The purpose of this dissertation is to find out how some teachers perceive the national tests. I have used a qualitative approach and interviewed six teachers in a large upper secondary school, three teachers from a theoretical programme and three from a vocational programme. The research questions concern the role and effect of the national test, and teachers‟ views on result-based wages.The result shows that my informants perceive the national tests as a guideline to support them in their assessment and grading, and to concretize the national syllabus and grading criteria. Even though all of my informants feel that the workload surrounding the national test is heavy, they think having the national test helps them in their every-day work.

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In the curriculum for the subject of Swedish reading of literary texts is justified by ideas that literary reading will make the student learn more about the environment in which he/she lives, about herself/himself, as well as about others. It is well stated by previous research that what readings that is required and formulated in, for example, assignments or book talk, is important in how the text is discerned by the reader. It is therefore interesting to analyse what readings the student is required or invited to perform when literary reading is examined in national tests, a testing form that concerns all students in upper secondary school, and where one of its official aims is to concretize the curriculum. The aim of this thesis is to investigate what readings of literary texts are required or desirable in national tests in order to see what kind of reader the school is creating. This is done by studying how the student is positioned, by interpellations, in the tests. The thesis also has an historical approach, focusing on interpellation and reader subject. The empirical material of the study consists of all tasks that require reading of literary texts that have been used in national tests in upper secondary school in the subject of Swedish, from the year 1968 to 2013. The theoretical and methodological framework is discourse analytical with focus on positioning analyses, which is combined with analysis of readings, from the research field of literary didactics. The results show what readings that have been more or less frequent during the period.  Also the analyses of how the assignments are constructed display how the student is positioned in terms of competences, and in what way the reader subject is produced within the literary examinations.  For example, if the text should be read with a focus on form, as a societal argument, or in order to be an inspiration for the student´s own life, this will in itself create a reader that has a knowledge of how to analyse literature, is able to write about societal issues or is willing to talk about him/herself. The three prominent reading subjects that the study highlights are subjects with a knowledge of literature, with a knowledge of psychology and subjects with a knowledge of societal issues. The historical approach also shows that the student is provided with more and more information in how to read the text over time, which shows that the assignments work as a scaffold but at the same time gives the student a specific outlook on how to read literature in the later tests.

The intercultural approach carries the same values as the democratic concept, which is the fundamental platform of the curriculum, Läroplanen. Keywords such as empathy, openness, democracy, education, critical thinking, human rights, identity, equality and understanding are some of the values that the democratic and the intercultural approach carry. The question is how these values are replicated in the education and the materials that are used in school? This is what this research is going to be focusing on. To answer this question, the research is going to analyze three national tests in English in grade nine. These three tests are the primary source of this study and they are from the years2000, 2005 and 2010. The main focus of this research is to see how the intercultural approach is replicated in the three tests. The range of the national tests is to see if there has been a development in the intercultural approach in the last decade. The conclusion of this research shows that there is a Western norm that permeates throughout the production of the national tests, which contradicts the goals of an intercultural and democratic education. Even though there is an effort to try to correspond the values of the curriculum, there is still a lack of knowledge from the producer’s counterpart. The producers of the National tests have to be aware of the powerful position they posses when making the tests. They have the power to share their ideas about another culture. The stories should promote values that are independent from prejudiced assumptions. Some may argue that the bias that is shared in the national test is hard to see, since we share the same frame of reference as the producers. This makes it harder to reveal prejudiced assumptions about another culture since there are no binary opposites or contrasts to make bias noticeable. But this fact could be avoided if you have the curriculum as your point of departure when producing the tests. The intercultural approach is to acknowledge cultural differences, without generalizing people and cultures. The intercultural approach is based on promoting knowledge about cultural differences, to avoid alienation that develops into prejudice assumptions about different cultural phenomena. The intercultural approach should contribute to establishing and encourage respect for each person´s integrity and belief. The result of this research shows that the National Agency of Education has not managed to fulfil these values, even after more than 3 decades of experience.

The thesis investigates national samples, from 2012, intentions and relationship to subject the plan for Swedish 3. The study analyses the material quality through a qualitative text analysis. The theory is curriculum theory, which focuses on transformation- and realization arena. The material analysed consists of the curriculum of secondary schools, Lgy11, and any material from Skolverket on the samples from 2012 in Swedish 3. The analysis reveals a clear relationship between curriculum and national tests, where tests are designed by Swedish 3s core content and skills requirements. The task and its description linked to the Swedish third purpose of the tests is made visible and equivalence, which is an object with the samples, are discussed. Samples positive and negative aspects raised and discussed.

