Formative assessment lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be. Little research has been conducted on formative assessment practices, nor collegial practices in an EFL context. The purpose of the current study is to determine what formative assessment practices are in place in two upper-secondary schools and the impact that collegial learning plays in the adoption of these practices. This qualitative research design comprises four teachers and ten pupils using the focus group interview method. The findings reveal that there are several disparities in the two schools with regards to the adoption of formative practices, with one adhering to summative procedures. Furthermore, one of the more significant findings emerging from this study is that there seems to be a relation between collegial learning and common assessment practices. This finding has pedagogical implications which could be usefully explored in further research. Finally, this study also highlights that formative assessment practices can be implemented successfully without any resistance or reluctance from the learners.

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The aim with this essay is to examine how relevant the strategies compiled by the National Agency for Education are to English language teachers in Sweden.  The main focus is on the area of strategies in general but in order to go further into depth in a specific area, there is a selective focus on vocabulary learning strategies as well. Moreover, this study has been facilitated with the help from teachers. The teachers answered a number of questions through a quantitative questionnaire. The teachers selected to participate in this study all teach at high school level. A total of eight teachers participated as informants. As the main theory, this study used the original classification framework designed by Chamot and O’Malley (1990). The conclusions drawn from the results is that teachers found all strategies listed by the Swedish National Agency for Education to have importance even though some were more important than others. Furthermore, with regards to the vocabulary learning, the conclusion has been drawn that teachers use several techniques in their teaching. However, the summary of the vocabulary strategies shows the importance to vary. Some informants answered that they use the strategies frequently although in quite a few cases they answered that they use them infrequently, which awakens the question of relevance in the daily teaching practice.

The following study examines the construction of the national tests in history. The study has analyzed the work processes of the construction of the test at different moments, such as design, conduct and evaluation, from the perspective of the test designers and the test manager at the National Agency for Education. The purpose is to see how the test designers’ previous experiences are reflected in the work process with national test and what problems, challenges and limitations they have in their work. The study is based on qualitative interviews and has used the validity theory as an analytical framework. The results show, among other things, that the work process of the national tests begins with the group interpreting the curriculum for history. The interpretation is written down in the so-called construct which is sent to the National Agency for Education for further review. The test designers performed various evaluations of the tests throughout the whole work process. The National Agency for Education conducted a large survey after completing tests that the teachers answer. The results also show different limitations, problems, and challenges of the test design. The framework of the test limits for example the design; what the test should look like, pictures and question construction, it systematizes the test. The processes of the conduction of the test in schools is also completely controlled by the National Agency for Education and the test does not necessarily reflect the teaching that is conducted in the classroom. Another problem is that communication with the active teachers is rather one-sided. Challenges that the test designers face includes setting grade requirements and stable results.

Music production is constantly evolving and new "gadgets" and "apps" to help the creation of music are continuously being released. They enable the music production, so even the most unskilled music maker can produce one ́s own slideshow from the vacation for example, or a digital Christmas card to send to the loved ones. But if we are to have education for future music producers in high school, then what are we going to teach the students, so that they are able to advance from the "everyday" use to a more professional level of music production. Are the goals that have been set up for the course music by the Agency for education really relevant to what will be expected of a music producer now and in the future? The survey that has been made by data acquisition of young people shows a picture of the progress and a future vision of the music creation. Additionally, interviews with practicing teachers and music producers have been made, where each and one are giving their personal view of music production around us today. What has emerged from these studies is that in spite of the democracy and availability, which is characteristic of today ́s music production, the need of experts who perform this profession is indeed still great. The objectives and requirements for music production in high school set by the Agency for education, reflects the realities of music producers today relatively well, but that’s mainly because the objectives are hugely extensive and interpretable. If we want a more democratic music production, the availability needs to improve further. / Musikproduktion är ett ständigt utvecklande område och för varje dag som går introduceras nya ”gadgets” och ”appar”, som möjliggör för gemene man att kunna göra sin egen musik, t.ex. till ett nyskapande bildspel från semestern eller varför inte ett digitalt julkort för att skicka till sina nära och kära. Men om vi nu ska ha utbildningar för kommande musikproducenter på gymnasiet, vad är det då som ska undervisas för att vidareutveckla sig från det ”vardagliga” användandet som enkelt går att lära sig på egen hand, till ett mer professionellt musikproducerande. Är de mål som skolverket har implementerat för kursen musikproduktion verkligen relevanta med vad som kommer att förväntas av en musikproducent, i nutid och i framtiden? Undersökningen som har gjorts genom datainsamling via enkät från ungdomar, visar en bild av utvecklingen och framtidsvisionen av musikskapandet. Vidare har intervjuer genomförts med verksamma lärare och musikproducenter, som har bidragit med sin egen uppfattning av dagens musikproduktion som finns runt omkring oss. Det som har framkommit i dessa undersökningar är att även om musikproduktionen är tämligen demokratisk och tillgänglig så finns fortfarande ett stort behov av experter som utför detta yrke professionellt. Skolverkets mål och krav för gymnasiet speglar hur verkligheten ser ut för musikproducenter idag relativt bra, men det har mycket att göra med att målen är enormt omfattande och tolkningsbara. Om vi vill ha en mer demokratisk musikproduktion behöver tillgängligheten bli ännu bättre.

