Skolan i livet - livet i skolan : Några illitterata invandrarkvinnor lär sig tala, läsa och skriva på svenska som andraspråk

Many immigrants in Sweden have not had the chance to learn to read and write, for various reasons. In Sweden, literacy is a prerequisite to being able to function in the cultural community, and for many immigrants this is the first time that they experience their inability to read and write as a handicap or see themselves as “illiterate”. The aim of this study is to use a socio-cultural, second language and gender approach to describe, analyse and understand how a number of adult, illiterate, immigrant women experience their situation when they are expected to simultaneously learn to speak, read and write Swedish. The study focuses on two literacy groups in two Swedish municipalities. In one of the groups I act as both teacher and researcher. The thesis is a case study of the learning process of five illiterate immigrant women in Sweden. The results are based on interviews, carried out with the help of an interpreter, and observation of teaching and texts ritten by the students. The study is based on the assumption that human learning is an activity that takes place in a cultural community in a social context. When learning a language, the language is simultaneously the tool that facilitates social communication and the object of the learning process. The study shows that cultural communities influence the women in different ways. Gender structures are firmly planted in a patriarchal value system, which means that women are seen as inferior to men, and women are expected to “meet the demands of others”. The women have no time to study at home, as their household duties are prioritised. However, there are subtle indications that there is a wish to change the situation in accordance with Swedish values and norms. This can be seen in the Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) lessons. As they have little contact with Swedes, school is the only arena in which they have a chance to use Swedish. They are positive towards teaching and school as an institution. Here they are able to develop an alternative identity. The study also shows that teaching in the literacy groups is to a great extent based on a technical approach, in which the teacher tries to elicit a correct answer from the students. Social interaction involving contemplation and negotiation is either not included or not prioritised. the women’s experience and knowledge is not made use of. There are,however, occasions when collaborative discussions take place between the teacher and students. On these occasions an exchange of experiences takes place. Learning is based on the students’ own experiences and thoughts. Linguistic concepts gain meaning in the collaborative discussion. Initially the concepts may be unclear, but the group works on them together, adapting and adjusting them until they finally make sense. Finally, I conclude that women immigrants bring their own socio-cultural values and experience to the school situation, which affects their learning process to varying degrees. Furthermore, immigrant women need more time at school, as it is the only arena in which they can spend time on studying and personal development. another conclusion is that the school must become a learning community that recognises the immigrants’ cultures, makes use of the students’ experience and allows the students to participate in collaborative discussions, so that they can develop their ability to speak, read and write Swedish.

Experimentell studie på kostnadseffektiva inkjetbestrykningspigment

The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the print performance of some of the new most promising, cost effective absorbent pigments specialised for inkjet coatings on the market in a continuous drive to find an alternative to silica. The target was a lower production cost for ArjoWiggins inkjet products, OMD 01 and OMD 02. Five absorbent pigments are being evaluated through measuring the qualities of the coating mix itself, visual evaluations of print performance and physical testing of the coated paper. Pigments 1,2 and 3, which all are said to be tailored for inkjet coatings, did not reach the print performance needed for an OMD 01 and OMD 02 equal, due to severe bleed and feathering identified especially on the Epson 950 printer. They are therefore currently not seen as viable formulations. A blend of 50% pigment 5 and 50% silica had excellent print performance as OMD 01 and OMD 02 equivalents and is therefore recommended as a potential alternative to 100% silica. It is of the company’s interest to find a more cost effective solution to their inkjet coatings, and a 50/50 blend of Pigment 5 will save the company more than 35 000 euro per year.

Lärares beskrivningar av evolution som undervisningsinnehåll i biologi på gymnasiet

Biological evolution is part of the syllabi for Biology and Science in Swedish upper secondary school. In the syllabi, evolution is not only presented as a topic in Biology courses, but is also regarded as a unifying theme. The teacher has a fundamental role in deciding how the national curriculum is translated into the educational situation. This thesis investigates teachers’ accounts of their teaching of evolution in Swedish upper secondary school, describing their understandings of the purpose of teaching and learning evolution as part of biology education. The thesis is based on interviews of teachers teaching the course Biology A, which is compulsory as dictated by the Natural Science Program. The interviews were supplemented with questionnaires. The interviews were orientated towards questions about selection of course content and the reasons for choosing this content. The interviews were focused on teachers experiences based on their own practice. Two aspects of content were examined: (1) the scientific content taught in terms of themes and (2) the socializing value-laden aspects, such as priorities taken by the teachers and the teachers´ overarching aims.   The results showed that teachers described different teaching contents with regard to values, even when the core content of themes was similar. Four different selective traditions for choosing content were identified among teachers. The results are discussed in relation to the context and conditions that the teachers identify as influential on the content chosen. Teachers’ interactions with their students as well as their world views are important for their selection and adjustment of content. There are also indications that teachers’ personal views about purposes are important for selecting the teaching content.

