The aim is to describe and analyse physiotherapeutic learning through formal education and professional experience. The investigation focuses on the students' ways of experiencing the concepts of Health, Movement, Function and Interaction. Two groups of physiotherapy students at the Faculty of Health Sciences in Linköping, Sweden, were interviewed on two occasions respectively. The interviews were carried during the second and last term of the formal programme and after 18 months of professional experience. Data were analysed according to the phenomenographic approach and to the principles of contextual analysis. The students' conceptions varied qualitatively, but an analysis of the internal relationships between the concepts revealed that the most common perspectives after completing the formal education were consistently holistic or mixed. This pattern was also most common after 18 months of professional work. The subjects' ways of experiencing the Interaction within a patient encounter were described in four main categories; Mutuality, Technicalism, Authority and Juxtaposition. Mutuality and Technicalism denoted an integration of the communicative and problem-solving processes, the former category from a patient-centred and the latter from a physiotherapist-centred perspective. Authority and Juxtaposition denoted a separation of the processes, the former from a physiotherapist-centred perspective and the latter from a patient-centred perspective. Both separated and integrated perspectives were common after completing the formal education. After 18 months of professional practice the Mutuality category dominated.

This thesis explores the subject of identity development during late adolescence (16-20 years). Three questions were asked, each related to one domain of interest; a) how do adolescents perceive and describe themselves (adolescents' self-concept), b) what do they consider important in their lives (adolescents' existential questions), and, c) how do they describe their contacts with adult people (adolescents' contacts with adults)? The thesis includes three studies and uses a multimethodological approach, comprising interviews, a personality inventory, sentence-completion tasks and questionnaires.

The results can be summarized as follows. The majority of the respondents had a positive view of themselves. An inconsistent self-concept was related to a number of negative factors. Existential questions mainly concerned one's personal future. Most respondents felt the need of adults in their lives, primarily due to adults' experience and knowledge.

The main conclusions can be summarized in four points. First, identity development during late adolescence needs to be discussed in terms of processes of integration. This term emphasizes continuity and interaction, rather than autonomy and separation, terms that have dominated this field for a long time. Second, identity development during late adolescence can be illustrated by means of expanding circles. The centre is constituted by the adolescent's picture of her/himself (i.e., personal integration), whereas the periphery consists of the adolescent's picture of her /himself in relation to other people and society at large (i.e., social integration). Third, lack of personal integration at this age level signals an undesirable developmental process. Fourth, adolescent - adult interaction is one important factor in relation to social integration. Here the adolescent learns to develop her /his interactional skills in order to regulate and balance her /his own life space in relation to others'. However, the results also suggest that opportunities for social interaction between adolescents and adults outside their families are insufficient and need to be improved.

The aim of the present thesis was to investigate how individual memory potential in different tasks is affected by collaboration in social settings. Collaborative group dimensions were also studied: friendship, age, and gender. The principal comparison was between an actual collaborative dyad and the sum of the two individuals' memory potential, i.e., the predicted potential. It was shown, in five studies, that two individuals can not cue each other effectively enough to reach their predicted potential, i.e., negative net effects of collaboration were demonstrated. The widespread feeling of a group superiority is therefore wrong. This effect held true for explicit and episodic memory tasks, but not for semantic and implicit tasks, across materials. Furthermore, collaboration at encoding and retrieval reduced the effectiveness of the cue and the reduced cue effectiveness hypothesis gained support in further tests. Friends, as opposed to non-friends, were shown to possess an ability to reduce the negative net effects of  collaboration. In addition, if the participants (old as opposed to young children) could take their partner's perspective, a reduction of the negative net effects occurred, i.e., the reciprocal understanding hypothesis was supported. It is suggested that young children's lack of perspective-taking ability reduces their possibility to cue each other as effectively as older children. Finally, negative net effects occurred for collaborative dyads regardless of gender constellation. Generally, the data pattern suggests that cognitive theory can explain how individual memory performance is influenced by collaboration. There is (a) a selectivity in the size of the negative net effect with respect to type of memory task and type of dyadic relationship, and (b ), there is a generality of the effect across task materials and gender. Thus, (a) and (b) replicate, extend, and further deepen our understanding of this counter-intuitive phenomenon.

The focus of this thesis is on hearing-impaired students in higher education. The following problem are formulated: How can one understand the interaction between hearing-impaired students and the academic and social environment of higher education, including the individual student's prerequisites and possibilities as regards higher education, and in what forms? The thesis consists of a study based on the perspective of 11 hearing-impaired students. A combination of several data sources were used. Verbatim transcribed thematized interviews were analysed. In order to understand the action itself, participant observation, video recordings and stimulated recall were used in addition to text interpretations.

