The purpose of this dissertation is to find out whether some teachers at the vocational upper secondary schools where we have had our teaching practice are aware of the gender perspective and if/how they implement it in their teaching. The focus of the investigation is to find out to what extent the teachers in question take gender into account when they select texts for their single-sex classes. The aim was to learn about the teachers’ thoughts and views on gender issues as well as learning more about how to work gender consciously in the classroom. Qualitative interviews with seven upper secondary teachers were carried out. The semi-structured interviews we conducted contained guiding questions concerning gender, single-sex classes, material used for teaching. All the interviewed teachers think that gender is a very important question both in school and in society. The majority of the participating teachers do adjust their material with gender as a factor according to the sex of the majority of the class. The teachers emphasized that they also take other factors into account when selecting texts; an important one is the pupils’ course of study and interests.

Från en tidig ålder får barn lära sig att använda positiva tal. De kan lägga ihop två tal och få ett större tal eller dra ifrån ett tal från ett annat för att få ett mindre tal. Till exempel får småbarn lära sig att två plus två äpplen blir fyra äpplen och att om man har tre päron och tar bort två får man ett päron kvar. Man kan på ett konkret sätt se det framför sig. Något som inte är lika självklart är tal som t ex. fyra minus fem. Hur kan man ha fyra päron och dra ifrån fem? Negativa tal dyker sällan dyker upp i vardagliga problem, men det är fortfarande något som lärs ut i skolan. Syftet med arbetet som beskrivs i denna rapport är att undersöka gymnasieelevers uppfattningar om negativa tal och som teoretiskt ramverk används den fenomenografiska ansatsen. För att ta reda på vilka olika uppfattningar elever kan ha intervjuades åtta eleversom går sitt andra år på gymnasiet (och läser Matematik 2b). Undersökningen ämnade svarapå följande frågeställning: Hur uppfattar gymnasieelever negativa tal och vilka strategiersynliggörs i deras beräkningar? Vilka skilda beskrivnings-kategorier om negativa tal går detatt urskilja. En kvalitativ undersökning gjordes av materialet med hjälp av en fenomenografisk analys. Efter analysen gick det att särskilja fem distinkt olika beskrivningskategorier, där alla kategorier, utom den sista, leder till att eleven använder någon form av strategi för att underlätta beräkningar med negativa tal: (1) Minus minus blir plus, (2) Negativa tal förklaras med metaforer, (3) Uträkningar blir lättare om termerna i ett uttryck flyttas om, (4) Negativa tal håller till på andra sidan noll och (5) Upplever en osäkerhet kring negativa tal. Resultatet kan hjälpa matematiklärare förstå de utmaningar elever står inför beräkningar med negativa tal. Exempelvis att eleverna inte tycker det falla sig naturligt eller tillräckligt att beskriva ett tal som negativt, vilket kan bottna i att de är vana att matematik kan förklaras med konkreta exempel. Det är något som matematiklärare borde vara medvetna om. / From an early age we learn to use positive numbers. We can put two numbers together and get a bigger number or subtract a number from another to get a smaller number. For example,young children learn that two plus two apples will be four apples and that if you have three pears and remove two you have one pear left. It is easy to visualize the numbers in front of you. Something that is not as obvious is calculations such four minus five. How can one have four pears and subtract five? Negative numbers rarely appear in everyday problems, but it is still something we are required to learn in school. The purpose of the work described in this report is to examine the upper secondary school pupils' perceptions of negative numbers and as the theoretical framework a phenomenographic approach is used. To find out what different perceptions pupils may have about negative numbers, eight pupils were interviewed. They were all in their second year in upper secondary school and study mathematics at the (Swedish) level 2b. The survey intended to answer the following question: How do upper secondary school students perceive negative numbers and what strategies are made visible in their calculations? What different categories of descriptions about negative numbers can be distinguished? A qualitative study was preformed of the collected material using a phenomenographic analysis. After the analysis, five distinctly different description categories could be distinguished, where all categories, except the last one, results in the student using some form of strategy as help when performing calculations containing negative numbers: (1) Minus minus becomes plus, (2) Negative numbers are explained by metaphors, (3) Calculations become easier if the terms in an expression are moved around, (4) Negative numbers are on the other side zero, and (5) Experience of uncertainty about negative numbers. The results can help math teachers understand the challenges students face when calculating with negative numbers. For example, the pupils do not think it is natural or enough to describe a number as negative, which may be because they are used to mathematics which can beexplained by concrete examples. This is something that math teacher should be aware of.