I skuggan av kulturella stereotypier : perspektiv på forskning om genus, jämställdhet och etniska relationer i Sverige

In the shadow of ethno-cultural stereotypes: gender, equity and ethnic relations in Sweden Scientific debates about cultural differences between ”Swedes” and migrants/ethnic minorities in Sweden have fuelled stereotypical categorizations and a socio-cultural demarcation between ”us” and ”them”. The authors argue that this development has underpinned constructions of foreignness. In the light of a critical review of the current debate on honour related violence, the authors discuss – inspired by Georg Simmel’s and Erving Goffman’s classic texts on the stranger, the stigma and the construction of foreignness – alternative understandings of culture and politics of belonging with a focus on gender, agency and identity formation. Formation of cultural and ethnic identity should be related, the authors conclude, to a dynamic interplay between the past and the present. Moreover, the social dimension should be highlighted, in order to avoid a stigmatizing culturalism.

Patriarchal values : girls are more apt to change

Patriarchal values: girls are more apt to change How has the family value system changed between generations, especially when taking into account the gender dimension? This article presents some results from a study carried outin 2007 in one village of the Gourani tribe where the people are followers of Ahle Hagh in Islamabad Gharb (west of Iran). The differences between generations (those born and raised before and after the Islamic Revolution) in patriarchal values in the family are statistically significant. The older generation opts for the man of the family to make most of the decisions; on children’s education, marriage, naming, the families expenditure, the place for residence, the social network of the family and even the number of children. The younger generation has a different value system and it has moved towards a more egalitarian type of family. With the gender variable included in the findings we see that although the values of the younger male population have evolved toward a less patriarchal decision making structure inthe family, the degree of changes among the young women is much higher. Looking into the preferences for male sex for the first child as well as a larger number of boys in the family, the difference between generations is significant. However data on the differences analyzed with the gender variable proves that the changes concerning the equality of sexes are mainly due to drastic changes in the young women’s value system. That is, the male population, young or old, still prefer to have a boy as their first born and to have more sons in the family. But the young female generation in the rural area sees less difference in having boys or girls in the family. It is concluded that reforms in the old value system is an evolving process of everyday life and that the girls are the main social force for change.

"Men skolan kan inte bara lägga sig platt på rygg" : Attityder till värdegrundsarbetet inom vuxenutbildningen

Syftet med denna studie är att belysa attityder som finns hos lärare i svenska för invandrare (SFI) och svenska som andraspråk (SVA) till integreringen av värdegrundsuppdraget i vuxenutbildningen och i det sammanhanget även uppmärksamma deras berättelser om yrkesetiska konflikter som de upplevt i värdegrundsarbetet. Studien söker att svara på följande frågeställningar: Hur definierar SFI- och SVA-lärarna vuxenutbildningens värdegrund? Hur förhåller sig lärarna till integreringen av värdegrundsfrågor i undervisningen? På vilket sätt integrerar SFI- och SVA-lärarna värdegrundensmålen i sin dagliga verksamhet? Vilka svårigheter möter lärarna och vilka yrkesetiska konflikter uppstår i deras arbete med värdegrundsfrågor? och Vad styrs lärarna av när de löser yrkesetiska konflikter som uppstår i värdegrundsarbetet? Metoden som används i undersökningen är kvalitativ och bygger på intervjuer med totalt sex SFI- och SVA-lärare. Intervjuerna kompletteras med en enkätundersökning som genomförts med samma lärare. Studiens resultat diskuteras utifrån en teori om sociala attityder och dess antagande att individers kunskaper om, och positiva känslor till, en social företeelse kommer att manifesteras i deras handlingar. Resultatanalysen visar att SFI- och SVA-lärarna förknippar skolans värdegrund med demokrati, jämställdhet mellan kvinnor och män, alla människors lika värde och trygg inlärningsmiljö och har ett positivt förhållningssätt till värdegrundsarbetet, som de medvetet integrerar i språkundervisningen.