The results shows that the impairment in itself was not a determining factor as regards success in University studies. Nor was it possible to discern any connection between communication ability and the results achieved in University studies. It was also not possible to determine whether a person with a congenital hearing-impairment would be less successful in University studies than persons whose hearing was impaired later in childhood. There existed a complex integration problem which meant that considerable effort was often needed to conform to the hearing University world. The study shows how the problem of hearing is both situationally and culturally related as well as being determined by the goals of the hearing-impaired person. A number of obstacles to success were identified. These could arise as an effect of (i) independent study coupled to lectures, (ii) integration problems in conjunction with different types of group activities, (iii) time coupled to pace and efficiency and (iv) marginal contact with teachers/lecturers in many disciplines. The hearing-impaired students had conceptions of what was regarded as a problem, what was seen as a legitimate demand and what were fundamental values in the worlds of persons with and without impaired hearing, respectively. A comparison of the different conceptions of these worlds revealed underlying explanations of why obstacles arose in the encounters between hearing-impaired students and the hearing world of higher education

N F S Grundtvig, 1783-1872, was the founder of the folkhögskola, ("Folk High School", Residential colleges of general, liberal education for adolescents and adults), but he also was a pastor, a poet, and a historian. The dissertation presents an overview of Grundtvig's pedagogical thoughts, including his ideas of both the folkhögskola and a Nordic University. The dissertation's main purpose is to clarify the meaning of the concept of livsupplysning (Life enlightenment).

Grundtvig's point of departure is his view that life is embedded in the spoken word of dialogues, songs, folk tales, folk songs and proverbs. What, then, constitutes a Text that Enlightens Life? What are its characteristics? What is its nature? How is it composed? On the basis of deconstructive reading, some of Grundtvig's central pedagogical texts are interpreted. The dissertation demonstrates what characterizes a Text that Enlightens Life, and how Grundtvig uses different rhetoric patterns to express what is meant by Life Enlightenment.

The reading brings forward the two strategies of Reversal and Dislocation. The Reversal clarifies the three fundamental opposites Life and Death, Light and Darkness, Truth and Lie. The Dislocation strategy indicates the need to create maximal växelverkan (interaction, interchange). The outcome is a text built upon ambiguity and pluralism. These are also fundamental in Grundtvig's pedagogy, striving to engender a deep understanding of the meaning of Life Enlightenment.

I en lärande organisation förnyas ständigt medarbetarnas kompetens. Den erbjuder mångfald och djup som integreras med det dagliga arbetet. Vi måste lära oss hur lärprocesserna går till och sedan påbörja ett kontinuerligt lärande.

Lärande är att vara med och utvecklas, mogna, växa och att ständigt fånga tillfället till lärande. Det centrala i en ledarroll blir att skapa goda förutsättningar och ett tillåtande klimat för detta.

Kompetens och lärande är idag angelägna frågor för många företag och förvaltningar. 1990 var situationen en annan när Arbetslivsinstitutets (tidigare Arbetsmiljöfondens) program för Lärande organisationer, L-programmet, startade. Programmet har under fem år gett stöd till ett 35-taql arbetsplatsprojekt som prövat nya arbetssätt för att förbättra lärandet i arbetet.

Metoder, pedagogik och lärprocesser som är intressanta presenteras nu i ett antal skrifter och rapporter som kan rekvireras från Arbetslivsinstitutets Förlagstjänst.

The research reported is an experimental study on the effects of intensified education of parents of children with amblyopia on their understanding of the nature of the disease, its origins and treatment. Parents in the control group were exposed to the ordinary information provided at two departments of pediatric ophtalmology, whereas parents in the experimental group, attending the same clinics, were asked to read a booklet aiming at enhancing their understanding of the meaning of amblyopia and amblyopia-related phenomena. Before these measures were taken, all parents were interviewed about their conceptions of amblyopia, strabismus and the treatment. Data were generated in single subject, semi-structured, in-depth interviews which were taped and transcribed in extenso. The interviews were analysed according to the phenomenographic approach. Parallel to the interviews the subjects had also filled out a questionnaire assessing general and specific attitudes towards disease and treatment (the Health Belief Model). After an interval of 6 - 8 months, these measures with the parents were repeated. Compliance with the regimen were measured after 18 months of treatment through the development of visual acuity of the children. Visual acuity was tested by methods suitable for the age of the child. The results of the study reveal a superior understanding among parents in the experimental group. This means that they have a deeper insight into the field of amblyopia and its treatment than the control group. The experimental group had also changed attitudes towards disease and treatment in a direction that would favour compliance more than the control group. The most interesting finding in this study is the significant relationship between the parents' knowledge about amblyopia and its treatment and compliance as measured through development of visual acuity. It is also emphasised that health care personnel would profit from being aware of the nature of common misconceptions of diseases and their treatment, in the sense that they would be better prepared for entering instructional dialogues with patients or, in this case, other persons responsible for the management of prescriptions provided.

