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Abstract in English

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.