Students’ social strategies in responding to leaked national tests at a Swedish municipal compulsory school

Abstract In Sweden, as in numerous other countries, national tests are common in contemporary education. Over the last few years, the national tests have leaked in Sweden, which has been reported by the Swedish National Agency for Education and mainstream media. This article, based on a part of a more comprehensive study, explores and provides knowledge about how students in a Swedish municipal lower secondary school respond to leaked materials relating to national tests, and includes an analysis from a students’ perspective of the rationales students provide to justify their reactions. Students in one school class were interviewed their last year of compulsory school (aged 15). In 13 individual interviews and three group interviews, the students talked about national tests being extensively leaked nationwide and how they shared pictures of leaked materials in the class Snapchat group. This enabled some students to practice beforehand and score better, while a few students dissociated themselves from the leaks. The leaked materials were regarded as the knowledge requirements for compulsory school, and the leaks seemed to be unproblematic for most of the students.


Introduction
During the 1990s, the Swedish school system was reformed and decentralized, and it developed increasingly towards a goal and result orientation along with an increased emphasis on national standards.In the following decades, standardized testing and national tests have grown in importance and are used as tools for assessing individuals as well as school establishments (Lundahl & Tveit, 2014).Grades are important in the Swedish educational context; for example, the grades given by the teachers, and not the centrally corrected final exams in upper secondary school, are what is crucial for the students' prospect of being admitted to higher education.
Subject tests, called National Tests, were introduced in Sweden in 1994 and have since then been effectuated in compulsory school in the school subjects: Mathematics, English, and Swedish.More tests have been added, such as in 2009/2010 National tests in Science were introduced (Sund & Sund, 2017).Some aims of National tests are to ensure equivalent and equitable grading across Sweden, and to reinforce schools' quality improvement (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2019), as well as to act as a support for the teachers' grading.As standardized tests, the National tests are considered to be valid (i.e. they actually measure what they are designed to measure) as well as reliable (i.e. the results will not be affected by coincidences) (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2019).
There is a body of research on today's formal educational contexts in compulsory school which touches upon a students' perspective on national testing, such as in regard to assessment trends and National tests in lower elementary school (Silfver et al., 2016), students' practical exercises during the lab part of the National test in Chemistry where the students can see peers carrying out the experiments and draw conclusions on how to proceed (Sund & Sund, 2017), as well as a students' perspective on national testing in Grade 6 (Löfgren et al., 2018).There is previous research on students' view of grades and the context of National tests in lower secondary school and upper secondary school (cf.Doz & Doz, 2021;Eklöf & Nyroos, 2013;Löfgren et al., 2017;Pérez Prieto & Löfgren, 2017;Stenlund et al., 2018).In an educational context with an increased performative pressure, such as the Swedish one, the students' grades do not only concern the teachers and the students, but also concern parents; thus there is pressure on the schools and their performance (Pérez Prieto & Löfgren, 2017).
There is research on students' behavior and attitudes during the actual test-taking.In an Italian context, Doz and Doz (2021) explored the efforts students invested in taking National tests and related this to their external motivation as well as the test difficulty.However, these tests were not graded, and some of the students' motivation when taking the test was low; 25% of the students responded in a questionnaire that they put little or no effort in scoring well on the tests, but nearly 80% responded that they would make an effort if the tests were graded.In a Swedish context, Eklöf and Nyroos (2013) studied compulsory school students and their reactions to taking National tests in Science in relation to motivation and anxiety.The study was carried out the first year the National tests were held in Science amongst Grade 9 students in terms of how important they regarded the National tests, how much effort they put into the tests, their feeling of anxiety related to the tests, and how these factors were connected to their performance.The results showed that some students said that they considered the tests important and put effort into the tests, while others did not consider the tests very important.The connection between performance and anxiety was weak.It is worthy to note, however, that since then, the importance of the results from the National tests for the students' grades has increased.
Yet another study by Stenlund et al. (2018) has highlighted test-taking behavior amongst students, such as risk-taking during the National tests related to test anxiety and motivation.In this study, risk-taking, or testwiseness which it also could be called, was connected to the students' willingness to guess the answers for multiple-choice questions if they were not sure.The results showed that students who had a low test-anxiety profile but were willing to guess when not knowing the answer, were successful seen from a performance perspective.The research presented above, focuses on the particular test-taking situation when the students' test performance is not decisive for their grades.
In Sweden, students' schoolwork is not graded until students are in Grade 6.The grading scale follows the Bologna grading system and comprises a range of letter grades from A to F, where A corresponds to excellent, B to very good, C to good, D to satisfactory, E to sufficient, and F to insufficient (Failed).Grades impact students' scholastic careers, thus fulfilling a gate-keeping function.Students who receive an F in a core subject during the second semester of Grade 9 (the last trimester of lower secondary school) are not admitted to national programs in upper secondary school (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2011/2018).
Every year since the 2011/2012 academic year, 13 percent or more of Grade 9 students have been prevented from entering upper secondary school due to having the grade F in a core subject (Swedish National Agency for Education, accessed July 11, 2022c).Students' grades on the National tests factor into the cumulative final grade for the subject which students receive at the end of the school year.In Grades 6 and 9, students participate in extensive national testing (Swedish National Agency for Education, accessed August 15, 2022a).The latest Swedish curriculum, implemented in autumn (2022), grants teachers more flexibility in evaluating students' knowledge; however, the line between the grades E and F continues to function as a cut-off point (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2022b).
According to the 2010 Swedish Education Act (2010:800) teachers are to provide students with a rationale for the grading, which includes providing grading rubrics specifying the knowledge requirements for each letter grade.However, informing students about the knowledge requirements and grading criteria before they have learned what the test will assess, has been criticized as a backward way of learning (Carlgren, 2015).
