During the spring term of 2013, national exams were conducted for the first time in the Swedish schools for 6th graders. The exams involving the science subjects were however not used as a basis for the student’s grades, but were instead used as trial exams. It did however not take long for criticism to befall upon the notion of national exams. In 2014, The teacher association and Sweden’s student council proposed for the tests to be voluntary for the grades 6 to 9. They felt that the tests were too many and that they had a negative effect on both students and teachers alike. The government decided two years later, 2016, that the national exams should be voluntary. The goal of this essay is to further raise the understanding of the 6th grade biology exam. This examination will present to what extent the biology exam tests the knowledge and skill of the students by comparing the exam against the requirements listed in Lgr 11. In order to accomplish this, text analysis will be used as the method, and Blooms revised taxonomy will be used as the analytical model. With this as a base, two questions have been raised. To what extent is the knowledge and skills tested in the national exams for the 6th grade? How well does the national exam corresponds to the requirements stated in Lgr 11 regarding the knowledge and skills that should be tested in the exams, as well as the extent of these. The conclusion shows a high consistency between the requirements stated in Lgr 11 and the national biology exams. However, not all knowledge and skills were being tested equally. The number of questions for each different subject varied. The conclusion also gives biology 6th grade teachers the possibility to make up for the lack of questions in the areas that are currently lacking.

<p>Students’ use of superficial reasoning seems to be a main reason for learning difficulties in mathematics. It is therefore important to investigate the reasons for this use and the components that may affect students’ mathematical reasoning development. Assessments have been claimed to be a component that significantly may influence students’ learning.</p><p>The purpose of the study in Paper 1 was to investigate the kind of mathematical reasoning that is required to successfully solve tasks in the written tests students encounter in their learning environment. This study showed that a majority of the tasks in teacher-made assessment could be solved successfully by using only imitative reasoning. The national tests however required creative mathematically founded reasoning to a much higher extent.</p><p>The question about what kind of reasoning the students really use, regardless of what theoretically has been claimed to be required on these tests, still remains. This question is investigated in Paper 2.</p><p>Here is also the relation between the theoretically established reasoning requirements, i.e. the kind of reasoning the students have to use in order to successfully solve included tasks, and the reasoning actually used by students studied. The results showed that the students to large extent did apply the same reasoning as were required, which means that the framework and analysis procedure can be valuable tools when developing tests. It also strengthens many of the results throughout this thesis. A consequence of this concordance is that as in the case with national tests with high demands regarding reasoning also resulted in a higher use of such reasoning, i.e. creative mathematically founded reasoning. Paper 2 can thus be seen to have validated the used framework and the analysis procedure for establishing these requirements.</p><p>Paper 3 investigates the reasons for why the teacher-made tests emphasises low-quality reasoning found in paper I. In short the study showed that the high degree of tasks solvable by imitative reasoning in teacher-made tests seems explainable by amalgamating the following</p><p>factors: (i) Limited awareness of differences in reasoning requirements, (ii) low expectations of students abilities and (iii) the desire to get students passing the tests, which was believed easier when excluding creative reasoning from the tests.</p><p>Information about these reasons is decisive for the possibilities of changing this emphasis. Results from this study can also be used heuristically to explain some of the results found in paper 4, concerning those teachers that did not seem to be influenced by the national tests.</p><p>There are many suggestions in the literature that high-stake tests affect practice in the classroom. Therefore, the national tests may influence teachers in their development of classroom tests. Findings from paper I suggests that this proposed impact seem to have had a limited effect, at least regarding the kind of reasoning required to solve included tasks. What about other competencies described in the policy documents?</p><p>Paper 4 investigates if the Swedish national tests have had such an impact on teacher-made classroom assessment. Results showed that impact in terms of similar distribution of tested competences is very limited. The study however showed the existence of impact from the national tests on teachers test development and how this impact may operate.</p>

