The purpose of this thesis is to examine how teachers in the swedish language subject
perceive and experience summative assesment of students’ essays. A second purpose is to
investigate how teachers go about doing summative assessments of students’ texts. This
qualitative study used semi-structured interviews, ranging from 18 to 48 minutes in length,
with a total of six teachers of the swedish language subject in upper and secondary school..
The results indicates that the teachers’ found it difficult and complex to make summative
assesments of students’ essays for a variety of reasons. For exampel teachers must take into
consideration numerous factors when converting their assessment into a grade. The teachers
also replied that summative assessment of students’ texts is a very time-consuming and not so
inspiring part of their professional practice. The teachers answered that they largely assessed
the students texts on their own, but if they felt uncertain they could request help from a
colleague. Most teachers agreed that it would be beneficial if all assessments of writing were
done collaboratively, but that there is no time to co-evaluate. Several teachers also meant that
the national exams function as help in their own assessment, as it became something to relate
to.