The 2011 curriculum (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2011/2018) incorporates aims that are in line with the common rationales of lifelong learning (cf.Carlgren, 2015;Lundahl & Olson, 2013), and it places great emphasis on encouraging students to take personal responsibility for their learning (cf.Hirsh, 2020).Nonetheless, at a Swedish school, students in Grade 6 (12-yearolds) understood that they needed to do their best to achieve good grades, for their own sake as well as for the sake of their teachers and the school (Löfgren et al., 2017).Moreover, teachers in Swedish upper secondary schools reported that the students had become accustomed to receiving feedback on early drafts of assignments and being granted the opportunity to improve their texts before turning them in for final grading, leading to that they had become overly dependent on receiving feedback.The students had developed a fixing mentality, and they required additional opportunities for revision (Jonsson et al., 2015).Teachers act as judges when they assess students' achievements, and as long as the aim of teaching activities are for students to deliver correct answers, Carlgren (2015) argues that it is not surprising that some students try to get hold of the correct answers from teachers or books, rather than developing the answers themselves.For example, findings from a study on the lab part of a Chemistry National test in two classes (Grade 9) at a Swedish school, showed that teachers experienced difficulty in making independent and individual assessments of the students' abilities due to the students' social interaction during the test-taking (Sund & Sund, 2017).
The current generation of students who have grown up with digital technology and social media, have a different view of how schoolwork can be carried out (e.g.Sahlström et al., 2019).In a study from a Danish upper secondary school, Aaen and Dalsgaard (2019) showed that informal social platforms (i.e.Facebook) were used to share information on schoolwork out of the teachers' reach.Based on the same data discussed in this present article, Rönn (2022) and Rönn and Pettersson (2023) showed that students relied on digital technology, such as laptops provided by the school and/or their own mobile phones, for doing schoolwork.For example, some students swapped computers with classmates behind the teacher's back inside the classroom and produced original texts for their peers.Others logged into their classmates' Google classroom accounts inside the classroom as well as after school and produced original texts for them online without the teachers' awareness.Starting from Grade 6, students capable of achieving higher grades had shared pictures of their writing assignments and homework with classmates to be reformulated in the classmates' "own words" and handed into the teachers for assessment.According to the students who received pictures of completed texts to reformulate in their "own words" and/or who had original texts written for them, their aim was to improve their current grades rather effortlessly or to prevent their present grades from going down.The students a) resort to informal activities when they worked on formal assignments, b) engaged socially when completing individual assignments, and as a result, c) learning that was supposed to be visible (Hattie, 2009) became invisible to the teachers because the students' strategies deliberately took place out of the teachers' supervision.In light of such student behavior in the current goal and result-oriented educational context, the teachers face the dilemma of not being able to know for certain whether the student who turned in the assignment actually had produced the text.By applying the above-described strategies, some students appeared as competent and seemingly taking responsibility for their learning, in spite of having extensively relied on peers during the previous academic years to write original texts for them and provide pictures of completed writing assignments for them to reformulate in their "own words' (Rönn, 2022;Rönn & Pettersson, 2023).
The National tests in Sweden have leaked on several occasions over the last few years.As of March 7, (2018c), the Swedish National Agency for Education pointed out that if solely one school did not respect keeping the national tests secured, it was enough for the tests to leak, and they emphasized the need to prevent the tests from leaking as much as the previous year.In an attempt to address this, stricter rules for administering the tests were recommended to the schools in order to secure that the class sets of the paper tests (which were distributed to the schools days before the test date) would be thoroughly locked up.
Over the last few years, Swedish mainstream media have reported on leaked materials related to the National tests.On 25 April 2018, the television channel TV4 broadcasted that yet another National test had leaked on Snapchat, and that the editorial office had a picture of a leaked National test.It was the topic for the essay-writing that had leaked, which gave students with access to the leaked themes beforehand an advantage in preparing for their essay.In spite of this, the Swedish National Agency for Education advised the schools to use the test (and not use the replacement test) and reasoned that the students still needed to compose a good quality text.A representative for the Swedish National Agency for Education was interviewed in the coverage and stated that the leaked test would make it difficult for the teachers during the grading to try to find out who had cheated and who had not; in some cases, it would be easy to detect and in other cases very difficult.On 14 March 2019, the Swedish public service television company SVT highlighted that tests had leaked.During the academic year 2017/2018 (when the data for this article was collected), the Swedish National Agency for Education published updates on the situation on its official website that both the actual National tests (the exact questions and/or assignments), and the instructions for how teachers were to assess the tests, had leaked.The tests to be held on March 13, March 15, and 7 May 2018 had leaked beforehand, as well as the assessment instructions for the tests on April 24 and April 26.The agency claimed that the scope of the problem was limited and stated that there was "no confirmed large-scale leak." 1 When there are confirmed large-scale leaks, replacement tests could be used.These are sent to schools in one copy, and the schools themselves have to copy class sets of the test.On 13 January 2022, the Swedish National Agency for Education informed that if a National test has leaked beforehand, it is the principal who decides whether the students are to take the replacement test instead of the ordinary National test.Often information on leaks is known shortly before the tests, which gives little time for school staff to administer the replacement test.
The official statistics from the Swedish National Agency for Education are based on the ordinary National tests-not the replacement tests (c.f.24 October 2017, the Swedish National Agency for Education), and the Agency reported that replacement National tests were used to a great extent in Mathematics in upper secondary school during the academic year 2016/2017 due to their recommendations; for some courses in Mathematics, the ordinary tests were fewer than the replacement ones. 2 One test can be composed of several subtests.According to the Swedish National Agency for Education, 3 11 out of 64 subtests for Grade 9 leaked for the academic year 2017/2018.For yet two more subtests, the instructions or the teachers' instructions for assessment had leaked and spread before the scheduled test day.For the academic year 2018/2019, there are no compiled statistics.For the following years, 2019/2020 and 2020/2021, the National tests were cancelled because of Covid-19.For the academic year 2021/2022, 64 subtests were held, and for three of these, information leaked, and there were confirmed and non-confirmed information about leaks which had taken place after the tests were held.For 2022/2023, 59 subtests were held.A part of one of these leaked beforehand; in addition, there were confirmed as well as nonconfirmed information about tests which had spread after the test date.The same source explains that the replacement tests are only allowed to be used if a test has been known beforehand due to leaks.The total number of used replacement tests for the year 2018/2019 in Grade 9 was 1624 (counting National tests in all school subjects), meaning that 1624 students took the replacement tests that year.The figures for 2021/2022 are that 456 students in Grade 9 took a replacement test.This is to be considered in light of there being 1744 upper secondary schools registered according to the Swedish National Agency for Education.
