The purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge of some primary schools’ principals and special schools’ principals views on the inclusion of pupils with intellectual disabilities in the activities of primary school. To collect data to the study, we have chosen to use a qualitative research interview as a method. The study is based on the views of 12 primary school principals and special school principals regarding the inclusion of pupils with intellectual disabilities in the activities of primary school. To analyze the results, we use the framework factor theory, which is based on the idea that frames provide room for a process, which is based on the purpose of the study can be seen as the possibilities and conditions given for inclusion work. The result shows that the informants generally have a similar view on the concepts of integration and inclusion, however, the majority of the informants state that the consensus on inclusion work is generally poor at schools. Success factors the informants raise regarding the inclusion of pupils with learning disabilities in the activities of primary school, among other things, the teacher’s competence, consensus, and collaboration. The result also shows that the informants have internal and external frames to relate to. Examples of internally impactful frameworks are the content of working hours and skills development as well as how the school should be managed and structured. Examples of external unaffected frameworks are governance documents, finances and working time agreements. The conclusion we can draw from the study is that the inclusion of pupils with learning disabilities in the activities of primary school is difficult and complex. The informants have great opportunities to influence the inclusion work, which leads to both opportunities and challenges. One challenge that the result shows is the lack of time in the work of inclusion. / Studiens syfte är att bidra med kunskap om några grundskole - och grundsärskolerektorers uppfattningar om inkludering av grundsärskoleelever i grundskolans verksamhet. För att samla in data till studien har vi valt att använda oss av en kvalitativ forskningsintervju som metod. Studien bygger på 12 grundskole- och grundsärskolerektorers uppfattningar gällande inkludering av grundsärskolans elever i grundskolan.  För att analysera resultatet använder vi oss av ramfaktorteorin som bygger på tankegången att ramar ger utrymme för en process, vilket utifrån studiens syfte kan ses som de möjligheter och förutsättningar som ges gällande inkluderingsarbetet.  Resultat visar att informanterna har liknande syn på begreppen integrering och inkludering, däremot fastslår flertalet av informanterna att samsynen kring inkluderingsarbetet överlag är dålig på skolorna. Framgångsfaktorer informanterna lyfter gällande inkludering av grundsärskolans elever i grundskolan är bland annat lärarnas kompetens, samsyn och samverkan. Resultatet visar också att informanterna har inre och yttre ramar att förhålla sig till. Exempel på inre påverkningsbara ramar är arbetstidens - och kompetensutvecklingens innehåll samt hur skolan ska ledas och struktureras. Exempel på yttre opåverkningsbara ramar är styrdokument, ekonomi och arbetstidsavtal. Slutsatsen vi kan dra utifrån studien är att inkludering av grundsärskoleelever i grundskolan är svårt och komplext. Informanterna har stora möjligheter att påverka inkluderingsarbetet vilket leder till både möjligheter och utmaningar. En utmaning som resultatet påvisar är tidsbristen i arbetet med inkludering.