This thesis focuses on the Swedish folk high school and the work of this type of school in the practical and artistic subject sector. This sector is defined to comprise the subjects history of art, drawing, and male and female craft education. The overall aim is to describe the status of these subjects in the folk high school and what traces the way the folk high school has handled its freedom has left in the subject activities. The study describes the relationship between the subject group and other folk high school activities and how the subject work has taken shape and developed as to organisation and design and what it is that has influenced this development. Elements from comtemporary public discussions on culture and education, if there are any in the subject activities, have also been dealt with. Restrictions as to time have been made by a concentration of the investigation on the situation in the folk high school and the practical and artistic subject group during five school years viz. the school years 1900-1, 1928-9, 1960-1 and 1978-9. The activity of some separate schools during theses periods have been described in close-ups. For each of the four periods the working conditions in this type of school, this subject group and some separate schools have been described.

The main object of study of this investigation has been written documents (articles in magazines, annual reports, minutes, teachers' records) which the folk high school actors have produced. For the handling of this historical source material I have applied a functional concept of source. I have also referred to theories in the area of culture and education.

Of the practical and artistic subjects the two craft education subjects existed during four, and history of art and drawing during three of the periods. The distribution of courses in the subjects was uneven and meant that some subjects had many and other subjects no elements at all. It was characteristic of the distribution that the practical and artistic activities were separated from the winter courses (the general courses) and were concentrated to special courses  During the 1970 period these courses had a considerable increase in numbers. In its large and free scope for lessons the folk high schools gave priority to qualifying subjects. Room was seldom left for the practical and artistic subjects. Typical for teachers of the subject group was that they, to a large extent, had temporary terms of employment.

During the studied periods the subject activities lacked elements from the contemporary cultural debate. The subject work in the history of art was carried out in the same unaltered manner. Male and female craft education was changed as to content but retained a similar methodological direction. Drawing, on the other hand, changed both as to content and methods. In the area of pedagogic there were methodological impulses from the externally recruited teachers who introduced working methods from other educational institutions.

The relationship between these subjects and other folk high school activities and other organisational circumstances have been of decisive influence for the design and development of this subject group. These circumstances have interacted and resulted in a weak subject debate, a heterogenous teaching-staff and a weak subject identity 

Some pilots cause accidents while others do not. Could this difference be related to training outcome? If so, an instrument for predicting flight safety ability could be developed. The training requires an effective system with efficient predictive ability related to Human Factors in terms of flight safety ability.

The main objective was to study the relationships between students' results on written examinations and flight tests and flight safety ability, by comparing accident pilots with non-accident pilots. The population consists of civil pilots trained in Sweden during the period between 1971 and 1981. Their flight activities were followed until 1983. Individuals in the accident sample were self-selected by their accident. Non-accident pilots were selected by random sampling.

Statistically significant differences were observed. The accident group performed worse than the non-accident group in the prediction variables, consisting of the separate subjects: regulations, meteorology, navigation, aerodynamics and aircraft/powerplant, (p<0,05 or lower), and the number of rewritten examinations, (p<O,O 1 ). Differences in the number of comments in flight tests were also found, (p<0,05). Multivariate analysis revealed that only 6 percent of the variance in the criterion variable was explained. Discriminant analysis gave correct classification for more than 60 percent of the accident group.

An attitude investigation was also made among a group of original participants. No significant differences between the groups were found. One observation is that more individuals in the accident group mentioned the use of the aeroplane for travelling purposes as an important reason for acquiring a licence, while the other group mentioned hobby aspects.

Parallel to the study a new training system was developed concerning objectives and completion standards. My work suggests that predictive ability is important to create. Another consequence of my work is the need for another view of knowledge including Human Factors. Changes from measuring knowledge at low taxonomic levels are required in favor of qualitative knowledge measured by process evaluations.

The aim of the present thesis was to study if and how emotions in facial expressions affect speechreading performance. Speechreading is the understanding of spoken messages by watching the speaker's lips, taking facial expressions and situational cues into account. The content of the spoken message and knowledge about the situation where these messages belong (i.e., the script) were also studied. It was shown, in four studies, that congruence between the script and the content of the sentence, and congruence between the content of the sentence and the facial expression, enhanced speechreading performance. It was also shown that a happy facial expression improved speechreading performance. This was found in a happy script but also when the script was neutral and when no script information was presented. The implications from the studies were discussed in relation to current speech perception models. A framework for visual speechreading of emotional sentences was presented. The framework consists of three parallel streams of information processing, a script stream, an emotional content stream and a facial expression stream. Two processes, a perceptual analysis of the lip movements and an on-going checking process of the script and the facial expression are also part of the framework. If the perceptual analysis fits with the facial expression, the emotional signal, and the knowledge activated from the script, comprehension is optimized and the speechreading is successful.

The primary aim of this thesis is to contribute to an increased understanding of the information utilisation process through studying impeding process determinants, information barriers, and how they might be tackled by pedagogical means. This would be attained by studying the information situations of small-company managers. Three broad questions were to be answered by means of the project: Which barriers are perceived as obstructing the information utilisation of the managers studied? How is information utilisation affected by these barriers? Can barriers be eliminated or minimised by pedagogical means?