After years of leaked National tests, as on 19 May 2022, the teacher's journal Vi Lärare, referred to the Swedish National Agency for Education who claimed that for the first time since 2011, the National tests had not leaked before the scheduled test date, and that they were very happy that all schools seem to respect the safety rules for handling the tests.This meant that the results could be used for assessing and grading and that schools did not need to do the extra work of administering replacement tests.
In spite of this, on 15 March 2023, the Swedish public service television company SVT announced that parts of the National tests in Swedish for Grade 6 (12-year-olds) had leaked and were to be found on TikTok a few days before the scheduled test day.SVT reported that a civil servant in charge of the National tests at the Swedish National Agency for Education had confirmed that the leaked part to be found on TikTok was authentic and that it was unusual to have leaked National tests as early as Grade 6.In spite of the confirmed leak, the Swedish National Agency for Education claimed that it was worth carrying out the test, because it was only a part of it that had leaked; the topic of the essay writing had leaked, but the entire instruction for the essay writing had not leaked.Thus, the Swedish National Agency for Education does not always recommend using the replacement tests, even though leaked materials have been confirmed.
While the National tests are currently given in paper form on the school site, there is a plan in place to shift to exclusively digital testing between 2024 and 2026, as stated by the Swedish National Agency for Education on January 26, (2023b).This is expected to reduce future leaks effectively.
Nonetheless, there is no previous research to be found on leaked National tests that have been shared by students.Leaked National tests are under-researched for obvious reasons; it is difficult to get hold of relevant collected data.The data upon which this article is based are collected from interviews with lower secondary school students in their last year of compulsory school.The semistructured interviews were a part of a more comprehensive research project which included observations at school for several months during the previous year.Initially no questions on leaked National tests were planned in the interview guide; however, in the very first interview, a group interview, the students started to talk about the extensively leaked National tests, which became the topic of this article.

Purpose
In a time of developing formal education towards a culture of performativity and national testing, it is of interest to explore and problematize how students relate to leaked 4 National tests.This article explores and provides an account of, from a students' perspective, how students in Grade 9 act when they get an opportunity to partake in leaked information regarding National tests.
(1) How do the students describe the context of receiving access to leaked National Tests at their school?
(2) How do the students respond to the opportunity to partake in the content of the leaked National tests?
(3) What reasons do the students give for responding to the leaked National tests in the particular way they did?

An interview-based research design, the data analysis and conceptual framework
This is a minor part of a more comprehensive ethnographic study, and the data set for this article derives from interviews with students.In previous parts of the study (Rönn, 2021(Rönn, , 2022;;Rönn & Pettersson, 2023), based on the same cohort of students at a Swedish municipal lower secondary school, I had conducted observations over several months and completed audio-visual recordings from the students' classroom in spring 2017.Inside the classroom, I observed lessons without interacting with the students.During the breaks I interacted with the students; I hung out with them in the school corridor while waiting for the lessons to begin, and I had lunch with them in the school cafeteria.The research design had a clear participant perspective, thus a students' perspective, in trying to catch sight of the students' informal social strategies when doing schoolwork.
To underscore that the students and their view of school was in focus, I deliberately spent very little time with the teachers and avoided the staff room.During these months, I occasionally could overhear students' conversations with classmates regarding their grades, but I never asked them for their grades, and no one ever told me their grades.In doing so, I showed them a genuine interest in their everyday school world, but without focusing on their performances and grades.
The time spent building relationships with the students (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1993;Kullberg, 1996) has probably enhanced the validity of the interviews that followed.
By the end of spring 2018, when the same students were in their last year of compulsory school (Grade 9), I conducted semi-structured interviews with the students in the class, namely, first four group interviews (n = 15), and then 14 individual ones.In all interviews except one group interview and one individual one, the students talked about the leaked National tests.In total, 18 students were interviewed, and 11 of these participated in both the group interviews and the individual ones.The interviews were between 40-80 minutes long.After the group interviews, a few minutes' long individual interview followed with all the participants in case someone would like to add or comment on something, or ask something, out of the other classmates' earshot.There were 3-6 students in the groups, and they were assembled in accordance with my experiences from the previous observations.The students who were close and comfortable with each other's company were grouped together, while simultaneously best friends were kept apart in separate groups.The principal permitted me to interview the students in a spare room at the school, and granted that the interviews could be conducted during lesson time-provided that the particular teacher and student agreed.This probably enhanced the number of students who signed up for the interviews, since they did not have to carry out the interviews during their "free time".
In accordance with Kvale and Brinkmann (2012) The interviews with the students were conducted towards the end of the spring semester, in April, May and June 2018.However, as it turned out, the students were taking the last National tests for Grade 9 during the interview period and had experienced an academic year with intense focus on national testing.Initially, there were no questions about the National tests in the interview guides, but spontaneous questions on National tests were added as early as the first interview when the students themselves started to talk about leaked materials.In 16 interviews out of 18, students talked about leaked National tests.Seven students talked about the leaked materials in both group and individual interviews.Since I considered the topic of leaked National tests as delicate, and I did not want the students to feel uncomfortable, I did not add precise questions about this in the interview guide.Instead, I treaded lightly and asked questions when it seemed suitable and reasonable that I could do so without risking making the students feel uneasy.Seen in hindsight, there might have been better questions for me to ask and better ways of posing the questions that might have been used-but I was taken by surprise by the students' narratives.Since I did not know much more about the National tests beforehand, many questions were very basic in trying to understand the topic, and many responses were very concrete with specific details in explaining to me.This might have enhanced the reliability of the interviews.
The focus of this study is the students' interactions when relating to leaked National tests, which are intentionally carried out beyond the teachers' sight.As conceptual framework Goffman's dramaturgical metaphor from 1959 with the theater metaphor of backstage of social interaction in public life will be used (Goffman, 1990).The concepts of frontstage and backstage, are what Goffman depicted as people's interactions, which either can take place in front of an audience or backstage where participants can prepare for their performance out of the audience's sight.In this study, the teachers are regarded as the audience to whom the students are to expose their performance on the National test, while the students' preparations for the test-taking, which take place out of the teachers' supervision, are considered backstage.People's control of information about themselves to an intended audience is what Goffman calls impression management.Through controlling the intended information they provide, including what they prevent the audience from knowing, they define the situation.Thus, an individual's impression management mirrors the impression that (s)he wants to give, and it is backstage that preparing for the encounter with the target audience takes place, often in collaboration with others.
