This study aims to examine teachers' views on special adaptation againt behavioral problems with pupils in the elementary schools' lower grades. In addition, there is and interest in how teachers motivate their didactic choices in the classroom with theese students. A qualitative study was done by using semi-structured interviews which were customized according to the aim. The respondents' answers were then analyzed based on the research found in this study. In order to present the results we have created three themes, each one based on the issues raised in our study. The result shows that there are different perspectives in understanding behavioral problems. Furthermore, the results present that there is a difference in teachers' way of describing these problem situations depending on which perspective teachers adopt.

The purpose of the study is to contribute to knowledge about inclusion in preschool from the perspective of preschool teachers by making it visible how preschool teachers view their work to include all children in preschool, regardless of the children's conditions or needs. Qualitative interviews have been used as a research method and six interviews have been conducted with working preschool teachers. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed, after that the collected data material was analyzed from a categorically perspective and a relational perspective.  The results show that the preschool teachers describe that inclusion concerns a sense of community, where children can experience full participation and meaning in the preschool activities, which can be linked to a community-oriented definition of inclusion. Through the analyses a relational perspective can be made visible when the preschool teachers regard that inclusion in the preschool is achieved by creating an environment that is accessible to all children regardless of needs or conditions. The results also show that preschool teachers work to include all preschool children by making the environment clear and accessible. They also describe that their own attitudes and knowledge about inclusion are important factors for inclusion in preschool to be achieved. The preschool teachers emphasize that if inclusion is seen as children’s experience of participation, meaningfulness and community, inclusion can benefit children's development and learning. The preschool teachers also believe that external factors can obstruct and preclude, which can be connected to the view that inclusion is about all children being in the same physical space. Preschool teachers emphasize that inclusion can benefit children's development and learning, but that external factors can obstruct and preclude.  This study concludes that these preschool teachers have good knowledge about how to include all children in preschool and that they have the ability to do so if they are given the right conditions and not preclude by external factors. This study can be seen as relevant to read for anyone who is interested in inclusion in preschool and hopefully this study can contribute with an interest in further research on the subject. / Syftet med undersökningen är att bidra med kunskap om inkludering i förskolan ur förskollärares perspektiv genom att synliggöra hur förskollärare ser på sitt arbete att inkludera alla barn i förskolan, oavsett barnens förutsättningar eller behov. Kvalitativa intervjuer har använts som forskningsmetod och sex intervjuer har genomförts med verksamma förskollärare. Intervjuerna spelades in och transkriberades sedan i sin helhet, därefter analyserades det insamlade datamaterialet utifrån ett kategoriskt perspektiv och ett relationellt perspektiv. Resultatet redovisar att förskollärarna beskriver att inkludering handlar om att barnen i förskolan ska uppleva delaktighet, meningsfullhet och gemenskap, vilket kan kopplas till en gemenskapsorienterad definition av inkludering. Genom analysen kan ett relationellt perspektiv synliggöras då förskollärarna anser att inkludering i förskolan uppnås genom att skapa en miljö som är tillgänglig för alla barn oavsett behov eller förutsättningar. Resultatet visar även att förskollärare arbetar med att inkludera alla förskolans barn genom att göra miljön tydlig och tillgänglig. De beskriver även att det egna förhållningssättet och kunskaper är betydelsefulla faktorer för att inkludering i förskolan ska kunna uppnås. Förskollärarna lyfter fram att om inkludering ses handla om upplevd delaktighet, meningsfullhet och gemenskap kan inkludering gynna barns utveckling och lärande. Förskollärarna anser även att yttre faktorer kan försvåra och utgöra hinder för inkludering, vilket kan kopplas till de avseenden inkludering ses handla om att alla barn är i samma fysiska rum. Studiens slutsats är att dessa förskollärare har goda kunskaper kring hur de ska arbeta för att inkludera alla barn i förskolan och att de har möjligheten att göra det om de ges rätt förutsättningar och inte hindras av utomstående faktorer. Denna studie kan ses vara relevant att läsa för alla som är intresserade av inkludering i förskolan och förhoppningsvis kan denna studie bidra med ett intresse för vidare forskning kring inkludering i förskolan.

