This dissertation presents an action research project carried out in a primary school to address the issue of ‘pupil voice’. Consulting with stakeholders has risen in prominence in the political context of schools. A number of government directives to encourage schools to engage have been put forward, including the expectation of the establishment of a School Council. The formation of the School Council is the first cycle of action presented in this dissertation, which then continues to develop through three further action cycles: listening to the voices of teachers, ‘children as philosophers’ and action research partnerships in the classrooms. Preliminary work prior to the introduction of School Council sets the context. The conceptual framework has been developed through consideration of the work of Shier (2001), Fielding (2001) and Hart(1994) which has contributed to the establishment of a taxonomy of ‘pupil voice’ development. The methodological approach emerged from the works of Elliott (1991), Zuber Skerritt and Perry (2002) and Whitehead and McNiff (2006) through the development of ‘circles of influence’ which rose and diminished in importance throughout the action cycles. Three circles of influence are identified as ‘self’ including reflexivity, ‘methods’ including ways of engaging and analysing the data, and ‘literature’ pertinent to the area of action as well as the methodology itself. The contribution the subsequent thesis offers to practice is threefold. Firstly, there is the ‘methodological messiness’ (Dadds & Hart 2005) which occurs when conducting action research which necessitates listening to the voices of the participants in order to determine the next cycle. Secondly, there is the development of the ‘pupil voice’ taxonomy which embeds the pupils within the process and is groundbreaking in ‘pupil voice’ research in primary schools. Finally, there are the action cycles themselves which offer the lived experience of engaging in ‘pupil voice’ action research partnerships.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how some students in the early school years experience their literary learning environment, as well as their own thoughts and experiences of how the learning environment can be designed to support them in developing their literacy skills. The theoretical framework is a sociocultural perspective on learning. The survey was conducted as a group interview with students in third grade. The questions focused on how students experience a positive learning environment, and a learning environment that adversely affects their reading and writing skills. The study also examines the students’ views on how the learning environment can be developed. The results show that students at the beginning of the study did not attach any importance to the learning environment in terms of developing their literacy skills. But in the continued discussion they became aware of a number of factors that they believe characterizes a positive literary learning environment. The individual teacher’s attitude and interaction with the students is considered the single most important factor to achieve a literary learning environment that stimulates their reading and writing skills. The students also believe that there is a potential for the development of the literary learning environment, particularly the physical aspects and they give a number of concrete suggestions for improvements, such as expanded access to books and furniture that is more suited for literary activities. In the research review some factors for success are discernible as individual teachers’ attitudes and skills, a structured environment and an environment that provides physical access to reading material. / Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur några elever i de tidiga skolåren upplever sin litterära lärmiljö, samt deras egna tankar och erfarenheter kring hur lärmiljö kan utformas för att stötta dem i deras läs- och skrivutveckling. Studien analyseras utifrån ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på lärande. Undersökningen har genomförts i form av en gruppintervju med elever i årskurs tre. Frågeställningarna har fokuserat hur eleverna upplever en positiv lärmiljö, respektive en lärmiljö som inverkar negativt på deras läs- och skrivutveckling. Likaså utforskar studien vilka möjligheter eleverna ser för utveckling av lärmiljön. I resultatet framgår att eleverna inledningsvis inte tillmäter lärmiljön någon betydelse för deras läs- och skrivutveckling. I diskussionen blir de emellertid medvetna om en rad faktorer som de tycker utmärker en positiv litterär lärmiljö. Den enskilde lärarens bemötande och interaktion med eleverna betraktas som den i särklass viktigaste faktorn för att åstadkomma en litterär lärmiljö som stimulerar deras läs- och skrivutveckling. Eleverna anser även att det finns utvecklingspotential för den litterära lärmiljön, framförallt de fysiska aspekterna och ger en rad konkreta förbättringsförslag, såsom till exempel en större tillgång till böcker samt möbler som är mer anpassade för litterära aktiviteter. I forskningsöversikten har vissa framgångsfaktorer kunnat skönjas, som till exempel enskilda lärares förhållningssätt och kompetens, en strukturerad miljö, en miljö som erbjuder fysisk tillgång till läsmaterial.

