Likvärdighet med skillnader i ämnesinnehåll? : Om centralt innehåll och kunskapskrav i Psykologi 1

Sammanfattning: Teachers today are not only expected to have knowledge in their subjects, pedagogy and didactics, they should also acquire the skill to customize teaching given the individual pupil, stimulate every pupil to reach as far as possible and build relationships with their students – all while they plan their lessons and grade papers. In addition to this there are guidelines to follow via curriculums and the Swedish law states that every pupil is entitled to equivalent education regardless where you live or what school you attend.  This study aims to find out how psychology teachers interpret central content and knowledge requirements in Psychology 1 in order to chart if concept and theories differ between teachers and schools. Equivalence is central in the Swedish school and the study also aims to emphasize the importance of subject content in order to maintain equivalence. Four teachers were interviewed and all teachers agree that the course Psychology 1 includes many concepts and theories and that there isn’t enough time to deep dive into any of them which means you have to sift which ones you use. The result shows that teachers largely use the same concepts and theories when teaching Psychology 1, however there are some differences when it comes to biological psychology. Despite mostly similarities in the subject content it is possible there will be consequences for the equivalence in schools due to the fact that the teacher’s own perception of what is knowledge, and what is important to the subject psychology, is decisive for how they interpret a student’s answer to a test or an assignment.