<p>The aim of this study is to investigate the notion of pupil influence in English teaching at level 1 and 2 at High-School level. The study focuses on how the students and teachers experience the possibility of influence in their English classes. Empirical data has been collected through questionnaires from two classes at year 1 and two classes at year 2 in English. The study also includes interviews from four teachers and four students. The study is both qualitative and quantitative. The results show that the majority of the students consider their possibility of influence in their English- learning to be very high in all schools to a great extent, even though the results showed that their influence in their teaching was not very extensive.</p><p>The way the students mostly influenced their teaching was when discussing the planning of their courses and through regularly made evaluations of their courses.</p><p>The teachers´ view on the pupil-influence was mostly linked to personal views and opinions of the matter as well as the referred information in the national curriculum for teachers. Overall the results show that the students´ and the teachers´ view on the influence seems to coincide very well.</p><p>The differences in year 1 and 2 at high-school in this investigation can mostly be seen by the fact that year 2 increasingly can influence their curriculum of their courses and that they also can influence how examinations are to be carried out in a more extensive way than the students in year 1.</p><p>The hypothesis of this essay, that pupil-influence should increase with age and level at</p><p>high-school proved to be a partly correct assumption, mainly because the majority of the students expressed that this was partly true. Nevertheless, both the teachers and the interviewed students claimed that influence increases with age, so maybe it is hard to make a clear conclusion out of these results.</p>

The aim of this study is to investigate the notion of pupil influence in English teaching at level 1 and 2 at High-School level. The study focuses on how the students and teachers experience the possibility of influence in their English classes. Empirical data has been collected through questionnaires from two classes at year 1 and two classes at year 2 in English. The study also includes interviews from four teachers and four students. The study is both qualitative and quantitative. The results show that the majority of the students consider their possibility of influence in their English- learning to be very high in all schools to a great extent, even though the results showed that their influence in their teaching was not very extensive. The way the students mostly influenced their teaching was when discussing the planning of their courses and through regularly made evaluations of their courses. The teachers´ view on the pupil-influence was mostly linked to personal views and opinions of the matter as well as the referred information in the national curriculum for teachers. Overall the results show that the students´ and the teachers´ view on the influence seems to coincide very well. The differences in year 1 and 2 at high-school in this investigation can mostly be seen by the fact that year 2 increasingly can influence their curriculum of their courses and that they also can influence how examinations are to be carried out in a more extensive way than the students in year 1. The hypothesis of this essay, that pupil-influence should increase with age and level at high-school proved to be a partly correct assumption, mainly because the majority of the students expressed that this was partly true. Nevertheless, both the teachers and the interviewed students claimed that influence increases with age, so maybe it is hard to make a clear conclusion out of these results.

<p>The aim for this essay is to investigate students attitudes to a local schoolboard with student majority to determin the level of functionality, relevancy and interest for this schoolboard among the students in a Swedish gymnasium in Örebro. This is done by distibution of a questionnaire form to a third of the students in the third grade . The results show that the attitudes overall amongst the students are positive, although the level of interest is low. One explanation for this low level of interest could be the lack of information from the school board to the students.</p> / <p>Vi har valt att i denna uppsats djupare undersöka en specifik form av elevdemokrati: elevmajoritet i lokala skolstyrelser. Försöksverksamhet inleddes 1997 efter att riksdagen godkände ett regeringsförslag om detta, och den skola som undersöks i uppsatsen har deltagit i försöksverksamheten sen starten.</p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka inställningen till lokal skolstyrelse med elevmajoritet bland gymnasieelever i årskurs 3 genom att klarlägga graden av funktionalitet, relevans och intresse. Undersökningen utgår från en hypotes som formulerats utifrån en rapport från Utbildningsinspektionen. I rapporten fastslås att betydelsen av och intresset för den lokala skolstyrelsen inte uppfattas som betydelsefullt eller intressant av eleverna, och hypotesen består av detta påstående.</p><p>För att undersöka elevernas inställning till den lokala skolstyrelsen med elevmajoritet delades en enkät ut till en tredjedel av eleverna i årskurs 3 på en gymnasieskola i Örebro. Enkätens frågor undersöker olika aspekter av den lokala skolstyrelsen och de svarandes attityder till detta. Enkät som undersökningsmetod valdes för att få en representativ bild av en större grupps inställning till detta.</p><p>Undersökningens resultat visar att de flesta av de svarande känner till att eleverna har majoritet i den lokala skolstyrelsen. Däremot är elevernas intresse för den lokala skolstyrelsens arbete lågt, trots att skolstyrelsens funktionalitet bedöms som bra och de frågor som styrelsen behandlar anses viktiga av majoriteten av eleverna. Inställningen har även undersökts utifrån aspekterna kön och programtillhörighet, men ingen av dessa aspekter har uppvisat några väsentliga skillnader mellan grupperna. En förklaring till elevernas låga intresse för den lokala skolstyrelsens arbete kan vara bristfällig information till eleverna från styrelsen sida, något som framkommit i de kommentarer som vissa av eleverna lämnat i enkäten.</p>

