In both Swedish and international research there is a significant gap of knowledge about pupils' experiences of Physical Education [PE]. According to the Swedish National Agency for Education, the grading system implemented in Sweden in 2011 was intended to be more equitable. But rarely has a grading system been more criticised by pupils. Grades don´t work the same for all pupils, younger pupils are more affected by grades than older and high-performing pupils (Vetenskapsrådet, 2015). Pupils have emphasised that they experience problems with assessment and grading, as well as lack of clarity about the PE teacher role (Redelius & Hay, 2012). It´s also important that students know when the assessment happens and what´s being assessed (Redelius & Hay, 2009).

PE teaching should create better conditions for all pupils to participate in activities according to their own abilities. Different conditions and challenges apply to a diversity of pupils, depending on their ethnicity, gender, culture, socio-economic background, to participate in physical activities in PE on equal terms. It´s necessary to recognise all forms of diversity in teaching and different learning contexts but this needs to agree with changes in curricula, pedagogical strategies and the teaching style of the PE teacher. Diversity generates heterogeneous systems, and thus can have a positive impact on teaching with greater inclusiveness in assessing pupil performance and creating fair and equal opportunities for each individual pupil. A school for all is a school where all pupils, regardless of their differences, are equally valued and teaching is adapted to each pupil's different abilities (Skolverket, 2017). Simultaneously, teachers should promote variety and diversity as something positive, which creates an understanding that everyone has the right to develop their abilities at their own pace, integrated with others (Hammar & Johansson, 2013).

In PE, there are several aspects of diversity that need to be reviewed. This study is based on a Swedish context, but is also applicable to provide knowledge and understanding for other European countries. The study also presents the pupils' own suggestions for improving PE, which is an important societal investment. The purpose of this study is to contribute to increased knowledge and a deeper understanding of PE, based on the pupils' perspectives on assessment and the grading system in PE.

The study takes a socio-cultural approach and a dialogical perspective on the theory of Social Representation [SR] (Markova, 2003). SR is characterised by sentences, values, similarities, ideas and practices shared by groups of people in societies and is used as a tool to describe and analyse the creation of common social representations. SR is used to analyse pupils’ common knowledge about PE; how they understand each other and the topic, and how they are socialised into, and develop social representations of, grading system.

From a socio-cultural perspective, individual learning is tied to social interaction (Säljö, 2014). We influence the group and the group affects us. The context is constantly changing both unconsciously and consciously (Linell, 2009). In PE, it´s relevant for pupils and teachers to interact in teaching and to link activities to real and meaningful contexts. These contexts are important for pupils’ motivation and meaningful teaching. Different representations are shared within the group of pupils and determine how the group members perceive, act and think together. SR provided a useful way of finding out what PE was in the social context (Moscovici, 2001,2008). The study focuses on what pupils talk about in connection to PE, and is based on a dynamic constructivist approach – and thus how the pupils construct content in PE.

The empirical material consists of interview data from eleven focus group interviews with 62 pupils in grade 9, from eight different lower secondary schools. The focus groups were gender heterogeneous, each group contained five or six pupils. A total of 26 boys and 36 girls. The schools and pupils were selected to provide some variation in terms of school sizes and being located in different socioeconomic areas in parts of central of Sweden. The selection was also based on a convenience sample (Morgan, 1997, 1998). Each focus group interview was held for about 60 minutes, and the moderator, along with an observer, took notes. Data saturation was reached when ten focus group interviews had been conducted, and additional data collection did not provide additional knowledge (Bryman, 2016). However, an eleventh interview was completed, which strengthened the perception of saturation. Using focus group interviews is a method that enables exchange of and changes in knowledge about what feels and seems unclear (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2014), and to achieve diversity around the field of PE. In this way, this study represents a whole of assumptions, concepts and meanings based on pupils' conversations about PE. The method is also suitable for discussions aiming to interpret and understand statements and also identify not only what the group is talking about, but also the experience they shared together and how they can gain common understanding about it (Wilkinson, 1998). A qualitative content analysis was used as the analytical method (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004) together with SR as the theoretical perspective. There has also been inspiration from one of Hsieh and Shannon's (2005) three main approaches to qualitative content analysis - conventional content analysis. In short, this approach means that it´s 'the text that speaks' rather than using pre-determined (theory-driven) categories. In addition, Kvale and Brinkman's (2014) interview analysis with a focus on meaning was also used, where the concepts of meaning units, meaning concentration and meaning interpretation was used in the analysis process. Content analysis has been a helpful analytical tool in the interpretation and analysis of the pupils' conversations.

Pupils find the grading system in PE to be incomplete and unfair in terms of assessment, and it is the grade that pupils are most dissatisfied with of all subjects. The result showed that pupils want to practice more before assessment, instead of being assessed "live". They also find the demands too high and struggle to understand the learning process, which leads to pupils not participating in lessons. Furthermore, the pupils state that there is a demand for special talent in PE (cf. Zhu, 2015); they are expected to be able to do everything before they start their PE education. Prior knowledge is therefore a requirement for obtaining a high grade in PE, which according to the pupils differs from other subjects. They also would like to see a multi-grade system in PE. Pupils also feel that teachers should clarify how they are assessed. A key aspect in this case was the grading criteria. Pupils find it, in their own terms, “sick” and unfair that a poorer performance in one criterion may influence the whole grade. The pupils objectify assessment, and in the conversation an unfair grading system is created. The problems and complexity that PE teachers have to face in assessing and grading pupils are still current (López-Pastor, et al., 2013; Svennberg, 2017). The study shows a need to explore pupils' suggestions for change and improvement, including a new grading system. Recently, a new curriculum has come into force (Lgr22). However, we don´t yet know if the curriculum revisions are sufficient. More research is needed to shed light on the problem and to create a diversity perspective in assessment and grading in relation to PE teaching.

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