Disputed researchers

Zahra Hasani Yourdshahi

Teaching Quality and Educational Equity: Evidence from TIMSS Grade Eight Science Classrooms in Sweden

Dissertation: 12 june 2026

Despite the recognized importance of teachers’ instructional practices for student learning, much of the research on teaching and student outcomes has been conducted outside the Nordic context and has focused primarily on mathematics. My dissertation examines whether teaching quality can promote educational equity in science by reducing the influence of socioeconomic background on Grade 8 students’ achievement in Sweden.

The dissertation investigates the relationships among teachers’ generic and subject-specific cognitive activation practices, instructional clarity, teacher characteristics, classroom socioeconomic composition, students’ motivational beliefs, and achievement in biology, chemistry, and physics. It draws on Swedish data from the 2015, 2019, and 2023 cycles of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and applies a range of quantitative analytical approaches to examine how student- and teacher-reported instructional practices relate to students’ motivational beliefs and achievement across the three science subjects.

The findings highlight the importance of students’ motivational beliefs and the socioeconomic context of the classroom for science learning. Students’ confidence was consistently and positively associated with achievement in biology, chemistry, and physics. Instructional clarity was not directly associated with achievement, but it was strongly related to students’ motivational beliefs and the motivational climate of the classroom. Teachers’ cognitive activation practices, however, were not consistently associated with science achievement and did not appear to reduce socioeconomic differences in achievement. Classroom socioeconomic composition remained strongly related to achievement, indicating that students’ opportunities to learn are shaped by broader social and classroom conditions as well as by instructional practices.

Taken together, the findings suggest that the compensatory role of the teaching-quality dimensions examined in the dissertation is limited in Swedish lower secondary science classrooms. The results also underscore the need for further research into the conditions under which teaching practices support learning and educational equity in biology, chemistry, and physics.

socioekonomiskbakgrund väger tyngre än undervisningsmetoder

Deborah Elin Siebecke

Feeling Well, Doing Well? Analysis of the Relationship between Well-Being and Academic Resilience in Sweden

Dissertation: 16 March 2026

My dissertation, consisting of three articles and an integrated essay, examines the relationship between student well-being and academic resilience using Swedish PISA data from 2000 to 2018. Educational equity is a central goal of the Swedish education system, yet students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds continue to achieve lower academic outcomes, while concerns about declining student well-being are increasing.

Research on academic resilience shows that some students and schools achieve higher-than-expected results despite socioeconomic disadvantage, offering hope for greater equity. However, while the relationship between student well-being and achievement has been widely studied, its relationship to academic resilience remains underexplored. This raises a central question: Do students who feel well also do well academically, particularly under adverse conditions?

To address this, the dissertation examines material, social, and psychological dimensions of well-being, with each article focusing on one dimension and its relationship to academic achievement and resilience. Taken together, the findings demonstrate decreasing numbers of resilient schools, as well as a complex interplay between well-being and academic outcomes, with important differences across dimensions of well-being and student groups. Importantly, the results highlight the role of the students’ environment in shaping academic success, emphasizing that responsibility for educational outcomes should not be placed solely on the individual student. The dissertation contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how well-being may function as a protective factor for disadvantaged students, while also highlighting that positive well-being does not necessarily imply academic success. 

Elpis Grammatikopoulou

Paper and Digital Reading Assessments – Exploring aspects of validity using PIRLS and ePIRLS
Dissertation: 25 February 2026

My dissertation examines the comparability and validity of paper-based and digital reading assessments using data from PIRLS 2016 and its digital extension, ePIRLS. As international large-scale assessments increasingly shift toward digital formats while continuing to report trends on a common scale, it is crucial to understand whether reading scores remain comparable across modes and over time. The thesis consists of an integrative essay and three empirical studies that employ psychometric modelling, regression analyses, and longitudinal approaches linking assessment data to Swedish national register data. Drawing on Kane’s argument-based framework for validation, the three studies address validity aspects related to generalisation across assessment modes, generalisation across student subgroups, and extrapolation to later educational outcomes.

The findings show that paper-based and digital reading assessments share a strong common core of reading comprehension, indicating substantial construct overlap. At the same time, systematic mode-related differences are observed, suggesting that the two formats are not fully equivalent. These differences vary across contexts and student groups and extend to their predictive relationships with later academic outcomes. Both assessment modes demonstrate meaningful predictive validity, although small differences indicate that digital reading may capture additional aspects of educationally relevant skills.

Overall, the dissertation shows that paper-based and digital reading assessments are similar but not interchangeable. Validity should therefore be understood as conditional on assessment mode, student population, and context rather than assumed a priori. The findings highlight the importance of ongoing empirical validation to ensure the interpretability of trends in international reading assessments in an increasingly digital educational landscape.

Mari Paloniemi Lindström 

Teachers' Professional Competence and Working Conditions in Swedish Schools. Relationships with Student Achievement 

Dissertation: 23 May 2025

The Swedish teaching profession has changed dramatically over the past 40 years. Teacher education reforms, declining professional status, recruitment difficulties and periodically high staff turnover have created significant variations in teachers' professional competence. These variations have contributed to unequal teacher distribution and increasing differences between students' performance in school. At the same time, we still know too little about how differences in teacher competence actually impact student results. On this basis, my dissertation examines how teachers' professional competence and working conditions are related to students' performance in reading, Swedish and mathematics in grades 4 and 6, as well as students' merit value in grade 6 in Swedish middle schools (grades 4–6). The analyses are based on data from TIMSS, PIRLS and Swedish register data.

The thesis shows that formal teacher education is crucial for middle school students' mathematics results and that teachers' subject-specific specializations in mathematics and reading instruction strengthen students' performance in mathematics and Swedish. Teachers teaching reading comprehension as well as cognitive activation where students are asked to explain their answers, asking challenging questions to students and encouraging discussions improves students' long-term outcomes. In addition, the thesis finds that good working conditions and a positive school climate are central to teachers' well-being and that a positive school climate is important for students' performance.

Lärares ämneskunskaper avgörande för elevers resultat

Lena Asp

Does teaching quality matter for student learning outcomes? A student perspective of a mathematics classroom

Dissertation: June 13th 2025

In Sweden, there are large differences in mathematic skills between different groups of students, and these differences have increased over time. It is known that students' socioeconomic background affects their school results, but there is a lack of knowledge about how the teacher's teaching and the quality of it relates to students' performance.

This thesis is based on the premise that teaching and learning are social and cultural processes that take place in interaction between people and that are influenced by the context in which they take place, for example in the classroom. To investigate these processes, data from the international large-scale knowledge measurement Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) for grade 4 are used from year 2019, where students have estimated the quality of mathematics teaching in the classroom. Quantitative analyses are carried out both at the individual level and at the aggregate classroom level.

The thesis highlights the importance of the teacher's role in the classroom for students' learning. The results show that positive relationships in the classroom, clear leadership and structured teaching are central to students' learning and self-confidence. A calm and trusting classroom climate enables the teacher to teach effectively – to explain, reformulate, support, challenge and give constructive feedback. This strengthens both students' confidence and their results in mathematics. In addition, the results highlight how the situated classroom context contributes to the learning of the whole class. The composition of pupils in the classroom affects the quality of teaching as well as pupils' learning and well-being.

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