School communities are supposed to be safe places for children where they can build healthy and positive relationships; protected places where children not only gain knowledge, but also learn about themselves. However, research indicates an increase in violent behaviour within school communities. The serious nature of violence in South African schools is evident in reports of physical and sexual abuse, gang-related activities and children bringing and using weapons at schools. The violence is not limited to violence between children but also involves interschool rivalries where gang conflicts have become part of the problem. Despite the measures taken by the DoE, violence in schools is still escalating and educators in some schools can spend more time on solving issues relating to violence than being involved in the process of effective teaching. Consequently violence in schools might become a threat to the provision of effective education for children. Current South African research on bullying behaviour tends to follow a linear, individualistic approach as a means to understanding the phenomenon of bullying. Research conducted within the South African context tends to focus on the individual behaviour of children involved in bullying incidents with the need to address the aggressive behaviour of the bully, the need to protect the victim and describing concerns for the bystanders. The concern of such a linear approach is that research does not place enough emphasis on the relationships of members in school communities and the contexts in which bullying behaviour occurs. To address this gap in the knowledge regarding our understanding of bullying behaviour from a relational perspective, the researcher explored the relational experiences of secondary school children who were involved in bullying incidents in three secondary school communities in South Africa. A systemic developmental approach developed by Cairns and Cairns (1991) and adopted by Atlas and Pepler (1998) as well as a complex interactive dynamics systems approach informed this study. The purpose of this study is to contribute to efforts to find solutions to the escalation of bullying behaviour by exploring the relational experiences of children who were involved in bullying incidents in the context of secondary school communities in South Africa. It is anticipated that an exploration of the relational experiences of these children might facilitate a deeper understanding of the dynamics that emerge in the interactions between the various members in school communities and an understanding of how these interactions contribute toward the escalation in bullying behaviour. In order to obtain a deeper understanding regarding the phenomenon of bullying, a qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to explore the relational experiences of children involved in bullying incidents within three secondary school communities. Within the first phase of data collection thirty three participants (between grade 8-11), who were purposely selected, completed a written assignment. The written assignment included a short essay based on their experience of a bullying incident and twenty incomplete sentences that were open-ended in nature. In the second phase of data collection the researcher conducted semi- structured interviews with six of the participants who participated in the first phase of data collection. The semi-structured interviews allowed the researcher to ask further questions to obtain a deeper understanding regarding their relational experiences of bullying incidents in their school community. Based on the responses of the participants, three themes were identified: (1) Relational experiences of interactions between teachers and children based on the experiences of children where they spoke about interactions that suggested reciprocal disrespect between children and teachers, incongruence between teachers and learners, teachers attempting to control the behaviour of children and lack of interest displayed in children by their teachers; (2) Relational experiences of interactions between children that included subthemes of assertion of power to obtain status amongst peers, exclusion based on group membership, competiveness amongst groups and violating the trust of friends; (3) Relational experiences of interactions in conflict situations where participants described their bullying experiences and suggested that teachers display apathy in these forms of conflict situations. The participants also reported that children tend to instigate and reinforce conflict. Learners also often choose to remain silent out of fear for retaliation and that teacher-parent disputes exist regarding the managing of conflict situations between children. The relational experiences of the children assisted to inform our understanding of the interactive dynamics that underpin bullying behaviour. In view of the findings of the study, recommendations are made for practice, policy development and suggestions for future research are also offered. / MA (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

School communities are supposed to be safe places for children where they can build healthy and positive relationships; protected places where children not only gain knowledge, but also learn about themselves. However, research indicates an increase in violent behaviour within school communities. The serious nature of violence in South African schools is evident in reports of physical and sexual abuse, gang-related activities and children bringing and using weapons at schools. The violence is not limited to violence between children but also involves interschool rivalries where gang conflicts have become part of the problem. Despite the measures taken by the DoE, violence in schools is still escalating and educators in some schools can spend more time on solving issues relating to violence than being involved in the process of effective teaching. Consequently violence in schools might become a threat to the provision of effective education for children. Current South African research on bullying behaviour tends to follow a linear, individualistic approach as a means to understanding the phenomenon of bullying. Research conducted within the South