In the Swedish preschool curriculum, technology education is emphasized as one of the most significant pedagogical areas. Particularly, the teacher’s role is emphasized: It is the preschool teacher’s responsibility to stimulate and challenge children’s interest in science and technology. Unfortunately, prior research indicates that preschool teachers feel uncertain about what technology is and the extent of their knowledge on the topic. Based on the path–goal theory, this article will explore how preschool teachers’ knowledge of technology influence how they act toward children in different learning activities. Using a qualitative research design, this study collected data comprising 15 interviews with preschool teachers. The result provide insights for how teachers limited knowledge in technology influence their leadership behavior toward children both in planned activities initiated by teachers and in unplanned activities initiated by children during free play. The core of how teachers’ knowledge in technology influences their leadership behavior in these two types of activities is their ability to deal with children’s why questions. The results also show that a compensatory approach becomes evident in teachers’ leadership behavior toward children in planned activities and that an avoidance approach is evident in unplanned activities. Our findings suggest that the development of a problem-solving approach in unplanned activities could enable teachers to create learning environments for children in which technology becomes something natural. Moreover, enhanced knowledge and understanding of technology will in turn make teachers better able to explain and clarify concepts and various technical phenomena.

The lack lustre performance of Swedish compulsory schoolsover the past few decades does not need to define its future.As this report will show, the main challenges facing the Swedisheducation system do not stem from a lack of resources.The effective implementation of research based innovationsand improvements in organization could tackle many of thesystemic weaknesses in the education system, thereby ensuringa brighter future. By addressing existing difficulties in theteaching and delivery of the curriculum and ensuring pupilswho are at risk are able to flourish, learning outcomes will beimproved. This, in turn, will reduce inequality, thereby improvingthe life-opportunities of young people and maintaining thehigh standard of living enjoyed in Sweden.

Little empirical evidence is available on what drives young people to engage in higher education. Such knowledge is crucial in order to motivate students to make the most of their potential. This study surveyed a total of 294 Swedish high school students. The result shows that intentions play a mediating role between students' attitudes and the performance levels they achieve. Our results contribute to existing literature by showing that attitudes link to young people's intentions, and intentions subsequently associate with performance behavior. The findings provide guidance on how to foster students' grade performance in school.

The aim of this study was to investigate how the heads of preschool govern teaching in practice through systematic quality work. In the new Swedish Education Act, which came into force on 1 July 2011, the mission of preschools changed because teaching was introduced as a new concept, and preschool teachers were now responsible for teaching. Swedish National Agency for Inspection report that there is a lack of how the concept of teaching is used in preschools. Heads of preschool are crucial for implementing teaching, and a valuable tool for their governing is the systematic quality work which they also are responsible for. This study collected data comprising 120 systematic quality reports from preschools in Sweden, and by text analysis, we explored how the heads of preschool used the concept of teaching. The results showed an absence of governance and management among the heads of preschool concerning teaching and when teaching is used, it was mainly according to the development of all staff competencies and to the concept of variation in teaching. This indicates that the heads of preschool govern the practice in a way that made preschool teachers responsible for teaching invisible.

Students’ educational motivation is significant for performance and achieving learning, but little is known about what fuels such motivation. Educational motivation is regarded as the drive and inner state that energise educational activities, facilitate learning and channel behaviour towards achieving educational goals. Educational motivation paves the way for students to learn and acquire the knowledge that is essential for successful study outcomes. This article aims to explore what determines students’ educational motivation. Building on the self-determination theory, we modelled the influence of teachers’ leadership and students’ self-efficacy on students’ educational motivation. We used survey data from a sample of upper secondary school students in Sweden; we received a total of 993 answers, equal to a response rate of 74%. The results show that students’ self-efficacy and teacher leadership are of extreme importance for students’ educational motivation, and that highly efficacious students lose most educational motivation when the teacher’s leadership is poor. The results thus support the importance of teachers’ leadership for encouraging student learning.

Teachers’ leadership plays a critical and central role in students’ educational motivations. This indicates that, in the school context, a teacher’s leadership can have both positive and negative impacts on students’ educational motivation and performance. This article explores these assumptions, building on the path-goal theory, more specifically the effects of teachers’ leadership from students’ perspectives. Using a qualitative research design, this study collected data comprising 35 interviews with children and young people in both primary and upper-secondary school. The results show that the degree of teachers’ developmental leadership greatly affects students’ educational motivation and school performance. Two contrasting teachers’ profiles were found: teachers with a high degree of developmental leadership and teachers with a low degree of developmental leadership. Our findings suggest that teachers with the profile of a high degree of developmental leadership create an environment that fosters educational motivation positively among students, facilitating students’ achievement of high performance levels and a sense of well-being about their studies. In contrast, we show that teachers with a low degree of developmental leadership create an environment that is nonconductive for educational motivation, performance or the welfare of schoolwork.