Ethnographic educational research with its starting point in a participant perspective and its research design permitting flexibility, can provide surprises and originality during the research (Trondman, 2008) which the present article exemplifies; students' narratives on leaked National tests came as a surprise and were not part of the initial aim.The research design facilitated "thick descriptions" (Geertz, 1973(Geertz, /1993)), and several themes emerged from the interviews of which one was the leaked National tests.In this part of the more comprehensive study, the data analysis was made in Excel.Pseudonyms are used instead of the students' real names.To enhance the study's trustworthiness, I have indicated whether quotes and excerpts were from group interviews [Gr.Int.] or individual interviews [Ind.Int.].
In the selected class, there were 27 students in Grade 9, of which less than 50 percent were boys.The merit rating of the school for Grade 9 was 10 percent below the Swedish national average.The students' socio-economic conditions varied; some of them lived in blocks of flats and others in houses.Some of the students' guardians were nurses, teachers, and principals, while others studied or lived on social allowance.Approximately 90 percent of the teachers were registered qualified teachers, and the teachers in Swedish (mother tongue), English as a foreign language, Social Studies, and Mathematics were still employed at the school four years later when I updated the teachers and principal with the study findings.
In accordance with the Swedish Research Council recommendations (Swedish Research Council, 2017), the students gave their written informed consent.In line with ethical recommendations, I notified the authorities (Swedish National Agency for Education) in May (2018a) about the students' information on the extensively leaked National tests and teachers' assessment instructions.Since then, the administration of the materials has changed; the teachers' assessment instructions are now sent to the schools less in advance.The teachers and a civil servant in charge of the National tests at the Swedish National Agency for Education have confirmed the information given by the students on the content and structure of the teachers' assessment instructions to the National tests in 2017/2018, which are mentioned in the result section.

Students' view of grades and the context of the national tests at school
The students were dissatisfied with the grading system and talked about their fear of lowering their grades in general, and especially lowering their present grades this last year of compulsory school.The grades from Grade 9 could be decisive whether or not the students would be admitted to the national programs at upper secondary school, and elevated grades increased the chance to be admitted to more coveted national programs as well as more popular upper secondary schools where the points required for admission were more elevated.The students worried about the National tests even though their teachers had told them that classwork during the year was of greater importance.Nevertheless, the teachers had not managed to convince them completely.Zineb was worried and said: The difficulty is to keep them [the grades] because the knowledge requirements increase all the time (. ..) and if you lower your grades, someone else who has increased their grade will take your place [for your first choice at upper secondary school].[Ind.Int.]The excerpt illustrates that students worried that lower grades would have consequences for their future prospects.When talking about the grades from the National tests in particular, Sami emphasized the tests' comprehensiveness: "For example, the National At first (giggling a little) . . .I thought it was a little funny, because: how was that possible?
The tests should be secret and not easy to get hold of.But still, someone has succeeded to get hold of them, taken pictures of them, and forwarded them to everyone in the country.
[Anne.Ind.Int.]The students did not know who took the pictures of the tests and leaked the test questions, but rumors had it that it was school staff at schools around Sweden who leaked them: Many parents are teachers, or there are substitutes who know a student and who want to help that student to succeed.[Maria.Ind.Int.]I've heard that there are substitutes and teachers who have taken pictures themselves and sent them to their children.[Michaela.Ind.Int.]The students regarded the adults responsible for leaking the tests and minimized their own responsibility.
Josef: It's not my fault that they leaked.
Elsa: I just happened to read them.[Gr.Int.2.] Seen from the students' perspective, the leaked tests are to some degree sanctioned by adults working at schools.With pictures of the leaked tests, the students could prepare for the test-taking to perform well for the teachers.There is a resemblance between this and the students' fixing mentality facilitated by adults (cf.Carlgren, 2015;Jonsson et al., 2015).
The students gave a unanimous picture of the magnitude of the leaks.Some girls clarified: Others expressed a certitude that the teachers were aware of the extent of the leaks, but had chosen not to interfere.Hajar explained, "I think they [the teachers] know that it has leaked.[in worried voice] They must have known.(. ..)Because . . .it's been broadcasted on the news."[Ind.
Int.]However, a little later the respondent explained that the teacher followed them if they needed to leave the classroom during the test-taking in order to supervise them.For some tests it is only the questions, but for most of them the answers have leaked, too.
[Anne.Ind.Int.]Pictures of the tests and the assessment instructions were spread by mobile devices.Yasmin explained: Someone forwards it to someone, who forwards it to someone, and then forwards it to someone, and then it arrives to me, and I share it with my friends and my friends send it to other friends . . ..If I get it first, I send it to the class group.We have a class group.[Gr.Int.1.]We have a group on Snapchat that is named after our class.In the beginning everyone in the class, except maybe seven who don't have social media, joined the group.[Maria.Ind.Int.]There were 27 students in the class, thus initially 75 percent of the students participated in the class Snapchat group.Some students had left the group.Maria said (laughing), "Now [towards the end of spring] I think we're only kind of six or seven [left in the group]."[Ind.Int.]Thus, 25 percent of the students in the class remained in the group throughout the year.Maria said that both boys and girls had left the group, but that both boys and girls remained, too.She clarified the differences between students who checked the leaked tests beforehand and those who did not: I think those who have left the group are those who are a little more school-focused.(. ..) those who do very much on their own.And we who remain in that group, we want help, we want to have cheating, we kind of want to manage it somehow, nevertheless.[Ind.Int.]Some students were not involved in the sharing of the leaked tests.Anne said, "I have chosen not to check the tests [beforehand]."[Ind.Int.]She had made an active choice not to check the tests beforehand, though checking the tests had become the norm.Thus, some students wanted to score well, but not necessarily based on their own ability, while others wanted to score well in relation to their own skill and proficiency.
No student mentioned that his or her own school was a source of origin for the leaked tests.

How students responded to the leaked national tests
The students adapted to the leaks in various ways with low risk of being found out by their teachers.