I dagens gymnasieskola möter elever ofta en utbildning som de inte riktig har förväntat sig. Det ställer krav på utbildaren att hjälpa eleven framåt när eleven upplever att utbildningen inte motsvarar förväntan. Därmed behövs en tydlig dialog där skolan kan förklara utbildningens innehåll, syfte och upplägg. Detta arbete visar på att det är ett problem som behöver hanteras på olika sätt. Även om eleverna i vissa fall upplever att utbildningen är svår så känner de en tillhörighet till sina klasskamrater och till skolan. Denna tillhörighet gör ibland att elever undviker att byta utbildning även om de känner att utbildningen är fel val. Elevernas tillhörighet till skolan och dess identitet är så pass stark att de inte vill lämna den miljön. Genom dialog kan läraren hjälpa eleven att hitta lämpliga strategier för hur de ska överbrygga övergången från grundskola till gymnasiet. Med dialog kan eleverna få en ökad förståelse till varför de läser vissa kurser och vilken strategi som kan vara lämpligast för kursen. Under arbetet med studien framkom att eleverna har problem med övergången från grundskolan till gymnasiet. De allra flesta har möjligheter själva att hantera dennaövergång, antingen genom att de testar sig fram eller så kan familjen ge råd och tips för hurde ska göra. Denna studie har främst fokuserat på de elever som under studiegångenuppvisat tecken på svårigheter att klara studierna och som inte haft den stöttning hemifrån som möjliggjort fokus på utbildningen i sig, snarare än förväntan på utbildningen. / In today’s upper secondary school, students often meet an education they haven’t really expected. This imposes demands on the educational institution to help the students forward when they face an educational situation that creates a conflict between their expectations and the actual education they participate in. This requires a dialogue with the student to explain and give an accurate description of the subjects they study and what they need to fulfil when they participate in the program. This thesis, based on interviews with students participating in a technical program at an upper secondary school, shows that this is a problem that needs to be handled. Despite the fact that the students sense that their educational situation is hard to handle, they still also feel a sense of belonging. This sense of belonging becomes an obstacle for the student to change from the educational system and program they are participating in. The students’ sense of belonging to the school and its identity makes it hard for them to leave the environment and the program they have started. Through dialogue, the teacher can provide strategies for the students to handle their studies and the transfer from elementary school to the upper secondary school. With the dialogue the students receive an increased understanding of why they take some courses and to find the most suitable strategy to handle the program. In this thesis students did confirm that there is a problem with the transfer from elementary school to upper secondary school. Even though most of the time students evolve their own strategies to handle the transfer, either by trial and error or with a family that can provide support. This thesis is mainly focused on the students that are having hard to handle their studies. difficulties to handle their studies and how to use motivation.

The purpose of this study was to explore how teachers and special educators wished to organize education in a Swedish city´s upper secondary school system in order to reach all admitted students. The purpose was also to identify what pedagogical needs of students and school staff that teachers and special educators enquire for in order to fulfil these goals. Presenting the study, its settings, its author, its purpose and research questions, the introduction and background chapters revolve around considerations regarding “a school for all”. Special educational organising principles in the city of inquiry are outlined, as well as special educational perspectives from research and school debate. Dichotomic views on how to reach a school for all are presented. Modern perspectives problematizing and striving to go beyond such dichotomy concludes the background chapter. The research area concerns students’ social and academical goal fulfilment, teachers’ social professional role, and school organization. Outlining these research areas, a sample of six studies, consisting of international and Swedish studies from 1999 to 2020, are presented. Ontologically, a symbolic interactionist perspective in relation to the study’s purpose led to a reflexive approach, using semi-structured interviews and interpretative analysis. Interviews were held with three teachers and two special educators. Several aspects of research ethics were seen as having affected methodological choices and the study as a whole. Reflexive analysis, and theorizing from a symbolic interactionist perspective regarding interview participants intentions, led to results presented under the themes participation, communication, and learning. Several dilemmas appear as possible obstacles in reaching what’s interpreted as intended outcomes. Dilemmas are described with inspiration from Nilholms (2020) description of the Dilemma Perspective. As the results showed several similarities between teachers’ and special educators’ views are, conclusions are presented as a whole. Conclusions mainly show that the participants wish to strengthen the employment of communicative relational practices in school. Similarities with the Communicative Relational Perspective described by Ahlberg (2015) are noted. Dilemmas relating to implementing such practices are viewed in relation to different social and organizational levels. Pedagogical needs intended to be fulfilled are concluded as the need to feel secure, through maintaining personal integrity, mutual respect and reciprocity in teacher-student as well as school staff relationships, to facilitate participation and learning. Suggestions for future research include looking more closely at dilemmas related to achieving “a school for all”, as well as inquiring more directly regarding students’ perspectives and needs relating to the same subject, and performing further studies related to the practices outlined in the Communicative Relational Perspective.