Abstract As part of the 1990;s school reform one aim was to reinforce the objective of knowledge, and physical education and health (PE) went from being a recreational subject to a subject of knowledge among others. As part of the reform a new criterion-referenced grading system was introduced. Several studies and reports since, has shown that teachers in PE have a hard time interpreting and implementing the national criteria in relation to a very traditional content, mainly consisting of ball games. Consequently, fair and equivalent grading in the subject have been questioned. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the dominance of ball games as content, together with teacher’s difficulty in interpreting national grading criteria, impacts equivalent grading in PE. The study is carried out with a didactic and curriculum-theory framework, using survey as method. In the survey the respondents were to make an assessment of three different students, using the same marks used in the national grading system. As a basis for the assessment, three movieclips containing twelve students from a seventh grade class, playing basketball were used. The selection of respondents were 17 licensed teachers from upper- secondary school. The results show a remarkably low conformity among the respondents, where the same performance was graded differently by different respondents. Attached to each assessment the respondents were to formulate their grounds for the grade given. These motivations seem to consist of a mix of languages, partly resembling that of the curriculum and syllabus, and partly resembling that of traditional sports-logic. The latter seems harder to seperate from the specific activity being assessed, and does not seem to reflect the more universal description of quality in movement used in the syllabus. I conclude in my discussion that my results indicate that verbally formulated criteria can be questioned as a method for measuring students’ knowledge in a high-stakes grading system. Where such a method lacks, other frame factors seem to exercise influence over the teachers grading practices, threatening reliability as well as validity of the grades. As a conclusion, I can establish that the dominance of ball games as content in PE may result in grades being given without reliable and valid basis. Dominance of one activity also seems to favour certain pupils over others, often boys, participating in organised sports in their spare time. Keywords: assessment, ball games, equivalent grading, frame factors, physical education

This dissertation is about educators work with pedagogical documentation in Swedish preschools. The purpose has been to investigate how pedagogical documentation is realized in everyday work in two preschools and examine how educators express themselves on purposes, opportunities and difficulties with this approach. This has been important to study since many preschools have chosen to work with pedagogic documentation to follow up and assure the quality of their work. Since 2010 pedagogical documentation is included in the preschools curriculum. The study was conducted at two different preschools where I followed a total of six educators in two preschool departments for two months in each department. Methods used to collect data were selected based on an ethnographic approach. Data collection consists of field notes, photographs, recorded interviews and documentations from preschools and their working plans. The analysis is based on a curriculum theory perspective, and especially important concepts have been transformation arena and realization arena. Furthermore, frame factor theory and the didactic questions what, how and why, have been used to analyze data. The results show that the documentation works where formulated in different ways depending on the frames and conditions. One preschool unit was at a municipal preschool without any special pedagogical approach. Here the pedagogical documentation was in a startup phase and was one of many tasks in the pedagogical work. The other preschool unit was in a Reggio Emilia inspired preschool who had worked with pedagogical documentation for several years. Here the work with pedagogical documentation was the driving force for developing the work. This ideological difference was reflected in what the educators documented, how they documented and how the documentations were used. Pedagogical documentation was partly be seen as a cumbersome way of working among the participants, whether they are beginners or experienced. It is in the nature of the work with pedagogical documentation that there are no obvious answers, which can lead to some uncertainty whether one is right or not. Other factors leading to frustration is that this approach is time-consuming and that the new technologies available require a lot of skills to be used. The study highlights that continuous training plays a crucial role as one of educator’s preconditions to succeed in the work with pedagogical documentation. In this study, one can also see how ethical aspects constantly makes themselves felt and need to be highlighted. The main impression is that the educators, despite the perceived difficulties, felt that it was stimulating and meaningful to work with pedagogical documentation and that they saw it as a tool for developing their work. / Denna licentiatavhandling handlar om pedagogers arbete med pedagogisk dokumentation inom svensk förskola. Syftet har varit att undersöka hur pedagogisk dokumentation realiseras i vardagen på två förskolor samt undersöka hur pedagogerna uttrycker sig om syfte, möjligheter och svårigheter med detta arbetssätt. Detta har varit viktigt att studera mot bakgrund av att många förskolor har valt att arbeta med pedagogisk dokumentation för att följa upp och kvalitetssäkra sina verksamheter. Sedan 2010 ingår det enligt förskolans läroplan i deras uppdrag att dokumentera. Studien har genomförts på två olika förskolor där jag följt totalt sex pedagoger på två avdelningar under två månaders tid på varje avdelning. Metoder för att