Students’ use of superficial reasoning seems to be a main reason for learning difficulties in mathematics. It is therefore important to investigate the reasons for this use and the components that may affect students’ mathematical reasoning development. Assessments have been claimed to be a component that significantly may influence students’ learning. The purpose of the study in Paper 1 was to investigate the kind of mathematical reasoning that is required to successfully solve tasks in the written tests students encounter in their learning environment. This study showed that a majority of the tasks in teacher-made assessment could be solved successfully by using only imitative reasoning. The national tests however required creative mathematically founded reasoning to a much higher extent. The question about what kind of reasoning the students really use, regardless of what theoretically has been claimed to be required on these tests, still remains. This question is investigated in Paper 2. Here is also the relation between the theoretically established reasoning requirements, i.e. the kind of reasoning the students have to use in order to successfully solve included tasks, and the reasoning actually used by students studied. The results showed that the students to large extent did apply the same reasoning as were required, which means that the framework and analysis procedure can be valuable tools when developing tests. It also strengthens many of the results throughout this thesis. A consequence of this concordance is that as in the case with national tests with high demands regarding reasoning also resulted in a higher use of such reasoning, i.e. creative mathematically founded reasoning. Paper 2 can thus be seen to have validated the used framework and the analysis procedure for establishing these requirements. Paper 3 investigates the reasons for why the teacher-made tests emphasises low-quality reasoning found in paper I. In short the study showed that the high degree of tasks solvable by imitative reasoning in teacher-made tests seems explainable by amalgamating the following factors: (i) Limited awareness of differences in reasoning requirements, (ii) low expectations of students abilities and (iii) the desire to get students passing the tests, which was believed easier when excluding creative reasoning from the tests. Information about these reasons is decisive for the possibilities of changing this emphasis. Results from this study can also be used heuristically to explain some of the results found in paper 4, concerning those teachers that did not seem to be influenced by the national tests. There are many suggestions in the literature that high-stake tests affect practice in the classroom. Therefore, the national tests may influence teachers in their development of classroom tests. Findings from paper I suggests that this proposed impact seem to have had a limited effect, at least regarding the kind of reasoning required to solve included tasks. What about other competencies described in the policy documents? Paper 4 investigates if the Swedish national tests have had such an impact on teacher-made classroom assessment. Results showed that impact in terms of similar distribution of tested competences is very limited. The study however showed the existence of impact from the national tests on teachers test development and how this impact may operate.

Älander, Eva (2011): De nationella proven i svenska – hur påverkar de undervisningen i årskurs 9? Examensarbete i didaktik. Lärarprogrammet. Akademin för utbildning och ekonomi. Högskolan i Gävle.   