African context tends to focus on the individual behaviour of children involved in bullying incidents with the need to address the aggressive behaviour of the bully, the need to protect the victim and describing concerns for the bystanders. The concern of such a linear approach is that research does not place enough emphasis on the relationships of members in school communities and the contexts in which bullying behaviour occurs. To address this gap in the knowledge regarding our understanding of bullying behaviour from a relational perspective, the researcher explored the relational experiences of secondary school children who were involved in bullying incidents in three secondary school communities in South Africa. A systemic developmental approach developed by Cairns and Cairns (1991) and adopted by Atlas and Pepler (1998) as well as a complex interactive dynamics systems approach informed this study. The purpose of this study is to contribute to efforts to find solutions to the escalation of bullying behaviour by exploring the relational experiences of children who were involved in bullying incidents in the context of secondary school communities in South Africa. It is anticipated that an exploration of the relational experiences of these children might facilitate a deeper understanding of the dynamics that emerge in the interactions between the various members in school communities and an understanding of how these interactions contribute toward the escalation in bullying behaviour. In order to obtain a deeper understanding regarding the phenomenon of bullying, a qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to explore the relational experiences of children involved in bullying incidents within three secondary school communities. Within the first phase of data collection thirty three participants (between grade 8-11), who were purposely selected, completed a written assignment. The written assignment included a short essay based on their experience of a bullying incident and twenty incomplete sentences that were open-ended in nature. In the second phase of data collection the researcher conducted semi- structured interviews with six of the participants who participated in the first phase of data collection. The semi-structured interviews allowed the researcher to ask further questions to obtain a deeper understanding regarding their relational experiences of bullying incidents in their school community. Based on the responses of the participants, three themes were identified: (1) Relational experiences of interactions between teachers and children based on the experiences of children where they spoke about interactions that suggested reciprocal disrespect between children and teachers, incongruence between teachers and learners, teachers attempting to control the behaviour of children and lack of interest displayed in children by their teachers; (2) Relational experiences of interactions between children that included subthemes of assertion of power to obtain status amongst peers, exclusion based on group membership, competiveness amongst groups and violating the trust of friends; (3) Relational experiences of interactions in conflict situations where participants described their bullying experiences and suggested that teachers display apathy in these forms of conflict situations. The participants also reported that children tend to instigate and reinforce conflict. Learners also often choose to remain silent out of fear for retaliation and that teacher-parent disputes exist regarding the managing of conflict situations between children. The relational experiences of the children assisted to inform our understanding of the interactive dynamics that underpin bullying behaviour. In view of the findings of the study, recommendations are made for practice, policy development and suggestions for future research are also offered. / MA (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Thesis advisor: Michael G. Pratt / The psychology of ownership literature suggests that creation is one of the most powerful processes through which people may come to feel a sense of possession over ideas. Yet, because the task of making a new product is often too large for one individual, ideas are often transferred between, as well as discussed and shaped by, many different people across a range of departments during creative work. Thus, in organizations, shifts in responsibility over ideas are inevitable and the ability for ideas to be shaped by multiple people and successfully move from person to person is critical for organizations. However, we know relatively little about how people, particularly creative workers, respond to changes in responsibility over their ideas. To understand this phenomenon, I conducted an inductive, qualitative study of two teams at a video game design studio, using interviews, weekly diaries, and observations as my data sources. Through grounded theory analysis, I developed theory around how creative workers experience psychological ownership and how this experience is impacted when ideas are handed off between creative workers. Specifically, I describe task characteristics and individuals differences that impact ownership scope (exclusive or shared ownership) and strength. I also delimit outcomes associated with adopting a particular ownership scope for individual creative workers and the collective product. Then, I describe the key psychological conditions that impact how handoffs occur by describing 4 handoff scenarios and the ownership outcomes for both creative workers involved in each scenario. Together these scenarios demonstrate how ownership can be formed, maintained, and changed through social interactions via handoffs. I build on these findings to develop a relational model of ownership which highlights how psychological ownership impacts and is impacted by social interactions and interpersonal relationships. Practically, this research provides insights on how creative workers can experience and manage ownership over ideas in ways that facilitates engagement in creative work, as well as an organization's ability to benefit from the results of creative workers' labor. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Management and Organization.