The leaked materials often spread the days before the test.Students without access to social media were shown pictures of the leaked materials by peers in the school corridors, as Hajar explained: They show [the pictures on their phones] in the school corridor.Sometimes they just show to one student, sometimes up to maybe four students [simultaneously].[Hajar.Ind.Int.]The students relied on the teachers' assessment instructions in various ways depending on whether the test consisted of multiple-choice questions or free writing.For multiple-choice answers, students could memorize the responses or write them down.
For a listening [task], it is often like this: a, b, c -which one is it?And then you only kind of . . .Exercise 1, I know was a "d" [b?], and then a "c", and then you remember the order it was so you can write [it].(. ..)Or you can write it down on your hand.[Rebecka.Gr.Int.1.]For example, for the listening comprehension in English, it is often boxes to tick, and then it is easier to write on your hand.[Hajar.Ind.Int.]Thus, some students did not bother to learn the content and seemed to have a short-term view of learning by relying on a leaked adequate answer instead of trying to do the question themselves.These students did not use the assessment instructions as the required knowledge requirements to learn the content, but merely to provide the answers instrumentally.
Manal distanced herself from those who checked the answers beforehand: Many of my classmates, really many, usually check the answer and usually write it down on their hands -and then they enter the classroom to take the [National] test.I just watch them and think: "Yeah, good luck in the future!"[Ind.Int.]Her comment "Good luck in the future" indicates that she considered looking at the leaked tests to be a poor strategy for future studies and a successful life.She regarded learning in a longer time perspective than just scoring well on the immediate National tests.
According to leaked assessment instructions, several of the multiple-choice alternative responses could be correct.In a group interview, some students gave examples: Explain a noun [gives an example of a noun related to the Swedish constitution].And in the teachers' assessment instructions, it says that correct answers are [gives 3 examples], and it also says the answer you should not tick even though they're similar [presents an example] (. ..) because it's incorrect.[Yasmin.Gr.Int.1.]So, [for some alternatives] it says one point.And then it says zero points [for other options]and that means that it's wrong.[Rebecka.Gr.Int.1.]The students were familiar with the content and structure of the tests and assessment instructions.
Teachers, and a civil servant in charge of the National tests at the Swedish National Agency for Education, have confirmed the correctness of the content of the excerpts.
When students needed to formulate their own answers in, example, Social Studies, they had to learn the content and reformulate it, which students explained in group interviews: Beatrice: It says in the teachers' assessment instructions that "For a student to get two points, he or she needs to have written this".And then you know what to write.
Maria: There is a certain content that must be clarified in your text.But you yourself choose how to formulate it in writing.[Gr.Int.3.]They [the teachers] believe that it is we who are smart.It's the correct answer.[Yasmin.Gr.Int.1.]These students used the teachers' assessment instructions as clarifications of the knowledge requirements, which they then learned and could set a precise goal for a corresponding grade they aimed at, such as A, C, or E beforehand and direct their responses to the grade they intended to achieve.Seemingly this might be an example of the ultimate goal and result-oriented approach to doing schoolwork.
In dealing with more extensive writing assignments, such as in Swedish (mother tongue) or English as a foreign language, the shared pictures of the topic of the writing task allowed students to practice both content and writing beforehand.In a group interview, Beatrice said, "In the writing assignment in English last week, you could see what topics you could write about," and Maria clarified, "And then you know what theme it is and then you can search information on particularly that [beforehand]." [Gr.Int.3.]Another student said: With a picture of the description one can prepare oneself; I can write about that, and this I could also write -so when you get there [to the test-taking] you know it roughly.[Rebecka.Gr.Int.1.]With leaked themes for the writing assignments, the students practiced what to write, both content and text structure.
Sometimes it occurred that students received the test, but not the assessment instructions.The procedure to practice beforehand was similar.Maria gave an example from a test in Mathematics: Maria: I only got the questions [and not the teachers' assessment instructions].
Interviewer: Okay.Maria: But . . .this may be cheeky, but I . . .eh . . .wrote down all the questions and then I sat down with my dad and learned [how to calculate] all the questions.And then a classmate did the same with one of her parents, and then we compared our answers to see if we had reached the same answers.To see if we solved them the same way.(. ..)Interviewer: Uhu, okay.
Maria: And we did [get the same answers].So then . . . it was easy to just . . .because then we had understood all the questions from the weekend when we sat and worked on them, so it was only to write them down To what extent students were able to profit from the leaked materials, depended on their language mastery in Swedish.The teachers' assessment instructions were sometimes difficult to read, and Yasmin struggled to understand: I told myself I should cram a lot on the teachers' assessment instructions.I would learn it by heart.But I (. ..)I kind of fell asleep on the first page.There were so many pages that I gave up reading them.(. ..)But then when I came here [to school] I listened to the others, so I didn't have to read [it myself].[Ind.Int.]It was cognitively too difficult for some students to understand the content of the assessment instructions.Thus, having access to the teachers' assessment instructions did not necessarily mean managing to profit from them.Reasonably, it was easier for those students capable of achieving higher grades and with good language mastery in Swedish and more cognitive ability to make use of the leaked teachers' assessment instructions.However, these might have been the ones who relied more on their own skills and previous efforts with schoolwork and who were less tempted to read the assessment instructions.There might have been a dividing line for the aimed grades; learning the correct multiple-choice answers and/or the topic of the writing assignment could help to score better amongst the lower and middle range of the grades, but to achieve higher grades a comprehension of the teachers' assessment instructions would be necessary.

The students' rationale for responding to the leaked tests the way they did
The students knew that National tests measured what they were supposed to have learned at school over the years.Fatima said, "On the National tests, you are to show what you have learned during years at school."[Ind.Int.]The students who looked at the leaked materials said they wanted to score well, and some wanted to compensate for the previous years' lack of achievement and effort with schoolwork.They indicated an indifference to learn at school.Beatrice showed an extreme lack of interest in learning at school; she had pictures of one leaked test in Mathematics, but did not review them.Previously, a replacement test had been used in English at her school, because of media reports on extensive leaks, and some students who had prepared with the leaked test had consequently prepared their writing assignment for another topic.Beatrice commented, "I had them [pictures of the leaked tests in Mathematics], but I didn't study them.I thought that if they are wrong [e.g. if a replacement test is used] now . . .then I know something in vain."[Ind.Int.]The quote illustrates a view of learning and National tests where no effort might be better than some effort, if the specific purpose and knowledge requirements are not clear.Maria vividly explained that the optimal solution would be to officially distribute the National tests to everyone beforehand, so that the students knew what they were to know: It would have been much easier if you got everything [beforehand], kind of got the calculation and the answer.Then I could only write it down.[Ind.Int.]Rönn (2022) as well as Rönn and Pettersson (2023) describe how some students in this class, since Grade 6, systematically have relied on classmates to write original texts for them and to forward pictures of completed assignments to be reformulated before handing them in to teachers as an individual achievement for assessment or grading.Hence, after having taken shortcuts with schoolwork for years, some students replaced the intended purpose of the National tests with an idea that the purpose of the tests should be simplified and reduced to a condensed version of the knowledge requirements and exchangeable with years of schoolwork, which reflects a short-term view of doing schoolwork.