Sammanfattning Detta är en studie om det nationella provet i svenska för årskurs 9. Arbetets syfte har varit att undersöka hur några lärare uppfattar att de nationella proven påverkar de prioriteringar som de gör runt ämnets innehåll. Med andra ord: hur de nationella proven påverkar undervisningen i svenska i årskurs 9. Leder proven till att den dagliga undervisningen fokuserar vissa mål på bekostnad av andra mål? Eller är det snarare så att provens existens hjälper till att ställa kursplanens innehåll i fokus på ett sätt som gynnar elevernas måluppfyllelse? Undersökningen genomfördes i form av semi-strukturerade intervjuer med fem stycken lärare som i dagsläget undervisar i svenska. Dessa lärare har varit involverade i genomförande och bedömning av nationella prov mellan två och femton gånger. Den intervjuguide som användes berörde två stycken teman; de nationella proven samt kursplanen i svenska och dess skrivningar om ämnets centrala innehåll i årskurs 7-9. Årligen genomför cirka 100 000 elever de tre delprov som ingår i det nationella provet i svenska för årskurs 9. Trots att proven inte mäter alla kursplanens mål är de mycket viktiga redskap för lärarnas bedömning och betygssättning. Lärarna i denna studie ser provresultaten som ett mått på (och garant för) sin egen bedömningsnivå, att de hamnat rätt i sin helhetsbedömning av elevens måluppfyllelse. Under en längre tid har det konstateras relativt stora avvikelser mellan elevernas provbetyg och deras samlade terminsbetyg. En sådan avvikelse behöver inte alltid vara ett problem, men den kan också visa på att lärares bedömning inte är likvärdig över landet. Problematiken blir extra tydlig när långa texter ska bedömas och bedömningsanvisningarna lämnar stort tolkningsutrymme till den enskilde läraren. Ett arbetssätt som rekommenderas för att råda bot på likvärdighetsproblematiken är sambedömning. Sambedömning problematiseras i denna studies resultat utifrån risken för att skolkulturer skapas samt de tendenser till skillnader i villkor som anas mellan lärare på kommunala respektive fristående skolor. Det blir tydligt i denna studies resultat att det nationella provet påverkar undervisningen i relativt stor utsträckning, inte minst genom de grundliga förberedelser som genomförs inför provet. Detta väcker frågor om var gränsen går mellan att ge eleverna så goda förutsättningar som möjligt och att förbereda dem så pass mycket att provresultatet inte säger något om elevens kunskaper utan snarare är en produkt utav en längre tids strategiska förberedelser? Nyckelord: bedömning, kursplan, lektionsinnehåll, måluppfyllelse, nationella prov, svenska, årskurs 9 Keywords: assessment, course syllabi, goal attainment, lesson planning, national tests, Swedish, year 9

Skrivundervisning påverkas av lärares föreställningar om skrivande, skrivinlärning och vad som bedöms som godtagbart skrivande. För att ta reda på sju lärares didaktiska val i skrivundervisningen har föreliggande studie undersökt deras uppfattningar om skrivundervisningen i årskurs 3 utifrån Ivaničs skrivdiskurser. Studiens resultat visar att lärarna förhåller sig till flera olika skrivdiskurser men vanligast är genrediskursen, färdighetsdiskursen och processdiskursen. Resultatet visar även att de nationella proven påverkar innehållet som berörs i skrivundervisningen och tre av lärarna anser att det tar för mycket tid från ordinarie undervisning. Samtidigt uppskattas det bedömningsstöd som kommer med de nationella proven eftersom det kan användas i all skrivundervisning. Lärarna anser att de nationella proven är tidskrävande samtidigt som dem kan ses som en utvärdering av skrivundervisningen. Skrivundervisningen påverkas även av elevernas olika behov och eleverna erbjuds stöd i form av kompensatoriska verktyg och specialundervisning för att stötta deras skrivutveckling och utmana de med ett utvecklat skrivande. De särskilt begåvade eleverna har istället högre krav på  i skrivundervisningen. / Writing instruction is affected by teachers’ ideas about writing, learning to write, and what is judged to be acceptable writing. To ascertain seven teachers’ didactic choices when teaching writing, the present study has investigated their perceptions of writing instruction in grade 3, based on Ivanič’s writing discourses. The results of the study show that the teachers relate to several different writing discourses, but the most common are the genre discourse, the skills discourse, and the process discourse. Another finding is that the national tests affect the content of writing instruction, and three of the teachers think that it takes too much time from the ordinary teaching. At the same time, they appreciate the assessment support that comes with the national tests, since this can be used in all writing instruction. The teachers find the national tests time-consuming, while they can simultaneously be regarded as an evaluation of the writing instruction. The teaching of writing is also affected by the pupils’ different needs, and the pupils are offered support in the form of compensatory tools and special teaching to further their writing development and challenge them to achieve more advanced writing as a result of higher demands.

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.