“A child has been born unto us”, is the most beautiful expression of humankind’s ability to cherish hope and trust for the world, writes Hanna Arendt. She describes how every child’s birth is the beginning of something new, something that the title is intended to emphasise. “Us” in the title also indicates that the child with a functional impairment becomes a public child in a special way. The purpose of this study is to describe the experience of becoming a parent when the child has a functional impairment. The study is based on a relational perspective. The theoreticians whose ideas have been used are, aside from Arendt, also Buber, Stern and Winnicott. In the analysis of the parental narratives, inspiration was taken from Ricoeur in a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Encounters are the themes in this thesis, and have been formulated as encounters with the child, the environment and the professionals. 30 parents (19 mothers and 11 fathers) were interviewed about their experiences of parenthood. The diagnosis of the child’s functional impairment was a chaotic and upsetting situation for the parents. Many strong, different feelings came into play. The parents could feel that they had been “thrown out into space”, and that their future was suddenly taken away from them. The future was what worried them most, and the question that was singled out was “How can we live this life?” Many professionals became involved in the child’s life, which could be both advantageous and disadvantageous for the family. The professionals’ attitudes and advices had a profound influence on the parents. Even though the child became in a sense a public child, the parents also had a feeling of having to carry on a struggle for their child in society, a” struggle of love” demanding the consideration of the child’s potential. Another “struggle of love” initially involved the parents’ own attempts to establish a relationship to the child. Thus there were two “struggles of love”. In their new, hesitant parenthood they had to “find their place in the world” and a way to exist. In their interaction with the child they had two competing figures of mind during the first period, “to be” and “to act”. The grief the parents had felt for the diagnosis could after a while be separated from the child, and it was the child who helped the parents to handle the grief. In the thesis the parents’ experiences are discussed, based on questions confronting them. How playing and training are interrelated is also discussed, as well as the significance of narration and the responsibility of the professionals. These results can be expected to have consequences for special educational work in this field.

This research aims to achieve a better understanding of interventions in the trajectories of practices. It is based on a case study of transport cycling in Santiago de Chile. The research uses a practice approach combined with concepts from Science and Technology Studies in order to explore the practice of transport cycling and examine interventions aimed at increasing the modal share of cycling in Santiago. The research is based on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, participant observation, photography and document analysis. While transport cycling is a recognisable practice in Santiago, it is also the site of several conflicts. The stigmatisation of cycling in its recent history as mode of transport for the most marginalised part of the urban population is challenged by new images of cycling as environmentally-friendly, healthy mode of transport for young professionals. As cycling becomes more popular, conflicts over the location of cycling emerge with motorists as well as pedestrians. Finally, different performances and understandings of cycling have generated conflicts among the urban transport cyclists. By focusing on relations between practices, the research thereby brings to the forefront the contested nature of practices which has so far been underemphasised in practice research. The research then focuses on interventions in the trajectory of urban transport cycling in Santiago, how they are developed and how they take effect. The research identifies two categories of interventions: building practice and growing practice. Building practice is the government-led provision of material infrastructure for cycling, while growing practice is led by civil society and includes a variety of small-scale interventions in the everyday engagement in the practice. The research argues that building practice produces infrastructure which is developed within the dominant system of automobility and is shaped by and reflects the inherent conflicts of the practice. Growing practice interventions are shaped by the core of the community of practice. They do not only provide targeted support for individuals, but more importantly contribute to the creation of a community of practice. This research aims to contribute to practice research by proposing a relational perspective for the analysis of practices, which emphasises five relational dimensions of practice: the individual situated experience of the performance in which meaning is created, the socio-technical system in which the practice is embedded, the relations between co-existing practices which bring to the forefront the contested nature of practices, the material infrastructure which emerges from the socio-technical system and shapes the performance of the practice, and finally the community of practice which constitutes practice and may be able to grow practice.