Syftet med vår studie är att, utifrån elevers och pedagogers perspektiv, jämföra synen på fritidshemmets två fundament; fri lek och pedagogstyrda aktiviteter. Bakgrunden till vår studie är ur vilken historia fritidshemspedagogiken vuxit fram med fokus på det fria barnet, men också dagens ökade fokus på undervisning med det nya läroplanstillägget. Vi använder oss av kvalitativa och kvantitativa metoder i form av intervjuer och enkäter. Studiens insamlade data har sedan analyserats ur ett sociokulturellt perspektiv, mer specifikt med hjälp av Lev S Vygotskijs lekteorier. Resultatet visar att elever och pedagoger är överens om att aktiviteter är mest populära och att det är utifrån dessa fritidsverksamheten definieras. Resultatet visar också att den fria leken är viktig, men att den dels är svår att definiera samt att den fungerar mer som ett komplement till de pedagogstyrda aktiviteterna. Den slutsats som presenteras i studien är att det som vi på förhand såg som varandras motsatser istället har en beroendeställning till varandra. Pedagogstyrda aktiviteter definierar fritidshemmets verksamhet och ger elever som pedagoger en tydlighet, struktur och trygghet. I den fria leken ges fantasi, kreativitet och lustfylldhet utrymme och symboliserar på så sätt fritidshemmets själ. Det handlar med andra ord inte om att bygga verksamheten på det ena eller det andra, utan att de kompletterar varandra på så sätt att eleverna har en valmöjlighet. / The purpose with our study is to compare from pupils and pedagogues point of view, the two foundations of leisure time; free play and pedagogue lead activities. The background to our study is found in the history of leisure time and its focus on the free child, but also with the increasing demands of a more didactic context in the Swedish curriculum. We use both qualitative and quantitative methods in forms of interviews and surveys. The collected data in our study is analysed from a sociocultural perspective, more specific with Lev S Vygotskijs play theory. Our result shows that pupils and pedagogues agree that activities are more popular than free play, and it is with the help of activities leisure time is defined. The result also shows that free play is important, but difficult to define and more used as a complement to activities. The conclusion that is presented in the study is that what we thought would be contrary to each other instead is dependent of each other. Activities define leisure time and provide a sense of clarity, structure and security. The free play includes values such as fantasy, creativity and amusement and symbolizes the soul of leisure time. In other words, leisure time cannot be built on either activities or free play but on collaboration between both. That collaboration gives pupils a possibility to choose.

The problem of this study was to determine the extent to which certain characteristics of teachers of first-year algebra were related to a) their pupils' attitudes toward algebra and b) their pupils' achievements in algebra. An additional aspect of the study was to ascertain and study the differences between Anglo- and Latin-American pupils' attitudes and achievements in algebra.

This thesis comprises two papers. Paper One: Previous research in relation to young people who are at risk of school exclusion can be criticised for the lack of studies that truly elicit and foreground the voices of these young people within a school context. While retrospective studies have explored their views post exclusion, few have examined their perceptions within a mainstream context prior to exclusion. This can be explained in terms of the inherent difficulties of engaging disaffected young people with research, often attributed to a combination of poor language skills and negative perceptions of adults, and schools’ reluctance to foreground these voices. This paper reports how a participatory research method, which took into account the individual needs of disaffected young people, overcame these difficulties and succeeded in eliciting the voices of ten young people at risk of school exclusion within their mainstream context. Rich, meaningful and contextualised data were generated about disaffected young people’s perceptions of their mainstream school experiences. The data were thematically analysed and then interpreted using self determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000). This revealed that from young people’s perspectives the need for a sense of relatedness was more relevant than the need for a sense of autonomy. The need to feel competent only became relevant in certain subject contexts. Findings showed a more holistic and nuanced perspective of disaffection. The young people perceived their engagement to be context driven and, importantly, were able to view themselves as positively engaged with some aspects of school. This highlights the need for further research into disaffected young people’s voices regarding what they perceive to be positive engagement as this may differ from practitioners’ perceptions. Implications for practice are that Educational Psychologists (EPs) are well placed to foreground the voice of disaffected young people with practitioners. In so doing they help them make better sense of disaffected young people’s school experiences and enhance practitioners’ ability to support these young people. Paper Two: Interventions in relation to young people at risk of exclusion tend to be drawn from education practitioner views which focus on a particular perspective of disaffection such as within child or curricular factors. Consequently interventions are ‘done to’ rather than ‘with’ young people and lack an integrated, holistic approach. In this small case study the researcher facilitated an intervention with seven Learning Mentors (LMs) set within two different school contexts. The aim of the intervention was to engage LMs with the voice of disaffected young people. The LMs met in two groups over two months during which vignettes of disaffected young people’s voices were used as stimuli for prioritising, implementing and evaluating changes to current LM practice. LMs’ personal constructs of disaffected young people were elicited pre and post intervention. The findings reveal that when LMs are facilitated to engage with the voice of disaffected young people it can have a positive impact on their perceptions of those young people. The effectiveness of the impact was dependent on the context of the school, level of training received and the extent to which LMs engaged with the facilitative process. As this is one of few studies which have implemented an intervention to engage schools with the voice of disaffected young people, further research exploring whether the intervention could be replicated in other school contexts would be of value. This study adds to the body of knowledge on school disaffection in young people and indicates that EPs are well placed to manage facilitative processes aimed at engaging schools with the voices of disaffected young people. In doing so they support practitioners to broaden their understanding of these young people and, importantly, enable them to act on their voices.

