Mellom smilefjes og karakterer : en kvalitativ studie om vurdering i skolen

The project "Mellom smilefjes og karakterer" is about assessment. Its focus is formative assessment in grades five through seven. A goal is to gain insight into how teachers find that their written assessments enhance learning for ten to twelve year old students. The main research question of this study is: How do teachers feel that their written assessments help students in their learning?" To answer the question, I have chosen the interview method. I have interviewed seven teachers from six different schools, and each interview lasted about 1 hour. The interviews are recorded on tape and they have been transcribed. The data has then been analyzed according to the three sub-issues: (1) What characterizes a good qualitative assessment, as a teacher sees it? (2) How do teachers describe the contents of the school's written assessment culture? (3) How do teachers find the school's assessment culture? Results indicate that shows that there is a high degree of correlation between teachers' attitudes and relevant theory of assessment. Teachers, for example, are concerned that the assessment should be targeted and that it should give the student mastery by addressing positive aspects. But how are these attitudes operationalized in practice? When teachers describe their assessment practice based on concrete examples, the result is ambiguous. The examples of assessment analyzed, appear to focus more on form and superficial knowledge rather than substantive understanding. Several of the assessments constitute a systematic relationship so that one can see learning in terms og pupils' behavior. What is more difficult to see is whether the teachers' assessment lead to deeper level in the form of better understanding of subject matter. The result is to some extent more positive than previous research in this field, which may be due to selection and timing of the project. This means that teachers still appear to be caught up in the more traditional assessment culture, even though assessment is probably being discussed more in schools than before. The result show several examples of individual assessment practices, and there can still be large differences within the individual school. The challenge ahead will be to develop collective assessment practices in schools by setting aside time for collaborative work and reflection