Mid Sweden University

It has been reported in the media that teachers can be influenced by other factors than students'knowledge when grading, something that the grades should reflect. Previous studies have also shownthat grades can be affected by other factors than students' knowledge, however, there are no studiesthat have shed light on how social studies teachers experience the grading practice, a research gapthat we intended to fill. The subject of social studies has a significant role to play in socializingcitizens in society. If teachers set grades that do not reflect students' knowledge, it is conceivable thatstudents will have different perceptions of their knowledge, which may affect their future. Thepurpose of this work was to investigate whether teachers of social studies in upper secondary schoolexperience that they can give fair grades to their students. By the method grounded theory, we havethrough semi-structured interviews with four teachers developed theoretical concepts based on theirexperiences. The result of our analysis indicated that the teachers experience that the grades are basedon students' knowledge. On the other hand, the analysis also showed that the grading can beinfluenced by external actors and expectations, students 'characteristics, resources at the school anduncertainty about students' knowledge.