Given the importance of reading in life, it is worrying that reading comprehension as well as the interest in reading among Swedish students, especially older students, have decreased during the 21st century. One way of addressing this problem is the explicit teaching of reading strategies, which has proven effective in improving reading comprehension and is supported by the revised English as a Second Language (ESL) syllabus published by the Swedish National Agency for Education (SNAE) – effective as of 1 July 2021. This systematic literature review aims to examine the reading strategies mentioned in the revised syllabus and what these can entail in practice. This is done by comparing them to reading strategies investigated in previous research and investigating the didactic and pedagogical consequences that can arise in the teaching as a result of the wording in the ESL syllabus. The results of this research review were sorted into the following categories of strategies: visualising, retelling, predicting content, posing questions, taking notes, identifying main ideas and inferencing, and associating and using prior knowledge. The results show that the wording in the ESL syllabus, as it stands, complicates interpretations for teachers, but that the strategies can be described using research independent from SNAE, somewhat facilitating the actual use of the syllabus for working teachers. It can, however, not be assumed that teachers do this with their limited time. The results also show that education among teachers on reading strategies, at least in L2, is inadequate, affecting the quality of reading strategy teaching and the reading comprehension of students. Thus, it is of importance that teachers obtain knowledge of the teaching of reading strategies, suitably during their studies at the teacher education programme. Future research could benefit from investigating the actual use of reading strategies in classrooms, comparing reading strategies in ESL to other subjects, or looking into textbooks’ use of reading strategies.

In 2018 the government of Sweden decided to include programming in elementary school. Therefore, the purpose of this report was to investigate whether or not the current Swedish third-grade programming curriculum was appropriate or not, and also to evaluate the viability of including a few additional programming concepts in the teaching material for grade three. To achieve this goal, a game incorporating Gamification was developed in order to assist in the teaching of these concepts, as well as the current curriculum, to a group of third-graders from a swedish school. There were 87 participants introduced to the different programming concepts by playing the game during theoretical lectures. The results suggests that the current curriculum can be expanded upon, and also that the additional concepts all seemed to be viable extensions. However, we believe that more research needs to be conducted in order to draw any definite conclusions. / År 2018 beslutade Sveriges regering att inkludera programmering i grundskolan. Syftet med denna rapport var därför att undersöka huruvida den nuvarande svenska programmeringskriterierna för årskurs tre är lämplig eller inte, samt att utvärdera möjligheten att inkludera några ytterligare programmeringskoncept i undervisningen för årskurs tre. För att uppnå detta mål utvecklades ett spel som innefattade Spelifiering (engelska: Gamification) för att underlätta undervisningen av dessa begrepp, såväl som den aktuella läroplanen, till en grupp av tredjeklassare från en svensk skola. Det var 87 deltagare som introducerades till de olika programmeringskoncepten genom att spela spelet under teoretiska föreläsningar. Resultaten tyder på att den nuvarande läroplanen kan utökas med koncepten som undersöks i denna studie. Vi tror emellertid att mer forskning måste genomföras för att dra några konkreta slutsatser.

Detta examensarbete undersöker uppfattningar som finns hos lärare och elever kring fenomenet ”Skolverkets lydelser kring genus i teknikämnet på grundskolan och gymnasieskolan”. En fenomenografisk ansats har använts som teoretiskt ramverk och datainsamling har utförts på en grundskola och en gymnasieskola. De metoder som har använts är intervjuer med lärare, fokusgruppsintervjuer med elever, samt enkätundersökning bland elever. Analysen av forskningsmaterialet har resulterat i beskrivningskategorier utifrån olika teman som fram kommit utifrån de olika uppfattningarna. Både elevernas och lärarnas uppfattningar handlar om könsroller och genusrelaterad undervisning. Dessutom har uppfattningar om att könsroller förändras över tiden framkommit hos eleverna, samt uppfattningar om behovet av att locka fler tjejer till teknik framkommit hos lärarna. Examensarbetets slutsatser är att lärare uppfattar genuslydelserna som svåra att implementera och att de uppfattar detta innehåll som mindre viktigt än övrigt innehåll. Eleverna i studien har uppfattningen att det är viktigt att deras utbildning täcker alla delar av ämnets innehåll, inklusive genuslydelserna. Eleverna beskriver uppfattningen att de inte har tagit del av genusrelaterad undervisning i teknikämnet i någon utsträckning alls på grundskolan, och i mycket begränsad omfattning på gymnasieskolan. / This thesis examines teachers’ and students’ perception of the phenomenon ”gender related wordings in the Swedish National Association for Education curriculum for the technology subject”. A phenomenographical approach has been used as a theoretical framework for this study. Empirical data for the study has been collected in one high school and one uppersecondary school. Methods used are interviews with teachers, group interviews with students and student surveys. The analysis of the research material has resulted in description categories based on themes that arose from the different perceptions. The perceptions from both the students and the teachers concern gender roles and gender related education. In addition, the students expressed perceptions regarding gender roles changing over time, whereas perceptions regarding the need of attracting more female students to the field of technology were evident among the teachers. The thesis concludes that teachers perceive the gender related wording in the technology subject curriculum to be difficult to implement, and that this content is seen as less important than the other parts. The students in the study perceive gender related education to be important, and they express the desire that their chosen education covers all parts of the curriculum, including the parts regarding gender. The high school students describe the perception of not having received any gender related education in the technology subject, and the secondary upper school students perceive that they have received this kind ofeducation only to a very limited extent.