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka lärares uppfattningar om det nationella provet i engelska, samt hur dessa lärare arbetar med provet för att kunna hjälpa eleverna att nå sina kursmål. Undersökningsmetoden är kvalitativ då vi intervjuat fyra lärare i engelska på en högstadieskola. Intervjufrågorna har innefattat allt från hur lärare arbetar med det nationella provet och hur de ser på provet, till hur målen med det nationella provet uppfylls. Resultatet av undersökningen är att det nationella provet underlättar lärarnas arbete. Lärarna anser även att provet fungerar som ett bra stöd då de ska betygsätta eleverna. Dock visar denna undersökning att förberedelserna till det nationella provet främst gagnar svagare elever. / The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate how teachers perceive and work with the national tests in order to help students meet the goals of the course. Furthermore, due to our future careers as teachers, we want to gain more insight into the role national tests play in English. This is a qualitative study based on formal in-depth interviews that can provide a good understanding of the subject and of the informants’ views. As the teachers at secondary school work with national tests yearly they were best suited as interviewees in this investigation. Four interviews were carried out with teachers and they lasted approximately 40 minutes each.The interviews touched on a variety of questions ranging from how the teachers work with the national test and how they look upon the test, to how the purposes stipulated by Skolverket regarding the national test are fulfilled. The outcome of the interviews is that the national test in general facilitates more than complicates teachers’ work. The test serves as a good support when assessing and grading the students since it can confirm the teachers’ assessment of the students’ capability. However, this study also shows that the preparation methods used before the national test benefit weaker learners more than stronger ones.

The main purpose of this dissertation, and the four studies it includes, is to investigate some ways in which the concept of writing ability is rendered concrete in different national writing tests. The dissertation combines two theoretical approaches. Assessment theory serves as a framework for the approach to national tests. Tests are understood as a practice aiming at providing evidence for the inferences teachers need to draw about students’ writing ability, in order to make decisions that are part of school practice, such as giving grades. I examine the tests from the perspective of an anthropological theory of text that takes dialogism as its point of departure and views texts as culturally valued utterances. The analyses focus on the relations between writing task, students’ texts and assessment criteria, and how these can be both in alignment and in conflict with the claims on score meaning made by different test constructions. In the first study, four students’ texts from the national writing test in upper secondary school are closely analyzed to show how a writing task regulates students’ scope for action in their texts as regards global inner structure and perspective on content. The second study investigates how a national writing test was carried out in two classrooms in primary school, and highlights the relations between the task, students’ texts and assessment criteria. In the third study, I argue that a pursuit of reliability in writing tests becomes misguided unless it takes as its starting point the definition of writing ability the tests are made to measure. In the fourth study I examine the writing tasks of the tests in upper secondary school from 2007–2012. The analysis brings four distinct and recurrent task types to the fore, from which a reconstruction of the target domain of writing within the school subject of Swedish is made. Overall, the dissertation contributes to critical reflection on the understandings of writing expressed by test constructions, and points at possible further development of writing tests, given the theoretical perspective on writing that the dissertation employs.

In the spring term of 2013, national tests were conducted in social sciences for the first time in the Swedish sixth grade. The tests fell under criticism from various outlets associated with education which eventually resulted in the removal of these new national tests. However, as of 2016 it has been decided that the same institutions responsible for the national tests are to develop voluntary assessment support material in these subjects, which will be available nationwide in 2017, essentially replacing the tests.    The idea for this essay was born out of a need to investigate to what extent the different types of knowledge and abilities of Lgr 11, the Swedish curriculum, correspond to the new national tests, since such research has yet to be done for the sixth grade version of the tests. Out of constraints related to time and size, we chose to limit ourselves to two of the four subjects in social sciences, namely history and religion.    Using text analysis as method and Bloom’s revised taxonomy as an analysis model to study the alignment between the national tests and the curriculum, we’ve endeavoured to answer the following questions: To what extent are the different types of knowledge and abilities tested in the national tests in history and religion for grade six? How well do the national tests in history and religion for grade six and the knowledge requirements of Lgr 11 correspond in regard to which types of knowledge and abilities are tested and the extent of these? The results showed that the national tests and the knowledge requirements of the Swedish curriculum by and large share a high level of alignment. However, the amount of test questions corresponding to each knowledge requirement varies greatly, creating a possible gap for teachers to fill should they use the forthcoming assessment support material in their work.

The purpose of this study is to provide a description of how mathematics teachers in grades 3 choose to work with mathematics and how it affects of student performance in national tests. The categories I will use are outdoor education, textbooks, learning materials and problem solving. Laboratory materials can be everyday materials and educational materials in which pupils have an abstract understanding of the subject. This survey was conducted through interviews and observations. The survey was also conducted in relation to student performance in national math tests. Educators believe that national tests cannot determine everything that the student can in mathematics. Educators also believe that the reason for the students is refused, inter alia, the students with special needs and those pupils who do not have the motivation and interest in the subject. The teachers explain that learning materials are when the students do something with the bodies, that is when they are feeling and doing. In the laboratory teaching gives teachers an introduction to the material to be used. The laboratory materials make students understand better and create interest in the subject.

This is a study of the national test in 3rd grade. The national test is obligatory and is conducted in 5th and 9th grade, but since the spring of 2009 the tests also become mandatory in 3rd grade. The case study of this research is to find out how children in 3rd grade perceive the purpose of the national test. The survey should also clarify how students think and feel about the national test, and how they feel before the national test and after they have finished writing the test. Has the test positive or negative influence on children? The survey will also show how much teachers clarify what the significance of the national test is for the students. The study was conducted as a qualitative survey. The testing was performed at two different schools. In each school the survey was conducted in two classes in which questionnaires were adapted to students from 3rd and 4th grade. Why I use two different questionnaires adapted to these two grades is to find out different aspects of the time before and after the national test. What appears to be obvious is in this study is that these particular students who have completed the survey have no knowledge of the purpose of the national test.