Hur uppfattar elever omgivningens sociala tryck gällande skolfusk?

Both earlier Swedish research and reports in the Swedish media suggest that students and teachers perceive norm conflicts regarding test-taking and grading: on one hand, high-school-students (year 7 -12) and teachers feel expected to strictly adhere to rules prohibiting cheating in school; on the other hand, they feel expected to apply these rules flexibly to facilitate students achieving good grades. This study aims to address this conflict from student perspective and answer the following question: To what extent do high-school students perceive that social norms support rules against school cheating? The data for this quantitative study was collected from 199 high-school students. Using a norm-sociological model (Svensson, 2008), the data was subsequently analysed to illuminate in what way students understood the social norm against cheating in school and what significance they allocated to these values ​​in their social environments. The results show that the high-school students perceived the social norm against cheating to be significantly stronger than the social norm for cheating. Secondly, the students perceived that teachers, principals and parents clearly viewed cheating negatively, and imbued the no-cheating norm with great importance. Thirdly, the students perceived that their peers were ambivalent to cheating.