An interactional, cognitive approach to the problems serves as a broad theoretical construct of the study. The effects of barriers on an individual's information utilisation is seen as a dynamic interaction between the environment and the organism in terms of the user's cognitive system and the information barriers he encounters in an information setting.

The study uses a qualitative approach within the tradition of action research. Case studies were made of the information situations of twenty-three managers from small manufacturing wood and mechanical industries. The project comprises: (a) diagnosis (in-depth interviews) focusing on barriers to information utilisation, (b) planning and implementation of an educational intervention focusing on how to minimise barriers, ( c) evaluation of the intervention (interviews) to ascertain its effects, and (d) follow-up study (in-depth interviews) after several years. The results are described in terms of antecedent, process and outcome variables.

Perceived information barriers are analysed at the individual, organization and society levels. The results indicate that information utilisation reflects both person and situation. The individual's, the manager's, information utilisation behaviour is based on and controlled by his perceptions of the information situation at hand and memory representations from the past. It is shown that, mediated by motivational and other affective states, the quality of these representations, of which perceived information barriers are important constituents, guide his information utilisation behaviour. Different utilisation profiles and styles of action illustrate this fact.

The results further indicate that educational measures seem to be a feasible way of minimizing certain barriers. It is also shown that, as the information environment continues to change, there is need for a stable structure of support in order to bring about lasting changes. This study points to the possibility of breaking information barriers through information literacy. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are suggested.

This study departs in the question of what teachers really know. In cooperation with practising teachers I have investigated the knowledge that teachers develop and use in their daily work. The aim is to interpret, understand and portray this largely unformulated knowledge. From a pragmatic and interactionist perspective, the concepts teacher knowledge, teacher person and teacher practice are formulated in the study. The empirical part of the study investigates how the teachers express their knowledge in words and in actions. The outcome is interpreted in relation to teacher knowledge at a general level and the teacher's knowledge at a contextual level.

In the study a qualitative and interpretive perspective is used. Ten teachers were interviewed and the material is accounted for in teacher portraits. Further, four teachers were observed and this material was portrayed in the form of school photographs. The two sets of data were combined, and the knowledge expressed in words and actions by the four teachers is, together with each teacher's specific knowledge, described in condensed form.

The variation and the consistency in the teachers' expressed knowledge are regarded as the major results of the study. My contributions to teacher research are, thus, a presentation of central concepts in the form of thick descriptions, a diversification of the concept pedagogical tact, in relation to person and practice, and discovery of a consistency between words and actions. The results are unexpected and challenge research which sets out to describe the teacher's knowledge, teacher culture, and teachers' classroom behaviour in general terms. The results should be viewed in relation to changes in the social context and in the control of schools. In a pluralistic society where responsibilities are decentralized the teachers' task can be described in terms of coercion of action and interpretation. A diverse teacher knowledge has its rational base in a multiform school where teachers are faced with the demand to interpret and handle the conditions for the performance of their own work.

This study deals with how goal steering is perceived and experienced at intermediate levels in two organizations, a private firm and a public administration. More specifically, the following three questions are posed: Firstly, how do middle managers perceive and experience goal steering in relation to: (a) what the goals are and what functions they perform; (b) involvement in the formulation and detailed specification of goals in the organization; (c) control of the activity; (d) evaluation of the achievement of goals in terms of the results obtained. Secondly, what possible similarities and differences are to be found between the two cases on the point of how middle managers perceive and experience goal steering, and how can these similarities and differences be interpreted and explained. Thirdly, how do the empirical results compare with the normative models and theoretical perspectives applied and with previous research on goal steering and managerial work. In this study, goal steering is examined from the point of view of three different perspectives addressing three different ways of looking at organized activity, namely a rationalistic perspective, a learning perspective and an institutional perspective. Consequently, organizational theory are, together with theories of and research on managerial work, used as a theoretical framework for the study.

The empirical results show that goal steering can be difficult to put into practice. The picture of goal steering which emerges in this case study can be elucidated by means of the concepts of hierarchy, involvement and the effect of random factors. The findings of the study show that there are more similarities than differences between the two cases on the point of how goal steering is perceived and applied at the middle management level. A question posed above was whether different perspectives of organizational theory could contribute to an increased understanding of how middle managers perceive and work with goal steering. One conclusion that can be drawn from the results is that the phenomenon of goal steering means different things in different theoretical presentations, something else at the ideological level in the organizations studied and something different again in practical action.

