<p>This paper examines pupils’ conception of the Swedish schools constitutive values expressed in the Swedish curriculum. The main question was, at to what extent the schools constitutive values have influenced the pupils conception of their own values. That question problematizes the relation between values, constructed and carried by central administration, and their interpretation at local level by pupils. The study was conducted with qualitative analysis which included qualitative interviews with seven pupils in the last year of the Swedish school system. Phenomenology, hermeneutics, and phenomenographics have influenced the study. The qualitative interviews were abstracted into categories, related to this papers theoretical framework. The categories were taken from a taxonomy that breaks up the constitutive values into smaller pieces. The categories are presented here: <em>questions about conception of life, moral education, values education, civics education and citizenship education</em>. As well as categories the taxonomy shows a variable that goes from private to public and <em>questions about conception of life,</em> is the most private area and <em>citizenship education</em> is the most public. What each category resulted in was that pupils´ conception of the schools constitutive values could relate to the theoretical framework. Although many of the informants’ quotations pointed out standpoints that were related to the theoretical framework, some weren’t. Those included mostly the categories of public questions, such as <em>civic education</em> and <em>citizenship education</em>. In question of the pupils conception of moral education and values education the quotations showed that schools tend to focus on a rule based philosophy when fostering the pupils in to good moral and values. Also, pupils tend to focus on private good and see the schools constitutive values as a way to gain private good. This papers result brings up questions about; if the schools constitutive values are not well understood by pupils or if the constitutive values only are to be understood as private good. It also shows that the values constructed at a central level have a long way to travel to be acknowledged by the pupils. And along that travel several actors, such as teachers, interpret the constitutive values.</p>

This paper examines pupils’ conception of the Swedish schools constitutive values expressed in the Swedish curriculum. The main question was, at to what extent the schools constitutive values have influenced the pupils conception of their own values. That question problematizes the relation between values, constructed and carried by central administration, and their interpretation at local level by pupils. The study was conducted with qualitative analysis which included qualitative interviews with seven pupils in the last year of the Swedish school system. Phenomenology, hermeneutics, and phenomenographics have influenced the study. The qualitative interviews were abstracted into categories, related to this papers theoretical framework. The categories were taken from a taxonomy that breaks up the constitutive values into smaller pieces. The categories are presented here: questions about conception of life, moral education, values education, civics education and citizenship education. As well as categories the taxonomy shows a variable that goes from private to public and questions about conception of life, is the most private area and citizenship education is the most public. What each category resulted in was that pupils´ conception of the schools constitutive values could relate to the theoretical framework. Although many of the informants’ quotations pointed out standpoints that were related to the theoretical framework, some weren’t. Those included mostly the categories of public questions, such as civic education and citizenship education. In question of the pupils conception of moral education and values education the quotations showed that schools tend to focus on a rule based philosophy when fostering the pupils in to good moral and values. Also, pupils tend to focus on private good and see the schools constitutive values as a way to gain private good. This papers result brings up questions about; if the schools constitutive values are not well understood by pupils or if the constitutive values only are to be understood as private good. It also shows that the values constructed at a central level have a long way to travel to be acknowledged by the pupils. And along that travel several actors, such as teachers, interpret the constitutive values.