This C-essay is a qualitative study designed to create a basis for understanding how managers involved in school affairs perceive the impact of merit points on students’ chances to continue on to higher education and how this will affect individuals' life chances. The study is based on three interviews with managers involved in school affairs. In this paper grades, merit points and socioeconomic class differences are discussed. The aim of this paper is to answer the following questions:  What impact does merit points in language studies and the way different languages are valued, in the system, have for the individual and for society?  Who are the winners in the new grading system and who are the losers; how are different socioeconomic groups affected? The material was interpreted with the help of a report written by Ingrid Nordqvist and Monica Langerth Zetterman called "Secondary School competition field-a regional perspective", a paper written by Helen Raven who did a study on grades, national tests and social reproduction and the Frenchman Pierre Bourdieu's theories. The results show that class differences will increase and that it will be difficult to rise in the social hierarchy in the future.

This master thesis aims to shed light on teachers' responses to the regulation that states that a student's test results in a national test must be taken into a “special consideration" in the teacher's grading. Ten teachers took part in the study during the autumn of 2020, all being teachers in social science subjects in the Swedish secondary school (school year 7-9). A method based on semi-structured focus group interviews is used to answer three research questions. The study’s theoretical framework derives from curriculum theory (i.e. teacher agency; selective traditions and theory associated with assessment). A thematic content analysis identifies two categories of factors contributing to the teachers’ perceptions and application of the regulation. The first category consists of factors that relate to the teachers' views on the purpose of the tests, their principles for construction, their content and their level of difficulty. The second category includes factors related to teachers’ professional practice and agency. The results of the study show how teachers’ responses to this relatively new policy (carried out in 2018) is affected by circumstances relating to students’ need for adaptations (e.g. poor language skills). The main conclusion is that teachers respond to this change of policy in different ways. Thus, it could be argued that further and more detailed information is needed in order to successfully implement the changes and reach a consensus among the teachers. Prior to that, a reasonable assumption is that challenges regarding equality and justice in terms of students’ knowledge levels and final grades will remain.