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The overall aim of this study is to examine the association between Swedish students’ attitudes towards mathematics, mathematics achievement as measured by the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), socioeconomic status (SES), and educational background variables. A further aim is to investigate whether students’ attitudes towards mathematics have a mediating role between their mathematics achievement and their background. Several indicators of students’ SES and background, taken from both the TIMSS 2015 database and from Swedish official registers, were used. The overall results show that there were differences in attitudes towards mathematics in relation to the different SES and educational background measures. There are also associations between students’ SES and both TIMSS mathematics achievement and their attitudes towards mathematics. The students’ attitudes towards mathematics only had a small mediation role between the students’ backgrounds and TIMSS mathematics achievement. Finally, although the mediation models had a better fit when including other information, the mediation effect was lower. Practical implications of the obtained results are discussed.

This paper explores the measurement capabilities of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in assessing school factors that influence student performance. We specifically focus on the 2015 assessments of the science performance of eighth graders in Sweden and Norway. This was the latest year when the two assessments were conducted in the same year and science was the major subject area in the PISA assessment, which was essential for maximizing the assessments’ comparability. Using multilevel models, the study identifies common and unique factors across the assessments and investigates the factors that influence student performance at different proficiency levels. The findings highlight the importance of school-level factors, which are significant in both assessments. Moreover, both assessments provide information on overlapping sets of factors that have varying influence on the performance of students with different proficiency levels. Overall, there are limited common factors between TIMSS and PISA. School factors vary between low-performing and high-performing schools, with differing significance in Norway and Sweden. The results indicate that TIMSS and PISA assessments offer complementary information, particularly for low-performing schools. Our findings suggest that different school types may benefit or suffer from distinct school factors. The findings are relevant for both educational professionals and policy-makers.

The overall aim of this study was to examine the different self-reported students’ socioeconomic status (SES) measures in the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in comparison to national SES measures obtained from Swedish official registers. A further aim was to determine if the same conclusions could be drawn if different student measures were used to define SES when modelling the students’ TIMSS mathematics achievement. The overall results showed that the choice of SES measures matters. The home educational resource index and books at home from the TIMSS data base were good indicators of SES. We conclude that when one has access to SES information from official registers it is recommended to use it because these measures have less missing information compared with the TIMSS variables.

Att navigera bland olika framtidsvägar är en avancerad uppgift för en tonåring, och detta blir extra tydligt i samband med gymnasievalet i nian. Valet rör i praktiken inte bara kommande utbildning utan också ett yrkes- och vuxenliv som ungdomarna blir del av först långt senare. I dag finns det dessutom ett rikhaltigt utbud av gymnasieskolor och gymnasieprogram som ofta är svårt att överblicka.

Framtiden i sikte bygger på forskningsprojektet Lära för karriärvalet och handlar om stödet – såsom undervisning, vägledning och praktik – till grundskolans elever för att de ska göra välunderbyggda framtidsval. Boken betonar lärandeaspekterna av sådant stöd. Den analyserar hur skolans rektorer, lärare och vägledare arbetar med dessa frågor och vilka aktörer utanför skolan som engagerar sig. En central aspekt i boken gäller vilket innehåll som förmedlas till eleverna och vilka förutsättningar som ges för ett mer varaktigt lärande. Boken tar slutligen upp elevernas uppfattningar om vilket stöd de skulle behöva för framtidsvalen, och vilket stöd de faktiskt får.

Approximately 36,000 Swedish children seek medical care annually because of injuries during school time. The purpose of this field study is to investigate risky outdoor play at the school yard and to describe teachers’ perceptions of risk and safety in relation to learning and development. The study includes observations of children (6–12 years old) during outdoor activities as part of the school’s activities and includes focus-group interviews with teachers and children. Children were seen climbing high in play facilities, speeding down slides, or competing with sticks in the woods. Different views of risk and safety among the participants influence outdoor play activities. Teachers’ knowledge of risk seems to be derived from common sense and personal experiences rather than from a professional perspective. A joint approach of educational and medicine disciplines is desirable when it comes to children’s health and development.

