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The aim of the present thesis was to listen to, examine and conceptualise students’ perspectives on bullying. Students’ perspectives have not been commonly heard in research and less qualitative research has been conducted. This study contributes with students’ perspectives on bullying using semi-structured interviews with students from fourth-to eighth grade. This thesis includes four studies. The aim with paper I was to investigate how bystander actions in bullying situations and reasons behind these actions were articulated. Paper II was a comparison study between Sweden and US, focused on how students articulate and discuss what factors influence students’ decisions to defend or not defend victims when witnessing bullying. The aim in Paper III was to study how students themselves discuss, reason and make sense of how and why bullying processes emerges in their social worlds. In paper IV the aim was to study how junior high school girls discuss and understand bullying. Findings reveal that students’ reactions as bystanders to bullying depend on how they define the situation. Explanations to the emergence of bullying were understood through a complex social ordering of belonging process. Students position themselves and others in striving to belong, and when defining victims as responsible for bullying. Social norms and negotiation of identities were also discussed among the students. Students discussed how gender and a normative peer structure, where a pressure to fit in, interlinked with how they understood bullying. / Syftet med denna avhandling är att lyssna på, utforska och konceptualisera elevers perspektiv på mobbning då elevers perspektiv utgör ett viktigt bidrag till vår fortsatta förståelse av mobbning. Det finns fortfarande få kvalitativa studier som fokuserat elevers perspektiv på mobbning. Denna studie utgör därför ett viktig bidrag och baseras på semi-strukturerade intervjuer med elever ifrån fjärde till åttondeklass. Avhandlingen består utav fyra studier. Syftet med studie I var att undersöka hur åskådarageranden i mobbningssituationer artiklueras av eleverna och skälen bakom dessa. Syftet med studie II var att jämföra hur elever i Sverige och USA artikulerar och diskuterar vilka faktorer som influerar deras beslut att ingripa eller inte ingripa när de blir åskådare till mobbning. Syftet med studie III var att undersöka hur elever diskuterar, resonerar och förstår vad som producerar mobbning. Syftet med studie IV var att undersöka hur högstadietjejer diskuterar och förstår mobbning. Resultaten visar att elevers reaktioner som åskådare till mobbning är situationsbundna utifån hur de definierar situationen. Förklararingar till vad som producerar mobbning sammanlänkas med en komplex socialt ordnande process där eleverna positionerar sig själv och andra i strävan att tillhöra och den utsatta ofta görs ansvarig för mobbningen. Även sociala normer och förhandlade av identiteter kommer till uttryck när eleverna diskuterar hur kön och normativa kamratnormer, där strävan att passa in, sammanlänkas med deras förståelse av mobbning.

The study examines the factors that cause school absenteeism and how the high school/upper secondary can work to prevent school absenteeism and promote school attendance. The overall purpose of the study was to investigate what the high school/upper secondary school students describe as absenteeism prevention and promote attendance. The theoretical framework for the study consists of a socio-cultural perspective, a relational perspective, and the theory of KASAM. The study approach is qualitative and the study data were collected through mixed methods where semi-structured interviews were supplemented with a survey of the high school/upper secondary school students in grades 2 and 3. Based on the students' descriptions, the school's work on preventing absence and promoting attendance can be seen as complex. The students show, as in previous research, that many different factors influence the students' attendance and absence and that the causal factors can vary from student to student. The result further shows that there are a variety of factors related to the school's learning environments that can prevent absenteeism and promote attendance. The conclusion of the study highlights the importance of high school/upper secondary school working to strengthen students' motivation, participation, security, health, wellness and well-being. Highschool/upper secondary school should also work actively to ensure that the learning environment in the school is varied and that the teaching is adapted to the diversity of pupils' needs and conditions. Based on the results, it is determined that a broad repertoire of strategies and methods is needed in the school's absence prevention and attendance promotion work. The special pedagogical relevance of the study is made visible by the study showing that the school's attendance promotion and absence prevention work is strengthened by the school working to identify and map obstacles and opportunities in the school's educational, social and physical learning environments and based on the development of the school's learning environments at both individual and organizational levels.

