Gymnasiereformen 2011 : Sex lärares uppfattning om dess inverkan på betygsättning och undervisning

Swedish school has been subject to a lot of criticism during many years. Much has been about poor academic achievement, grade inflation and the lack of equivalence in ratings. When the reform in 2011 was launched, with the aim of overcoming these particular problems, clearly formulated knowledge requirements was to increase the equivalence and a new grading scale, with more steps would motivate diligent study and combined with the clearified knowledge requirements would also curb grade inflation. The purpose of this study is to investigate if it has become more difficult to reach the highest grade level and if grade inflation may be stopped, but also if there were other implications for teaching. Was it, for example, also harder to reach the limit for approval?To seek answers to these questions I have choosen to interview some colleagues about their perception of the impact of the reform on grades and teaching. The interviews were documented by audio recording equipment and then transcribed into text documents. In the interpretation and analysis of the statements has three methodological tools been used. Meaningconcentration has been used to retain the essence of statements without revealing details about the teacher's subject area. A hermeneutic perspective has been practiced to interpret what was said and actiontheory based on von Wright's four determinants have been used to further access the motives behind the statements.Six teachers were interviewed and almost all believe that it has become more difficult to reach the highest grade level in their courses after the reform in 2011. Also, it appears that the new grading scale is well recieved, while the fact that all the grading criteria must be met in order to achieve a certain grade level, is met with some aversion. Several teachers also feel themselves controlled by the new syllabuses and find it difficult to keep up with the course within the allotted class time. I launch my own hypothesis that they might miss certain things they see as essential for the subject because they were omitted when they were not considered possible to evaluate. Training seminars is the only short term solution I can see to get closer to an equivalent rating. I would also like to se a measurement of when equivalence can actually be considered as reached.