Internal and external factors influence teachers daily assessment decisions. The purposes of teachers assessments are crucial, as these purposes guide the assessment process. Still, little is known about teachers assessment purposes. The aim of this study is to identify and describe the different purposes of assessments that Civics teachers describe. Thirteen Civics teachers in Swedish upper secondary school were interviewed about their assessment practices. A thematic analysis generated four main themes about teachers purposes: enacting policy, improving learning, pulling for students and handling administration. There are tensions between different purposes, and teachers need to balance these in their assessment decisions and when validating. Specific Civics subject matter also influences purposes and tensions. This study contributes to the understanding of the influence of internal and external factors on teachers assessment practices in Civics, and to the understanding of the complexity of validity with multiple purposes in the school context.

This article explores emotional aspects of national grade policies in Sweden as they are enacted in feedback practices at middle school level. Policy measures such as standardized testing and grades have over the last decades put emphasis on academic outcomes in Sweden. However, research suggests that this emphasis can impact students’ emotions and well-being. An interactionally oriented narrative approach and positioning analysis were used to identify and explore accounts concerning grades and emotions within development talks and grade conferences with students who received grades in Year 4, 5 or 6. The findings present three key aspects for how emotions are used and functions within the feedback practices. Various emotion categories serve as discursive resources to A. explain and justify grades, B. evaluate and negotiate ambition levels and C. balance and manage expectations. This suggests that grades are not merely managed as simple evaluations of students’ academic performance, but rather managed as emotionally significant for students. The findings illustrate the complexity of enacting grade policies in a middle-school context where the participants navigate multiple priorities, demands and values within the school setting while operating within a policy context that emphasise academic performance.

This article investigates views and discourses on outdoor play in preschool teachers talks about their playgrounds and outdoor practices in Swedish preschools. Included were a strategic sample of teachers from newer, larger preschool facilities with more programmed outdoor space, and teachers from older, more traditional facilities containing more nature. Through interviews with 38 teachers at 21 preschools and a thematic analysis inspired by socio-material theory, we identified three main themes: The meanings and limits of free outdoor play, the view on nature and children’s encounters with nature,and dangers and risks in the playground. Within these themes, we show how the teachers’ views construct discourses related to the outdoor educational places and spaces that are available. Furthermore, changes in preschool curricula as well as in the playground material and design are active agents in constructing discourses on outdoor play, including risks and limitations, beyond teachers’ own beliefs on children’s needs.

This article explores toddler – place relationships outdoors during early childhood education in Sweden. Informed by Tim Ingold’s theorization of movement, we explore toddlers’ embodied engagements with the preschool playground and how the human–non-human environments become entangled. The results show that, just as in the wider world, the processes enabling and limiting toddlers’ engagements in the playground are continuously in motion. Toddler–place relationships are continuously created through a mutual dependence between human and non-human entities. In this sense, toddlers’ engagements with playgrounds are not separate from the place through which they engage, but change place.

Följande ULF-projekt (Utveckling, lärande, forskning) är ett samarbete mellan en kommunal gymnasieskola i en mellanstor stad samt Linköpings Universitet. Syftet är att öka förståelsen för hur gymnasieelever upplever prestationssituationer. Genom en narrativ ansats har 261 elevberättelser analyserats och kategoriserats. De känslor som kan knytas till erfarenheter av att bli bedömda kallas i studien för prestationsemotioner. En prestation kan definieras som en aktivitet som mäts mot någon form av standard och prestationsemotioner är emotioner som kopplas till en sådan aktivitet. Vanligt förekommande positiva prestationsemotioner är stolthet, nöje, hopp, tacksamhet, avslappning, belåtenhet och lättnad. Negativa prestationsemotioner är oro, ångest, stress, skam, tristess, hopplöshet eller besvikelse (Pekrun, 2007; 2014). I studien finns en rad positiva och negativa emotioner som eleverna tillskriver sina prestationer, samt att elevernas känslor ofta förändras i samband med viktiga prestationer. Eleverna gör känsloresor som verkar ha betydelse för deras vilja och förmåga att prestera i framtiden. En mer utförlig resultatredovisning görs i en annan artikel i Venue. Utöver dessa resultat har projektet skapat ett kollegialt lärande som lyfter och bidrar till en mer hållbar bedömningspraktik.

In this article, the assessment practice known as the “grade conference” is analysed using an interactionally oriented narrative approach. The aim is to explore the grade conference and what it entails for students when executed in their fourth year of compulsory school, as part of a trial of an educational reform where students receive grades from year four instead of year six. Two cases illustrate the way that students are positioned and ascribed different paths and prospects in and through stories located within the grade conference. Findings show that students are ascribed individual responsibilities and their positions as students are largely evaluated by individual characteristics in these stories. It is concluded that the grade conference is a practice that may influence the students’ views of their potential in school, as the narratives about their paths and prospects discursively make different routes more or less viable.

Den här boken handlar om känslor hos elever i samband med bedömningssituationer, det vi kallar prestationsemotioner. Den handlar om stress, oro, skam och besvikelse men också om lust, glädje, stolthet och hopp...[Bokinfo]

I denna artikel presenteras resultat från ett ULF-projekt där lärare på en gymnasieskola, i samverkan med forskare från LiU, samlat in och analyserat elevers skrivna berättelser om sina erfarenheter av emotioner i relation till prestationer under de år som de gått på gymnasiet. En slutsats vi drar är att fler skolor bör analysera sin egen praktik angående emotioner i relation med bedömningstillfällen och att den metod lärare och forskare utvecklat i detta projekt ger gott stöd i ett sådant arbete. Det kan få stor betydelse för lärares arbete och för elevers lust att lära och prestera i skolan.