<p>This report describes an interview study of Swedish elementary school teacher’s view on stu-dent influence. The objective is to find out about teachers' approach to student influence, what do they think happens with students that are allowed to influence and what are the negotiables and non-negotiables when it comes to student influence in elementary education? And do the teachers really want their students to have influence?</p><p>According to the official policy documents for the Swedish school system the Swedish school shall work towards a democratic school. Not only should the students be educated about de-mocracy but they should also learn to use democratic values and processes. However, in these policy documents there are no concrete guidelines as to which extent or how a teacher should work with student influence. It is up to the individual teacher to interpret this on his/her own. In my report I wanted to show what the teachers say about the possibilities and threats that they feel and experience with the practice of student influence over the school teaching.</p><p>The report shows that the approach that teachers have towards student influence affects to what extent their students are allowed to influence over the school teaching. The conclusion of the report is that the Swedish school still has old values that are hard to shake and that teachers are afraid of what might happen if they allow their students to influence the school teaching too much.</p>

<p>In this study we wanted to have a closer look at how a specific working team of pedagogues in the senior part of elementary school works with student influence through a pedagogical concept created by themselves. We have used qualitative interviews as a method to achieve relevant information from the pedagogues, and from students teached by the same.</p><p>The purpose of the study was to investigate how the working team, through the concept, pursue real student influence within different school subjects and how the individual student is favored in his/her learning process. Another intention was to find out to what extent the students experience this influence. We also wanted to elucidate the advantages as well as the disadvantages of this concept, and to shed some light on how the informants view the future development of the concept.</p><p>The result shows that consensus prevails to a large extent among teachers and students regarding the signification of real student influence in the everyday learning situation. It also appears that the students’ abilities to exercise influence vary between different school subjects. The students seem to have understood and accepted the reasons for this.</p><p>The interaction between traditional teaching (in certain subjects) and the concept has resulted in the fact that students have succeeded in their learning process to a larger extent and that their engagement and sense of responsibility have increased significantly.</p>

In this study we wanted to have a closer look at how a specific working team of pedagogues in the senior part of elementary school works with student influence through a pedagogical concept created by themselves. We have used qualitative interviews as a method to achieve relevant information from the pedagogues, and from students teached by the same. The purpose of the study was to investigate how the working team, through the concept, pursue real student influence within different school subjects and how the individual student is favored in his/her learning process. Another intention was to find out to what extent the students experience this influence. We also wanted to elucidate the advantages as well as the disadvantages of this concept, and to shed some light on how the informants view the future development of the concept. The result shows that consensus prevails to a large extent among teachers and students regarding the signification of real student influence in the everyday learning situation. It also appears that the students’ abilities to exercise influence vary between different school subjects. The students seem to have understood and accepted the reasons for this. The interaction between traditional teaching (in certain subjects) and the concept has resulted in the fact that students have succeeded in their learning process to a larger extent and that their engagement and sense of responsibility have increased significantly.

This report describes an interview study of Swedish elementary school teacher’s view on stu-dent influence. The objective is to find out about teachers' approach to student influence, what do they think happens with students that are allowed to influence and what are the negotiables and non-negotiables when it comes to student influence in elementary education? And do the teachers really want their students to have influence? According to the official policy documents for the Swedish school system the Swedish school shall work towards a democratic school. Not only should the students be educated about de-mocracy but they should also learn to use democratic values and processes. However, in these policy documents there are no concrete guidelines as to which extent or how a teacher should work with student influence. It is up to the individual teacher to interpret this on his/her own. In my report I wanted to show what the teachers say about the possibilities and threats that they feel and experience with the practice of student influence over the school teaching. The report shows that the approach that teachers have towards student influence affects to what extent their students are allowed to influence over the school teaching. The conclusion of the report is that the Swedish school still has old values that are hard to shake and that teachers are afraid of what might happen if they allow their students to influence the school teaching too much.