This thesis examines the occurrence of multilingualism in three Swedish educational aids. A both quantitative and qualitative content analysis has been carried out, in order to find out in what way multilingualism is portrayed in the digital educational books, whether it is described as a challenge or not, to what extent multilingualism is mentioned implicitly versus explicitly and last but not least, if emphasis is put on multilingualism connected to words or speakers. Sweden is a multicultural society, with students of different ethnicities, speaking different languages. By carrying this study out, it will show whether these students are included in the teaching materials or not. Results show that the word multilingualism itself is not mentioned explicitly more than four times. Moreover, the educational aids seem to put more emphasis on speakers rather than words. Also, it is made clear that multilingualism does, to some extent, challenge the Swedish language. As for the concept itself, it is mostly described as a phenomenon connected to people who speak more than one language.

Denna uppsats undersöker hur gymnasieelever på estetiska programmets spetsutbildning i musik uppfattar polyrytmiska övningar i ensemble samt eventuella samband mellan polyrytmiska övningar och pulskänsla. Syftet är att få mer kunskap om gymnasieelevers uppfattningar om polyrytmik. Denna uppsats bygger på en kvalitativ studie med inspiration av aktionsforskning och har gjorts med filmade ensembleövningar där förstaårselever på gymnasiet har fått bekanta sig med det polyrytmiska förhållandet 3:4 och därefter intervjuats enskilt. Studien har använt sig av ett fenomenografiskt teoretiskt perspektiv och visar att polyrytmik uppfattas på olika sätt, men att ett renodlat rytmiskt fokus kan stärka rytmisk förståelse, pulskänsla samt i vissa fall samspel. Den visar också i enlighet med tidigare forskning att en binär underdelning är det vanligaste sättet att uppfatta ett polyrytmiskt förhållande. Vidare forskning skulle kunna göras på referensrytmer och specifika instrumentgruppers uppfattningar om polyrytmik för att ge mer kunskap om hur pulskänsla och polyrytmik uppfattas. / This thesis investigates how polyrhythmic practice within music ensemble in cutting edge education in upper secondary school is perceived. It also investigates the connection between rhythmic stability and polyrhythmic studies. The purpose is to get more knowledge about music students’ perception of polyrythmic practice in music ensemble. The research subjects got acquainted with the polyrhythmic ratio of 3:4. The data which consisted of film and one to one interviews with two ensembles was done in a small-scale quality analysis through a fenomenographic theory method. It showed that polyrhythms are perceived in many ways, but that a rhythmic focus can enhance the understanding of complex rhythms, pulse feel and, in some cases, musical interplay. The study confirmed previous research that binary subdivision is the most common way to perceive pulse within polyrhythmic ratios. Further research could be done on reference rhythms and specific instrumentalists’ perception of polyrhythms to further investigate how the sense of pulse and polyrythmic understanding is perceived.

Research shows that there are several benefits that can be extracted from the usage of literature in EFL. The question is which benefits teachers tend to make use of in their classrooms. The present study set out to map upper secondary school teachers’ reflections on the topic of literature in EFL, in general as well as in relation to language learning. The three research questions were to find out (1) teachers’ views regarding opportunities as well as challenges of literature in the EFL classroom, (2) how EFL teachers reason around their own uses of literature in EFL, and lastly, (3) how EFL teachers reflect on literature in relation to language learning. The data was collected from semi-structured interviews with three teachers. The study found that, overall, the teachers viewed literature as an important part of EFL partly because it can be utilized to acquire tools for literary analysis, to learn about the world, to create a basis for discussion about difficult topics and lastly, to develop language proficiencies.

