This essay examines upper secondary school pupils as well as the Swedish National Agency for Educations views on the education in subject of religion. How they describe its purpose, what content the topic should address, how the education should be implemented and what influence the pupils should have over their own studies. This to examine how the views of pupils and the Swedish National Agency of Education correlate and to analyze how it possibly can affect the pupil’s motivation. The survey is conducted by semi-forging tured interviews and text analysis in order to ascertain the pupils and the Swedish National Agency of Educations opinions on the issues. The results are then analyzed by various motivational theories that have played a vital role in the Swedish school and that have been found relevant to the study. The survey shows that the pupils and the Swedish National Agency of Education are relatively unanimous about how they regard studies on the subject of religion but that there are differences. It appears that the education the pupils have receive, despite the unity of these pupils and the Swedish National Agency of Education, not always seem to comply with the requirements of the Agency's governing documents. It also appears that the pupil’s motivation is affected by how the National Agency and the pupils' objectives, goals and beliefs correlate. When those are alignment or when the school takes account of pupils' expectations and their own goals the education seems more adequate to the pupils.

Reality and fantasy fiction have often been seen as opposites. Fantasy fiction is many times seen as childish, with escapism as its sole purpose. However, is this actually the case?  The aim of this paper is to make the connection between fantasy fiction and reality clearer since we believe that fantasy fiction could reflect the problems in our everyday life and in a way help us see the issues in our world through a new perspective. The connections will be made possible through research from previous scholars, critical perspectives of psychoanalysis and the guidelines of the Swedish National Agency of Education.  Due to the new 2021 syllabus for English in upper secondary school, the topic of this paper is highly relevant as the syllabi calls for students to discuss both ethical and existential questions, as well as reading fiction. Since there is a belief that fantasy fiction can be read and understood as a genre reflecting our reality and our everyday problems, fantasy fiction could assist in discussions about for instance race, discrimination, and sexuality. Since the topic of this paper is highly relevant in connection to the new syllabi, we will therefore write this following literature review and demonstrate how fantasy fiction reflects our reality and how it can be used in the English classroom.

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.

No description available.

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 importance of explicit grammar instruction has been debated during decades within the second language acquisition discourse community. Researchers’ views on the topic are controversial, and there is still no clear answer to be found. In terms of English teacher attitudes, previous research shows no indication of a gradually decreasing interest in explicit grammar instruction in L2 or FL classrooms. Despite this, the Swedish National Agency of Education does not mention explicit grammar instruction in their official documents regarding the subject of English. Hence, this paper aims to examine if the Swedish context has an impact on in-service English teachers’ attitudes towards explicit grammar instruction. To investigate their attitudes, along with their preferred approaches to explicit grammar instruction, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five English teachers at upper secondary school. The interviews were recorded, carefully analysed and partly transcribed. The results show that all of the interviewed English teachers were positive towards explicit grammar instruction and use it in their teaching. In terms of approaches to explicit grammar instruction, all of the five teachers explained that they highlight a certain grammatical rule when they notice that many of their students have a hard time with it. It is often after a writing assignment that the grammatical difficulties are revealed and will be brought up in class. The teachers tend to explain the rule by using the whiteboard, a relevant YouTube clip or a PowerPoint. An interesting finding was that all of the teachers referred to their own experience when explaining why they use a specific approach to explicit grammar instruction, whereas none of the teachers referred to research within the field. In addition, all of the interviewed teachers expressed that the official steering documents by the Swedish National Agency of Education should mention grammar instruction more explicitly. However, they were still positive towards the official documents, because of the fact that these focus on communication. The current paper provides an indication of how English teachers in Sweden prefer to work with explicit grammar instruction, along with suggestions for further research on the topic.

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.

In our world and our modern society, we have laws, ethics, morality, and religion that guide us, teaching us the basic principles of what is right and what is wrong, and what is good and what is bad. However, what would happen if all of these guides suddenly cease to exist? In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, this is exactly what happens. The novel’s two main characters, a father and his son, try to survive in a world that has turned into ravaged landscapes with people that will hunt others down, kill them and eat them. Through the story, the pair fight to survive, but also fight to maintain their ethical values and moral duties when everyone around them has abandoned those values.  This thesis will thereby demonstrate the possibility of ethics in a post-apocalyptic world and analyse this by reference to consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics. Moreover, it will show the ways that The Road can be used to teach right and wrong and good and bad in upper-secondary school.

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.