Denna uppsats är skriven i syfte att kunna användas av såväl studenter som handledare/lärare när de samarbetar kring en uppsats eller en avhandling. Än så länge har inte det vetenskapliga samhället kunnat dra en tydlig gräns mellan uppsats- och avhandlingshandledning. Detta trots att avhandlingsarbetet tar längre tid att genomföra. Områdets karaktär av att inte ha någon klart urskiljbar kunskapsbas har därmed öppnat för det sätt på vilken översikten är skriven. I översikten används oftast begreppen uppsats och student även om de i de flesta fall kan bytas ut mot avhandling och doktorand. Det övergripande syftet har varit att skriva en introducerande kunskapsöversikt över uppsats- och doktorandhandledning, med tonvikt på handledning av 10-20-poängsuppsatser. Uppsatsen har ett praktikerperspektiv i så måtto att den ska kunna användas i det dagliga handledningsarbeteL

I uppsatshandledning finns många faktorer att ta hänsyn till, exempelvis kultur inom ämnet och institutionen där handledningen utförs, målsättning i form av kriterier för produkten-uppsatsen, kunskapen hos de inblandade inom ämnet, tidigare erfarenheter av handledning, etc.

Denna uppsats har avgränsats till viktiga aspekter i handledning av uppsatser och avhandlingar med utgångspunkt i relationen mellan handledare, handledd och uppsats. De viktiga handledningsaspekterna har ett 'familjärt' samband och kan därför inte helt separeras i praktiken, även om det är fullt möjligt att göra det i teorin. Om någon aspekt förändras påverkar det handledningen som helhet. Detta synsätt innebär att man ser på handledningen som en helhet där olika delar, förväntningaromgivning-relation-tid, påverkar handledningen som gestalt.

Om nu syftet med handledningen är att studenten ska skriva en vetenskaplig uppsats så bör alltid uppsatsen finnas med mer eller mindre i hela processen. Detta oavsett om handledaren lutar mer åt socioemotionellt eller uppgiftsinriktat stöd. Om handledare och student går utanför detta blir det något annat än uppsatshandledning. Hagman (1994) skriver att handledaren, studenten och uppsatsen är de viktigaste parterna, illsammans bildar de den sk handledningstriaden.

I handledningssammanhang vid universitet och högskolor diskuterar man ibland som om handledningen sker kontext- och historiefritt.

Olika miljöer och tidsepoker har olika sätt att se på vetenskapen och vetenskaplig produktion. I denna uppsats ligger detta som en grund som inte diskuteras ingående men som påtagligt påverkar handledningstriaden.

The aim of this study is to critically examine the labelling practices in the multicultural discourse in two adult education settings. The theoretical perspective used in order to understand and interpret the actors' labelling practices is social constructionism. A theoretical perspective that views man as an active constructor of meanings and reality.

The purpose of this study is to interrupt or, as I emphasised in this study, to problematise the talk of the "other" as different or same in the social discourse of the multiculturality of the Swedish society. Consequently, the focus of the study is the categories/ Concepts the actors in the two settings use to define themselves as same or different, or what 1 call the social construction of difference.

This study was conducted at a day folk high school, and in a municipal adult education centre. A total of 33 students and 9 staff members were interviewed. In addition, three teachers in the folk high school and four teachers in Komvux were observed. The results of the study demonstrate that the concepts culture, ethnicity and immigrants are used interchangeably by the native actors to construct the non-native students as the outsiders. But the main concept used by the native actors in othering the other is culture, and this is closely related to the actors' notion or construction of who they are in relation to the other. That is, there is a strong affirmation of cultural difference in the talk of the native actors. In this talk it is the non-European/non-Western cultures that are conceptualised as the problem. An important aspect of this cultural discourse is the racialisation of the concept of culture. In constructing their reality in the two settings the non-native students, particularly non-European immigrants have internalised this meta and micro (interpersonal relation) perception of themselves as different and a problem. In the process they label the native actors as essentially prejudiced and "other' them on that basis.

The non-native students, on the other hand, define themselves in and outside the school as the outsider and a victim of the natives' prejudices and images of their culture as not only different, but also inferior and a threat, while the native actors talk from the position of the insider, or from the perspective that the non-natives have culture and the natives do not. It is also apparent in this study that the actors, irrespective of their ethnic/cultural background, have many things in common. Nevertheless, in their talk they seem to ignore their shifting identities and talk as if they occupy a fixed identity or position

Fifty-three Swedish students in grade 5 and 8 were the subjects of this study. They were either good or poor comprehenders, as defined by a combination of a reading test and teacher ratings. Data collection was made primarily by means of a semi-structured interview; students were also asked to read and recall three texts with different structures. Questions covered text comprehension, reading and general learning strategies, self-concept, awareness of text and cognitive functions, conceptions of learning and reading. Poor and good readers seem to differ in the way they process text information and monitor their cognitive functions. What characterises good readers is their ability to organise their knowledge and use it appropriately. Their cognitive and metacognitive abilities are well integrated, whereas the pattern of functions in poor readers seems distorted - a good cognitive ability is not backed up by an equally good metacognitive or monitoring ability, and vice versa. Poor readers are less confident than good readers; they regard themselves as poor learners and their verbal responses are less elaborate. Often their decoding is not automatic, leaving less capacity for comprehension. The gap between good and poor readers widens from grade 5 to grade 8, as more independent reading is expected. The younger students believe they will improve, the older students have lost interest in studies. Instead they have learned to keep their two lives separate: one in school, one outside.  