I den här studien undersöks schemaläggningsprocesser i gymnasieskolan. Schemaläggning i skolan är en komplex verksamhet som har stor påverkan på lärares arbetsvillkor och elevers förutsättningar för lärande. Därför är det av stor betydelse att schemaläggningen håller hög kvalitet. Till följd av skolreformer på 1990-talet decentraliserades beslutsfattandet över schemaläggningen. Decentraliseringen ställer stora krav på enskilda skolors ansvarstagande, vilket innebär att lokala förutsättningar får stor betydelse för schemaläggningens resultat. Det är därför av intresse att undersöka vilka faktorer som främjar skolors schemaläggning. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka villkor som behöver uppfyllas för attschemaläggningsprocessen i en gymnasieskola ska vara effektiv. Effektiva schemaläggningsprocesser definieras med utgångspunkt från tidigare schemaläggningsforskning. Studien har genomförts i form av en flerfallsstudie där två komparativt utvalda gymnasieskolor undersökts och jämförts. Intervju användes som datainsamlingsmetod och data analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Faktorer som påverkar och begränsar schemaläggningsprocesserna kunde på så sätt identifieras. Med utgångspunkt ifrån en jämförelse av resultaten från de båda fallen föreslogs fyra villkor som möjliggör effektiva schemaläggningsprocesser i gymnasieskolan. Två av dessa villkor behandlar hur schemaläggarens arbete bör struktureras: Schemaläggaren bör använda strategier för att hantera begränsande faktorer i schemaläggningen och schemaläggningsarbetet bör fokuseras på dess kärnuppdrag. De övriga två behandlar de strukturella förutsättningarna för schemaläggning: Skolan behöver ha stabilt elevunderlag och undervisningsgrupperna på skolan bör vara utformade på ett sätt som stödjer schemaläggningen. / In this study, timetabling processes in Swedish upper secondary schools were examined. School timetabling is a complex activity, with a great impact on working conditions for teachers and pupils’ learning conditions. Hence, it is of great importance that the timetabling is of high quality. As a result of the Swedish educational reforms in the 1990’s, timetabling decision-making was decentralized. This places great demands on responsibility of individual schools, which implies that local conditions are of great significance for the outcomes of timetabling. It is therefore of interest to examine the factors that promote school timetabling. The purpose of this study is to investigate the conditions that need to be fulfilled to ensure the efficacy of the timetabling process in an upper secondary school. Effective timetabling processes are defined based on previous research on school timetabling. The study has been conducted as a multiple case study, in which two comparatively chosen upper secondary schools were examined and compared. Interviews were used for data collection and data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. In this way, factors that influence and constrain the timetabling processes could be identified. Based on a comparison of the results from both cases, four conditions were suggested that render timetabling processes effective. Two of the conditions deal with work structure of timetablers: Timetablers should apply strategies to handle timetabling constraints and the timetabling should be focused on its main task. The other two conditions deal with structural features necessary for effective timetabling: The school needs a stable pupil population and the class composition should be organized in a way that supports timetabling.

This qualitative study investigates the reasons behind three upper-secondary English teachers’ choices regarding suitable fiction for their students, how they engage students in reading, and what they think motivates students to read. It also investigates eight students’ motivation toward reading. This study also aims to provide some insight into how the criteria behind the reading lists can be adapted to stimulate the students’ interest in reading. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with the teachers and students, respectively. The results of this study suggest that one possible way to increase motivation for reading is the use of different genres and methods.

I denna studie har gymnasieelevers självförtroende i relation till tal i svenskämnet undersökts med ett genusperspektiv. Syftet med studien var att öka kunskapen kring manliga och kvinnliga elevers självförtroende och självkritik i olika talsituationer i klassrummet samt att belysa och problematisera könsspecifika mönster. Studien var kvalitativ och använde fokusgruppsintervjuer som metod. Materialet har analyserats med hjälp av kritisk diskursanalys och genussystemteorin. I resultatet urskiljs fem diskurser; (1) kompetensdiskurs, (2) prestationsdiskurs, (3) dikotomisk könsdiskurs, (4) maskulinitetsdiskurs och (5) nervositetsdiskurs. Därtill visade resultatet att inom diskurserna konstruerar eleverna sig själva och sina klasskamrater som både kompetenta och inkompetenta talare i ett komplext nät av olika konflikterande genuskontrakt och diskurser. / In the present study, the self-esteem of pupils at upper secondary school was explored in regard to speech contexts in first language studies. Moreover, it was studied with a gender perspective. The aim of the study was to increase knowledge of male and female students’ self-esteem and self-criticism in different speech contexts in the classroom and to shed light on and problematize specific gender patterns. The study was qualitative and used focus group interviews as a method. The material was analyzed with critical discourse analysis combined with a gender perspective. In the results, five discourses were identified: (1) a discourse of competence, (2) a discourse of performance, (3) a dichotomous gender discourse, (4) a masculinity discourse and finally (5) a discourse of nervousness. Furthermore, the results showed that within the discourses, students construct themselves and their peers as competent and incompetent speakers simultaneously in a complex web of different and conflicting gender roles and discourses.