samla in data har valts med utgångspunkt i en etnografisk ansats. Datakollektionen består av fältanteckningar, fotografier, inspelade intervjuer, dokumentationer från förskolorna samt deras arbetsplan/verksamhetsplan. Analysen har skett utifrån ett läroplansteoretiskt perspektiv och speciellt viktiga begrepp har varit transformeringsarenan och realiseringsarenan. Vidare har ramfaktorteori och de didaktiska frågorna vad, hur och varför använts för att analysera data. Resultatet visar att dokumentationsarbetet utformades på olika sätt beroende på ramar och förutsättningar. Den ena förskoleavdelningen tillhörde en kommunal förskola utan speciell pedagogisk inriktning. Där var arbetet med pedagogisk dokumentation i en uppstartsfas och en av många arbetsuppgifter i verksamheten. Den andra förskoleavdelningen tillhörde en Reggio Emilia-inspirerad förskola som hade arbetat med pedagogisk dokumentation i flera år. Där var arbetet med pedagogisk dokumentation navet som drev verksamheten framåt. Denna ideologiska skillnad avspeglade sig i vad pedagogerna dokumenterade, hur de dokumenterade och hur dokumentationerna användes. Pedagogisk dokumentation uppfattades delvis som ett svårt arbetssätt bland pedagogerna, både bland nybörjare på området och bland dem som var mer erfarna. Det ligger i arbetssättets natur att det inte finns givna svar, vilket kan leda till en viss osäkerhet om huruvida man gör rätt eller inte. Andra faktorer som leder till frustration är att arbetssättet är tidskrävande och att den nya tekniken ställer stora krav på kompetens för att kunna användas. Studien belyser hur kontinuerlig fortbildning på förkolan spelar en avgörande roll för pedagogernas förutsättningar att lyckas med arbetet med pedagogisk dokumentation. I denna studie kan man också se hur etiska aspekter ständigt gör sig påminda och behöver lyftas fram som viktiga. Huvudintrycket är att pedagogerna, trots de upplevda svårigheterna, ansåg att det var utvecklande och meningsfullt att arbeta med pedagogisk dokumentation och att man såg det som ett fortbildningsverktyg.

Syfte och frågeställningar Syftet är att undersöka hur idrottslärare i grundskolan bedriver och utformar sin simundervisning. <ul type="disc">Vilka möjligheter eller hinder anser idrottslärare påverkar deras simundervisning? Hur gör idrottslärare för att alla elever ska nå kunskapskraven i simning? Hur konkretiserar idrottslärare kunskapskraven i simning? Metod Denna studie består av intervjuer utförda med sex idrottslärare på grundskolan. Intervjuerna var riktat öppna och hade förutbestämda frågeområden. För att hitta intervjupersoner skedde först ett handplockat urval av kommuner i Stockholmsområdet, sedan ett slumpmässigt urval för att få fram skolorna. Lärarna kontaktades sedan via mail. Alla intervjuer skedde på skolorna där lärarna själva arbetade. Intervjuerna spelades in och transkriberades sedan. De valda teoretiska ramverken för denna studie är ramfaktorteori och Lindes teori om de tre utbildningsarenorna. Resultat Utöver sin ordinarie simundervisning erbjuder alla skolor någon form av extra undervisning för de elever som är i behov av det, ofta i form av simskola men också rest- och extratillfällen. Gällande de två kunskapskraven i simning råder det skillnader mellan lärarna i avseende hur de tolkar och betygsätter, både mellan och inom respektive kunskapskrav. Lärarna i studien är dock ganska eniga om tolkningen och betygsättningen av kunskapskravet gällande simkunnighet, medan hur de tolkar och betygsätter det andra kunskapskravet om nödsituationer vid vatten skiljer sig mer åt. Simundervisningen verkar framförallt styras av ramfaktorer, såsom tid, avstånd till simanläggning, ekonomi och ledning.    Sammanfattning Simundervisningen verkar inte ha ändrats allt för mycket jämfört med när vi själva gick i skolan. Hur idrottslärare bedriver sin simundervisning tycks bero på hur lärarna tolkar kunskapskraven och utformningen styrs framför allt av ramfaktorer, såsom tid, avstånd till simanläggning, ekonomi och ledning. / Aim The aim of this study is to investigate how teachers in physical education (PE) in primary school practise and shape their swimming education. <ul type="disc">What possibilities or obstacles do PE teachers think affects their swimming education? How do PE teachers make sure that every student reach the knowledge requirements in swimming? How do PE teachers concretize the knowledge requirements in swimming? Method This study consists of interviews with six primary school teachers in PE. The interviews were direct-open and had predetermined question areas. To find teachers to interview we first did a hand-picked selection to single out the municipalities, then we did random samples in each municipality to find schools. The teachers were then contacted by email. All interviews took place at the school were the teacher in question worked. The interviews were then recorded and transcribed. The theoretical frameworks we have chosen for this study are frame factor theory and Linde’s theory of the three domains of education. Results A part from their ordinary swimming education, all schools offer some sort of extra education for those students who are in need of it. When it comes to the two knowledge requirements in swimming there are differences between the teachers in how they interpret and grade, both between and within each knowledge requirement. The teachers in the study, however, are quite unanimous about the interpretation and grading of the knowledge requirement about swimming ability. They are not as unanimous about the other knowledge requirement about emergency situations in water. Swimming education seems to be controlled by frame factors such as time, distance to a swimming facility, economy and management. Summary Swimming education appears to be the same now as it was when we were in primary school. How PE teachers practise their swimming education seems to depend on interpretation of the knowledge requirements. The shape is mainly regulated by frame factors, such as time, distance to a swimming facility, economy and management.

