The aim of the study is to find out how the characters of Moomin and their relationships to each other might be portrayed from a queer theoretical perspective, as well as how the Moomin characters deviates from normative ideas. The purpose is to gain knowledge of how and if the Moomin books can be used as an educational tool with children as part of the preschool’s work with values. A qualitative analysis has been used to investigate the original books of Moomin. The result of this study indicates that you can use the books of Moomin, due the fact of the variety and the diversity of characters as well as using the characters relationships with each other and to enable a discussion of norms and values. In the analysis the queer perspective was used to highlight characters who were perceived as deviant and not part of the norm. The results showed the possibility of using the books in a preschool’s work with values to encourage knowledge and understanding regarding the equality of all.

Over the past 25 years, health care organization scholars have observed the dramatic emergence of hospital-based clusters in local markets throughout the U.S. These important organizational forms require same-system ownership of multiple general, acute care hospitals operating within a single local market, and as such they include multi-hospital systems that are entirely contained in a single urban market as well as clustered extensions or subsystems of larger regional and national systems. However, despite their noted growth as powerful forces in local markets, relatively few studies have examined these clusters, and as a result there remains a significant gap in our knowledge regarding their continued growth or the diverse components and configurations they may exhibit. This study endeavors to both describe and explain the diversity observed across hospital-based clusters. To fulfill this objective, a national inventory of clusters is updated to reflect cluster membership as of 2012, and a catalog of cluster components – including their hospital-based and non-hospital-based sites – is created, acknowledging that clusters today consist of more than just general, acute care hospitals. Cluster analysis methods are then employed to develop a taxonomy of cluster forms, using a sample of 114 clusters from local markets in Florida, Maryland, Nevada, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. Applying a conceptual framework informed by concepts from contingency theory and strategic management theory, cluster analysis methods yield a five-group solution, which is then externally validated using a multi-theoretical perspective synthesizing arguments from population ecology, institutional theory, industrial organization economics, transaction cost economics, and resource dependence theory. Results from descriptive and multinomial logistic regression analyses identify organizational and environmental factors that are significantly associated with various cluster forms. The study’s results suggest that today’s hospital-based clusters continue to grow and vary according to the dimensions of differentiation-configuration and integration-coordination. These findings provide a foundation for future examinations of hospital-based clusters, including their provision of services within and outside of hospital walls. These results also accentuate the importance of accounting for geographic considerations when examining health care organization forms, and they display the utility and value of employing a multi-theoretical perspective to examine and explain such complex forms.

Många förskoleklasser är ålagda att arbeta med Bornholmsmodellen för att öka den språkliga medvetenheten hos barnen. Forskning visar på att ett tidigt arbete med barns språkliga medvetenhet innan läsinlärningens start har stor betydelse för barns läsinlärning. Med Bornholmsmodellen jobbar man med språklekar för att stimulera barnens språkliga medvetenhet. Syftet med undersökningen är att ta reda på hur Bornholmsmodellen uppfattas av verksamma pedagoger inom två kommuner samt vad dessa anser finns för olika fördelar och nackdelar med metoden. Vidare så undersöks det om Bornholmsmodellen upplevs vara effektiv för barns språkliga medvetenhet och utveckling samt på vilka sätt den anses vara det. Genom arbetets gång undersöktes det även om andra metoder fanns kopplade till Bornholmsmodellen. Metoder för undersökningen har varit intervjuer med åtta informanter från två olika kommuner samt enkäter som besvarats av fyrtiotvå informanter från två olika kommuner. Undersökningen visar att Bornholmsmodellens syfte i att göra barn språkligt medvetna upplevs som framgångsrik. De flesta informanterna anser att Bornholmsmodellen saknar att ge barnen ett sammanhang i undervisningen vilket pedagoger med rätt förutsättningar från kommun och skolledning lyckas skapa genom att använda sig av andra metoder integrerat med Bornholmsmodellen. / Many preschool classes are required to work with a method named Bornholm model to increase the linguistic awareness among children. Research shows that working with children's linguistic awareness in an early stage is of great importance for children's reading skills. With help from the Bornholm model, you work with language games to stimulate the children's linguistic awareness. The aim of the study was to find out how the Bornholm model are being interpreted by active teachers in two municipalities, as well as their thoughts about what different advantages and disadvantages they considered in relation to the method. Furthermore, the results will show if they feel that the method is effective for children's linguistic awareness and development and in what way they feel it is so. The study will also show whether other methods connect to the Bornholm model. Methods of investigation have been interviews with eight informants from two different municipalities as well as questionnaires answered by forty-two informants from two different municipalities. The result shows that the purpose of the Bornholm method in making children become literally aware successfully perceived. The Bornholm method lacks a context integrated in teaching situations, which educators with the right conditions from the municipality and school management succeed in creating through different methods integrated with the Bornholm model.