The results suggest that students who looked at the tests beforehand were less aware of their own academic level than the ones who did not.This was linked to their previous lack of effort made with schoolwork during prior years, such as reformulating pictures of classmates' assignments (see Rönn, 2022;Rönn & Pettersson, 2023) in contrast to those who had completed their own assignments and provided written texts to classmates.
A vicious cycle emerged, with increasing knowledge requirements.Zineb explained how the knowledge requirements increased: "But next time (. ..) it will be much more difficult; the knowledge requirements increase for every time."[Ind.Int.]A common reason amongst some students for looking at the leaked materials was to compensate for previous years' lack of achievements and learning opportunities in doing schoolwork.Sami reasoned that having low grades could affect the way one adapts to the leaked materials: Sami: (. ..) but, if you are kind of one step from an F . . .then it might not be so bad if you try to cheat for your own . . .for your own sake.
Interviewer: Okay.Sami: For your future, kind of.[Ind.Int.]Thus, students' values on looking at the leaked materials prior to the test-taking were situationbound; students who had good grades could be expected to keep a high moral standard and not read the leaked tests, while for students who feared getting the grade F (Failed) it was more accepted to read the leaked materials.This could be regarded as one distorted or unorthodox way of taking individual responsibility, not necessarily for one's learning but for one's grades.
Maria, who had relied on classmates to provide her with writing assignments over the last few years, described the test-taking as stressful, where one risked to "sit there and be very nervous and not knowing anything."[Ind.As described in other parts of this study (Rönn, 2022;Rönn & Pettersson, 2023) some students, for example Anne, provided original writing assignments to peers as well as pictures of completed assignments to be reformulated by peers.In the excerpt above, she underscores that for many students it was soothing not to have to show what they had learned over the previous years.Having acted as one of several providers of writing assignments to peers over the last years, Anne is well placed to know the learning opportunities that many students had missed out on during the prior academic years.Thus, for some students, their anxiety for their end-of-the-year grades decreased once the tests and assessment instructions had leaked.A concordant opinion was that students who were more certain of their acceptable academic level tended not to check the National tests beforehand.Some students regarded consulting leaked tests and assessment instructions as unfair means to keep, or improve, their grades.Michaela reasoned, "I would rather get the grades I deserve.Then you can see that maybe I need to practice more on this and improve it."[Ind.int.]Students who had not made much of their own effort in their schoolwork over time, consequently, did not trust their own ability and were more likely to read the leaked materials.

Summary of the results
The students described their local context of the national testing at school as stressful.This was related to the fear of lowering their grades and reducing their prospects for future studies such as being eligible for upper secondary school.Some students used leaked tests to practice beforehand (e.g. in Mathematics) and the leaked teachers' assessment instructions to practice the topic of free writing assignments beforehand, as well as to learn or write down the correct multiple-choice answers corresponding to a certain grade.There were several inconveniences for the students who relied on the leaked National tests, such as a) not knowing beforehand if they could get hold of a leaked test, b) not knowing beforehand if the leaked test was the correct one, c) not knowing if the teachers would use a replacement test, d) not being able to make sense of the teachers' assessment instructions or having to rely on peers, and e) not finding anyone to explain orally the content of the teachers' assessment instructions until just before the test-taking at school.There were some students who refrained from reading the leaked materials.These tended to be students who, to a larger extent, had done their own writing assignments during lower secondary school and who had provided writing assignments to classmates over the last few years (Rönn, 2022;Rönn & Pettersson, 2023) and they seemed to have a more long-term view of schoolwork (see Rönn & Pettersson, 2023) and tended to be less stressed by the National tests.Some students related their anxiety to not knowing their actual level of knowledge after having missed out on lots of learning opportunities by not doing schoolwork previously.They had preferred to rely on classmates and copy peers' results (see Rönn, 2022;Rönn & Pettersson, 2023) instead of being graded by their teachers for their own achievements.These students experienced relief when they received the leaked materials.
There were social chains of sharing and looking at the leaked materials amongst the students (cf.Rönn & Pettersson, 2023).These chains comprised getting hold of the leaked tests and/or the assessment instructions on the class Snapchat group and having classmates orally explain the content of the materials out of the teachers' sight at school.Key findings were that the leaks of the National tests seemed to be much more extensive than the authorities had notified and that some students regarded the leaked materials as the knowledge requirements for lower secondary school rather than as a summary assessment of years of schoolwork that they were supposed to have learned.Moreover, for many students, it seemed rather unproblematic to acquire and rely on the leaked tests and the teachers' assessment instructions.

Discussion
Sharing various pictures on social media and connecting to informal networks, is part of teenagers' everyday life today, and this apparently also includes pictures of leaked National tests.A point of view in common among all students, regardless of whether they chose to partake or not in the leaked materials, was that they regarded grades as important and they aimed at managing the impression of performing well and achieving good grades.Nevertheless, they proceeded differently in how they related to the leaked tests and assessment instructions.The National tests leaked nationwide, and some students responded to this either by dissociating themselves from the leaked tests and assessment instructions, or by relying extensively on the leaked tests and assessment instructions and using them to prepare for the test-taking.Some students had limited access to the content of the leaked materials due to lack of access to social media, language mastery in Swedish, and/or lack of cognitive capability to make the leaked teachers' assessment instructions useful in preparing for the tests.