Bakgrund Undervisningen i skolan möjliggörs bland annat av de ramfaktorer som finns. Här lyfts speciellt ämnets tilldelade timmar i timplanen, läroplanens centrala innehåll och kunskapskrav samt dess övergripande fostringssträvan att få kommande generationer att anamma hållbar utveckling. Hem- och konsumentkunskapslärarnas situation är svår då kursplanens ambition överskrider dess tilldelade timmar. En möjlig lösning på problemet skulle kunna vara att ämnesintegrera undervisning. Syfte Undersökningens syfte var att studera hem- och konsumentlärares erfarenhet av och syn på ämnesintegrerad undervisning och hållbar utveckling. Metod Studien var en kvantitativ undersökning i form av en elektronisk enkät som skickades ut till alla yrkesaktiva HKK-lärare i Sverige, höstterminen 2016. Resultat Enkäten besvarades av 5 % av Sveriges HKK-lärare och visade att de allra flesta (91 %) av deltagarna hade prövat att ämnesintegrera och att samarbetsparterna fanns bland alla andra skolans ämnen. Fördelarna med ämnesintegrering ansågs överväga nackdelarna. Arbetssättet hindrades allra mest av brist på tid, främst planeringstid. Studien visade också att HKK-lärarna ansåg att ämnesintegrering ökade tidseffektiviteten med ökad måluppfyllelse och arbetsglädje som resultat. Det framkom också att lärarna behövde öka sina kunskaper i hållbar utveckling. Slutsats Skolledningen skulle kunna bidra till ökad ämnesintegrering genom att påverka lokala ramfaktorer och då främst genom att få till schematekniskt gynnsamma lösningar samt att tillgodose fortbildningsbehoven. Detta skulle kunna förbättra HKK-lärarnas arbetsbörda, öka professionalismen och höja ämnets status. / Background The teaching at School is, among other things, dependent on frame factors. This study is specifically looking at the allocated teaching hours, the subject content and the indicators for grading that the curriculum dictates as well as the overall aim of the Swedish school system to generate future generations of sustainability minded citizens. The Home and Consumer Studies (HCS) teachers’ situation is difficult with an overambitious curriculum compared to its allocated hours. One possible solution to that problem could be an integrated curriculum. Objective The aim for this study was to study the Swedish HCS teachers’ experience of and attitudes towards integrated curriculum and sustainable development. Method The study had a quantitative approach and a digital questionnaire was sent out to all active HCS teacher in Sweden, at the beginning of the autumn term of 2016. Results The questionnaire was answered by 5 % of the Swedish HCS teachers and showed that a large majority (91 %) of the teachers had experienced integrated curriculum and that teamwork including all other school subjects had been done. The advantages of integrated curriculum outweighed the disadvantages. Lack of time, mainly lack of allocated planning time, was the greatest hindrance to integrated curriculum. The study showed that the HCS teachers saw that integrated curriculum has the potential to contribute to improved time efficiency with increased goal completion and job satisfaction as a result. The study also showed that the teachers need to improve their knowledge of sustainability. Conclusion The head of schools could contribute to increased integrated curriculum activities by influencing the local frame factors, for most by enforcing satisfactory timetable solutions that ensures the possibilities of cooperation and ensuring adequate in-service programs for educators. This could contribute to better work situation for the teachers, increased professionalism and improved status of the subject.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to contribute to knowledge about how the work and profession of upper secondary school teachers is understood and shaped by the teachers in the beginning of the 21st century, and to relate that understanding of work and professional development to the strivings of the teachers’ trade unions and the state. With the implementation of an innovation as a starting point, the teachers’ narratives also described their work in a broader sense. Connections and contradictions between those descriptions of everyday work are analysed in relation to central ideas in research and state and trade union policy. The empirical data were mainly generated through interviews and studies of state- and teachers’ trade union policy documents. Twenty-three teachers at four upper secondary schools were interviewed twice, with a one year interval. Five school leaders were also interviewed. A minor questionnaire added data concerning professional development. 102 documents published by the State and the teachers’ trade unions between 1964 and 2004 were analysed using critical discourse analysis.</p><p>The analysis is eclectic, drawing on perspectives and conceptions from theories on professions, organisations, school development and the frame factor theory. The overall approach of the study is practice related research and includes an intention to draw attention to connections between micro and macro levels.</p><p>The analyses of the teachers’ narratives on implementation indicate that they were able to do the job despite unsatisfactory conditions thanks to high work morale and extensive experience. The infrastructure provided by the frame factors was weak or working at cross purposes. The school-wide support for development was stronger at one of the four schools.