Från mäta till möta: Elevers och lärares uppfattningar och erfarenheter av klassrumsbedömning

Purpose: This dissertation aims to study how different artefacts used to assess
students’ knowledge are perceived by students and teachers. A particular focus is
directed towards assessment from a special educational perspective.
Two research questions were posed: 1. What are students’ perceptions and
experiences of different assessment practices in the classroom? 2. What are
teachers' perceptions and experiences of different assessment practices in the
classroom?
Sub-studies: The dissertation provides a qualitative synthesis of 5 studies.
Study I is a systematic research review with the aim to enhance knowledge
regarding low-achieving students’ assessment experiences. Study II, directed at
classroom assessment to provide information on how primary school students in
Grades 2 and 5 experience classroom assessment in Swedish. Study III A aimed
to contribute knowledge about teachers' perceptions of an external assessment
assignment. This was, without deepening the alignment between assessment
results and teaching, which Study III B aimed to focus on. Study III B is a
reanalysis of part of Study III A. In Study IV, the content’s context was
communication in mathematics teaching. The results revealed teachers'
assessment expressions.
Theory: The theoretical starting point is sociocultural theory. The choice is
based on Gipps who highlights the relationship between teaching, learning and
assessment, where assessment is perceived to take place in a social context. To
understand the different assessment practices that emerge in the thesis, three
categories of assessment: inherent, discursive, and documentary, are used.
Mediation is used as an analytical tool.
Method: The methodological approach is an interpretive perspective. All five
sub-studies are qualitative. The dissertation provides a qualitative synthesis.
Results: The results reveal a difference in the perceptions and experiences
about documented assessment attributed to whether, and what consequences a
low score may mean for students and teachers. Discursive assessment emerges as
part of teaching. Inherent assessment does not really appear in any of the substudies.
Conclusion: It is not the design of the assessment that matters for students'
experience, but its contextualisation, how the meaning is mediated by the teachers
rather than the assessment design. Students with special educational needs are
more concerned about assessment.
Limitation: This thesis can only describe the talk of assessment but does not
study the assessment itself.