This article explores Swedish teachers and school leaders Facebook rebellion groups as a medium where professional needs and actions can be formulated. Data consist of interviews with administrators representing the rebellion groups. Based on a theoretical perspective of teacher agency we searched for experiences and visions related to contextual aspects expressed in the groups. The results indicate a common experience of lacking resources among the groups. Through a well-balanced agency, they search for support among politicians in their striving to improve working conditions. However, the groups might develop different conditions for participating due to the formation of group-specific conversational climate about what is desirable and possible to post and discuss. Discussions on work-related issues might certainly be affected and the rebellion groups might contribute to preserve the specificity of each level in the school system. A split in the teachers rebellion group indicates virtual relationships between professionals are easy to give up in favour of new formations, making the virtual groups vulnerable. The results raise the question about changing cultural aspects and what it means to be a professional teacher/school leader. Will teacher agency in the future be dependent on participation in such social media groups?

This article focuses on how the concept of “turning points” can be used innarrative research when studying people’s (professional) identities and identity formation. By examining various understandings of turning points, we aim to show how they can be identified and used as analytical tools indifferent ways when conducting narrative analyses of (professional) identityf ormation. A case study from a research project on police identity is used to illustrate the application of various perspectives on turning points. The article offers guidance for researchers on choosing a context and focus for analysing turning points, as well as on the theoretical perspectives that come with these choices, and thereby suggests directions for analytical attention. The article shows how different perspectives on turning points have consequences for the understanding of professional identities. 

The aim is to contribute knowledge about the ways in which Swedish pupils with a migrant background speak about school performances and their first experiences of being graded. The results describe pupils and parents as positioned as being lower down in a top-down relationship vis-à-vis school. The separation between home and school is best described as robust. Some pupils want and ask for a better school-home relationship because they think it would harmonise the relationship with their parents and facilitate their school work. The main conclusion is that pupils find themselves in a vulnerable position between schools’/tea- chers’ demands and parents’ aspirations for them.

Från och med 2021 är det upp till skolans rektor att avgöra om betyg ska sättas i årskurs 4 eller årskurs 6. Syftet med artikeln är att beskriva hur denna betygsreform kan få konkreta konsekvenser för elever med behov av särskilt stöd i ett skolsystem där det är fritt att välja skola. I artikeln analyseras rektors, speciallärares, lärares och elevers berättelser om en elevs erfarenheter av försöksverksamheten. Eleven blev enligt berättelserna mycket ledsen och bytte skola efter att ha fått sina första betyg. Den narrativa analysen visar att positionen ansvarig för det inträffade konstrueras på kvalitativt olika sätt genom att ansvaret för händelseutvecklingen förläggs på olika parter i och utanför skolan. Analysen fokuserar även på att eleven tillskrivs olika prestations-emotioner i de olika berättelserna. Diskussionen fokuserar på frågan om vem som är ansvarig för elever i behov av stöd och för likvärdigheten i en marknadiserad skola för alla.

Programming recently became mandatory in Swedish compulsory schools (age group 7-16); this article contributes to our understanding of novice learners’ different approaches when programming. The study builds on observations and informal conversations during programming lessons at three Swedish science centres. At the time of the study, science centres already had experience of programming education as they offered courses for pupils. This was used as a complement to teaching at compulsory school. We apply a design-for-learning perspective to help us understand how contextual aspects influence what novice pupils do and how they design their learning during programming lessons. During the analysis process, we combine thematic analysis with the Learning Design Sequence (LDS) model. We identify five qualitatively different approaches that pupils take to solve programming problems: mathematically, trial and error, step-by-step, routine as well as aesthetic. Each of these approaches allows pupils to use and practice different abilities that are important for programming. We discuss how these abilities can be compared to computational thinking (CT). The study provides an insight how pupils are involved in designing their own learning when using their abilities to solve programming assignments.

This article focuses on the methodological experiences that emerged from a study investigating how teachers valued their daily encounters with children in early childhood education. Early childhood teachers often balance the demands of documentation with time spent with children, so have little time to reflect on their practice. Furthermore, participation in research projects tends to be both time-consuming and distracting from the practitioners perspective, without providing immediate opportunities for professional development. The purpose of this article is to elaborate on the use of a mixed-methods approach that combines a quantitative digital tool (an application) for collecting data with the use of short qualitative interviews in order to explore methodological aspects in educational research. The pros of this mixed-methods approach include flexibility, the instant overview of data, and the reflective potential offered to the participants, as well as the researchers. The teachers had the opportunity to set the agenda when giving their own definitions of valuable encounters and then reflect on their experiences in their own words. This gave them a strong voice. The main risks of this method concern the dependence on technical devices and software. The authors argue that there is potential in the reflective methodology used in this study to bring research and practice closer in comprehensive knowledge creation. This methodology offers a respectful way to gather information from practice and simultaneously provide opportunities to change.

This article presents professionals narratives about valuable encounters with young children in early childhood education (ECE) settings. The study aims to provide an in-depth perspective on how professionals talk about ethics in practice, and the values addressed in the narratives. Initially, professionals in Swedish ECE settings defined their understanding of a valuable encounter with a child and then used a digital app to self-register 10 such encounters during one day. After the self-registration, we interviewed the professionals and they told us about the encounters they had experienced. We identified three themes concerning who was the focus of the encounters: the professional, the child, or both reciprocally. By using a narrative approach and Nussbaums ethical theoretical perspective, we show how different rationales were interwoven in the stories and that situated emotions were enacted and reflected. Finally, we noticed that many valuable encounters took place in in-between spaces. They were not planned for or organised, but occurred spontaneously through professionals sensitive employment of an ethics in practice.