</p><p>The teachers’ formal freedom of action was substantial. In practice it was restricted by frame factors and the fact that the potential freedom was not fully used. Thus, the actual autonomy was more limited than it appeared to be. The school culture included elements of balkanised and contrived collegiality. Many tasks were delegated to the interdisciplinary work teams, but the teams did not seem to live up to expectations. Primarily, they lacked time and an appropriate group composition. There was a clash between the interdisciplinary work teams and the teachers’ need to co-operate within subject work teams. The teachers did not regard interdisciplinary work teams as useful for school or professional development.</p><p>Supportive conditions for long-term, shared learning and dialogue between researchers and practitioners were largely lacking. Visions such as learning organisations were far removed from the everyday life in the schools. Changes in organisational structures at the schools have partly been counterproductive.</p><p>The far-reaching restructuring of the Swedish upper secondary schools implemented from the end of the 1980s and during the 1990s was in line with international reform trends. It also had specific national characteristics. The concept professional teachers was introduced in some Government bills around 1990. The teachers’ trade unions adopted the concept and it became increasingly significant in trade union policy during the 1990s. At the turn of the millennium it was a dominant idea in their documents.</p><p>During the 1990s several influential discourses became established as shared views between the State, trade unions and some researchers, e.g. what I have called change and professional discourses. They were rarely problematized in state and teachers’ trade union policy documents. The two agreements between the teachers’ trade unions and the employers, in 1995 and 2000, constituted another component of what has been termed a system-shift in the Swedish school system. They influenced the teachers’ working conditions and implied new strategies for the trade unions. The professional, change and management discourses salient in the documents were brought into schools with insufficient opportunities for the teachers to develop a deep meaning of the discourses.</p><p>The study emphasizes the importance of practice oriented studies, related to wider contexts, in order to provide insights into teachers’ work and professional development. It also brings nuances to, and problematizes theoretical conceptions and discourses in the field.</p><p>Key-words: teaching profession, upper secondary teachers, change, school reform, professional development, school development, frame factors, school governance, school policy, trade union</p>

<p>This thesis looks at conditions for selections of fictional texts in the Swedish subject in the upper secondary school. Three different empirical materials have contributed to the understanding of what conditions there are for the texts to enter the classroom. The first material consists of national policy documents from 1970 to 2005. Here there is a tendency that the student goes from being an object for knowledge to becoming a subject that creates his/her own knowledge. With this development the contents and the given aims with the subject become more abstract, which leads to the framework of the curriculum becoming wider and more difficult to interpret. Simultaneously the focus is moved from mediation of given knowledge, to the development of an identity for the individual.</p><p>The second material consists of debate and method articles from Svenskläraren, a magazine for members, published by an organisation of Swedish teachers. The study comprise articles from the same period of time as the national curricula. In the articles there are three tendencies reflecting the changes in the discourse of the Swedish subject. The first tendency shows how the overall ideological debate on the subject disappears during this period. The second tendency shows how discussions about the conceptions of the subject is replaced by more and more concrete examples of methods. The third tendency depicts that the concrete text selections have moved from being partly predetermined during the seventies to become debated during the eighties, to finally during the nineties end up in a situation where some texts has a sufficient cultural capital not to need justifications, whereas others need it.</p><p>The third material consists of interviews with, and observations of, four active teachers, in order to find what conditions there are for text selections in their rhetoric and practice. The results show a clear impression of informal institutional factors and of the school culture. However, this seems to decrease with experience. There are big differences in how the teachers speak about text selections and text use and what the result becomes in practice. Here professionalism in form of knowledge in subject didactics could have a vast impact.</p>