Hälsofrämjande arbete på SSAB i Borlänge : Hälsofrämjande processer i arbetslivet och ledarskapets betydelse för medarbetarens hälsa

Problem: Arbetsmiljön är viktig för människors välbefinnande. Hälsofrämjande faktorer antas inte bara styrka individens fysiska och psykiska hälsa, utan även företagets konkurrenskraft och lönsamhet. I uppsatsen undersöker vi hur företaget SSAB i Borlänge arbetar med hälsa genom att tillämpa ett hälsofrämjande perspektiv och utgå från teorin om Känslan av sammanhang (KASAM). Ledarskapsvärderingar har betydelse för medarbetares hälsa (Hanson, 2004) och vi undersöker vilken uppfattning ett antal chefer har om sina roller i det hälsofrämjande arbetet och deras syn på medarbetarundersökningen HälsoSAM som företagshälsovården på SSAB bedriver. Arbetsbelastningen på medarbetare och chefer ökar till följd av sparkrav, samtidigt som resurserna minskar (Gatu, 2003). Följden blir en större risk för ohälsa och ett sätt att minska sjukfrånvaron är att genomföra hälsofrämjande insatser (Prevent, 2001). Syfte: Syftet med studien är att utifrån ett hälsofrämjande perspektiv förklara vad chefer har för möjligheter att skapa förutsättningar för att främja medarbetarnas hälsa på SSAB i Borlänge. Metod: Den metod som ligger till grund för uppsatsen baseras på ett kvalitativt angreppssätt där semistrukturerade intervjuer samt litteraturstudier genomförts för att samla information. Analys: Ledarens beteende påverkar medarbetarna. Hög arbetsbelastning på SSABs chefer leder till lägre närvaro bland medarbetarna, vilket i sin tur ger sämre förutsättningar för att främja hälsan. HälsoSAM kartlägger medarbetarnas hälsoläge, både välbefinnande och arbetskapacitet. Resultaten är vägledande i det hälsofrämjande arbetet men överbelastning, tidsbrist och kunskapsbrist hos cheferna bidrar till att uppföljningen inte blir systematisk. För ett väl fungerande hälsoarbete krävs systematik. Slutsats: Hälsofrämjande processer i arbetslivet skapas genom balans mellan krav och resurser. På SSAB i Borlänge hindras hälsoarbetet av tidsbrist och kunskapsbrist hos cheferna. Kostnadsbesparingar påverkar hälsoarbetet negativt och systematiken i uppföljningsarbetet blir lidande. Ansvaret för hälsoarbetet läggs på företagshälsovården, men utan stöd från chefer blir inte hälsoarbetet en naturlig del i verksamheten. Det är viktigt att i rådande situation se vad främjande av hälsa kan ge tillbaka till företaget i både ekonomiska och kvalitativa termer. Insikt om detta ökar chefernas incitament att prioritera hälsofrämjande processer och organisera arbetet så att människor har förutsättningar att hantera, kontrollera och klara av sina uppgifter.

Network density and the p-median solution

The p-medianmodel is commonly used to find optimal locations of facilities for geographically distributed demands. So far, there are few studies that have considered the importance of the road network in the model. However, Han, Håkansson, and Rebreyend (2013) examined the solutions of the p-median model with densities of the road network varying from 500 to 70,000 nodes. They found as the density went beyond some 10,000 nodes, solutions have no further improvements but gradually worsen. The aim of this study is to check their findings by using an alternative heuristic being vertex substitution, as a complement to their using simulated annealing. We reject the findings in Han et al (2013). The solutions do not further improve as the nodes exceed 10,000, but neither do the solutions deteriorate.

Från ord till handling : En kvalitativ studie om värdegrund och socialt innehåll för äldre på särskilt boende

Socialstyrelsens brukarundersökning visar att äldre som bor på särskilt boende är mest missnöjda med de aktiviteter och den sociala samvaron som verksamheten erbjuder. Äldreomsorgen bygger på den nationella värdegrunden som innefattar att den äldre ska få leva ett värdigt liv och känna välbefinnande, men det är inte klart hur denna värdegrund påverkar personalens arbetssätt eller de sociala aktiviteter som erbjuds. Vår studie angriper denna fråga. Fem särskilda boenden var representerade både från kommunala och privata vårdgivare i två olika kommuner. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med de särskilda boendes enhetschefer, som sedan transkriberades och tematiskt analyserades. Vårt resultat tyder på att den nationella värdegrunden inom äldreomsorgen tolkas olika på alla de särskilda boendena. Alla enhetschefer la stor vikt på personcentrerad vård, men trots det så erbjöd man liknade sociala aktiviteter ofta då som gruppaktivitet. Resultaten diskuterar vi med hänvisning till Aktivitetsteorin och Gerotranscendenceteorin.