I den här rapporten redovisas en kvalitativ studie av försöksverksamheten med betyg från årskurs 4. Syftet med studien är att beskriva hur bedömningspraktikerna ter sig och formas på fem av de skolor som deltog i försöksverksamheten mellan år 2017 – 2020, samt på två referensskolor som inte deltar i försöket. I följande sammanfattning ges korta svar på studiens frågeställningar samt hänvisningar till de delar av rapporten som behandlar respektive frågeställning. Först ges en sammanfattande bild av skolornas bedömningspraktiker, därefter pekar vi på några förändringar i försöksskolornas bedömningspraktiker och avslutningsvis presenteras de viktigaste skillnaderna i bedömningspraktikerna på försöks-, respektive referensskolorna. En del av dessa skillnader motsvaras av förändringar i försöksskolornas bedömningspraktiker. Det är viktigt att beakta att samtliga försöksskolor som ingår i studien, förutom en, är friskolor och att elevernas meritvärden på de skolorna överlag är höga (se Metodval och studiens genomförande och Resultaten i förhållande till studiens urval i denna rapport).

Alla har vi väl någon gång reagerat känslomässigt då vi fått tillbaka ett provresultat eller öppnat kuvertet med våra senaste betyg? Intuitivt är det lätt att ana att känslor av lättnad, besvikelse eller glädje har betydelse för hur vi ser på oss själva som elever eller studenter i stunden. Kanske har dessa känslor även betydelse för de förväntningar vi får på framtida prestationer? Med detta kapitel vill jag väcka frågor om vad betyg för med elevernas känslor och förväntningar. En rad exempel på emotioners betydelse då unga elever får betyg utgör i kapitlet en grund för reflektioner över våra bedömningspraktikers hållbarhet.

This study examines students’ experiences of meaningful writing in school. The study is based on narrative analysis of students’ oral stories about writing and literacy events in close connection to writing. The data consists of interviews with nine students in grade 6. The New Literacy Studies theory, which highlights writing as a social activity situated in context, is used as a theoretical starting point. In the students’ stories, writing appears as meaningful when the students position themselves as writers and their classmates as different kinds of audiences. According to the students’ utterances, the aim of the positioning is either to appear as a unique student, to teach others something, to convince others, or to be reviewed by classmates and teachers. Furthermore, it appears to be of importance to link writing to other literacy events, to present the text to classmates and teachers and to give students’ agency, i.e., an opportunity to decide on the content and form of the text

In this theoretical paper we describe and compare two forward-looking approaches to assessment, Formative assessment (FA) and Response to intervention (RTI). The purpose is to provide researchers and practitioners with insights that enable more informed decisions regarding forward-looking assessments that support students learning. In the descriptions of FA and RTI a number of key aspects were identified. For FA; classroom context, students involvement, feedback to students, qualitative focus and for RTI; systematic organisation, data based decision making, evidence based instruction and standardized tests. In a subsequent analysis we use a Venn-diagram to highlight the unique key aspects of FA and RTI and common key aspects termed; forward-looking assessment, goals and criteria, and assessment competence. Finally, we argue for a pragmatic view on assessments, that a wide scope of adjustments needs to be considered and that teachers need a comprehensive knowledge about assessment practices and to carefully follow students progress.

The starting point for this article is changes in the Swedish assessment system which stated that pupils are to receive grade reports in school year 6 (12-13 years old) during the academic year 2012-2013. Since the 1970s, compulsory school pupils have received their first grade reports in grade 7 and/or 8. The issue here is to present pupils narratives about the possible future significance of grade reports in school year 6. Pupils were interviewed about their experiences of getting their first grade reports, and a narrative analysis was conducted. More specifically, we investigated pupils conceptions of themselves as pupils and of their future possibilities, as described in their stories of getting their first grade report. The findings show that pupils perceive grades in year 6 differently, showing both adaption and resistance to the new grading discourse. Our conclusion concerns pupils learning and well-being when national assessment policies are changed.

I det här kapitlet kommer vi att återberätta en berättelse som de tre eleverna Björn, Erik och Cissi1 berättade för oss våren efter att de hade fått sina första betyg. Denna vår år 2014 var också den första på många år som svenska elever i årskurs 6 fick betyg över huvud taget. Berättelsen handlar om just dessa elevers erfarenheter av att få betyg, men den kan också förstås som ett bidrag till en större berättelse om betydelsen av att forma framgångsrika och konkurrenskraftiga elever. Den berättelsen berättas idag av många olika aktörer både i och utanför skolan. Såväl elever, lärare och rektorer på enskilda skolor som nationella och globala aktörer är idag upptagna av att mäta och visa upp framgångsrika resultat (Lingard, 2011; Lingard, Martino & Rezai-Rashti, 2013). Vår ambition med kapitlet är att försöka illustrera hur man genom att lyssna väldigt noga på enskilda människors berättelser och sedan kontextualisera dem – det vill säga sätta dem i ett sammanhang som framstår som relevant för såväl oss som forskare som för dem som berättar – kan bidra med nya nyanser till stora eller dominerande berättelser om vad skola och utbildning är till för. Därmed ansluter vi oss till en forskningstradition som ”är ute efter människornas berättelser om vad de gör när de lever sina sociala omständigheter, och de erfarenheter som detta innebär för deras liv och för det samhälle de lever i” (Pérez Prieto, 2007, s. 289; se även Plummer, 2001; Freeman, 2010).

