Purpose In the so-called digital age, there is a basic assumption that digitalization entails rapid and dramatic change in schools, education and society. However, a challenge for educational research is to clarify what digitalization precisely means. This paper aims to develop, test, and validate a digital transformation scale (DTS). More specifically, the aim is to validate digitization, digitalization and digital transformation as hierarchical levels of sociocultural learning in school and education by using cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) as a framework. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory factor analysis (EFA), with principal-axis factoring as an extraction method, was used to examine the number of factors underlying the data. Findings Results show that the three dimensions in the DTS questionnaire explain 68% of the variance and that all dimensions show high internal consistency (a >0.87). This means that the internal structure of the DTS corresponded to the internal structure of the theory. Research limitations/implications The results show that the internal structure of the DTS corresponded to the internal structure of the theory and may be used quantitatively to analyze digital transformation in school organizations. However, further research is needed in other contexts and larger samples with the use of confirmatory factor analysis to develop knowledge in this area and the use of DTS. Practical implications This tool and theoretical construction could be used to discuss digital transformation in school and education, both local and in general. Seeing digitalization from a sociocultural perspective makes possible to conceptualize and discuss this as a process ranging from small technology investments on an individual level to digitalization as strategic and organizational development. Originality/value This DTS can be used quantitatively to study and analyze digital transformation in educational contexts and provides educational researchers with additional tools to articulate what they mean by digitalization.

This study examined student police officers' job values and differences in job values with respect to gender and educational background. Three hundred fifty-two Swedish first-year police students responded to a job value questionnaire. Psychometric analyses indicated that there are three dimensions of job values: intrinsic, altruistic, and extrinsic. In general, students rated altruistic values as more important than intrinsic/leisure and extrinsic values. Females valued intrinsic and altruistic aspects of a job as more important than males did. In conclusion, the three dimensions of job values, as well as the differences found between males and females are supported by previous research on job values. Future studies should be directed on examining whether police students' job values change during education and in the transition to work.

Due to societal changes there is a growing need for distant and adult learning. The reason to participate in education and the choices that students make may differ. In this study the factors age, gender, rate of studies and parenthood have been analysed in order to see how these relate to different motivational factors for choosing a web-based course. The data has been based on a questionnaire, covering 1270 beginner students in the spring semester of 2011 and contains their background characteristics and items focusing on their motives. These could be categorized into four different motives: (1) Format, (2) Content, (3) Economic, and (4) Curiosity. The results showed that Format was regarded as the most important factor for choosing an Internet-based course, followed by Content, Curiosity and the Economic factor. Furthermore, group differences were investigated with respect to age, gender, parenthood and rate of study. The findings show that distant education fulfils an important function for mature students, women and students with children. These groups presumably consider the flexibility that web-based courses provide advantageous. Family situations or working-life obligations may contribute to this. Changes in people’s working lives are likely to continue, which presumably increases the demand for flexible learning situations.

The concept of validity, as described in the literature, has changed over time to become a broad and rather complex issue. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if practice has followed theory, or if there is a gap between validity in theory and validity in practice. It compares the theoretical development of the concept of validity with the methodology adopted in validity studies over time. Important phases in the history of validity, and also common arguments for and against traditional and modern validity perspectives, are presented and discussed. Thereafter, three Swedish research projects aiming to validate instruments used for selection to higher education are described. The idea is to use these projects as examples of contemporary practice, and to compare their designs, research questions and outcomes with how validity was theoretically described during their specific period of time. The conclusions from these comparisons are that practices seem to have followed theory when it comes to how the validity research programmes have been designed, but not when it comes to how they then were carried out in practice. This gap between theory and practice seems to have increased with the introduction of broader and more modern validity perspectives. The scope of the research is more extensive but results are fragmented and there is no evidence of a 'unified' validity argument, which has been one of the central aspects in modern validity theory. This supports the arguments that validity theory is difficult to put into practice and that there is a need for guidance on how to prioritise validity questions and interpret validity evidence.

INTRODUCTION:Sweden, together with several countries in the world, has no compulsory educational requirement prior to the drivers license examination. Having a valid license examination (i.e., a knowledge test and a driving test) is therefore important in order to ensure competent drivers.METHOD:The aim of this paper is to explore the possibility of a two stage testing approach for the Swedish licensure examination. In order to explore the relationship between the knowledge test and the road test, a descriptive and a logistic regression approach were carried out.RESULTS:The result indicates that how the driving candidates perform on the road test depends on their performance on the knowledge test. Therefore, the Swedish drivers licensing examination is suitable for a two-stage testing model.

This brief article provides a description of some new ideas about admission of university engineering students in Sweden. The current system of admission is based on upper-secondary school grades and the Swedish Scholastic Assessment Test. These measures are used for admission to all higher education. For many reasons, ideas for a new admission model have been proposed. This model includes a sector-oriented admission test, which the universities are supposed to use for different purposes, such as selection, eligibility, diagnostics, and recruitment.

Urvalsinstrument har traditionellt blivit varderade utifran sin formaga att forutsaga studieframgang, det som med andra ord kallas for prognostisk validitet. Denna prognosformaga uttrycks med ett matt som anger styrkan pa sam-bandet mellan resultatet pa urvalsinstrumentet och den senare studieprestationen. I foreliggande artikel problematiseras anvandandet av prestationsvariabeln utifran den traditionella korrelationsbaserade utvarderingsansatsen. I artikeln presenteras aven ett antal alternativa ansatser for utvarderingen av ett urvalsinstrument.