The central argument underlying this research is that experiential learning (EL) can strengthen environmental university programs. Its goal is to demonstrate the benefits of EL from students' and graduates' perspectives and to provide recommendations for its effective implementation into a program. The research utilized a qualitative case study (Environmental Sciences/Studies (ESS) programs at the University of Manitoba, Canada) through focus groups and individual interviews with students and graduates. The results indicate that EL helps develop an understanding of environmental complexities; motivates students to engage at all levels of their ability; is decisive in skill development; engages students in environmental issues with diverse stakeholders; is important in obtaining employment; and it is imperative to connect EL activities to concepts taught in class. The data however, did not show EL to be a significant factor in fostering pro-environmental behaviours in post-secondary environmental students. Overall, the research shows that provided effective implementation, EL can play a significant role in enhancing ESS curriculum and that ESS students place a great value on EL in their education. / October 2016

Every 30 th person on earth is living outside her/his home country. People migrate for different reasons, one of them being studies. Those who leave their home countries to pursue studies abroad are referred as international students. International students might be valuable for their host country if they decide to stay there after their studies. Their skills, international experience and experience of the host country might result very useful in filling the gaps in the host country’s l abour market. Therefore, this study aims to understand international student’s perspectives on post-graduation employment to Sweden. To fulfil the aim, qualitative inductive approach was followed so the interviewees were not influenced by predetermined questions. Ten in-depth, unstructured interviews with international students at a Swedish university were conducted. Interviews were analysed using the method of qualitative content analysis, following three research questions which lead to five themes – career advancement, enhanced life quality, employers’ rejections, lack of soci al interactions and family role. Based on the findings, a conceptual framework was developed. The conceptual framework consists of the push and pull model, national culture, and cognitive dissonance which were found to be useful for the analysis and interpretation of the findings. Using findings from the interviews and conceptual framework, the analysis was conducted which was followed by the discussion, where the authors of this thesis interpreted and discussed the findings from different perspectives. This thesis revealed that international students are attracted to work in Sweden for different reasons. However, finding a job in Sweden is a difficult task for them. It has emerged that international students are facing troubles when looking for employment as well as with communicating with locals. Those troubles were discussed with the goal to understand why do they come out. Family topic has also emerged suggesting that it plays an important role when deciding whether to seek employment in Sweden after the studies or not. As this thesis provides insights into the experiences of international students, it is beneficial for the companies who are interested in hiring them. Moreover, companies who have never considered hiring international students could be encouraged to try a new practice. The stories provided in the thesis might be useful for the university, when providing assistance for international students as well as for the students themselves to form a realistic picture of what they might experience in Sweden.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka lärares och lärarstudenters syn på kamratbedömning för textarbeten i årskurs 4–6 samt att se vilka kamratbedömningsmetoder de anser gynnsamma för elevernas textarbeten. Detta är en kvalitativ studie som genomförs via semistrukturerade intervjuer. Både lärare och lärarstudenter intervjuas för att visa likheter och skillnader på både individ- och gruppnivå. Intervjuerna transkriberas och svaren bearbetas utefter en tematisk analys.  Resultaten visar att både lärarna och lärarstudenterna har en övervägande positiv syn på kamratbedömning för textarbeten i årskurs 4–6, men att lärarna kan se fler fördelar och förespråkar metoden mer än vad lärarstudenterna gör. De främsta positiva effekter de anser att kamratbedömning kan bidra till är gemensamt lärande och en utvecklad kritisk granskningsförmåga hos eleverna. De negativa effekter som framförallt betonas är att kamratbedömning kan generera generella och missvisande kommentarer som inte leder till ökat lärande samt att det kan ha en negativ inverkan på sociala relationer.  De metoder som lärarna och lärarstudenterna anser vara gynnsamma för elevernas textarbeten är ”two stars and a wish”, användandet av checklistor eller mallar med genrespecifika kriterier samt digital respons via inspelningsprogram och direktkommentarer i digital text. / The purpose of this study is to examine teachers' and teacher students' view on peer assessment for text work in grades 4–6 and to see which peer assessment methods they consider favorable for students' text work. This is a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews. Both teachers and teacher students are interviewed to show similarities and differences at individual- and group level. The interviews are transcribed and the answers are processed through a thematic analysis. The results show that both teachers and teacher students have a mainly positive view of peer assessment for text work in grades 4-6, but the teachers can see more benefits and they advocate the method more than the teacher students do. The main positive effects they see with peer assessment are common learning between students and a developed ability to critically review texts. The negative effects they emphasize are general and misleading comments between students that do not lead to increased learning and possible negative impact on social relationships. The methods the teachers and the teacher students prefer for students' text work are "two stars and a wish", checklists or templates with genre-specific criteria and digital peer review with recording programs and comments in digital texts.