The thesis titled Possibilities and limits of work with motivation of pupils with ADHD and ADD syndrome at first degree of primary school specializes in finding effective motivation of these pupils. In the theoretical part of the thesis will be defined notions of motivation, ADHD and ADD, teaching methods, organizational forms, evaluating the relationship between teacher and pupil. It will also be a sub-analysis of individual concepts and relationships between them. Processed theoretical background will be taken into account in the practical part. The practical part will pick out the most effective way of motivating pupils with ADD and ADHD syndrome integrated in the regular classroom at primary school. The research methods will be used direct and participant observation, case study, analysis of pupils' projects. Key words: motivation, ADHD, ADD, teaching methods, organizational forms, assessment, teacher-pupil relationship

This thesis on Teaching basketball in physical education classes in primary schools deals with mapping the conditions for teaching basketball at five elementary schools and, furthermore, it deals with finding the level of basketball skills of the pupils. The aim of this thesis, based on research, is to find out whether it is possible for elementary school pupils to significantly improve in their basketball skills during physical education classes and whether such an improvement can arouse their deeper interest in this sport.The theoretical part focuses on the explanation and clarification of the basic terms and characteristics of the age group of 6 - 11 year old pupils. The research part describes the tests which were selected based on consultation with basketball experts. Additionally, it describes the conditions under which testing of pupils was undertaken. Finally, in the tables with written explanation, it shows the test results of the individual pupils and schools. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Processing of my thesis is focused on the possibilities of support of the first grade scholars on primary school. In this theoretical part deals with the general characteristics of pupil motivation 1st grade of primary school learning. More detailed characteristics of individual innovative teaching strategies that help to increase pupils motivation for learning, and their importance in education. In the practical part deals with research to determine how teachers think about the motivation of students in relation to the use of innovative teaching strategies and identify innovative teaching strategies and approaches used in teaching. The survey is carried out through a questionnaire completed by the teachers of the first grade of primary school.

This thesis deals with the description of constructive approach to teaching mathematics in the third grade of primary school. Teaching mathematics is focused on geometry, specifically on one way of introducing the area of the scalene triangle which describes the relation between a side and its height and corresponding area. In the thesis I describe six particular lessons, their preparation, process of their realization and my own reflections. In these lessons, I analyse some cognitive phenomena as well as social relationships among pupils. Furthermore, I present a detailed examination of tasks from the final diagnostic test, in which I aim towards proving success of this method of teaching mathematics. After four years, I attempt to verify the permanency of the knowledge pupils gained in these particular lessons. I illustrate this by presenting analysis of additional exercises. The whole experimental process was led within the method of releasing parameter. Individual lessons were in accordance with given stages of this method, as described in specialised literature. I verified that the above mentioned method is applicable in teaching mathematics even in the third grade of the primary school. KEYWORDS teachingstyles, perimeter and area, square grid, polygon, method of releasing parameter

The diploma thesis targets the education environment of a primary school classroom and research is focused on its social and physical environment. The theoretical part describes physical and social environment of classroom and briefly describes basic methods that are used for research psychosocial environment of classroom. The practical part details the research of actual social climate in classroom realized by using standardized questionare My Class Inventory - Actual form and physical environment using author's original questionare, which was created for the purpose of this work. The work also includes description and evaluation of acquired results. Finally, the conclusions are formed and discussed.