Today, the temporary agency work is a well-established industry in the Swedish labour market. The industry has grown every year since the start 1992 and seemingly, the legislation has not kept up with its’ pace. The reason behind the growth of temporary agency work is their clients impulsion for flexibility as well as making their organisation more efficient. Employers organizations argue that the ability to be flexible is a tool to increase economic growth in the society while the unions argue that the temporary agency workers are paying the price with insecure employment-contracts. The line between cancelation of employment due to redundancy and dismissal due to personal reasons is unclear, with disadvantages to the employment protection, through this triangular relationship between the temporary agency work, user company and the employee. The question is if the goal justifies the means. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the temporary agency work-industry is affecting the temporary agency workers employment protection, in addition, the thesis will investigate which legal impacts the legislation is creating in a diversity perspective. In order to answer the research questions properly, a traditional legal dogmatic method has been used as well as legal sociological perspective.

What started out as a neat little argument for teaching about religion (AR) in public schools has become a wide-ranging essay asking why so many big ideas for education keep falling flat. The new argument, unifying the added themes, is that modern education is caught in self-defeating patterns of rationalizing and over-articulating its own meaningfulness and legitimacy. Thus, self-deception distorts the fulfillment of intergenerational responsibilities. The original topic has become a first example that leads into and illuminates the problem. As an educational idea, AR claims to address secularization for our times. If upon further thought the idea seems hollow, it becomes necessary to look again at the real world of secularization. AR reflects the contemporary obsession with diversity and the compulsion to turn education into a parade of possibilities. What is taught is merely a rationalized stance. Indeed, given that the legitimacy of an education system depends on locating authority within a recognizable source of meaning, and given that modernity foregrounds incommensurable diversity, there is an apparent obviousness to grounding the educational enterprise in bare proceduralism and then topping it up by tenuously claiming association with various deeper sources. But George Grant’s characterization of the religious education of an earlier generation still holds: “a few thin platitudes.” In religious contexts, a distinction is sometimes made between religious instruction and formation within thick tradition and community. Even in a secular age, the young deserve some kind of thick formation. Yet that seems unimaginable, because contemporary common sense is caught in what Hubert Dreyfus calls theoretical holism. Secularization presents education not with an array but with a dilemma: To go on trying to manage meanings for the young, or to allow them to find meaning in strong practices? Facing this dilemma will entail facing the disenchantment generated in our deepest Western educative impulses. Rediscovering true sources of educational authority for our times will entail going back to the origins of modern schooling in the breakup of the apprenticeship model and rethinking an institutional solution that so fundamentally denies the way in which human beings become oriented to meaning through strong practices. / October 2016

This study investigated the beliefs of teachers at a particular elementary campus in North Texas during its first year of implementation of a social emotional curriculum regarding teaching social emotional skills and the influence of those beliefs on their classroom practices. The study drew from the works of Dewey and Bandura in the development of a framework for teacher decision making. A case study design incorporating multiple cases within the case study utilized a mixed-methods approach for data collection and analysis. Ten teachers volunteered and participated in the quantitative data collection, and four of those ten participated in the qualitative data collection through interviews and classroom observations. Data collection methods also included a demographic survey, a questionnaire on teacher beliefs about social emotional learning, and a self-ranking scale of practices related to teaching social emotional skills. Results indicated that although all participants believed social emotional skills instruction was part of their duties as teachers, their practices in teaching social emotional skills varied. Additionally, there was a mismatch between participants’ self-identified practices and the practices that were observed during the study. Administrative support for program implementation was high, but did not necessarily translate to effective practices during the first year of implementation of a particular program. While not significant in this study, variation in teacher characteristics may be important.