The study is primarily an empirical investigation to students' experiences of university education, approaches to learning and comprehension of a learning task. Sixty medical students, equally distributed over a PBL and a traditional medical school have participated in this study. Data consist of semi-structured interviews, which have been analyzed mainly using a phenomenographic approach, i.e., the aim has been to establish a set of categories for the description of differences in conceptions expressed by the participants.

The results showed that PBL students seem to have experienced a more flexible, meaningful, and enjoyable education compared with their counterparts from the traditional program. The domain of learning approach comprise both approach to a specific learning task as well as approach to learning in general The results in this section indicate that PBL students showed an inclination towards adopting comprehension approaches both in general and to the specific task, whereas the conventional students' propensity was towards reproductive strategies

As regards the students' comprehension of the learning task, the results indicated that the students from both programs perform more or less equally. Thus, the results appear to be, somewhat paradoxical. It was hypothesized that using a comprehension-oriented approach would yield a better understanding of the learning tasks. Our results did not support this assumption  To understand why this was not the case several explanations seemed plausible. Among many other things, it seems to be difficult to put into practice a PEL-curriculum in a setting which originally did not encompass PBL supportive characteristics.

One conclusion that can be drawn from the results is that when students enter different programs they can still maintain their approach to learning even if they report differently about their experience of studying.

Teachers' knowledge-utilisation is the main subject of this dissertation and attention is payed to connections between theory and practice. This focus also includes the environment in which the thinking and acting teacher has to interact. The intention is to understand under which circumstances the practitioner works and utilise theory-oriented or research based knowledge as well as more ordinary knowledge in school. The aim is to increase the understanding of how knowledge is received, generated or regenerated and locally utilised. It is principally an exploratory study.

This study is based on 33 interviews with eleven active teachers in four primary schools and one secondary school during the school year 1993/94, in one local community in the south of Sweden and a survey (1994) based on questionnaires with 127 answering teachers from four of the five schools mentioned above three primary schools and one secondary school.

The results show that there are three main areas in the system of utilisation, namely teachers' knowledge, teachers' practice and usable knowledge. Teachers' knowledge is personally constructed and often specifically directed towards the pupils or their relation to subjects or teaching. The context, i.e. teachers' practice often has an abundance of stimuli in combination with a high level of unpredictability. Usable knowledge is often concrete, recognizable and adjusted to teachers' practical work. In between these three main areas teachers carry on an active dialogue. This system of knowledge-utilisation characterizes the dynamics and the tensions between the components - they all contribute actively to the process of utilisation.

The study is theoretically and empirically a multidisciplinary survey of the problems surrounding the issues of bilingualism in multicultural multiracial communities. The main purpose is to explore the influence of the synergy effects of the socio-cultural forces both on the quality and the outcome of minority language education in Sweden. The overall design of the study is qualitative in approach and is rooted in three overlapping categories namely serendipitous research, curriculum-centred research and hypothesis - testing research. The developed conceptual model is tested by using three techniques, i.e., observation  in-depth interview and essay-type tests.

Twenty eight Iranian students of different age groups integrated in the Swedish school system and thirty five home-language teachers were subjects to this study. In order to investigate the long-term effects of the macro-dimension level factors of the majority population in Sweden on the micro-dimension level factors of the minority, the subjects were observed and interviewed in their working contexts for three subsequent years. Essay test  were administered to twenty upper-secondary Iranian students towards the end of the third year of observation. In line with the research approach, the analysis of qualitative data is presented in a multi-level procedure.

The theory behind and the methods used in the study led to an investigation of factors affecting not only the process and the achieved results of the minority/immigrant instructional programmes but also the minority individual's conception of the reality and his/her macro-cosmic and micro-cosmic perceptions. The results obtained by the analyses of the data confirm the identification of the interdependency of language, co-existence an equilibrium with the ecosystem. Mini-culture or communicative culture which emerged as a product of the synergy effects of different socio-cultural systems, is a reliable predictor for immigrant/minority individual's degree of integration in or isolation from the majority community. They may be categorised as total dissociates or the contrapoise, partial dissociates or the unipoise and those who have maintained their equilibrium with their ecosystem or the unipoise.

This study looks at curriculum reform processes at two Swedish institutes of technology in a gender perspective and relates them to two social theories: the reproduction theory of Bourdieu & Passeron and the gender contract theory of Yvonne Hirdman.

The aim of the reform processes was to make educational programmes in computer engineering more attractive to female students. The study examines the possibilities for and obstacles to achieving this aim in the context of an institute of technology. On a more general level the question is about the reproduction of gender contracts which denote engineering as a masculine sphere and how this is done within and by engineering education.