This article revolves around the educational policy introduced in Swedish schools that has extended national testing to younger pupils. The policy is intended to support equal assessment and grading. With the exception of short-term preparations for the tests focused on here, the testing routines are regulated by the state. The paper aims to examine how the policy of national testing in grade six is enacted in different school contexts from a pupil’s point of view, and how this affects equivalence in school. A narrative analysis was conducted of pupils’ (n = 150) stories about preparing for national tests in 11 schools. Three forms of enactments were distinguished according to how responsibility for test preparations was allocated in each school. In some schools, teachers invited the pupils systematically to the translation process. In other schools, pupils were given most of the responsibility for preparation and were left alone as actors vis-a-vis the policy. Finally, in schools that applied ad hoc preparations, the pupils’ position as actors became less secure and more multifaceted. This variety regarding the pupils’ test preparations in school stress that the different enactments of this policy of national testing have implications for the interpretation of equivalence in school.

This paper investigates educational resilience from the pupil’s perspective through an analysis of how Swedish pupils in grade six position themselves in relation to their parents’ expecta- tions and the school’s grading practice. The term ‘resilience’ refers to pupils’ own views of their potential to learn and succeed in school in a social context, where parents are important as normative actors. Data consists of group interviews with pupils at three schools. By using a narrative analysis, a perspective is adopted that considers the multiple meanings involved when pupils position themselves in their stories about grades and parents. The analysis illustrates how a situated understanding of pupils’ senses of resilience makes family expecta- tions, and the importance of pleasing yourself and others and of adapting to grading systems, important aspects to pupils’ own views of their potential to learn and succeed at school. Home and school stand out as different arenas based on the norm of success, but with different ideas about how to deal with schoolwork and grades. A conclusion is that changes in the Swedish grading system might result in a gap regarding knowledge about grades at home and school and double pressure on pupils to achieve good grades.

This article investigates preschool teachers’ professionalism and professional strategies in relation to narratives about learning in preschool. These are expressed through the teachers’ talk about documentation. A policy on increased systematic documentation in preschools has been introduced in Sweden. Preschool teachers were interviewed about their work with documentation in different preschool settings. The analysis departs from theories considering education policy as interpreted and enacted in local contexts and from theories that stress the actor’s perspective on preschool teaching professionalism. Furthermore, the teachers’ references to an institutional narrative about learning are the focus. Institutional narratives that construct breaks and continuities within the institution’s past are referred to in texts and talk within institutions. They are used as a means to govern the institution and by the teachers to position themselves. Results show that the teachers frequently refer to a ‘preschool-kind of learning’ that departs from the children’s interests in their talk about documentation. This, I argue, stands out as a professional strategy that allows teachers to deal with contradictory policies about what should be documented. In their talk about how to conduct documentation, the teachers position themselves as learners. This is a way of ‘doing professionalism’ that allows teachers to deal with demands for accountability in a way that also allows for professional agency.                  

In Sweden, the policy of national testing was expanded in 2013 by introducing national tests in science in the sixth grade. The aim of this study is to contribute knowledge about the enactment of this policy of national testing by investigating students' experiences of taking the tests. Students were interviewed about their experiences oftaking national tests, and a narrative analysis was conducted. More specifically, the students' stories were analysed in terms of identity performances taking shape in relation to a testing discourse. The analysis shows avariety of aspects that the students themselves stress as important when taking the tests; such as the lack of time provided, difficulties regarding the actual tests, processes in the classroom context, and the importance of the test results for their grades. Several of the identity performances in the students' stories refer to a testing discourse stressing that teachers focus on testing procedures rather than caring for the students when the policy of nationaltesting is enacted. The results also emphasize the difficulties in understanding the test questions as well as discrepancies in science content between what is taught in school and what is being tested.

This article investigates what happens to institutional narratives of care in Swedish preschool when a policy on increased documentation is introduced. Questions deal with preschool teachers’ professionalism as expressed through the teachers’ talk about documentation. The analysis is based on theories in education policy, teacher professionalism and institutional narratives. The findings show that the few references made by the teachers to narratives of care are subordinated to narratives of learning. A major conclusion is that narratives of care are in a process of becoming a ‘noisy silence’, which influences teachers’ professionalism as well as shaping our common society.

Den här rapporten belyser frågor om hur betygen i årskurs 6 tagits emot av elever och vilka effekter de har gett för dem som skolelever. Det övergripande syftet är att på ett nyanserat sätt beskriva elevers synsätt på, och erfarenheter av att få betyg i årskurs 6. Ett särskilt intresse riktas mot elevernas berättelser om hur deras tillvaro i skola och hem har förändrats i årskurs 6 och hur lärare, kam­rater och föräldrar förhåller sig till betygen. Elevberättelser från 11 olika skolor år 2014–2015 utgör projektets underlag för dataproduktionen. Kvalitativa gruppintervjuer genomfördes med elever i årskurs 6 strax efter att de genomfört nationella prov i SO eller NO samt i samband med att de fick sina betyg.