The widespread and increasing forest degradation in the Amazon contrasts with a range of individual or collective practices developed by local agents, which have the potential to reconcile conservation and local understanding of the quality of life and economic development. The role of women among these initiatives has been overlooked or not well understood.  Therefore, methods are needed that allow their voices and understandings to be centralized. In this thesis, I make use of decolonial and process-relational approaches to do justice to women, as an invitation to a folk science, when addressing questions about their role in landscape stewardship practices in the Amazon. How can these practices contribute in an innovative way to food diversity and biodiversity conservation in the region? What are the processes that can facilitate or restrict women's individual or collective agency?    Women play a crucial role in landscape stewardship. Still, their agency is severely restricted by the ongoing neo-colonial processes, which affects socioecological spaces. However, they have been organizing themselves to overcome obstacles through their local networks. By understanding womenature and their stewardship practices of caring for the land as an indissoluble part of the forest means to understand in depth the tipping points of the Amazon, which are interconnected to the tipping points of its populations. This is a key factor to broaden our understanding of togetherness that can lead to a more equitable and fairer path towards sustainability in and for the Amazon. / A degradação florestal generalizada e crescente na Amazônia contrasta com uma gama de práticas individuais ou coletivas desenvolvidas por agentes locais, que têm o potencial de conciliar a conservação e a compreensão local sobre qualidade de vida e desenvolvimento econômico. O papel das mulheres nessas iniciativas tem sido esquecido ou não é bem compreendido. Portanto, são necessários métodos que permitam que suas vozes e entendimentos sejam centralizados. Nesta tese utilizo abordagens descoloniais e processuais-relacionais para fazer jus às mulheres, como um convite à ciência popular, ao abordar questões sobre seu papel nas práticas de manejo da paisagem na Amazônia; ou como essas práticas podem contribuir de forma inovadora para a diversidade alimentar e conservação da biodiversidade na região?; e quais são os processos que podem facilitar ou restringir a agência individual ou coletiva das mulheres? As mulheres desempenham um papel crucial na gestão da paisagem. Ainda assim, sua agência é severamente restringida pelos processos (neo)coloniais em andamento, nos quais afetam espaços socioecológicos. Porém, eles vêm se organizando para superar obstáculos por meio de suas redes locais. Entender as mulheresnatureza e suas práticas de manejo do cuidado com a terra como parte indissolúvel da floresta significa entender em profundidade os pontos de inflexão da Amazônia, que estão interligados aos pontos de inflexão de suas populações. Este é um fator chave para ampliar nosso entendimento de união que pode levar a um caminho mais equitativo e justo em direção à sustentabilidade na e para a Amazônia.

This study aims to focus on children’s perspectives of the relationship with leisure-time teachers. It aims to show the relationships significance and how the relationships are created and maintained. Semi structured group interviews with 25 children aged 8-9 years on leisure- time centers were conducted. Their stories have been analyzed from a relational perspective. The results show that for a child, a leisure-time teacher can be anything from an adult in the background who maintains order and security in the environment, to an adult who stands relationally close. The children highlight the importance of leisure-time teachers' inclination to care for the child. The leisure-time teachers’ concern can be presented in different ways and children notice if it is genuine. The children's stories are an admonition to today’s leisure- time teachers to reduce the negative interactions that includes reprimands and anger, and to take the time to listen and take the children seriously.

Denna uppsats undersöker hur förskolepedagoger ser på lek i egenskap som observatör och som aktiv deltagare med barnen. Därtill undersöks det hur intersubjektivitet och ett autentiskt lekfullt förhållningssätt kan påverka relationen mellan barn och vuxen, samt hur detta kan ha en inverkan på barnets sociala utveckling och känsla av välbefinnande.  Studien är genomförd med en kvalitativ metod där jag har intervjuat fyra förskollärare i ett förskole-område söder om Stockholm. Analysens teoretiska utgångspunkt är det relationella perspektivet som fokuserar på det mellan- mänskliga och subjektiva i samvaro och samverkan med varandra. Ett av flera fokusområden är att se hur det subjektiva utbytet sker mellan parter, både känslomässigt inom sig men också till andra, via “mellanrummet”. Resultatet visar ett intranät av relationer och åverkansfaktorer som påverkar en pedagogs lekfullhet och hur lek och relation mellan pedagog och barn kan utvecklas och visa sig. Resultatet utifrån pedagogernas perspektiv talar för att barn vill ha och önskar sig lekfulla pedagoger att kunna leka med utöver sina kamrater. Vinningarna blir många för både vuxna och barn. Vuxna får en mer givande arbetsdag och med goda relationer och barnen likaså. Utöver det får barnen en trygg och rolig vistelse på förskolan som i sin tur gynnar barnets sociala och akademiska utveckling. / This essay examines how preschool educators view play as an observer and as an active participant with the children. In addition, the essay investigates how intersubjectivity and an authentic playful approach can affect the relationship between child and adult, and how this can have an impact on the child's social development and sense of well-being. The study was carried out with a qualitative method where I interviewed four preschool teachers at a preschool area south of Stockholm. The theoretical starting point of the analysis is the relational perspective that focuses on the interpersonal and subjective in togetherness and interaction with each other. One of several focus areas is to see how the subjective exchange takes place between parties, both emotionally within themselves but also to others, via the "gap". The results show an intranet of relationships and factors that affect an educator's playfulness and how play and relationship between educator and children can be developed and shown. The results from the educator’s perspective indicate that children want and wish for a playful educators to be able to play with in addition to their peers. The winnings will be many for both adults and children. Adults get a more rewarding working day and good relationships and the children as well. In addition, the children get a secure and fun stay at the preschool, which in turn benefits the child's social and academic development.