Academic staff at two universities of technology involved in the reforms were interviewed, and planning meetings of the staff at one of, the universities were observed. The focus was on the conceptions of female and male students, respectively, among the reformers, the interaction patterns within the groups and the groups' relations to their institutional contexts.

The results point out several obstacles to gender-related reforms at institutes of technology, such as stereotypical conceptions of women and lack of knowledge on gender issues among the reformers, the particular position and responsibility given to the female reformers, the importance of keeping up the status of a single programme and the heritage of engineering education as a whole, and the need of other reforms when they are experienced as more acute. The importance of active support by institutional leadership is accentuated.

After one year of operation teachers on the reformed programmes were interviewed. Even if these programmes managed to increase the recruitment of female students, their curricula was not perceived by the teachers to be especially female-friendly. In many ways the programmes still had problems with accommodating student groups which were different from the norm of the traditional male secondary-school graduate interested in computers. The reforms have not brought about a real breach in the gender contracts designating computer engineering as a masculine activity. However, they might have brought computer engineering education somewhat closer to such a breach.

The aim of the present thesis was (a) to specify how the use of predictive inferences in comprehension is constrained by scripted knowledge packages, (b) to examine recall for scripted representations, and (c) to specify mechanisms underlying the interplay between script-based constraints on predictive inferences and memory for these generic knowledge representations. In fourteen experiments, lipreading represented a method to detect implicit and explicit constraints on predictive inferences imposed by typicality, abstraction, and temporal order. To compare comprehension and recall, repetition priming constituted an additional approach where implicit memory was assessed by the lipreading task, and explicit memory by a free recall task. Based on the collected data, an implicit-explicit principle is suggested which also summarizes the main core of the SPICER-framework. According to the SPICER, typical and basic scripted representations are supposed to constitute implicit representations with a semantic state of accessibility, strong in predictive power. In contrast, atypical and specific representations are assumed to constitute explicit representations with an episodic state of accessibility, weak in predictive power. In comprehension, an implicit route of script activation always guides predictive inferences at typical and basic levels of representation. In recall, an explicit search for target episodes is always constrained by atypical and specific levels of representation. SPICER also provides potential insights into the use of technical hearing aids and lipreading, memory distinctions and memory disorders, as well as into educational issues.

Mathematics is a sociocultural phenomenon. In educational contexts, no account has been taken of this; instead, learning has focused on the formal language.

In this study, pupils' and students' conceptions of the school subject Mathematics are analysed. The ability to describe what takes place in teaching contexts is of importance in didactic research. This regards especially people's conceptions of how they learn and what the content is. In this thesis, a description is given of people's conceptions of a specific content and how a new aid, the pocket calculator, affects the teaching of mathematics.

Qualitative research makes it possible to describe, interpret and understand different phenomena. With the methods used in qualitative research, reflection in the analysis must take place from different perspectives in a lengthy process. An increasingly accepted conception is that the triangulation of methods reinforces validity. Validity is also reinforced in the thesis by virtue of the fact that students and teachers were able to participate in the process over several years.

The first two empirical studies, deal with conceptions of mathematics in school. The studies were carried out over a period of seven years and in which 7,000 pupils and 900 trainee teachers were involved, deal with conceptions of mathematics in school. Although the descriptions originate from different points in time, they describe more or less the same mathematics teaching.

In the third and fourth studies, pupils' conceptions of the pocket calculator are studied. The difference between these two studies is that in the third study, the pupils had access to pocket calculators in school after several years of studying mathematics. In the last study, the pupils used pocket calculators from the beginning. This affects the role of the teacher and the methods teachers use in teaching contexts.

I felt that it was important to uncover the pupils' conceptions of mathematics since these conceptions are a significant factor in their learning. Also significant are students' conceptions prior to their option of mathematics or language. The results show that the teaching of mathematics in school has not succeeded in demonstrating the usefulness of the subject or showing connections between different mathematical skills. The technical skills were not linked to each other in any context. Since pupils and students constantly returned to the view that mathematics was about numbers and doing arithmetic, it would be interesting to see whether doing arithmetic could be made easier by using a technical aid, the pocket calculator, and whether it could focus mathematics on something else. I was also interested in teachers' conceptions of the pocket calculator as an aid.

The results showed that the training of skills ought to be given a new content. Skills in interpreting, handling a situation and being able to handle numbers are part of this change.

This dissertation is concerned with the learning of occupational identities in health care and medical services. The aim is to increase the knowledge of what characterizes occupational identities how these are learnt, and what potential driving forces exist that can contribute to the development of both occupational identities and health care activities.

Learning is seen as a continuous process of participation in everyday social practices, in which occupational identities are formed, maintained and developed. Both occupational identities and social practices are context-bound. In order to shed light on the forming, maintaining and developing character of learning I have started from three different models; a social-interactionist, an institutional and a contextual.

