The Dimensionality of the Leaving Certificate in the Swedish Compulsory School

In order to analyse the dimensionality of school marks in Swedish compulsory schools, data was drawn from two different databases with more than 100,000 subjects in each. Marks from 17 different subject‐matter areas were used (child studies, art education, English, domestic science, physical education, mathematics, music, biology, physics, chemistry, technology, geography, history, religious studies, civics, crafts and Swedish). A confirmatory factor model was fitted with a general school‐achievement factor (SchAch) and domain‐specific achievement factors in mathematics‐science (Mathsci) and language (Lang). Two broad factors were also found: a non‐verbal factor (Non‐verb) related to achievement in areas such as domestic science, physical education, crafts, mathematics and music; and an aesthetic domestic factor (Ad) related primarily to child studies, domestic science and art education. An analysis of sex differences revealed that the Ad factor in the five‐factor model vanished and was replaced with a correlation between child studies and domestic science and a relation between the Non‐verb factor and child studies. The four‐factor model was essentially invariant for boys and girls, but there were important differences in the factor means where SchAch, Lang and Ad favoured girls and Non‐verb and Mathsci favoured boys. There were also some differences in the factor variances. It is concluded that the leaving‐certificate school marks are multidimensional and that the profile of achievement may be important.