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Motivation is a prerequisite for students’ learning, and formative assessment has been suggested as a possible way of supporting students’ motivation. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence corroborating the hypothesis of large effects from formative assessment interventions on students’ autonomous forms of motivation and motivation in terms of behavioral engagement in learning activities. In addition, formative assessment practices that do have an impact on students’ motivation may put additional requirements on teachers than more traditional teaching practices. Such requirements include decisions teachers need to make in classroom practice. The requirements on teachers’ decision-making in formative assessment practices that have a positive impact on students’ autonomous forms of motivation and behavioral engagement have not been investigated. This study describes one teacher’s formative assessment practice during a sociology course in upper secondary school, and it identifies the requirements for the teacher’s decision-making. The teacher had participated in a professional development program about formative assessment just prior to this study. This study also investigated changes in the students’ motivation when the teacher implemented the formative assessment practice. The teacher’s practice was examined through observations, weekly teacher logs, the teacher’s teaching descriptions, and an interview with the teacher. Data on changes in the students’ type of motivation and engagement were collected in the teacher’s class and in five comparison classes through a questionnaire administered in the beginning and the end of the course. The students responded to the questionnaire items by choosing the extent to which they agreed with the statements on a scale from 1–7. The teacher’s formative assessment practice focused on collecting information about the students’ knowledge and skills and then using this information to make decisions about subsequent instruction. Several types of decisions, and the knowledge and skills required to make them that exceed those required in more traditional teaching practices, were identified. The students’ in the intervention teacher’s class increased their controlled and autonomous forms of motivation as well as their engagement in learning activities more than the students in the comparison classes.

This article presents a survey census study performed in a small, remotely located municipality with four rural schools in the north of Sweden. The study is part of a larger project, Remote Consulting in special needs education between special educators and class teachers, the aim of which is to increase the equivalence between the municipality’s schools by giving more class teachers improved access to special needs education (SNE) consultations provided by special educators via remote consulting.

Prior to the start of the project, a questionnaire was sent out to all the class teachers in the participating schools. All the teachers approached answered the questionnaire. One of the aims of the survey was to gain increased knowledge about the teachers’ self-efficacy in their use of ICT. The most intriguing result was that three of the five 50-59 year-old teachers estimated their knowledge about ICT to be above average compared to that of their colleagues. A similar pattern was identified in the teachers’ use of ICT in their teaching. Of those who used ICT every day, three were 30-39 years old, three were 50-59 years old and one was 40-49 years old, while all of those who used ICT less than once a week were younger than 39. The results of the study indicate that the teachers in this study are adequately equipped to proceed from physical counselling to remote consulting in special needs education.

Sweden introduced a new national curriculum (Lgr11) for the compulsory school in 2011. It included new syllabi for the school subjects and a grading system now starting from school year 6. Social studies (civics, geography, history and religious studies) and natural sciences (biology, chemistry and physics) received syllabus with knowledge requirements for each respective subject. Despite the sectioning, Lgr11 encourages subject-integrated teaching and, when teaching has mainly been subject-integrated, summarised grades in both social studies and natural sciences are possible in school year 6. The purpose of this study is to investigate, analyse and compare to which extent teaching in school year 4-6 is subject-integrated and whether the grades in school year 6 are summarised in social studies as well as natural sciences. In the autumn of 2017, principals from 113 schools comprehending school years 4-6, completed a questionnaire. The results, also analysed in relation to Bernsteins theoretical model, show that teaching in each individual subject, as well as alternation between subject-integrated teaching and teaching in the individual subjects is most common. Fully subject-integrated teaching in social studies and nature sciences respectively is the least common practise. Three quarters of the schools give grades in the individual subjects. In schools with fully subject-integrated teaching, it is more common with summarised grades than grades in the individual subjects. However, this is more common in social studies than in the natural sciences. Almost all of the schools that teach in the individual subjects also give grades in the individual subjects.

There are most likely considerable differences between running schools in rural areas and in big cities. Research has not paid attention to these differences and therefore, there is a lack of knowledge about running schools in rural areas in Sweden. The purpose of this study has been to describe and analyse how principal in schools in rural areas organize their activities, with a focus on special education. The study includes answers from 45 principals in a web survey. These principals represented the four northernmost counties of Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Västernorrland and Jämtland in Sweden. In this study, a school in a rural area is defined as a school of 55 students at the most. The principals represent 53 schools in rural areas, with some principals working in more than one school in these areas. The results show that more than half of the principals govern their schools by distance and seem to be very familiar with the steering documents regarding special education. The results also show that more than half of the principals considered that students’ needs for special support depend mainly on individual student-related factors rather than factors related to the learning environment. However, more than half of the principals emphasized the relevance of the learning environment for the students’ development of knowledge and the importance of flexible ways of working. Overall, the results show how complex the situation of conditions and requirements is for the everyday life for the principals as they strive for equivalent schools.

Rapporten är ett utvärderingsuppdrag från Samhällsbyggnad, en förvaltning vid Skellefteå kommun. Uppdraget utgår från en organisationsförändring inom Skellefteå kommun där flera förvaltningar sammanslogs till en större enhet, Samhällsbyggnad, vilket påverkat totalt cirka 500 medarbetare. Den nya organisationen trädde i kraft i januari 2015 och Samhällsbyggnads förvaltning önskade utvärdera förändringens effekter för att få ett underlag för ett fortsatt arbete som syftar till att uppnå ambitionen med förändringen.