<p>Swedish as a school subject has long been debated in Sweden, and ideas concerning its content, role and function in school and society have varied greatly throughout the years. In 1994, there was an upper secondary school reform which resulted in a partial revision of the Swedish subject, including its introduction within a new course and grading system. The Swedish A and B courses became obligatory for all upper secondary students. Other courses in Swedish became largely optional.</p><p>This study consists of two levels – a rhetorical and practical level. The rhetorical level deals with understandings and ideas of the Swedish subject and instruction as they are expressed in curricula and course syllabi, as well as with the understandings and ideas expressed by the four teachers in the study. In addition, the external and internal frame factors which underlie this rhetoric are considered. The practical level concerns the four teachers’ concrete Swedish instruction, i.e. the aims and goals, content and working methods which underlie their teaching, as well as the factors which influence, limit and facilitate it.</p><p>The aim of the study is to attempt to describe, analyse and understand the role and function of the Swedish subject after the upper secondary school reform of 1994. What ideas do the four teachers express regarding the role and function of the Swedish subject in upper secondary school and society after 1994, and how should these ideas and reasons be interpreted and understood from a more comprehensive, general perspective? How do the teachers represent the Swedish subject in their teaching, i.e. how is their knowledge of subject didactics expressed? These are two central questions in the study. A third central question concerns notions of society and the good citizen implied in the chosen views of the Swedish subject.</p><p>The study has two theoretical starting points: subject didactics and curriculum theory. Shulman’s concepts of pedagogical content knowledge and transformation are central to the subject didactics drawn upon here, while frame factor theory and Bernstein’s concepts of “classification” and “framing” are central to the curriculum-theoretical perspective. The perspective of subject didactics deals with the relation between teacher and content, while the curriculum-theoretical perspective deals with the relation between content, individual and society.</p><p>This study shows that the teachers’ knowledge of subject didactics is vague.The teachers’ transformation of content in teaching resides to a high degree in an adaptation to the students; the focus is thus not on a transformation and content analysis of the Swedish subject. Further, the teachers have an instrumental approach to the steering documents. A common characteristic among the four teachers, and in Swedish instruction generally, is that a large degree of responsibility is placed on the individual student for their literary and language development. Collective meetings were very infrequent in the teaching of the four teachers in the study.</p><p>This study discerns four teacher codes which reflect understandings and ideas of school and education, formed by previous and current material and sociocultural conditions and which the individual teacher has encountered, adopted and reshaped into his/her own. These four teacher codes can be described as closeness and hierarchy, tradition and renewal, vision and reality and the individual and the collective. The teacher codes reveal that the four teachers have relatively similar teaching strategies, whereas their teaching aims, goals and content diverge significantly.</p><p>Viewed from the perspective of curriculum theory, it is evident that the teachers emphasise the individual student over the collective. It is a matter of developing one’s thought and personality and of fostering the students to be individual, active members of society. However, this active member of society does not appear to be aware and critically active, but rather a loyal and obedient member of society.</p>

The aim of this study is to investigate the assessment practices of civics teachers in upper secondary school. The main purpose is to analyze, using Bloom’s revised taxonomy, which kind of knowledge civics teachers test in their written test examinations. The analyses show that they mainly test factual and conceptual knowledge. Procedural knowledge is tested in other ways, mostly by means of essays. Metacognitive knowledge is not found in this study. In contrast to earlier findings the teachers in this study test a variation of cognitive processes. Between 50 and 90 percent of test questions relate to the category remember, but there are also questions testing the categories to understand, analyze and evaluate, only a few test apply and create. There is a good alignment in teachers’ knowledge of the grading criterions and the curriculum. There are however discrepancies between this knowledge and their testing practices, which causes some problems concerning the validity of their tests. As the tests mainly are used for summative purposes, teachers varying practices lead to problems with grade equality. Frame factors may explain differences in practices. Mainly administrative factors such as working hours and schedule are significant, since teachers need time to prepare and to mark the tests and pupils need time to write them. Pupils also wish to have written tests and teachers adapt to this. Still, the significance of these factors is decided by teachers’ freedom of action. Most teachers know how to and want to make valid tests, but they need the time, both to prepare and to mark them, and the possibilities to extend lessons when more writing time is needed.