This thesis focuses on work-life balance policy; one of the key field of EU gender equality policies. The purpose of this study was to analyze most recently proposed policy on work-life balance ‘An initiative to support work-life balance for working parents and carers’ that aims to upgrade existing policy and legal frameworks. The main objective of the study is to identify problem representation(s) of gender equality in the stated policy. The study objectives comprises of problematizing identified problem representation(s) by drawing attention to silences and underplayed issues including its far-reaching implications on various groups. Analysis presented in this thesis is guided by theoretical framework of poststuructural feminism chiefly through discourse analysis methodology. In that endeavor, Carol Bacchi’s ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ (WPR) approach has been applied for discourse analysis of the policy by employing 3 out 6 postulated questions. The study identifies several problem representations of gender equality in the stated EU reconciliation policy. Among others, childcare responsibility is identified as the most dominant problem representation. Likewise, the study points out silenced issues in the policy. This includes structural challenges affecting accessibility and advancement of women in labour market, the type of work, division of unpaid work besides caring responsibilities, inequalities engendered by intersectional factors, well-being of individuals, family, children, elderly care and commitment from employing organizations. The study finally notes ensuing lived effects on women due to added responsibilities. The study analysis concludes some still present pitfalls in the modernized work-life balance policy.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:21:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos Eduardo Silva.pdf: 524966 bytes, checksum: 23cba11fbaf573b42fbd2f762e5a8ee6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-10-03 / The existence of national and regional urban planning to guide the use and occupation of land has become fundamental in a country such as Brazil with its continental proportions and great diversity of environments, culture and social and economic conditions. The lack of national urban planning is seen in the unarticulated promotion of Union investment policies in public works in a particular region of the country, or even in incentives for the installation of companies and economic activities, that end up impacting on the infrastructure and development of the municipalities. The lack of a national policy on territorial organization and urban development can also be seen when looking at the elaboration and execution of numerous sectorial policies that have territorial impacts and seeing how uncoordinated they are and how they lead to superimposed actions by different Federal organs. For this reason, the 1988 Constitution provides the Union with the role of coordinating national and regional development plans that have direct impact on land territory. As well as this, the national and regional plans for land organization and social and economic development are set out by judicial ordering as an instrument of urban policy. In this sense, the Union plays a fundamental part in the implementation of a system of structural plans, since territorial plans within its ambit allow for the establishment of the integration of a variety of plans, actions and investments in infrastructure and development among the different levels of government, providing greater efficiency in administrative action. This way, the lack of plans within the Federal ambit could imply in the Union suffering a ruling of delayed action (by means of a direct lawsuit on the grounds of unconstitutionality for reasons of omission) as well as repercussions in the area of civil responsibility and in the actual control of the legality of activities that have significant consequences within the ambit of land ownership in a context of absolute lack of planning / A existência de planos urbanísticos de caráter nacional e regionais revela-se fundamental para orientar o uso e a ocupação das terras, num país com dimensões continentais e de alta diversidade ambiental, cultural, social e econômica como o Brasil. A falta de planejamento urbanístico nacional reflete-se na promoção desarticulada de políticas de investimento pela União em obras em determinadas regiões do país, ou mesmo no incentivo à instalação de empresas ou atividades numa localidade, que acabam impactando a infraestrutura e o desenvolvimento dos municípios. A ausência de uma política nacional de ordenação territorial e de desenvolvimento econômico também é sentida, quando se observa a elaboração e a execução de inúmeras políticas setoriais com rebatimento territorial realizadas de forma desarticulada e com sobreposição de atuações entre os entes federativos. Por isso, a Constituição de 1988 direciona à União o papel de coordenar as políticas nacionais e regionais de desenvolvimento com impacto direto no território. Além disso, os planos nacionais e regionais de ordenação do território e de desenvolvimento econômico e social são apontados