The overall aim of the thesis is to explore how teachers and young people with current experience of history teaching in the Swedish upper secondary school express knowledge in relation to history as a school subject. Three types of knowledge are applied. Knowledge in history relates to subject content while knowledge about history refers to scientific methods and principles that aim to process the content in a structured and critical way. Knowledge from history can be understood as knowledge linked to the existential and experiential dimensions of history and how historical content affects people and influences their meaning-making.

Knowledge and history in a school context are discussed and analyzed from three perspectives. The first perspective concerns knowledge in relation to the subject of history as expressed in national curricula and syllabi. The second perspective is based on the expressions of knowledge that manifest in teachers' assessment materials for the evaluation of students' knowledge. The third perspective focuses young people with current experience of history teaching and how they reason about knowledge linked to history as a school subject.

The thesis is based on two interview studies with elements of the think aloud method. The empirical material was analyzed using an analytical tool based on history didactical theory that combines the three types of knowledge with the six cognitive levels in Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. 

In summary, the results show that teachers assess and grade students' knowledge by using different types of tasks that focus different types of knowledge and cognitive levels. This means that students encounter different interpretations of what knowledge is important and consequently determines the highest grade in history. A conclusion is that there are differences between what functions of history students find relevant and what functions they encounter in a school context. Another conclusion is that the subject's overall aim in the Swedish upper secondary school – which is to broaden, deepen, and develop students' historical consciousness – is not focused in the actual history teaching, but is left to the students to manage on their own. 

This licentiate thesis examines how history teachers in Swedish upper secondary school translate the syllabus for History 1b into practice when they construct, assess and grade student assignments and exams, and how this, in turn, affects students’ final grades and the equivalence of grades.

The empirical material was collected from six teachers at five different upper secondary schools, and consisted of, on the one hand, authentic students’ assignments and exams, along with partial grades and resulting final grades, and, on the other hand, the teachers’ reflections on the processes involved in assessing and grading said assignments and exams, and subsequently awarding final grades. The teachers’ reflections were obtained through interviews, in which the informants were asked to go through their students’ work and “think aloud” about the reasons for their assessments.

The empirical material was analysed based on a modified version of Bloom’s revised taxonomy, in terms of how well it aligned with the syllabus, as well as in terms of whether assignments and exams differed between student groups as a result of the teachers’ different interpretations of the syllabus. The results of the analysis were subsequently used to discuss the equivalence of grades.

In conclusion, the study shows that there are clear differences in how the teachers participating in the study translate and implement the intentions of the syllabus in their assignments and exams – as regards content as well as cognitive levels. Whereas some teachers base their assignments and exams on the full range of content categories and cognitive levels covered by the syllabus, others focus on fewer content categories at less advanced cognitive levels. It seems reasonable to assume that this, in turn, affects grading in that it will be harder for students belonging to the former group to achieve a high final grade, than it will for students belonging to the latter group. Consequently, the equivalence of grades is negatively affected.

Keywords

History education, assessment, grading, alignment, upper secondary school, curriculum, syllabus.

Licentiandprojektet med rubriken Helhetsbedömningar i gymnasieskolans kurs Historia 1b pågår under perioden 2018-2021. Syftet med avhandlingen är att studera hur gymnasielärare i historia sätter slutbetyg på elever i kursen Historia 1b för att undersöka samstämmigheten mellan lärarnas helhetsbedömningar i relation till styrdokumenten. Sex lärare följs under läsåret 2018/2019. I undersökningen ingår inga observationer av hur historieundervisningen bedrivs. Det som studeras är snarare hur kunskaperna som eleverna förväntas få genom undervisningen hanteras i form av examinationsuppgifter och hur dessa kunskaper bedöms och betygssätts. 

De examinationsuppgifter som eleverna genomför under kursens gång samlas in, uppgifterna analyseras och placeras i en matris som utgår från Blooms reviderade taxonomi (2001) men har anpassats för att svara mot mål, centralt innehåll och kunskapskrav för kursen Historia 1b. Med hjälp av Porters index räknas ett index för samstämmighet fram (Porter, 2002). En procentsats för hur många uppgifter varje lärare använder för att examinera de i matrisen ingående delarna räknas också fram.

För att få en uppfattning om hur lärarna resonerar har de i studien medverkande lärarna vid flera tillfällen med inspiration från thinking aloud-metoden (Ericsson & Simon, 1993) fått resonera om hur de har bedömt elevernas svar på de examinationsuppgifter som lärarna, i flertalet fall på egen hand, har konstruerat.

När betygen för kursen har satts kommer lärarna slutligen att få resonera om hur de har kommit fram slutbetygen. Hur har elevernas kunskaper dokumenterats? Vilka avvägningar gör lärarna när de sätter betyg på elevernas kunskaper i kursen Historia 1b? Hur vägs en elevs kunskaper samman till ett betyg i form av en helhetsbedömning?

Eftersom projektet hittills har varit inriktat på att utforma metoden för undersökningen, genomföra ett pilotprojekt för att testa metoden i skarpt läge och under läsåret 2018/2019 samla in empiri utgör papret i första hand ett underlag för att diskutera undersökningens metod.