Resultaten i den här rapporten visar att det talas mycket om betyg i skola och hem vilket sätter tryck på eleverna att visa vad de kan och att detta präglar elevernas syn på sig själva som skolelever i årskurs 6. I vissa berättelser framträ­der betygen som mindre viktiga både på kort och på lång sikt – det vill säga som ’low stake’. I andra berättelser framträder betygen i årskurs 6 som ’high stakes’ och som ytterst betydelsefulla för hur eleverna beskriver sin framtid. Resultaten visar även att variationen är stor i hur eleverna framträder som skolelever i sina berättelser om sina erfarenheter av att ha fått betyg. Här finns berättelser där elever framstår som relativt ensamma och hjälplösa med ett stort eget ansvar för att själva komma på hur de ska blir bättre och visa upp det, men det finns även berättelser där elever ger uttryck för att de får mycket stöd av sin omgivning och visar tillit inför att bli betygsatta. Det framgår tydligt i dessa data att det har betydelse hur och i vilken omfattning det talas om betyg i elevernas närmsta omgivning i det sociala samspelet mellan lärare, kamrater och föräldrar, för hur olika förhållningssätt till betyg tar form i elevernas berättelser. Rapporten vill möjliggöra ett vidare samtal om den rådande betygs- och bedömningspraktikens konsekvenser för både individer och samhälle.

This paper studies emotions as an important aspect of teacher collegiality. It aims to investigate emotionally charged aspects of teacher collegiality in teachers' stories about colleagues in order to problematize a polarized understanding within this field of research into collegiality as either good or bad. The positioning of teachers in the stories draws on culturally available narratives of teacher's responsibility to: foster and care for students and to engage in the subject they teach. Findings argue for an understanding of teacher collegiality as processes of conflict and consensus that impact on teachers' professional work and development.

This paper draws on data collected in a wider study of national testing and grading policies for school year six that were introduced in Sweden 2012. The research project focuses specifically on elementar y students’ experiences of receiving grades and taking the national tests. In this paper we direct the interest towards the positions given to parents in the student’s stories about talking about grades with their parents. The purpose of the paper is to ex plore how ‘territories of agency’ take shape in student’s stories in relation to discursive narratives of performative pressure within global and national education systems. The now stronger focus on grades in Sweden is considered a part of the delivery chain -stressing learning outcomes as the main issue for everyone involved in education – reaching from global actors such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to the individual students (Ball, et al. 2012). The performativ e pressure on schools, teachers, and students aiming to improve results and schools’ ranking positions affects the local actor’s actions and identities. As subjects to policy their agency is limited but in their stories student’s make claims of having some degree of freedom to act. These ‘claims of territories of agency’ are understood as expressed through narrative performances of individual and collective identities in student’s stories about experiences of talking about grades with parents. This narrativ e approach lets us focus on the links between how students position themselves relation to their parents and vis - a - vis discourses of performativity (Ball, 1997) in their stories and through their storytelling (Bamberg, 1997). Students from eleven differen t schools in five different municipalities were interviewed with the purpose of obtaining a great variety of student experiences. In total we have conducted 80 interviews with 195 students and some of them have been interviewed twice. Students were intervi ewed in groups (n= 2 - 5). The analysis in this paper is based on what students told us about their experiences of talking to parents about grades. In a thematic analysis we found three different themes regarding how the students described their parent’s att itudes towards grades and the student’s efforts related to grades. The first theme is about parents that do not talk about grades with their children. The second is about parents that put pressure on their children to get good grades often without engagin g -or knowing how to engage -in how this is done. The third theme is about parents that focus on their children’s wellbeing by putting the grades in different perspectives – e.g. by downplay the importance of grades or emphasize the importance of having one’s own agenda. In this paper we further investigate how the positions are given to parents in the “story - world” (Bamberg, 1997) and how the students position themselves as students when telling the stories. Preliminary results suggest that students ‘cla im territories of agency’ for themselves by positioning their parents in different ways in the story - worlds.

De senaste åren har fritidshemmen präglats av en ”reformträngsel”. Hur påverkar det den dagliga verksamheten? Genom att ta del av lärares och rektorers egna berättelser om fritidshem har vi undersökt hur reformerna förändrar fritidshemmens verksamhet idag och hur det påverkar det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet.

Background: Sustainable development, as an area of knowledge, appears in several different places in the curriculum and does not fit neatly within the scope of traditional subject areas. In many countries, including Sweden, it has long been upheld as an important tool for increasing understanding of, and dealing with, environmental problems. It is not clear, however, what role education can actually have in the making of a more sustainable future. Even though there are several potential ways for sustainable development to be involved in education, the concept raises many questions when transferred to the school context.

Purpose: This paper investigates how teachers deal with the difficulty of defining and approaching sustainable development as an area of knowledge in Swedish schools.

Sample: This article is based on semi-structured interviews with 40 teachers, 13 of whom were lower secondary school teachers (pupil age 12–15) and 27 were upper secondary school teachers (pupil age 15–18). The study involves teachers in all subjects where sustainable development is a goal in the syllabus. The study is also based on participant observation in one upper secondary class. A total of 17 different schools were involved, from a wide range of locations in Sweden.

Design and methods: The paper builds on qualitative data and the analysis of transcribed interviews and group interviews with teachers in Swedish lower and upper secondary schools. Group interviews, involving three or more people, were conducted on eight occasions. The pupils at an upper secondary school were also observed while they were working on a course called ‘policy and sustainable development’. Data were transcribed and analysed thematically.

Findings: The analysis suggests that, according to the teachers’ experiences, the demands of equivalence and measurability in school have increased and that this affects how sustainable development is approached in teaching and learning. Three main categories of knowledge were identified. The study also presents two representations that model how teachers may approach knowledge about sustainable development – metaphorically termed ‘the Accountant’ and ‘the Adventurer’ – and their different effects on knowledge.