Decreasing performance in several core subjects among students in Sweden and the increasing segregation of schools are urgent issues in relation to equity in education, which has been a long-term goal in Sweden. The aim of this study is to identify factors in the school environment associated with student performance in PISA in mathematics at different performance levels in the Nordic countries. In order to separate the effects of school-level variables from the effects of student background factors, and to deal with the multistage sampling design used in PISA, multilevel analysis was used in this exploratory study. Based on data from PISA 2003 and 2012, which are the most recent assessments with a focus on mathematics, results have shown that a few school-level factors seemed to be associated with student success, and then mainly among low and medium-performing schools. Overall, school-level factors associated with success (or lack of it) partially differ between countries and over the years. These results have implications for educational professionals since some of the school-level factors identified inhibit potential for change.

The paper explores factors of importance for young people’s choice of upper secondary education and for their future life, from a student perspective. The paper builds on data from a questionnaire study, answered by 1,414 students in grade 9 (age 15–16) in Sweden, prior to their choice of upper secondary school. In addition, data from earlier studies, have been included. Results show that the majority plan to transit to further levels of education. There is, however, a group of students who opt to move directly into work. In relation to making an educational choice, the factors that dominate the decision-making processes of students are related to; interest and ability, wellbeing and fun, but also plans after upper secondary school. Views and choices among friends and adults outside the family, is of less importance. With regard to perceptions of a future life, what dominates students’ thinking relates to their views of a secure and comfortable life. Comparisons between boys and girls and between students with parents born outside Sweden and students with native-born parents, show similarities as well as differences. Drawing on our results, we argue that career learning needs to be flexible and adapted to the students’ different situations and needs.

The effectiveness of schools is often defined by students’ success in core subjectsand a basic assumption within this research field is that students’ success arerelated to school factors, which can be categorized into context and climatevariables. A key actor is the principal, since he or she is ultimately responsible forthe school and thereby ultimately the students’ success. The overall aim of thisstudy was to identify factors in the school environment that are associated withstudents’ mathematics achievement in the Nordic countries. We focused onSweden and Norway and compared them as they both participated in TIMSS 2015.Effective schools were identified by using average mathematics achievement andconstructed regression models with the student factors and variables as covariates.Schools were regarded as high effective if they were in the top third in theircountry in mathematics achievement, mid effective if they were in the middlethird, and low effective if they were in the bottom third in their country. Schoolfactors were constructed based on the school questionnaire answered by theprincipals. Multilevel analysis was used to separate the school effects from thestudents’ home background. The overall results indicate that few school factorsassociated with student success were found, in particular in Sweden where schoolfactors of importance are mainly related to the student body regardless of thedifferent school types, i.e. low- mid- or high-effective school. School factors ofimportance for student success in Norway, appear mainly to be related to theschool climate. The finding for Sweden is in line with previous studies. However,this is a result that require some thoughts, in the light of the recent development in Sweden regarding the rise of the school segregation and the Swedish long-termgoal of encounter threats to individuals, equal opportunities and access toeducation and future plans on educational investments.

The aim of this study was to examine the association between students’ TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study) science achievement, and students’ school achievements, in terms of national tests and grades from school years 6 and 9. Further to examine the association with TIMSS science achievement and different subgroups of students based on their home background. The study is based on a unique possibility to analyse TIMSS 2015 data together with register data of the Swedish students’ national test results from school years 6 and 9 and their science subject grades from school years 6 and 9. The overall results show that there were moderate associations between TIMSS science achievement and school achievement measures. The association between grades and the high-stakes national tests were stronger than between grades and TIMSS. The students’ home background had a clear impact on the results as students with highly educated mothers, who comes from homes with many books and are nonimmigrants had on average higher TIMSS science achievements.