, letter/sound connection, RAN and reading speed. The results show that both groups increased their reading ability with A1 showing the bigger gain. The intervention had significant effect after six weeks training on decoding words and non-words, and a tendency to significance for reading speed. The findings highlight the importance of early structural phonological training to accomplish and strengthen children’s reading speed and decoding ability, especially for children in reading difficulties.

Since the 1990’s the Swedish school system has undergone major and recurring structural reforms. Two of the most comprehensive changes has been the shift of primary schools as an integral part of the welfare state to the responsibility of the municipalities as well as the introduction of free school choice for the students. Through two months of participant observations and semi-structured interviews this thesis seeks to answer the question of how these reforms has come to effect the work of teachers in a medium sized public school in a small municipality in the outskirts of Stockholm. Earlier research has shown that public schools in socio-economically vulnerable areas are disadvantaged due to the reformation of the school system (Beach & Sernhede, 2011; Östh, Andersson, & Malmberg, 2013).  This thesis is thus seeking to find the vantage point of primary school teachers in one such school, in order to grasp how these policy changes has come to impact their perceptions of a professional self and the amount of professional autonomy in their work.     Through the theoretical concept of audit culture (Shore & Wright, 1999) I show that these reforms have changed not only the structure of the school system but also how actors within the school setting relate to their work and professional role. On the basis of my fieldwork and previous research in the topic (Apple, 2005; Shore, 2008; Karlefjärd, 2011), I argue that the reformation of the school system has brought a shift in the relations of trust within the system, where the growing amount of confidence in measurement, optimization techniques and control has resulted in a lack of trust in teachers as professionals. The voices of teachers, as actors in the educational environment, has to a great extent been missing in the public debate surrounding the Swedish schools as well as overlooked by research in the field. This thesis therefore calls for a growing anthropological attention to primary school teachers and the workings of audit culture in the lower levels of the educational system.

The aim of the study at hand is to generate knowledge about what pupils aged nine to ten years old need to discern in order to develop the ability to write stories with a well-developed, exciting and coherent plot, and how teaching can make it possible for the pupils to develop this ability. The theoretical framework has been Variation Theory. It is a theory of learning that focuses on how discernment of aspects affects the way we perceive our world and how variation can be used to promote learning. A basic assumption is that we learn by seeing differences, not by seeing sameness. Learning Study was used to answer the research questions. It is an interventionist approach, where the focus is on an object of learning, in this case the ability to write stories with a well-developed, exciting and coherent plot. In the research process the aim was to find out which aspects were critical for the pupils to discern in order to develop the ability, and how these could be made visible in the teaching. Together with a group of teachers, lessons were planned, implemented, evaluated and refined in an iterative process. Interview data, pupils’ texts written before and after the lessons and video recordings from the lessons were the basis of the analysis. It was found that in order for these learners to handle the object of learning, they needed to discern eight critical aspects that can be related to two different areas: (a) discerning the perspective of a reader and (b) seeing that a plot consists of several problems and solutions. The aspects were made discernible by using contrast as a pedagogical tool. The result of the study contributes to previous research by identifying and specifying what the pupils need to discern, what it means in a classroom setting and how it can be taught in a powerful way.