Conclusions: There is a tendency for complex knowledge areas such as sustainable development, which do not fit seamlessly into traditional curriculum subjects, to become oversimplified when translated into teaching situations. According to the representations that we described metaphorically, the teacher, as an accountant, is characterised by ‘knowledge instrumentalism’, which means that teachers administer knowledge and the pupils consume it. In this transactional model, the accountant is also very dependent on external governance and control. Alternatively, the teacher, as an adventurer, is characterised by authority, knowledge and self-control. In this model, knowledge sometimes grows in an unpredictable way in the meeting between people who share common experiences. For adventurers, sustainable development is a matter of commitment and awareness, and it involves an explicit stance. The metaphors can be placed on a continuum which describes how teachers manage the demands of the school system in relation to the knowledge area of sustainable development.

This paper investigates students ́experiences of getting grades and explores the identities as students that take shape in their stories. Recently, grades from school - year 6 instead of year 8 were introduced in Swedish schools. However, granting their importance in students´ life, little is known abo ut the personal meaning of grades to students, especially the feelings and understandings that students hold about grades both in a present tense as well as in a future tense. One main function of grades is to select students into higher levels in the educ ational system but they are also expected to motivate students to learn more and provide information about learning outcomes. Previous studies have shown that grades in early years contribute to stable perceptions of student selves over time and to pessimi sm in terms of possible change (Kasanen & Räty, 2002; Kärkkäinen, 2008). Often, issues of “high stake” deal with questions of tests and grades as objective gatekeepers for students ́ future possibilities to education. However, in this paper, we consider “hi gh stake” as a subjective matter linked to students ́ feelings and future dreams. The overall aim of the paper is to problematize “high stake” as a matter of objectivity by stressing students ́ subjective feelings in their stories about grades and grading. O ur research questions are: How do the students talk about the possibilities to influence their grades now and in future? What feelings take shape in the students’ stories about their experiences of grades? Students from eleven different schools in five di fferent municipalities were interviewed with the purpose of obtaining a great variety of student experiences. In total we have conducted 80 interviews with 195 students. The students were interviewed in a group of students (n=2 - 5) and asked to refer to the ir experiences and feelings of grades. We listened to the interviews and read the transcripts and conducted a narrative analysis of the students’ stories. Some students express feelings of pressure and say that the grades are deemed important for their po ssibilities to get a job in the future. This we regard as an expression of grades as “high stake”. Other students express more relaxed feelings and talk about a limited value of grades in school - year 6 for their future plans. To them the grades do not stan d out as “high stake”. Several studies indicate that younger students seem to see grades as labels that are hard to change. From this perspective all grades are “high stake” in a kind of objective sense. However, this study indicates that the grades are no t “high stake” to all students when considering their feelings and future dreams. Many of the students in this study talk about future in terms of possibilities to change their grades or find grades and grading not an important issue yet. To them the grade s might be “high stake” later on – or not.

The interest in this paper is directed towards teachers’ experiences of collaboration, in particular of moderation when marking national tests. The purpose is to describe and discuss these experiences as expressions of a teaching profession in change.

The point of departure is that the now extended national testing in Sweden also increases the demands on moderation as the teachers are supposed to mark the tests together.  The National Agency for Education stress that the tests are intended to "support equal and fair assessment and grading", and delivers samples, instructions and examples on how the tests should be marked. Teachers are also supplied with advisory texts on how to conduct moderation. This we regard as a part of a growing interest by the state to control and evaluate schools and teachers’ performances, and of parent’s claims on fair assessments and grades for their children.

Collaboration is thus recommended in policy and what we might call professional tools for assessment is provided by the state. This development supports descriptions of teaching in terms of an organizational form of professionalism based on external control and accountability at the expense of a loss of a professional autonomy. However, we believe that teachers’ moderation when marking national tests also needs to be described as an expression of an occupational form of professionalism that is based on teachers’ collegial authority, self-control, ethics and trust. Interviews were conducted with teachers about their collaborative work in general and more specifically on their joint marking of national tests. Further, we have conducted observations of teachers moderation work when marking national tests. The interviews were audio recorded and fully transcribed.

The results indicate that teachers use the state-provided tools with enthusiasm and express a commitment to their collaborative work. We argue that they develop a collective professional knowledge in their moderation work with national tests. In this sense, they express a kind of state-directed professionalism that we describe as sharp but delimited and definitely different from the wider kinds of professionalism that has been described as a result of a “chock professionalization”.

The aim of the paper is to investigate students’ concern for the national test in science as an effect of changes in the education system toward a stronger state interest in knowledge measurement in a decentralized and competitive school system. Our research questions are: What are students’ experiences of national tests in science? How do the students conceptualize the test questions? This paper focuses on elementary students’ experiences of assessment against the backdrop of the now extensive practice of national testing in the sixth grade of Swedish schools. The students were interviewed in a group of students (n. 2-5) a few days after the national test. They were asked to refer to their feelings about performing the test (e.g. Can you tell us what it was like to take a national test?) and about their strategies to answer the questions (e.g. Can you tell us about your experiences about the test questions?). All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. We listened to the interviews and read the transcripts and conducted an analysis of narratives of students’ stories about their experiences of the national test. The students tell about a great concern for the national tests in science and how important the national tests are for their grades. They tell stories about limited possibilities to prepare before the test. They also talk about questions that do not challenge their knowledge, as well as questions that are difficult to conceptualize. From a student perspective, some questions are impossible to answer because they are “dealing with the wrong stuff” since the science content in the test questions do not always reflect the content of the science teaching in school. It is evident in our data that the now extended practice of assessment is in a process of taking shape. The national tests do not just create opportunities for students to improve their grades, but they also limit students’ opportunities to participate in a science practice.