The dissertation is based on case studies of three care units. A health-care centre, a medical clinic and an anaesthesia clinic. The study comprises two data-collection phases. The first phase includes interviews with personnel and management at the three care units. The second phase includes self-observation studies in the form of diaries kept by personnel at the medical and anaesthesia clinic.

It appears from the results that there are both similarities and differences between occupational groups and the activities in which they work. There also exist certain differences that have to do with the individuals' experience, career paths and length of employment. On this basis, occoupational identities can he analyzed on a occupational-related, an activity-related and an individual-related level. Learning can also from this point of view be seen as an interplay between those three levels.

The aim of this study is to investigate children's life experiences, especially from day care and primary school, in their eyes to describe these two educational settings and to see what meaning and importance they have in forming children's lives and self-concepts. The study has a life history approach and a children's perspective. It is thus retrospective. A life story was written by 107 youths, 15-16 years of age out. Of these 23 youths were chosen, taken on a round tour to their former day care centre and primary school and then interviewed.

The results of the study were combined with theory into a model for development and learning in context. It emphasizes the importance of quality relationships both to persons and to content in educational settings. Different patterns of relationships among small children change over time to a better quality in relation to peers than to teachers. Individual ways of handling changes and disturbances in relations, like bullying, are described. They result in relationships and values of different quality, showing that development can go in different directions and must be put in relation to values in society. Relations to peers and to content in interests outside school seem to be the most important factors in forming children's self-concept and future selves.

To become a good pupil seems to be a great challenge, while the relation to content is not much considered. Children's lack of influence makes it difficult to establish a relation of good quality to content in school. The main conclusions are that children should be seen as whole persons. Priority should be given to support in case of disturbances in peer relations. Children should get more influence. Relations to content and teachers might then be improved and play a more important role in children's life stories and future plans.

"sätta flickan i stånd att fullgöra sina husliga plikter" Fyra märkeskvinnor och flickors slöjdundervisning. ("Fit the Girl for her Household Duties". Four Pioneer Women in Girls' Handicraft Education.)

This dissertation deals with the development and establishment of girls' handicraft as a school subject in Sweden between 1880 and 1920.

Four pioneer women are studied. They are Anna Hierta Retzius (1841-1924), Hulda Lundin (1847-1921), Maria Nordenfelt (1860-1941) and Andrea Eneroth (1873-1935).

The dissertation also includes two publications: "qvinnan bär hemmets trefnad på spetsen af sin synål" (The woman carries the comfort of the home on the point of her needle: Handicraft Education for Girls in Stockholm Elementary Schools in the late 1800's and early 1900's) published in 1992 and the attached article "Maria Nordenfelt och hennes seminarium" (Maria Nordenfelt and her seminar).

The main issues are why handicraft education for girls was so topical around the turn of the century, why these women dedicated themselves to the development of curricula, how their efforts can be understood in their historical context and, finally, were their achievements just a manifestation of the spirit of their time?

The theoretical approach adopts the concepts of "life line" and "form of life" used by feminist researchers.

It shows how well the handicraft education fitted into the science of modern education at the time, and how the school subject became a part of the great modernization project of the country. The four women also supplied a demand in society for suitable professions for women. An important conclusion is that girls' handicraft education in Sweden was powerfully shaped by four women who devised curricula that were influenced by the social values of their class.

The study is mainly an empirical survey of women on probation. The main purpose is to describe and understand the dynamics of probation.

The data collection comprises interviews with twenty seven female clients, and twenty two supervisors. Furthermore, information has been gathered from 157 personal record of female clients and part of a questionnaire answered by 225 probation officers from all probation districts in Sweden. The data from the interviews and personal records have been collected at three probation districts in Stockholm. In line with the research approach the analysis of data has been qualitative.

Part 1 of the study comprises the background, problems and life history of the female clients. With three exceptions, all twenty seven clients from the interview study were drog abusers. Another common trace was that experiences in their early years had brought about distrust, denial of weakness together with a wish to manage on their own. Socialization with men in the subculture meant that the women developed in the same direction. Nearly half of them considered themselves self-sufficient and independent Changed gender roles and negative experiences of being dependent were one reason for them to choose a criminal life style as their main source of income. Other reasons were dissociation from prostitution or being provided for by a man. In the discussion I relate the experiences of the female clients to the experiences of professional women when acting in a male arena. Furthermore, the gains and losses connected with independence are discussed.

Part two of the study comprises the relationship between the female client and the probation officer. The results show that, because of drog problems, social degeneration and destructive relations with men and a frequent use of defensive techniques by the client, the probation officers consider the female clients as "hard work". The relationship between clients and supervisors is interpreted in two perspectives. The first is the background and life history of the clients and the second is the framework that constitutes probation. The purpose of this interpretation is to create an understanding of the relationship between the client and the probation officer.