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to knowledge about how the work and profession of upper secondary school teachers is understood and shaped by the teachers in the beginning of the 21st century, and to relate that understanding of work and professional development to the strivings of the teachers’ trade unions and the state. With the implementation of an innovation as a starting point, the teachers’ narratives also described their work in a broader sense. Connections and contradictions between those descriptions of everyday work are analysed in relation to central ideas in research and state and trade union policy. The empirical data were mainly generated through interviews and studies of state- and teachers’ trade union policy documents. Twenty-three teachers at four upper secondary schools were interviewed twice, with a one year interval. Five school leaders were also interviewed. A minor questionnaire added data concerning professional development. 102 documents published by the State and the teachers’ trade unions between 1964 and 2004 were analysed using critical discourse analysis. The analysis is eclectic, drawing on perspectives and conceptions from theories on professions, organisations, school development and the frame factor theory. The overall approach of the study is practice related research and includes an intention to draw attention to connections between micro and macro levels. The analyses of the teachers’ narratives on implementation indicate that they were able to do the job despite unsatisfactory conditions thanks to high work morale and extensive experience. The infrastructure provided by the frame factors was weak or working at cross purposes. The school-wide support for development was stronger at one of the four schools. The teachers’ formal freedom of action was substantial. In practice it was restricted by frame factors and the fact that the potential freedom was not fully used. Thus, the actual autonomy was more limited than it appeared to be. The school culture included elements of balkanised and contrived collegiality. Many tasks were delegated to the interdisciplinary work teams, but the teams did not seem to live up to expectations. Primarily, they lacked time and an appropriate group composition. There was a clash between the interdisciplinary work teams and the teachers’ need to co-operate within subject work teams. The teachers did not regard interdisciplinary work teams as useful for school or professional development. Supportive conditions for long-term, shared learning and dialogue between researchers and practitioners were largely lacking. Visions such as learning organisations were far removed from the everyday life in the schools. Changes in organisational structures at the schools have partly been counterproductive. The far-reaching restructuring of the Swedish upper secondary schools implemented from the end of the 1980s and during the 1990s was in line with international reform trends. It also had specific national characteristics. The concept professional teachers was introduced in some Government bills around 1990. The teachers’ trade unions adopted the concept and it became increasingly significant in trade union policy during the 1990s. At the turn of the millennium it was a dominant idea in their documents. During the 1990s several influential discourses became established as shared views between the State, trade unions and some researchers, e.g. what I have called change and professional discourses. They were rarely problematized in state and teachers’ trade union policy documents. The two agreements between the teachers’ trade unions and the employers, in 1995 and 2000, constituted another component of what has been termed a system-shift in the Swedish school system. They influenced the teachers’ working conditions and implied new strategies for the trade unions. The professional, change and management discourses salient in the documents were brought into schools with insufficient opportunities for the teachers to develop a deep meaning of the discourses. The study emphasizes the importance of practice oriented studies, related to wider contexts, in order to provide insights into teachers’ work and professional development. It also brings nuances to, and problematizes theoretical conceptions and discourses in the field. Key-words: teaching profession, upper secondary teachers, change, school reform, professional development, school development, frame factors, school governance, school policy, trade union