The purpose of this article is to describe, explore and discuss whether meeting places for youth such as youth clubs support their citizenship in terms of gender equality, influence and participation. The following questions were of interest; what is the overall aim of the local councils regarding these clubs and meeting places? What kind of activities do they offer and what kind of citizenship do they support? The result shows that these places are more attractive to boys than to girls. Furthermore, these meeting places can, if developed, be places for the development of youth citizenship from the perspective of integration, gender equality and participation.

The purpose of this article is to describe, explore and discuss whether meeting places for youth such as youth clubs support their citizenship in terms of gender equality, influence and participation. The following questions were of interest; what is the overall aim of the local councils regarding these clubs and meeting places? What kind of activities do they offer and what kind of citizenship do they support? The result shows that these places are more attractive to boys than to girls. Furthermore, these meeting places can, if developed, be places for the development of youth citizenship from the perspective of integration, gender equality and participation.

Sluta hora med bollen, du är väl ingen tjej heller?! Platsen har visat sig ha en särskild betydelse för hur kön görs i skolan utifrån hur benämningar som hora och kärring används. Idrotten, med dess olika aktiviteter som erbjuds där, tycks vara den plats i skolmiljön där benämningarna används mest frekvent. Men man kan ställa sig frågan,har verkligen benämningar som hora och kärring betydelse när flickor och pojkar gör kön?

Syftet med studien är att beskriva och analysera hur femininiteter och maskuliniteter görs i skolvardagen. Ett särskilt fokus riktas mot hur benämningar som hora och kärring används men även till viss del hur flickor genom andra språkliga och kroppsliga handlingar gör femininiteter i relation till varandra. En teoretisk utgångspunkt för studien är det social konstruktionistiska perspektivet där kön ses som någonting som görs och där individer är aktiva agenter i denna process. Raewyn Connells teoretiska ramverk har använts. Connell argumenterar där för att skolan är både en institutionell agent som bidrar till att skapa genus och som en arena där unga iscensätter, förstärker eller omförhandlar femininitet och maskulinitet. En viktig utgångspunkt i teorin är att det existerar multipla femininiteter och maskuliniteter som konstrueras både inom och mellan könen i en hierarkisk ordning. På lokal nivå kan detta studeras i form av genusregimer. Connell menar att dessa genusregimer oftast varierar och ser olika ut på lokal nivå mellan till exempel olika skolor, men kan både överensstämma med och avvika från samhällets övergripande genusordning.Det empiriska materialet som avhandlingen bygger på baseras på en etnografisk metod där fältanteckningar och deltagande observation använts som datainsamlingsmetod i tre år fem klasser på tre olika skolor i en medelstor svensk kommun. Åldern på eleverna var mellan 11-12 år. De tre skolorna ligger i skilda bostadsområden inom tätorten. En skola ligger i ett bostadsområde som i hög utsträckning bebos av arbetarfamiljer och de två andra skolorna ligger i medelklassområden. Studiens huvudsakliga resultat visar att kön, femininiteter och maskuliniteter kontinuerligt görs i skolvardagen. Platsen, kamratgruppen och aktiviteten har stor betydelse för hur benämningarna används. I denna process är makt och hierarki centrala komponenter både mellan som inom könen. Till skillnad från Connell, som menar att genusregimer oftast varierar lokalt, visar den här studien likheter snarare än skillnader mellan de tre skolorna.

Syftet med studien var i huvudsak att undersöka vilka attityder och uppfattningar om läraryrket som finns bland företrädesvis gymnasiestuderande samt undersöka vilka faktorer de anser styra människors val av yrkesutbildningar. De undersökningsmetoder som användes var frågeformulär och intervjuer till gymnasiestuderande i "Fyrkantenområdet", det vill säga Luleå, Boden, Piteå och Älvsbyn. Vidare intervjuades ett antal nyligen utexaminerade yrkesverksamma lärare samt ett antal officerare på väg att omskola sig till lärare. Slutsatserna av studien är att de gemensamt anser att läraryrket är ett viktigt yrke och för de allra flesta, särskilt bland gymnasiestudenterna, uttrycker att läraren är en viktig person under deras skoltid. De anser också att lönen är en viktig orsak till svårigheterna att rekrytera lärare, och att läraryrket har låg status i förhållande till andra yrken. Vidare är det en samstämmig uppfattning att medias rapportering av skolan är alltför negativ. Det svartmålas för mycket och positiva som trots allt finns får sällan utrymme.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the topic in my thesis: girls` and boys` interaction in school, focussing on their language use. An important starting point for the thesis is a pilot study, an interview with girls at an intermediate level. It shows that the girls interpret the boys to be setting up the agenda for their behaviour. My recent ethnographic study, however reveals a different scenario. A participant observation study in three different classes over a period of six weeks, shows that both girls and boys use a sexualised language. Boys use it in public addressing both girls and boys, mostly in situations where performance and competition are central. Girls use it mostly when addressing others girls in private rooms. These observations even show that when girls are together, they set up an agenda for themselves for their behaviour as well as for what kind of clothes and make-up to wear.