The aim for this essay is to investigate students attitudes to a local schoolboard with student majority to determin the level of functionality, relevancy and interest for this schoolboard among the students in a Swedish gymnasium in Örebro. This is done by distibution of a questionnaire form to a third of the students in the third grade . The results show that the attitudes overall amongst the students are positive, although the level of interest is low. One explanation for this low level of interest could be the lack of information from the school board to the students. / Vi har valt att i denna uppsats djupare undersöka en specifik form av elevdemokrati: elevmajoritet i lokala skolstyrelser. Försöksverksamhet inleddes 1997 efter att riksdagen godkände ett regeringsförslag om detta, och den skola som undersöks i uppsatsen har deltagit i försöksverksamheten sen starten. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka inställningen till lokal skolstyrelse med elevmajoritet bland gymnasieelever i årskurs 3 genom att klarlägga graden av funktionalitet, relevans och intresse. Undersökningen utgår från en hypotes som formulerats utifrån en rapport från Utbildningsinspektionen. I rapporten fastslås att betydelsen av och intresset för den lokala skolstyrelsen inte uppfattas som betydelsefullt eller intressant av eleverna, och hypotesen består av detta påstående. För att undersöka elevernas inställning till den lokala skolstyrelsen med elevmajoritet delades en enkät ut till en tredjedel av eleverna i årskurs 3 på en gymnasieskola i Örebro. Enkätens frågor undersöker olika aspekter av den lokala skolstyrelsen och de svarandes attityder till detta. Enkät som undersökningsmetod valdes för att få en representativ bild av en större grupps inställning till detta. Undersökningens resultat visar att de flesta av de svarande känner till att eleverna har majoritet i den lokala skolstyrelsen. Däremot är elevernas intresse för den lokala skolstyrelsens arbete lågt, trots att skolstyrelsens funktionalitet bedöms som bra och de frågor som styrelsen behandlar anses viktiga av majoriteten av eleverna. Inställningen har även undersökts utifrån aspekterna kön och programtillhörighet, men ingen av dessa aspekter har uppvisat några väsentliga skillnader mellan grupperna. En förklaring till elevernas låga intresse för den lokala skolstyrelsens arbete kan vara bristfällig information till eleverna från styrelsen sida, något som framkommit i de kommentarer som vissa av eleverna lämnat i enkäten.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur lärare upplever styrdokumentens intentioner med elevinflytande. Studien har gjorts med en fenomenologisk livsvärldsansats där lärare beskriver hur de upplever elevinflytande utifrån sina egna erfarenheter och livsvärldar. Vidare har en hermeneutisk tolkningsteori använts för att ge en förståelse för hur lärare beskriver elevers inflytande i skolans verksamhet. Metoden för studien är kvalitativ. Det empiriska underlaget består av åtta intervjuer med låg- och mellanstadielärare på sex olika utbildningsenheter. Studien visar på olika förutsättningar för inflytande. Det finns elever som endast får göra de enkla, oväsentliga valen i klassrummet medan andra får vara med och planera, genomföra och utvärdera undervisningen. Lärarna upplever sig trängda mellan det centrala innehållet i kursplaner och styrdokumentens intentioner med elevinflytande. Enligt lärarna finns det ett behov av kollegial tolkning av styrdokumentens intentioner för att klargöra begreppet elevinflytande. En tydlig skolorganisation förstärker delaktighet liksom tydliga lärare som leder in elever i ett demokratiskt förhållningssätt. Lärarna visar på att elevinflytande engagerar även föräldrar, vilket medför att eleverna får en positiv inställning till skolan. En av studiens paradoxala slutsatser är att elevinflytande kan exkludera svaga elever som inte får möjlighet att göra sig hörda. En annan slutsats är att dagens skola har ett stort fokus på kunskapsbildningen, vilket gör att elevinflytandet inte får den dignitet som styrdokumenten beskriver. / The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers are experiencing the steering documents intentions with student participation. The study was conducted with a phenomenological life-world approach where teachers describe how they feel about student participation based on their own experiences and life worlds. Furthermore an hermeneutic interpretation theory has been used to provide an understanding of how teachers describe students' influence in the school activities. The methodology for this study is qualitative. The empirical material consist of eight interviews with primary teachers in six different schools. The study highlights the various opportunities for influence. There are students who only get to do the simple, insignificant choices in the classroom, while others may be involved in planning, implementing and evaluating teaching. Teachers feel they jostled between the core content of the curriculum and policy documents intentions with student participation. According to the teachers, there is a need for collegial interpretation of policy documents intentions to clarify the concept of student participation. A distinct school organization enhances participation as well as a distinct teacher that leads students in a democratic approach. Teachers show that student participation involved also parents, resulting in a positive attitude towards school among students. One of the study's paradoxical conclusion is that student participation may exclude weak students who do not get the opportunity to be heard. Another conclusion is that today's school has a major focus on knowledge formation, making that student influence may not be the force as the policy documents describe.

In this degree project the concepts of student democracy, student influence, learnerresponsibility and learner awareness are discussed. This has been done in connection to the learner autonomy movement in Sweden and the steering documents at a secondary school level. Our study concerns some teachers’ and students’ attitudes to and experiences of working with these issues in school. We came to the conclusion that the teachers that we interviewed are very aware of what the steering documents say and try to incorporate these essential parts in their teaching. We also found that the students are not at all aware of theconcepts and ideas presented in the steering documents in the same way as the teachers are.Also, the teachers’ and the students’ understanding of these terms differ, something that may lead to a misunderstanding and make it hard to discuss matters connected to student democracy and learner autonomy. A lot of work has to be done in schools in order to make the students more aware and to encourage them to take more responsibility for their learning.