Research topic/aim
In discussions of assessment in school, one controversial issue has been whether or not assessment practice is mainly positive or negative for the students. Hirsh (2020) and Kärenkeinen (2006) argue that strongly focussing on assessment in school increases risk of mental illness such as increased pressure and stress, and reduced faith in the future. The view taken in this research project is that this discussion highlights the importance of continued theory-based empirical studies of assessment validation that takes into account social, i.e. ethical, consequences of assessment validation (Messick, 1989). Consequently, the project assumes that validation of assessment practices need do consider the relevance of social ethics theory and that so-called continental ethics is of particular importance.
Theoretical framework
The project combines theories and research of assessment (i.e. Messick, 1989) with theories of continental ethics (i.e. Bauman, 1995; Løgstrup, 1997; Scott, 1990). The reason for using continental rather than analytical ethics (Levy, 2003) is that the former touches upon existentialist questions (identity formation, self views, relationships, moral development) of relevance for deeper understanding negative consequences of assessment. Further, whereas analytical ethics ”mimics the scientific style of inquiry” continental ethics is engaged in cultural critique (Levy, 2003). In addition, Foucault’s (1989) notion of the disciplinary society and Byung-Chul Han’s (1998) notion of Müdichkeitgesellschaft situates the project in the context of two similar yet different notions of present social ethos. These notions will be used to inquire into the ethical validity of assessment in relation to preexisting social norms and values.
Methodological design
The project has an interdisciplinary profile combining the disciplines of ethics and empirical pedagogy. Drawing on inductively analysed semistructured interviews with children in the age of 12 continental ethics will be used to pressing the specific ethics questions that will surface in the empirical material. Expected conclusions/findings We expect to find that assessment practices profoundly influence children’s self-view in both negative and positive ways. In addition, that putting the empirical results in communication with continental ethics will widen the field of understanding of the topic of interest in question.
Relevance to Nordic educational research
The project is of relevance to the Nordic educational field of research because it will develop (a) a methodology to inquire into the moral dilemmas of current assessment practices from the perspective of continental ethics, which (b) enables an ethical validation of the sorting-, information,- and formative functions of assessment.
2024.