Introduction

Swedish schools are facing major challenges. Swedens identity as a pioneering country in education (Tellhaug et al. 2006; Román et al.) has been questioned both nationally and internationally (SvD, 2022; OECD, 2022). The debate on the challenges facing schools covers a number of issues, ranging from poorer results in PISA, lack of access to qualified teachers and, last but not least, an increase in the number of students suffering from mental illness, with school-related factors cited as one of the causes.

This situation affects the role of teachers. Additionally, the Swedish school system is a subject to symbolic politics and sensitive to political shifts, leading to a higher frequency of reforms and changes in the legal framework compared to schools in many other countries (Jarl & Rönnberg 2019; Hallsén & Magnússon 2022). Expectations of what teachers should do to address the challenges and what they are empowered to do are not always aligned. External expectations are based both on legally binding rules and more ideological expressions that indirectly influence the role of teachers. These expectations may conflict with each other. A further area of conflict that can arise in relation to these external influences is teachers' internal expectations of themselves and their role.

These areas of conflicts and the dilemmas that might follow are accentuated in teachers' grading of students. This is also an area that serves as an example of substantial reforms. In the fall of 2024, a new grading system for upper secondary school, and consequently a new legal framework for teachers' assessments, are implemented. In the directives for the new grading system, the proposals are justified, among other things, by the aim to enhance fair assessment and counteract stress among students (dir 2018:32; dir 2019:66).

Aim and theoretical framework

We aim to illuminate the role of teachers in today's Swedish upper secondary school in the face of the pressures arising from the challenges in grading. How is the role of teachers influenced when demands and expectations are expressed regarding ensuring a fair assessment, and simultaneously supporting young people’s well-being and combating mental health issues? In particular, our study focuses on teachers as authority practitioners and employees in the public sector navigating the complex intersection between legal and pedagogical expectations and demands on this matter.

The study, based on this, have the following research questions:

1. How do teachers experience the multidimensional demands involved in grading enhancing ensuring fair assessment, and supporting well-being?
2. How can the exercise of authority by teachers as employees in the public sector, considering the cross-pressure they encounter in grading, be explained and understood in relation to legal frameworks?

Theoretically the point of departure for the study is the concept of "policy enactment," employed to shed light on the interplay between national regulations and local practices (Ball, 1993; Ball et al., 2012; Ozga, 2000; Hallsén, 2013; 2021). Within the process referred to as local enactment, governing formulations must undergo translation, interpretation and reconstruction to be practically valid in a local setting (Ball et al., 2012). The study's premise is rooted in the notion that the school constitutes the local context, and various legal regulations may lead to conflicts and dilemmas in their interpretation and application, particularly in the role of teachers as authority practitioners and as employees in the public sector. School action depends on the design and clarity of the legal framework (Enkvist, 2020). The complex nature of the school's function magnifies these conflicts and dilemmas, particularly considering the school's frequent exposure to symbolic politics and the fact that the school is constantly the subject of initiatives for change.

Methodology and empirical sources The selection of empirical material aimed to highlight the process between regulation and practice in the policy enactment perspective. This was achieved by selecting both the teachers' statements about their assessment practices and the legal rules that set the framework for these practices. We sought to understand how teachers perceived demands and expectations placed on them regarding legally secure assessment and the protection of students' mental health (both internal and external pressure). Furthermore, we aimed to understand the dilemmas and conflicts that might have arisen in terms of teachers' perceptions and their relation to legal requirements. How did the purpose of the rules relate to other rules that governed teachers, and how did teachers understand and act in the grading situation? To answer the first question, we examined the preparatory work for the rules in question. To answer the second question, we used interviews. The empirical data in the study consisted therefor of two different kinds of data. On the one hand we analyze legal regulations on assessment and well-being and on the other hand we have conducted semi- structured focus group interviews with upper secondary school teachers. An important starting point for all public activities is that they must be supported by law. This means that both the purpose of the legislation, as stated in the preparatory works, and the actual design are important. Another aspect of the concretization of legal rules is that the rules concerning students are compatible with each other. The purpose of analyzing the legal rules was to identify areas of conflict and ambiguity. The interviews aimed at illuminating and deepening the understanding of how the teachers perceived the demands and expectations placed on them in grading regarding ensuring fair assessment and supporting well-being.

Excepted outcomes A first analysis revealed that rules on grading and pupils' health can be difficult to navigate and thus to comply with and that the dilemmas in the situations regarding grading, or in other words, the exercise of authority, is challenging for teachers. The teachers express that they experience difficulties in dealing with the rules regarding legally secure grading, as well as protecting the students' mental health, which they are also obliged to do. The teacher's relationship with students is highlighted as challenging in two different ways. On the one hand, there are cases where teachers have a close and long-term relationship with pupils, which can influence the assessment. On the other hand, the opposite relationship can occur in the grading situation where the teacher considers themselves to have to little knowledge about the student. Both of these situations can contribute to uncertainty in the grading process. The purpose of the change in grading rules, which will enter into force in 2024, is to strengthen legally secure and equal assessment and to counteract stress and mental illness among students. The study sheds new light on the areas of conflict that arise between different legal regulations surrounding teachers' assessment practices. It also gives us an increased understanding of how teachers handle and orient themselves in relation to these dilemmas and their perceptions of the changes in relation to this.

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