The study is based on the pre-schools principal's descriptions of their work with language and the multilingualism's developing working methods in learning organizations to promote multilingualism and the language development of and for children in preschool. Social constructionism and Theoretical perspective on learning organizations are the theories in which the study is based, empirical data were collected via four semi-structured interviews. To analyse the empirics, a thematic analysis method was used. The purpose of the study is to investigate and make visible how principals describe the possible multilingualism of preschool activities and language-stimulating teaching strategies. Based on the purpose, two issues were formed; “How do principals in preschool activities describe the supportive working methods of multilingualism based on management level? What possible initiatives and dilemmas can be found when working with multilingualism and language development teaching for preschool children from a perspective on learning organizations according to the principals' description?”. The result led to the following conclusion: That the representatives have a great ability and knowledge regarding language development methods in preschool. It was also made clear in the study that the representatives work towards long-term goals with different strategies and methods as pedagogical leaders. Increased competence and constant development are seen as an asset by the representatives, however, the results showed that the representatives had different views on how educators should acquire increased competence in language as well as multilingual development methods or methods. Another dilemma that stands out in the result was that the representatives do not have the opportunity to make all decisions on their own, but in some situations the administration makes decisions that the representatives do not have the opportunity to influence, which may have a direct or indirect impact on the activity or activities for which the representatives are the principal, which will then have a direct or indirect impact on the children and guardians who have their children enrolled in these activities.

This thesis concerns the changing predispositions and conditions for contemporary meaning-making in school education. From a socio-cultural perspective, multimodal theory formation is used to find suitable tools and concepts for developing teaching and learning. The overall aims are to investigate and conceptualize meaning-making in school in the frame ofmultimodal theory. Firstly, the research questions are concerned with how teachers work with written; paper-based, expository texts, and secondly, with students' meaning-making, working with meaning-offerings from different modes and media. This is followed by questions surrounding the predispositions for a multimodal view in the Swedish curriculum outline. Finally, the consequences for the role of fiction in education, using multimodal theory formation as a framework are addressed. The thesis presents two empirical studies which investigate meaning-making in upper secondary education, followed by critical discussions of the cmTiculum outline and the role of fiction. The empirical data was collected using methods inspired by ethnography in classes taking social sciences and media courses. The analyses were inspired by multimodal research, and the main analytical tools consist of a discourse framework and model inspired by Roz IvaniC, the Leaming Design Sequence developed by Staffon Selander, the wheel of multimodality and the pedagogy of multiliteracies, both developed by the New London Group and Bill Cope and :Mary Kalantzis. The first study focuses on the teachers' perspective in trying to develop students' meaning-making through written, paper-based expository texts. Analyses within the discourse framework and design layer model are used to describe the teachers' practical theory. The wheel ofmultimodality is used to differentiate the meaning-offerings used in class, and the pedagogy of multiliteracies is used to describe and analyze the discussions in groups and with the teacher. Results highlight three major possibilities for working with written, paper-based expository texts: a vvider view on meaning-making, meaning-offerings encompassing several modes and media, and the teacher's modeling ofthe reading through discussion. The second study describes and analyzes meaning-making and design in learning \vith meaning-offerings from different modes and media from the students' perspective. The analytical tools are the wheel of multimodality, the Learning Design Sequence and the further-developed pedagogy of multiliteracies. Results show a similarity in meaning-making regardless of mode and media, staiiing with the visual mode and with the students focusing their efforts on comprehending the meaning-offering. This can be explained by lack of clarity and lack of guidance which are seen as obstacles for learning. The discussions surrounding the curriculum outline and the role of fiction show that, in using a multimodal theory formation frame, the curriculum does not explicitly support a multimodal view on meaning-making and that fiction can not be seen as unique due to neither mode nor media. The results suggest that multimodal theory formation gives access to tools that are useful in developing students' meaning-making according to the predispositions and conditions oftoday, in which reading development is viewed as part of developing meaning-making as a who lei and that meaning-making in school should be based on a non-hierarchical and inclusive view on modes and media to create a readiness and a flexibility to meet demands of a rapidly-changing society. As a consequence, the curriculum outline needs to be reworded and the role of fiction in education needs to be problematized.