The aim of this paper is to describe and discuss how students are prepared and prepare themselves before conducting national tests. Recently the routines of national testing were extended in Sweden by introducing national tests in Science and Social science in grade six. The intentions with the test is to contribute to that the assessment will be equal and fair, to concretize the curricula and to improve students’ results. The tests are conducted during the spring term and they are supposed to mirror the summative learning results of the students’ achievements for the passed school years. An implicit idea in this policy is that students and schools should not prepare for the tests. The policy of extended national testing is regarded as an expression of the state’s increased demands on accountability and of a need for unambiguous information on a national school market. The research builds on a vision of educational reform as something that both frames the terms of the school’s stakeholders and is shaped by the local translations and enactments of the reforms. Data consists of interviews with sixth-grade students from ten schools who are characterized by different background factors, such as socioeconomic conditions and geographic location. The students were interviewed groups of students (n. 2-5) a few days after the national test. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. We have conducted an analysis of micro-narratives of students’ stories about their experiences of preparing for national tests. Preliminary results indicate that schools and students in varying degrees prepare for individual tests. Students variously spend a lot of energy to prepare, or just follow the preparations done in school, or do not prepare at all. Some schools prepare students a lot and others leave the task of preparation to the students to solve alone. A conclusion suggested in the paper is that the tests from a students’ perspective can be said to contribute to differences in students’ possibilities to prepare and perform good results in school.

The aim of the paper is to investigate students’ experiences of the national test as an effect of changes in the education system toward a stronger state interest in knowledge measurement in a decentralized and competitive school system. Our research questions are: What are students’ experiences of national tests in relation to their grades? How do the students talk about their own malleability? The students were interviewed in a group of students (n. 2-5). They were asked to refer to their grades in relation to the national tests (e.g. Are the national tests important for your grades?) and about their possibilities to change their grades. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. We listened to the interviews and read the transcripts and conducted an analysis of narratives of students’ stories about their experiences of the national test. The students tell about a great variation when talking about the role of national tests for their grades, some students say that the national tests are very important for their grades whereas other say that the national tests only can raise the grades never lower them and some state that the national tests are of no importance for their grades. They also tell stories about their ability to change their grades later on in school. However, from a student perspective the national tests and the grades in school year six do not just create opportunities for students, they also limit students’ opportunities.

Theoretically and methodology framework

In Sweden the practice of national testing now is extended through the introduction of national tests in Science (Chemistry, Physics and Biology) and Social Science (History, Geography, Religion and Social Studies) in grade six. This is one in a series of reforms aiming to tighten the impact of learning goals formulated by the state. The reform is regarded as an expression both of the state’s increasing interest in managing and controlling schools and of a need for unambiguous information about schools’ effectiveness from actors on a national school market (Lundahl, 2005). Both the state and parents choosing schools for their children ask for simple measures of schools’ quality (Lindblad, 2000). Further, one fundamental aspect of the system is that by providing information about learning outcomes, students themselves can develop their own learning. Yet we know little about the ways students, the subjects of governance, experience and share their experiences of national tests.

A central idea in the paper is that reforms are interpreted and enacted rather than implemented, and therefore it is useful to listen to the actors’ experiences (Ball et al., 2012). Theoretically, this research builds on a vision of educational reform as something that, on one hand, frames and shapes the terms of the school’s stakeholders and their ability to shape their identities. On the other hand, the actors’ stories or translations of those reforms reflect how reform is enacted in practice and how its results can be understood (Ball, 2006; Ball et al., 2012). Research on assessment from a student perspective is unusual, especially when it involves young learners (Forsberg & Lindberg, 2010). Most evaluation research focuses on student achievement and on school results rather than on students’ experiences, the core of this project. However, some European studies are relevant to this paper’s discussion. Kasanen and Räty (2002) showed that self-assessment of students in first grade affects their perceptions of themselves at school and that they compete with one another, comparing their own results with those of classmates. In a study of students in grades three and six, Kärkkäinen et al. (2008) found that students develop a perception about their own abilities and their malleability quite early. The students’ results and experiences of success or failure, in conjunction with comparing their results with those of others, contribute to early and stable perceptions of themselves over time and to pessimism in terms of possible change. In addition, two studies have shown that students hold varying perceptions about assessment’s function but a common perception that assessment is done for others rather than for themselves (Törnvall, 2002; Ross et al., 2002).

Method and data

Data in this paper is collected within the framework of a project financed by the Swedish Science Council in which we interview sixth-grade students from ten schools who are characterized by different background factors, such as socioeconomic conditions and geographic location.The students were interviewed in a group of students (n. 2-5). They were asked to refer to their grades in relation to the national tests (e.g. Are the national tests important for your grades?) and about their possibilities to change their grades. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. We listened to the interviews and read the transcripts and conducted an analysis of narratives of students’ stories about their experiences of the national test.

Findings

Our analysis of students’ stories indicates a narrative of an increased performative pressure when national science tests in grade six were introduced. In the students´ stories about how they cope with the pressure, identity formations of insecurity (agony) and competence (pride) are constructed. The students emphasize the importance of the situation both for the teachers and for their own future (cf. Ross et al., 2002; Kärkkäinen et al., 2008). The students tell about a great variation when talking about the role of national tests for their grades, some students say that the national tests are very important for their grades whereas other say that the national tests only can raise the grades never lower them. Some students also tell stories about their malleability i.e. their ability to change their grades later on in school. However, from a student perspective the national tests and the grades in school year six do not just create opportunities for students, they also limit students’ opportunities.