Entrepreneurial learning has become a concern for schools almost all over the world. This article aims to investigate what characterizes educationin lower and upper secondary schoolsthat claimto be working toahigh orlow degree withentrepreneurial learning and what implications this might have fordifferent teaching methods. The results, measured at the end of the first year of a three-year school im-provement program, showthat schools with a high degree of entrepreneurial learning cooperate more with the local community, read more pedagogical literature and have changed their rhetoric toa higher degree than schools with a low degree of entrepreneurial learning. The results also indicate that teaching methods involving the local community havepositive effects onpupils’ learning.

En ny körkortsbehörighet infördes 1 oktober 2009 för moped klass I, behörighet AM för att öka trafiksäkerheten. För att få denna körkorts­behörighet krävs en obligatorisk förarutbildning med övningskörning och ett godkänt kunskapsprov. Det svenska förarutbildningssystemet är målrelaterat och består av tre delar - kursplan med mål, förarutbildning och förarprov. För att detta system ska fungera krävs att de tre delarna är samstämmiga. Syftet med studien var att analysera kursplanen för förar­utbildning för behörighet AM med avseende på dess innehåll och struktur samt undersöka samstämmigheten mellan kursplanens mål och kun­skapsprovets innehåll. Sex bedömare har dels analyserat kursplanen, dels ett kunskapsprov med Blooms reviderade taxonomi som analysverktyg. Eftersom vissa mål i kursplanen är mer omfattande viktades dessa upp för att ge en mer rättvisande bild vilket resulterade i en acceptabel sam­stämmighet mellan kursplanen och kunskapsprovet. Vissa delar av kurs­planens mål förväntas uppnås under den obligatoriska förarutbildningen och därför kan inte samstämmigheten mellan kursplanen och kunskaps­provet förväntas vara fullständig.

In order to improve traffic safety a new driving licence category – AM – was introduced on the 1st of October, 2009 which is required to drive a moped class I. In order to obtain this driving licence the aspiring driver must attend a mandatory training course, which includes driving practice, and pass a theory test. The Swedish driving training system is criterion-referenced and consists of three parts – a syllabus with aims, a driver education and a driving test. In order for this system to work these three parts must be aligned. The aim of this study was to examine the syllabus for driver education for driving licence category AM with regard to its content and structure as well as to examine the alignment of the aims of the syllabus to the items in the theory test. Six assessors have analysed the syllabus and a theory test with the help of Bloom’s revised taxonomy. Since certain aims in the syllabus are richer in content these were given more weight in order to give a more correct analysis which resulted in an acceptable level of alignment between the syllabus and the theory test. However, some of the curricular aims are expected to be met during the mandatory training course which means that the alignment between syllabus and the theory test cannot be expected to be perfect.

För att öka trafiksäkerheten infördes en ny körkortsbehörighet 1 oktober 2009 för moped klass I, behörighet AM. För att få denna körkortsbehö­righet krävs en obligatorisk förarutbildning med övningskörning och ett godkänt kunskapsprov. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka provets kvalitet och mätsäkerhet samt studera resultatet på kunskapsprovet över tid samt uppdelat på kön, ålder och anmälningssätt till provet. En totalundersökning genomfördes där samtliga genomförda kunskapsprov under året analyserades. 17 275 personer genomförde minst ett kunskapsprov, av vilka 98,4 procent var 15 år. Resultatet visade att uppgifterna och provet höll en acceptabel kvalitet, eftersom reliabiliteten var på en acceptabel nivå och att två samtida provversioner var parallella i svårighetsgrad . Däremot var diskrimineringsförmågan väl låg för många uppgifter och detta bör beaktas i det fortsatta arbetet med nya prov. Analysen av provtagarnas resultat visade att 46 procent av provtagarna blev godkända på sitt första prov. Det fanns inga skillnader i andel godkända med avseende på kön och ålder. Däremot noterades en skillnad med avseende på anmälningssätt. De som anmäldes till provet av en trafikskola fick i högre utsträckning godkänt på sitt första kunskapsprov än de som anmält sig privat. Privat övningskörning är dock inte tillåten så samtliga har genomgått den obligatoriska utbildningen. Analysen av provresultaten över tid visade att andelen godkända ökade under våren och sommaren. Slutsatserna från studien är att kunskapsprovet för AM är av adekvat kvalitet. Då provet endast varit i bruk sedan 2009 bör upprepade studier av provets kvalitet och provresultat göras för att undersöka om kvaliteten bibehålls och för att studera trender i provresultat.

In order to improve traffic safety a new driving licence category – AM – was introduced on the 1st of October, 2009 which is required in order to drive a moped class I. In order to obtain this driving licence the aspiring driver must attend a mandatory training course, which includes driving practice, and pass a theory test. The aim of this study was to analyse the results from the theory test for driving licence category AM during its first year in order to examine its reliability as well as any differences in test results between groups based on various background factors. All test results that the Swedish Transport Agency has gathered during the year were analysed. 17 275 persons took at least one theory test. 98.4 of these were 15 years old. The results showed that the items and the test were of adequate quality since reliability was found to be at a reasonable level and two concurrent test versions were parallel as to level of difficulty. For many items the degree of discrimination was deemed to be at a too low level and this has to be taken into consideration in future test construction. The analysis of the test results showed that 46 per cent of the test-takers passed their first test. While there were no differences in the percentage of passed tests in regard to gender and age there were differences in regard to how they were registered for the test. Test-takers who had been registered for the test by a driving school were more likely to pass the theory test on their first attempt. Private driving practice is not allowed so all who registered for the test had completed mandatory training. The analysis of test results over time showed that the percentage of passed tests increased during the spring and summer. The conclusion from the study is that the theory test for AM is of adequate quality. Since the test has only been in use since 2009 repeated studies of the test results and the quality of the test should be carried out in order to examine whether the quality is maintained and to study trends in test results.