pelo ordenamento jurídico como instrumentos de política urbana. Nessa linha, a União exerce função primordial na implantação de um sistema de planos estruturais, na medida em que os planos territoriais de sua competência possibilitam a integração dos diversos planos, ações e investimentos em infraestrutura e desenvolvimento, entre os níveis de governo, permitindo maior eficiência nas ações administrativas. Desse modo, a omissão na elaboração dos planos urbanísticos de sua competência pode implicar indicação de mora à União (através da ação direta de inconstitucionalidade por omissão) e em repercussões na área da responsabilidade civil e no próprio controle da legalidade de atividades com significativas consequências no âmbito da territorialidade, realizadas num contexto de absoluta falta de planejamento

För företag som verkar på den dynamiska och konkurrenskraftiga modemarknaden är den storautmaningen att skapa en hållbar konkurrensfördel för att på ett lönsamt sätt vinna kampen omkunden. Ett viktigt verktyg är en effektiv och flexibel inköpsprocess. Utformningen avinköpsprocessen avgör förmågan att möta den krävande modekundens efterfrågan. Vår studie avseratt undersöka hur inköpsprocessen bör organiseras hos en produktutvecklande modedetaljist för attvara effektiv och kunna möta marknadens förändringar. För att påvisa ämnets praktiska relevans ochförtydliga problematiken används ett fallföretag där kvalitativa empiriska undersökningar har utförts.En inköpsprocess består av olika aktiviteter som tillsammans påverkar processens utfall. Enprocesstyrd verksamhet separerar inte aktiviteterna från varandra utan vill förtydligaberoendeförhållandet mellan dem och skapa ett helhetsperspektiv. En förutsättning för att skapakundvärde är att processens samtliga aktiviteter arbetar med syfte att skapa värde för slutkunden.Inköpsprocessens aktiviteter bör även ha ett tydligt definierat utfall för att överlämningen till nästafas ska ske så effektivt som möjligt. I strävan att säkra kvaliteten på utfallet från varje aktivitet bliransvarsfördelningen inom inköpsprocessen en viktig fråga. En tydlig och balanserad uppdelning avarbetsuppgifter, ansvarsområden och slutgiltig beslutsfattare inom varje aktivitet ökar effektiviteten iprocessen och de interna ledtiderna reduceras.Företag X står inför en omorganisering av deras inköpsprocess då den i dagsläget inte upplevstillräckligt konkurrenskraftig. För att öka processens effektivitet, flexibilitet samt minska de internaledtiderna utförs en omfördelning av arbets‐ och ansvarsuppgifterna. Företagets designers hartidigare ägt allt ansvar över processens beslut, vilket gjort inköpsavdelningens betydelse nästintillobefintlig. Idag arbetar företaget för att öka varje aktivitets‐ och befattningsbetydelse för att säkraprocessens resultat och för att den inte ska, som tidigare, vara beroende av ett fåtal medarbetaresarbete. Genom omorganiseringen ska flera arbetsuppgifter utföras parallellt vilket gjort attöverlämningarna mellan avdelningarna fått en ökad betydelse. Företagets nya inköpsorganisation ärännu i sin uppstartsfas men fördelar och nackdelar kan ändå redan identifieras. Resultatet av denempiriska undersökningen visar på en större andel värdeskapande aktiviteter, en jämnareuppgiftsfördelning och en tydligare gemensam målsättning. Undersökningen påvisar även brister iform av att den tidigare strukturens ansvarsfördelning till mångt och mycket lever sig kvar vilkethämmar effektiviteten. Det saknas, trots identifieringen av överlämningarnas betydelse, tydligariktlinjer om vad överlämningarna ska innefatta och hur dem skall utföras.Vår slutsats är att en processtyrd inköpsprocess är att föredra för en produktutvecklandemodedetaljist. Det faktiska kundvärde som processen har för avsikt att skapa bör styra processensutformning både när det gäller ansvarsfördelning och värdeskapande aktiviteter.For companies that compete in the dynamic and highly compatible fashion market, the greatchallenge is to create a sustainable competitive advantage to be able to win the customer during themost profitable circumstances. An important tool for this ambition is an efficient and flexible buyingprocess. The structure of the buying process determines its requirement and ability to handle thedemanding demands of the fashion customer. Our essay aims to examine how the buying processshould be organized at a product developing fashion retailer to be efficient and able to deal with themarket changes. To make a statement regarding the practical relevance of the chosen theme and toelucidate the complex of problems, we chose to use a company to exemplify in where we carried outqualitative empirical research.A buying process consists of different activities that together have a direct impact at the output ofthe process. A business with a process management doesn’t separate the activities apart, instead itemphasize the interdependence between them and a comprehensive perspective by orientate themin a process. The requirement for creating customer value is for all the activities within the process tobe aware of the customer needs and bear it in mind when performing every single working task. Theactivities of the process should also have a