The group of students who dissociated themselves from the leaked tests were mainly highachieving students who took responsibility for their own learning.These individuals were roughly the same as the ones who had done their assignments mainly on their own during lower secondary school and who were the ones who provided assistance to other students during the academic year, such as by a) explaining to peers, b) writing original texts for classmates, and c) forwarding pictures of completed assignments to peers (Rönn, 2022;Rönn & Pettersson, 2023).They were aware that learning took time, and they had a long-term view of learning.One example of this is that these students regarded the National tests not only as an assessment of learning in line with the summary assessment that the tests are designed to be, but on an individual level also as an assessment for learning, such as a formative assessment for a student considering one's future studies, in what one might need to improve in upper secondary school.These students took responsibility for their learning and had a similar view on schoolwork as what is expressed in the curriculum, and their results on the National tests are likely to correspond rather well to their skill proficiencies and their grades.
The group of students who relied on the leaked National tests and assessment instructions, seemed mainly to be the ones who during the last few years had handed in writing assignments they had not written (much of) themselves to teachers for grading.There had been a lack of transparency on their part towards the grading teachers, which according to the students (Rönn, 2022;Rönn & Pettersson, 2023) resulted in them receiving more elevated grades than they would have received if the grades had been based on their own individual performances.Seen in light of this, some students were more stressed before the national test-taking and more eager to read the leaked materials beforehand, than the students who during the previous years got "the grades [they] deserved" as Michaela put it, and who had previously written their own assignments and been graded for their own achievements.Students who read the tests beforehand seemed to have a more short-term perspective on schoolwork and regarded the tests rather as knowledge requirements that were to be learned rather than proficiencies that were to be measured summatively.
These findings can be compared to the notion of impression management (Goffman 1990) where individuals present an intended image of themselves.While Goffman's theater metaphor illustrates that an individual prepares his or her performance in a back region out of the audience's sight, some students in this study have not only relied on peers to prepare their schoolwork out of the teachers' supervision for years, but they also prepared for the national test-taking by relying on leaked materials out of the teachers' sight.By looking at the leaked National tests and assessment instructions backstage, they controlled their intended impression of themselves and their proficiencies to the teachers as students meriting good grades, both in regard to schoolwork and the National test, the National tests which are expected to ensure equivalent and equitable grading nationwide.This is done with an almost non-existent risk to be caught (or be given off Goffman 1959Goffman /1990)).It is worth mentioning that no students ever mentioned fear of being found out by the teachers as a reason for not looking at the leaked tests beforehand.
Seen in light of other findings based on the same cohort (Rönn, 2022;Rönn & Pettersson, 2023), these results suggest that the students who previously have taken short-cuts in schoolwork in lower secondary school and who have shown to be rather successful in keeping their teachers unaware of their informal social strategies and social chains of assistance in order to achieve elevated grades with little effort, are the ones who seem to have the greatest needs, combined with the great expectations to adapt to the leaked tests.As a consequence, the possible mismatch between their class grades from the academic year and their actual level might go unnoticed.This article takes its point of departure in the students' perspective on leaked National tests.Previous research has shown that students as early as in Grade 6 experienced stress and had understood that they needed to do their best to achieve good grades, for their own sake as well as for the sake of teachers and their school (Löfgren et al., 2017).For the practical exercises on the National tests, such as in Chemistry in Grade 9, Sund and Sund (2017) showed that it was difficult for the teachers to carry out the tests in the class without giving the opportunity for students to watch each other and have the opportunity to adjust their experiments in accordance with what they might see or overhear from classmates.It is difficult for teachers to supervise the individual students adequately during the practical exercises of the National tests even though the teacher is present.This study shows the major difficulty teachers have in supervising the students' whereabouts when they are preparing for the National tests when the teachers are not present.
The leaked and shared tests render it possible for students to look at the tests beforehand and prepare themselves for the tests accordingly.The Swedish National Agency for Education and media reports of leaked National tests (c.f.March 7, 2018c, Swedish National Agency for Education; May 19; 2022b, the teacher's journal Vi Lärare) indicate that some National tests have leaked, some in minor leaks where the Swedish National Agency for Education did not recommend schools to use the replacement tests, and some in major leaks where the Swedish National Agency for Education recommended the replacement tests to be used (c.f.October 24, 2017, the Swedish National Agency for Education for tests in Mathematics in upper secondary school).The Swedish National Agency for Education and media reports do not indicate where the tests have leaked, nor who amongst pupils potentially might have had access to the leaked materials.The Swedish National Agency for Education also does not convincingly explain how they can be sure that a leak is limited in a time when people's use of Internet and social media is extensive, comprising a "sharing culture" amongst youths.This study's findings suggest that the leaks might be much more extensive than the Swedish National Agency for Education has reported.
One year after the interviewed students had left the school, the teachers at the school were informed about the preliminary results of the more comprehensive study, both about the students' extensive use of informal social strategies in dealing with writing assignments in ordinary schoolwork during the academic year (see Rönn, 2022;Rönn & Pettersson, 2023) as well as the students' narratives on the extensive leaks of test materials.The school had followed the Swedish National Agency for Education recommendations (e.g., the teacher of English had used the replacement test), and the teachers were flabbergasted by the extent of the students' social strategies as well as of the leaked materials.
A key finding is that when students fear they will not get a grade matching their classwork grade and/or not get a passing grade, and as a consequence thereof not be admitted to the national programs in upper secondary school, some students consider it more righteous to take shortcuts to passing grades by relying on the leaked National tests.
