The Swedish school system has undergone some major transformations during the last thirty years. Another alteration is currently in the making, suggested by Betygsutredningen 2018, on behalf of the Swedish government, with some of the changes due to come into practice at the start of the 2022 autumn term. The present study aims to examine the underlying motivations to these proposed alterations of the grading system in Sweden by performing a qualitative text analysis on the document Bygga, bedöma, betygsätta – betyg som bättre motsvarar elevernas kunskaper; Betänkande av Betygsutredningen 2018 (SOU 2020:43). Furthermore, the study also aims to explore the attitudes to the proposed alterations among eight English teachers as well as a deputy headmistress at both a Swedish secondary school (högstadiet) and an upper secondary school (gymnasiet), employing semi-structured interviews. It is a qualitative study within the grounded theory framework.  Although the document (SOU 2020:43) takes attitudes regarding the proposals among teachers, students and other concerned parties into account, no individual voices have been cited. By providing individual voices, the present study aims to fill the gap. The findings indicate that the secondary teachers and the headmistress are sceptic about whether the subject grade reform will lead to any concrete changes concerning assessment. Therefore, it is of great importance that this reform includes efforts to establish professional development projects in the form of peer learning amongst teachers focusing on assessment for learning, for this reform to be successful. Such continual assessment discussions amongst teachers can strengthen teachers’ assessment competence, which could help to prevent arbitrariness in grading, an issue that was highlighted by the interviewees with regards to some of the proposed changes.

This study aims to examine perceptions of the pending subject grade reform amongst upper secondary school students. Due to the criticised course-based system of today, a new reform was proposed. The reform will be implemented in the end of 2024 and applied in the autumn semester of 2025.  In the present study, the course-based system and the subject grade system will be reviewed and analysed. The analysis will focus on following variables; motivation, learning, grades and stress. Initially, surveys were conducted with 69 first grade students and 66 third grade students. The survey measured student’s feelings and thoughts about the above-mentioned variables. In addition, interviews were made as a complement to the survey in order to make the study valid and reliable. The results indicate that first grade students are in general more in favour of the upcoming subject grade system than third grade students. Third grade students are more indecisive in terms of which grade system they would prefer.  Whereas this study measures perceptions in a small selection, it indicates that most students think that subject grades are a welcomed change in Swedish school forms.  As the present system is accused for not being adequate to either student nor teachers, it would be interesting to investigate teachers’ perceptions of the subject grade reform for further research.