clearly defined output so that the handing over to thenext phase will appear as efficient as possible. With the ambition to secure the output quality foreach activity, the responsibilities within the buying process become an important issue. E clearlydefined and balanced split of working tasks, responsibilities and final decision makers within eachactivity, increases the efficiency of the process and will result in reduced leadtimes.Company X is facing a re‐organisation of their buying process since its current capability doesn’treach a satisfying level of being competitive. To increase the efficiency, flexibility and the internalleadtimes, a redistribution of working tasks and responsibilities are being made. Previously, thedesigners of the firm have had the overall responsibility of the decisions of the process which haveresult in a lack of impact for the buying function. The company is trying to achieve an increasedimportance and impact of each of the activities within the process to secure the result of the outputin which it will not be depending on the work of a few members of the process.In the new structure of the firm’s buying process, the activities within the process are suppose to runparallel which requires hand overs performed with good quality. The new buying process is still in anearly stage but even so, advantages and disadvantages can be identified. The result of the empiricalresearch is showing an increased share of value added activities within the process, a more balancedsplit of working tasks and clearer common objectives from the participating activities and employees.The investigation also shows deficiencies in the new organization regarding the previous structure ofresponsibilities that is still affecting the efficiency in a non‐favorable way. There is also lack of clearguidelines for how the handovers should be performed.Our conclusion is that it’s favourable for a fashion retailer if their buying process has a processmanagement. The process should be designed in both terms of responsibilities and value creationactivities after the real customer value that the process is planning to create. / Program: Textilekonomutbildningen

I denna studie är syftet att undersöka hur respondenter från olika verksamheter upplever ansvarsfördelning och samverkan kring elever med en neuropsykiatrisk funktionsnedsättning som har en problematisk skolfrånvaro. Vidare undersöks vilka faktorer som orsakar skolfrånvaro samt hur skolorna konkret arbetar förebyggande för att elever inte ska bli frånvarande från skolan. I Sverige finns 5500 barn som inte går till skolan och som därmed inte når kunskapsmålen. Följden av en problematisk skolfrånvaro kan innebära psykisk ohälsa hos eleven, men även påverka elevens framtid negativt i form av marginalisering och utanförskap. Det empiriska materialet, som har analyserats genom en systemteoretisk ingång, har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med verksamma inom skola samt barn- och ungdomspsykiatrin. I resultatet framgår vikten av samverkan och tydliga rutiner kring ansvarsfördelning för att skolor och barn- och ungdomspsykiatrin ska ha möjlighet att arbeta förebyggande kring elever med en neuropsykiatrisk funktionsnedsättning som har en problematisk skolfrånvaro. Resultatet lyfter att trygghet, delaktighet, struktur och relationer är avgörande för att elever ska vilja komma till skolan. Slutsatsen pekar på att det finns strukturella brister i det gemensamma ansvaret mellan skola, vårdinstanser och föräldrar kring barn och unga med en problematisk skolfrånvaro. Den visar även betydelsen av en omgivning eleven kan känna förtroende för. / The purpose of this study is to examine how professionals from different organisations experience collaboration and division of responsibilities when it comes to pupils with a neuropsychiatric disability who have a problematic school absence. Furthermore, the purpose is to examine what causes school absence and how the professionals describe their preventive work towards pupils with the above described difficulties. Sweden has 5500 children absent from school not fulfilling the educational knowledge requirements. A problematic school absence can cause mental illness during the school years but also marginalise the individual in the future. The empirical material has been collected via semi-structured interviews with professionals within school and psychiatric care for children and youth. The result has been analysed using systems theory. The result indicates the importance of collaboration between professions. To enable the preventive work of schools’ and the psychiatric care for children and youth, the need for a clear division of responsibilities is crucial. The result shows that pupils are more likely to be present in school if they feel safe and are given the opportunity to influence. Structure in the school environment and relations are also described as important. The conclusion indicates structural shortcomings in the responsibilities shared between schools, healthcare and parents regarding children with a neuropsychiatric disability who have a problematic school absence. It also shows the importance of creating a surrounding the pupil can trust.