When the ongoing digitalization of the National tests will be implemented nationwide in 2026 (Swedish National Agency for Education, accessed August 7, 2022b), the National tests will no longer be administered and given in paper form at schools, nor be sent out to schools several days beforehand.Administering digital tests narrows the timeframe in which the tests could potentially be leaked, and the students will likely have fewer opportunities to read leaked tests.This article has explored and problematized how students, their last year of compulsory school, relate to leaked National tests.The presentation has highlighted how the students describe the context of accessing leaked National tests, how they respond to opportunities to partake in sharing leaked National tests with classmates, and what reasons they give for how they respond to the leaks.The results are based on qualitative data from 16 semi-structured interviews.There are some limitations to this empirical research.Firstly, the restricted number of students who were interviewed about the leaked materials is one limitation.Secondly, there are limitations because of the nature of the topic; it is not possible to get a complete picture of the students' activities backstage out of the teachers' supervision.The fact that the students started to talk about leaked materials during the first interview rendered possible the findings of this paper.Due to the delicate nature of the issue, I treaded lightly and only posed questions to the students when it seemed possible to do so without making the pupils feel uneasy.It was a balancing act, where other and better questions might have been asked.Thirdly, the questions were of a more general nature even if some of them were very specific.The questions were rarely related directly to particular National tests the students took during the interview period, and I never saw a paper version of the National tests or a picture of a leaked one.With more familiar background knowledge about how the National tests are constructed, I could have asked other questions.Lastly, the students' narrative is one of extensive leaks of the National tests nationally.In this study, it is only a small group of students in one class at one school, out of all the compulsory schools in Sweden, who have accounted for the leaked materials.
The author does not make claims of generalizability for this study; however, the students' supportive interactions probably might resemble those of students at other schools inside and outside the country.A study's transferability is comprised in its trustworthiness.It relates to what degree the findings may be transferred to other settings or other groups (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004).Likewise with generalizability (Larsson, 2005), this can be related to the readers' factor of recognition of the described phenomenon.In such case, the generalizability is created by the readers rather than by the author.Lundahl and Tveit (2014)  Contrary to spring 2018 when the interviews for this study were conducted, the students' results on the National tests should now be taken more into account by the teachers for the final grades than before, at the expense of the students' classwork grade (Swedish National Agency for Education, accessed August 15, 2022b).This, in combination with a narrower timeframe for possible leaks of materials in the future, make it reasonable to question how this might affect students' grades as well as the value of the tests to assess teachers and schools.

Conclusion
How to encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning and academic achievements is a complex issue which needs to be extensively explored through research.This is of special importance seen in the light of the informal social strategies students can apply in doing ordinary schoolwork (c.f.Rönn, 2022;Rönn & Pettersson, 2023) as well as when facing national testing.
One implication of this study is that more research is needed on how students relate to grades, National tests, and leaked materials.Seen in light of the current generation of students who have grown up with social media and digital technology, it is of particular interest to get a more profound understanding of their view of national testing and how schoolwork can be carried out and how schoolwork-related materials can be shared with classmates through digital devices.More research is needed, from a students' perspective, on the complexity and issues of applying National tests as tools to assess students and control school establishments.This might be challenging, considering that many of the students' activities when preparing for writing assignments in ordinary schoolwork, as well as for national test-taking, seem to take place where teachers and researchers have no, or very limited, access.
, the overarching interview guides for the comprehensive study were thematic.The group interviews were designed to assess students' general views of school such as a) formal education, b) informal education, c) responsibility for the students' learning, and d) what can be decisive for how students help each other.The individual interviews assessed students' approach to knowledge: a) what you learn, b) how you learn, c) reflections on grading, and d) the students' plans for the future.
[tests], it is not only what you've learned this year.It's for the whole . . .eh . . .[from] Grade 6 to Grade 9." [Ind.Int.]The students talked extensively about pictures of the leaked tests.The tests spread quickly and were easy to get hold of: It spreads so fast.It's difficult to believe that it can spread so quickly.Because it was, kind of, in Umeå [in the north of Sweden] -and now it has spread here [in the middle of Sweden].[Michaela.Ind.Int.]Peoplethink it so difficult [getting hold of leaked tests] because it is the National test, oh my God!But it's not the case.[Yasmin.Gr.Int.1.] All tests, every single one has leaked.[Hajar.Ind.Int.]Swedish, Math, Social Studies [have leaked] I think.[Anne.Ind.Int.]Maria: And the National [tests] have leaked very much now as well.Almost every single one.Maria, Beatrice and Gabriella say together: English, Swedish, Science.[Gr.Int.3.].Some students thought the teachers were unaware of the extent of the leaks.Maria: The teachers do not know how much is leaking.(cheerfully) And how much we . . .Beatrice: . . .know.Or what we do.[Gr.Int.3.] Interviewer: Yes . . .but do you . . .what I thought was . . .that if [the teachers] do like this . . .that they accompany students who need to go to the toilet, and stand outside and wait.Do you think that the teachers understand [how much the tests have leaked]?Hajar: Nooo.[sounds thoughtful and softens as if she suddenly realizes something]Pictures of the National test spread to the students mainly through Snapchat, where they vanished automatically from the phones after a few days and were difficult to trace, which reduced the risk of being found out by their teachers.Josef explained, "So, they shared a National test and sent 'This is what it's about', and then you learn what it was about."[Josef.Gr.Int.2.]According to the students, the teachers' assessment instructions had leaked, too.The teacher's assessment instructions have leaked to almost every National[test].[Josef.Gr.Int.2.] [during the National test].Interviewer: Mmm, did your parents know it was the [leaked] National test?Maria: No. Interviewer: They didn't know?Maria: No. (Laughing loudly.)Interviewer: (Laughing) Maria: I could never tell, because in that case [my father] wouldn't have helped me.[Ind.int.]Somestudents put effort into practicing the actual, specific tasks for the tests, but did not rely on what they were supposed to have learned during the previous years in lower secondary school.This puts the idea of summative assessment far from the intended purpose for testing the individual student's level of achievement.
Interviewer: How . . .(long pause) . . .do you think about that [the leaked materials], seen in a bigger perspective?Sami: It . . .depends on what kind of situation it is.If you kind of know what you're doing, and (. ..) what kind of . . .if you have fairly good grades, then, you kind of should not try cheating.Interviewer: You should . . .?Sami: Not cheat.Interviewer: Naah.Sami: And kind of keep to your morality.Interviewer: Mmmm.
Int.] Anne explained: For many it was a positive thing that the tests leaked.(. ..)It has definitely been soothing for most [students].They have seen what is to come, how to answer, (. ..) [and can] practice hands-on for the tests instead of having to show what you have (. ..) learned previously.[Ind.Int.] emphasize that National tests can be used to assess students as well as school establishments.The findings presented in this article give reason to question the validity and reliability of the National tests due to the students' narratives on extensively leaked tests nationwide; doubt is raised regarding to what extent the leaked National tests actually measure what they are designed to measure and to what extent the results can be considered to not have been affected by coincidences.