While individual and family factors behind students' school absenteeism are well-researched, fewer studies have addressed school climate factors. This study investigated the association between school climate in Swedish schools and students' absenteeism. A multi-informant survey of school climate was conducted in 101 schools and analysed in…

Instructional quality is a research topic that has received increased attention over the past decades. However, despite evidence for its importance to student learning, few studies are designed to examine patterns of prevalent instruction. The present study aimed to enhance the understanding of instructional quality in Swedish lower secondary…

Purpose: This study explores to what extent health promotion policy in practice and leadership engagement is reflected in school actors' experiences of health dialogues (HDs) and their ideas about promoting health and learning in schools. Design/methodology/approach: The 93 participants consisted of 44 school nurses, 37 students in grades 4, 7 or…

Background: Common definitions of bullying, employed in research and public policy alike, are generally based on adult-imposed categories. To account for students' needs in school, research should aim to include their voices more often. However, a major challenge for educational research in general, and bullying research in particular, is finding…

Clarity of school rules and teachers' use of praise are strategies suggested to facilitate a positive classroom climate. Studies indicate difficulties for teachers to use such approaches in classrooms with higher levels of disruption. To study (1) if student-rated clarity of school rules, use of praise, and classroom climate differ between…

Background: School climate is crucial: its character can affect pupils' academic achievement, teachers' working conditions and the wellbeing of everyone at school. A major concern for teachers is how to prevent and manage disruptive behaviours. Against this backdrop, there is a need for thorough investigation of pupils' perspectives to better…

The focus of the present study is on how a number of Swedish schools define and categorise students who have been exposed to different forms of abusive acts and violence at school. The empirical study was designed to explore six Swedish urban secondary schools. The results indicated a recurrent pattern in school officials' narratives, which is…

Background: Feeling accepted by peers is important for young people's health but few studies have examined the overall degree of acceptance in school and its health consequences. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether health complaints among Swedish students can be attributed to the acceptance climate in their school class even when…

The aim of the study was to examine school-related determinants of self-reported health among adolescents. Questionnaire survey data comprising 4,972 students, Grades 7 through 9, from 20 schools in northern Sweden were used. Also, complimentary data about each school were collected from the Swedish National Agency for Education. Using multilevel…

Previous research on science education has described various factors influencing students' participation and produced categorizations of students based on e.g. cultural background. In this article it is argued, theoretically and empirically, that an understanding of students' participation in science education needs to begin with an analysis of…

In the present online survey, 158 teachers in regular and special education teaching in grades six to nine were asked to rate the importance of probable reasons for problematic school absenteeism. On average, the teachers estimated that among their students, 19 students had presented with problematic school absenteeism over the last five years.…

This article presents results from an empirical study of how student engagement is visible during introductory algebra. Previously, the notion of engagement in mathematics has been studied from students' and researchers' perspectives. This study is instead focused on teachers' perspectives on student engagement. Eight teachers in grade 6-7 have…

This study presents policy and theory as they apply to diversity, equality and equity in Swedish social and educational policy. All education in Sweden should, according to the curriculum (Lpo 94, 1994, p. 5) be of equivalent value, irrespective of where in the country it is provided and education should be adapted to each pupil's circumstances…

Background: This investigation focuses on student attitudes and looks at school quality from the perspective of affective variables rather than students' knowledge or abilities. The concept of attitude includes ways of feeling, thinking and behaving and maintaining an expression of one's identity within the environment. The analysis focuses on…