References

Ball, S. J. (2006). Performativities and fabrications in the education economy: Towards the performative society. In H. Lauder, P. Brown, J-A. Dillabough & A. H. Halsey (Eds.), Education, globalization & social change (pp. 692–701). New York: Oxford University Press.

Ball, S. J., Maguire, M. & Braun, A. (2012). How schools do policy: Policy enactment in secondary schools. London: Routledge.

Forsberg, E. & Lindberg, V. (2010). Svensk forskning om bedömning — en kartläggning. Stockholm: Vetenskapsrådet.

Kasanen, K. & Räty, H. (2002). ”You have to be honest in your assessment”: Teaching and learning self-assessment. Social psychology of education 5, s. 313–328.

Kärkkäinen, R., Räty, H. & Kasanen, K. (2008). Children’s notions of the malleability of their academic competencies. Social psychology of education 11, s. 445–458.

Lindblad, S. (2000). Verklighetens omätbara aspekter. Pedagogiska magasinet, 4.

Lundahl, L. (2005). A matter of self-governance and control. The reconstruction of Swedish education policy: 1980–2003. European Education, 1(37), 10–25.

Ross, J. A., Rolheiser, C. & Hogaboam-Gray, A. (2002). Influences on students’ cognition about evaluation. Assessment in Education, Principles, Policy & Practice, 9(1), 81–95.

Törnvall, M. (2001). Uppfattningar och upplevelser av bedömning i grundskolan. Malmö: Högskolan, Lärarutbildningen. (licentiatavhandling).

Målet med vårt projekt har varit att – via det systematiskt dokumenterade kvalitetsarbetet – studera förskollärarprofessionen i den förskola som synliggörs och formas genom kombinationen av marknadsanpassning och ökad statlig kontroll. Våra specifika frågeställningar har varit: Hur hanterar förskollärarna kraven på synliggörande? Hur framställs och framställer sig lärarna i den synliggjorda förskolan? Vilka sidor av förskollärarprofessionen lyfts fram och vilka tystas ner? Vilka förskoleideal visas upp och vilka visas inte upp i förskolans dokumentation?

This article analyses how the teaching profession takes shape when policy demands on increased documentation in preschool is interpreted and enacted by teachers. The profession and professional identities take shape in the tension between two forms of professionalism: occupational professionalism, based on collegial authority, and organizational professionalism, regulated by policy, bureaucracy, and markets. Interviews with preschool teachers about documentation and parents highlight how different professional identities not only took form in the policy interpretation process, but also worked as arguments for ways of dealing with change. A major conclusion is that it would be a win-win situation for professionals, children/parents, and central/local authorities if the influence of occupational professionalism was strengthened through a revaluation of teachers' experiences and professional standards.

Syftet med den här texten är att visa hur lärare i sina livsberättelser gör anspråk på att tillhöra olika kollegiala

gemenskaper när de berättar om sitt arbete. Studien motiveras av att läraryrket brukar beskrivas antingen som

individuellt eller som kollektivt, vilket jag menar är en dikotomi som behöver problematiseras. Alltsedan Lorties

(1975) studie har yrket beskrivits som individuellt vilket betraktats som problematiskt för lärares professionalism

(Hargreaves, 2006). Lärares kollektiva arbete har däremot beskrivits som en väg ut ur isoleringen och har sagts

gynna t ex effektivitet och skolutveckling. Detta har väckt en önskan om mera balanserade beskrivningar av hur

kollegialitet tar form och ges olika innehåll (Little, 1990; Kelchtermans, 2006). I den här texten, som baseras på

narrativa analyser av högstadielärares berättelser visar jag hur de gör anspråk på att tillhöra olika kollegiala

gemenskaper som står för olika värden. När lärarna talar om sitt yrkesliv så tillskriver de gemenskaper

betydelser genom att t ex göra sig till

talesmän för grupper av kollegor, till arvtagare av skolans traditioner eller

till insatta

översättare som kan beskriva betydelsen av gemenskap när man tar itu med social problematik bland

elever.

I boken ges exempel på vetenskapliga redskap för att beskriva och förstå förskolans verksamhet såväl från barnens, förskollärarnas och organisationens perspektiv. Här ges rikliga exempel från förskolans verksamhet på hur olika typer av data samlas in, bearbetas och analyseras samt hur den vetenskapliga rapporten framställs. Bokens författare är aktiva inom forskargruppen UBB - Utbildningsvetenskapliga studier av barn och barndom vid Karlstads universitet och har samtliga erfarenhet av studier av förskola, barn och lärare samt av undervisning inom förskollärarprogrammet. Boken fungerar i samtliga kurser inom förskollärarutbildningen där studenternas vetenskapliga förhållningssätt prövas och utvecklas samt i examensarbet

There has been a major ‘turn’ towards narrative, biographical and life history approaches in the academy over the last 30 years.

What are some of the new directions in narrative research? How do narrative research approaches help us to understand the world differently? What do we learn by listening to stories and narratives? How do narratives extend our understanding that other research approaches do not? This collection of work grows from a symposium organised to explore new directions in narrative research.

What emerges is a fascinating, innovative and generative series of essays, generally exploring narrative enquiry and more specifically themes of culture and context, identity, teacher education and methodology.

This book will be useful for students and researchers using narrative and biographical methods in a range of disciplines, including education, sociology, cultural and development studies.