Pupils' responses in Grade 6 to a 40-item questionnaire originally constructed to reveal different school attitudes were re-analysed using recently developed techniques for latent variable analysis of two-level data. One aim was to test a model for investigation of classroom environment and another aim was to compare exploratory factor analysis…

Authored by individuals from five Nordic countries, this book focuses on questions about the child's right to live in and learn about an ecologically sustainable world. The first five chapters are theoretical in character, while the final six chapters are derived from work done by early childhood teachers together with children. The goal of the…

This longitudinal study draws on data from a larger project and examines how students' perceptions of their opportunities to influence their study environment may be enacted in approaches aimed at influencing their studies, and whether this changes during the course of their studies. Ten students from a 4.5-year Master's program in Engineering…

This paper discusses different perspectives of "a school for all"--an inclusive school. It is a topic that arouses many different feelings, especially among parents who have children with disabilities and among professionals in schools. In this paper, the concept of "a school for all" is used, but what does a school for all…

One of the ways to investigate the mental lexicon is to use word association tests. Empirical studies comparing associations by children and adults have indicated a tendency for children to give syntagmatic responses, whereas adults give paradigmatic responses. In order to investigate lexical development in L2 acquisition of Swedish we collected…

In a previous ethnographic study (Sebrant, 2000) a social constructionist view of how social identity is produced among professional groups in Swedish healthcare was developed. Looking at the workplace as an important environment for identity construction suggested that these processes were conditions for learning. The purpose of this paper is to…

During the last three decades Swedish education has undergone radical decentralisation involving increased school autonomy. One aspect of this change is the gradual weakening of the state regulation of teaching time. Thus, Sweden is somewhat of an extreme in the EU. This is accentuated by a five-year experiment, where 900 compulsory schools were…

Using a new approach to studying day care centers, this study focused on the total climate of the day care center and the climate's effects on children's social and emotional behavior. A theoretical model for analyzing day care climate is presented. The model includes variables such as job satisfaction, work atmosphere, interactions between…

Schooling is always a moral practice. It takes place in specific contexts where social regulation is justified by reference to ethical codes and their specific values. Teachers' work is constituted by these values. Teachers act morally, steering practice in particular directions. The task is, however, never simple. In a context where the…

The principal aim of the present study was to obtain a deeper understanding than hitherto of the concurrent correlates and prospective predictors of loneliness and poor peer acceptance, both falling under the umbrella term low social inclusion. Problematic and socially competent behaviours were investigated as possible predictors of low social…

This research report explores the extent to which the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) (Harms and Clifford, 1980) remains a valid instrument when used to make cross-national comparisons of quality, and the advantages and disadvantages of using ECERS for this purpose. ECERS was developed to be used by a trained observer to rate the…

A translation of parts of a Swedish study conducted in 73 full-day and 42 part-day Swedish preschools is presented. Although official Swedish policy maintains that the two types of preschool should have the same social and educational goals, Swedish public opinion holds that full-time preschools are mainly caretaking schools, and part-time…

A nationwide debate occurred in Sweden concerning their nuclear power program. The debate centered on safety, waste management, and use of weapons-grade material. Parliament voted for nuclear power despite negative public opinion. (MR)

The Goals, Attitudes and Values in School (GAVIS) questionnaire was developed on the basis of theoretical frameworks concerning learning environments, universal human values and studies of students' experience of learning environments. The theory hypothesises that learning environments can be described and structured in a circumplex model using…

Purpose: All workplace learning takes place under specific temporal conditions. In fact, one learns in order to be better equipped to deal with future challenges. At the same time, learning is always embedded in previous experiences. Thus, the notion of time needs to be theoretically integrated into organization and workplace learning. This paper…