The authors queried 336 paraeducators working in 34 high schools or special programs offering transitional services for adult students with disabilities. The survey included (a) the contexts in which they support students with disabilities, (b) their knowledge about core competencies in educating these students, (c) the job-related tasks they perform most frequently, (d) their perceived ability to perform these tasks effectively, and (e) their need for further training across these knowledge and task areas. The study replicated a study conducted by Carter, O'Rourke, Sisco, and Pelsue (2009) surveying paraeducators working in K-12 settings. The authors found that paraeducators worked with a broad range of disabilities in multiple types of transitional school or program settings, with moderate supervision using varied types of teaching strategies, and they received most of their training on the job. Although most paraeducators reported having adequate training across knowledge standards, the quality of training received was reported as informal. Reported tasks performed most frequently were nontransition related. Preparing for transition and IEP plans were less frequently performed and trained for; while tasks less pertinent to students in transitional settings were more frequently performed and prepared for such as one-to-one instruction. Supervision under a certified teacher was reported to be moderately occurring (less than 50% of the time). Future research and development of standards for transitional paraeducators working with adults with disabilities is recommended. Identification of needed specific skills should be coupled with more formal training.

This qualitative research study examined the patient education experience from the point of view of health care professionals, namely doctors of chiropractic in the Greater Toronto Area practicing for up to ten years. Health care professionals’ views and beliefs of this important aspect of health care have not been well studied. Patient education is defined as, “the process by which patients learn or acquire knowledge about his/her health status or condition and may involve learning in the cognitive, affective, and/or psychomotor domains.” The study explored eight participants’ views on the nature of patient education in their early and current practices by examining their feelings, beliefs, and use of patient education, its role in their practices, as well as the perceptions of their roles as patient educators. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with each of the participants. The transcribed interviews underwent detailed qualitative analysis to determine response trends and consensus. The key findings revealed that the participants felt that, while they were well prepared in their undergraduate curricula to diagnose and treat patients, they were not as well prepared to be effective patient educators when they entered practice. Early in their careers, they did not understand or appreciate patient education’s importance and value as a component of their practice. Over time, their beliefs and understanding of patient education changed and participants reported that with experience, they began to value patient education to a greater extent. Changing values reflected changing behaviours. For example, participants increased their time and efforts related to patient education with increased clinical experience. A variety of teaching aids were used with wall charts/posters, three dimensional anatomical models, printed materials and images from textbooks being among the most common. Most of the teaching described by the participants would be characterized as transmission with a one-way flow of information from the doctor to the patient. To a great extent, patient education involved speaking with individual patients. Participants reported encountering, throughout their careers, intrinsic and extrinsic barriers that interfered with the effectiveness of their patient education. The findings suggest that curricular planners for health care professional programs, and specifically for chiropractors, might consider developing content aimed at improving students’ patient education knowledge and skills.

This qualitative research study examined the patient education experience from the point of view of health care professionals, namely doctors of chiropractic in the Greater Toronto Area practicing for up to ten years. Health care professionals’ views and beliefs of this important aspect of health care have not been well studied. Patient education is defined as, “the process by which patients learn or acquire knowledge about his/her health status or condition and may involve learning in the cognitive, affective, and/or psychomotor domains.” The study explored eight participants’ views on the nature of patient education in their early and current practices by examining their feelings, beliefs, and use of patient education, its role in their practices, as well as the perceptions of their roles as patient educators. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with each of the participants. The transcribed interviews underwent detailed qualitative analysis to determine response trends and consensus. The key findings revealed that the participants felt that, while they were well prepared in their undergraduate curricula to diagnose and treat patients, they were not as well prepared to be effective patient educators when they entered practice. Early in their careers, they did not understand or appreciate patient education’s importance and value as a component of their practice. Over time, their beliefs and understanding of patient education changed and participants reported that with experience, they began to value patient education to a greater extent. Changing values reflected changing behaviours. For example, participants increased their time and efforts related to patient education with increased clinical experience. A variety of teaching aids were used with wall charts/posters, three dimensional anatomical models, printed materials and images from textbooks being among the most common. Most of the teaching described by the participants would be characterized as transmission with a one-way flow of information from the doctor to the patient. To a great extent, patient education involved speaking with individual patients. Participants reported encountering, throughout their careers, intrinsic and extrinsic barriers that interfered with the effectiveness of their patient education. The findings suggest that curricular planners for health care professional programs, and specifically for chiropractors, might consider developing content aimed at improving students’ patient education knowledge and skills.