When the Swedish school system met with the novel experience of cancelled the annual national tests in spring 2020, teachers across the country were forced to adapt to teaching without this traditional support. Due to English being one of the subjects required to administer national tests, upper secondary school English teachers were immediately affected. By looking at several studies regarding standardised testing in general, and Swedish national test tradition specifically, this qualitative study summarises how large-scale assessment in education affects teaching.Through semi-structured interviews with three English teachers, this study surveyed how teaching was affected by the cancellation of the national tests in Sweden. The teachers’ experiences of teaching without the supportive function of the national tests were also documented. The recorded interviews were analysed through the theoretical framework of reactivity, and specifically, Campbell’s Law. This study’s findings are that while the national tests hold a critical support function for teachers, they may also inhibit English teachers from teaching what is specified in the English curriculum. What emerged from the collected data and subsequent analysis was teachers’ fractured role as dependent on performance standards-based on test criteria rather than the content standards in the English curriculum. The interviewed teachers showed a great deal of trust in the national tests as grounds for assessing their students’ English skills, occasionally at the cost of their faith in themselves as teachers. Counterproductively, this resulted in teachers, consciously or not, adapting their teaching practices to fit the predicted national test rather than the curriculum. Essentially, teachers had changed their behaviour to accommodate an observer, as theorized by Campbell. During the 2020 spring semester when national tests were cancelled in Sweden, and English teachers all over the nation had to make do without their supporting function, this was made clear.

Syftet med denna studie är att synliggöra hur Haparanda kommuns sjätteklassare presterar på de nationella provens läsförståelsedel. Studien syftar även till att synliggöra skillnader i dessa prestationer utifrån om eleverna är enspråkiga eller flerspråkiga samt utifrån kön. Arbetet genomförs med målet att bringa kunskap om eventuella fallgropar eleverna stöter på när det kommer till läsförståelse. För att uppnå studiens syfte har två stycken forskningsfrågor konstruerats. Den första frågan fokuserar på hur de faktiska elevprestationerna ser ut på läsförståelsedelen av de nationella proven i svenska utifrån faktorerna modersmål och kön. Den andra forskningsfrågan handlar om vilka specifika uppgifter i dessa prov som eventuellt vållar eleverna bekymmer. Studien bygger på mixed methods och inbegriper både kvantitativa och kvalitativa inslag. De uppställda forskningsfrågorna besvaras utifrån analyser av en närläsning av 32 elevers läsförståelseprov. Resultatet visar att det föreligger skillnader mellan de två språkgrupperna samt mellan könen. Resultatet visar även att det förekommer svårigheter för eleverna vad gäller läsförståelse, samt vad i uppgifterna som föranleder nämnda svårigheter. / The purpose of this study is to examine the performance made by sixth-graders, at the reading comprehension part of the National tests. The study is conducted in Haparanda Municipality, in Sweden. The study aims to identify differences in these performances based on whether the students are monolingual or multilingual and also based on gender. The study is made with the aim of bringing up knowledge about eventual difficulties the students are facing when it comes to the reading comprehension part of the test. To achieve the purpose of this study, two research questions have been constructed. The first question is focusing on the students’ actual performances on the reading comprehension part of the National test in Swedish, based on factors such as mother tongue and gender. The second question is about which specific tasks in these tests that eventually are causing concerns for the students. This study is based on mixed methods and has both a qualitative and a quantitative element. The answers of the research questions come from analyzes based on close readings of the reading comprehension tests taken by 32 students. The results shows that there are existing differences between students based on gender and mother tongue. The results also show that the students are facing difficulties when it comes to their reading comprehension and certain elements in reading comprehension assignments. / Tämän opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena on osoittaa, miten hyvin Haaparannan kunnan kuudesluokkalaiset pärjäävät valtakunnallisten kokeiden luetunymmärtämisen osuudessa. Lisäksi tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää yksi- tai monikielisyydestä tai sukupuolesta johtuvat erot tuloksissa. Työn tavoitteena on myös tuoda esille oppilaiden luetunymmärtämisessä kohtaamat mahdolliset vaikeudet. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksen saavuttamiseksi on luotu kaksi tutkimuskysymystä. Ensimmäisen tutkimuskysymyksen avulla selvitetään, miten hyvin oppilaat pärjäävät ruotsin kielen luetunymmärtämiskokeessa äidinkielen ja sukupuolen perusteella. Toisen tutkimuskysymyksen avulla selvitetään, mitkä erityiset tehtävät näissä kokeissa aiheuttavat oppilaille ongelmia. Tutkimuksessa on käytetty sekä laadullisia että määrällisiä menetelmiä. Vastaukset esitettyihin tutkimuskysymyksiin saadaan 32 oppilaan luetunymmärtämisenkokeen tarkan analyysin avulla. Tulokset osoittavat, että eroja on sekä näiden kahden kieliryhmän että sukupuolten välillä. Tulokset osoittavat myös, että oppilailla on vaikeuksia luetunymmärtämisessä ja selventävät, mitkä seikat näitä vaikeuksia aiheuttavat.

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I föreliggande studie undersöks hur ett undervisningsupplägg baserat på flipped classroom påverkar resultatet i en matematikklass på det naturvetenskapliga programmet, samt hur eleverna förhåller sig till ett sådant undervisningsupplägg. Klassen undervisades av samma lärare, men med olika undervisningsupplägg, i tre olika matematikkurser: Traditionell undervisning med klassrumsbaserade genomgångar i Ma 1c; inverterad undervisning i Ma 2c där eleverna före lektionstillfället tog del av en videogenomgång, för att frigöra tid för uppgiftslösning i klassrummet; inverterad undervisning i Ma 3c med tillägget att man i klassrummet använde sig av undervisnings­verktyget peer instruction. En enkät gjordes angående elevernas attityder till de olika undervisningsuppläggen. Vidare gjordes en jämförelse av klassens resultat på de nationella proven med resultaten i riket, samt med resultaten för en elevgrupp som undervisats traditionellt. Enkätsvaren visar att eleverna var mycket nöjda med flipped classroom, och att majoriteten ansåg att de lärde sig mer med flipped-classroom-baserad undervisning än med traditionell undervisning. Detta gäller elever på alla betygs­nivåer; elever med såväl som utan tillgång till matematik­hjälp hemma; pojkar såväl flickor. Elevernas inställning till peer instruction var mera splittrad. Jämförelsen av resultat på de nationella proven visar en tydlig nedgång i elevernas prestation mellan Ma 1c och Ma 3c. Den största delen av nedgången skedde mellan Ma 1c och Ma 2c, dvs. då undervisning baserad på flipped classroom infördes. Denna nedgång skulle givetvis kunna ha andra orsaker än att flipped classroom införts i undervisningen. Slutsatsen att flipped classroom, såsom det implementerats i klassen, inte tycks ha någon positiv inverkan på elevernas akademiska resultat tycks dock motiverad. / A flipped classroom based teaching structure in a natural science programme class at a higher secondary school has been studied in terms of influence on academic results and pupil attitudes. The class of was taught in mathematics by the same teacher using different teaching structures in three different mathematics courses: In Ma 1c, the teaching followed a traditional structure with classroom based lectures; in Ma 2c, the teaching structure was flipped, in that the pupils watched lecture podcasts prior to the lesson in order to make more time available for problem solving in class; Ma 3c also had a flipped structure, with the addition of peer instruction exercises in the classroom. A survey was performed relating to the pupils’ attitudes to the different teaching structures. Furthermore, the results of the class at the national tests in mathematics were compared a control group consisting of pupils who had been traditionally taught, as well as control groups derived from national statistics. The survey revealed that the pupils were very positive to flipped classroom teaching. The comparison of the results on national tests revealed that the academic results of the class declined between Ma 1c and Ma 3c, with the largest part of the decline occurring between Ma 1c and Ma 2c, i.e. when flipped classroom was introduced. At least part of this decline could possibly be ascribed to other factors than the change of teaching structure. However, the conclusion that flipped classroom as implemented in the class at study does not have a positive influence on the academic results of the pupils seems motivated.