Assessing ethics education through national tests—an advantage or not?

Karin Sporre

doi:10.1080/00220272.2018.1533999

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to describe, critically analyse and discuss the Swedish system of assessing ethics education in compulsory school through national tests. The publicly available tests from 2013 for grades six and nine have been studied as have the assessment instructions for teachers. Staff responsible for the test construction have been interviewed. The aims, core content and knowledge requirements of the curriculum were also studied. The concept ‘ethical competence’ was used as an analytical tool in the qualitative content analyses. Through the design of this study, the actual test, its process of construction and the curriculum were examined. The results suggest that ethics education, given (a) the curricular construction of what ability to assess, (b) complexities of test construction in ethics and (c) possible teach-to-the-test effects, runs the risk of being limited to an argumentative, conceptual competence, with ethics education being emptied of crucial content. However, being included in national testing can strengthen the position of a school subject. Is it then an advantage for ethics education to be tested in this way? The critical problems the study raises make the author conclude it to be a disadvantage for ethics education to be tested through national tests.

Highlights

Background and research overviewEthics education—in varying curricular contextsWhen overviewing European ethics education in compulsory school, Korim and Hanesová (2010) note that ethics education, due to historical, cultural, ideological, political and economic factors, is organized differently in different countries
The results suggest that ethics education, given (a) the curricular construction of what ability to assess, (b) complexities of test construction in ethics and (c) possible teach-to-the-test effects, runs the risk of being limited to an argumentative, conceptual competence, with ethics education being emptied of crucial content
The initial research questions of this study were (a) What ethical competence is asked for in the 2013 national test? and (b) What conceptions of ethical competence are left out? In addition to these two research questions, the study revolves around a second set of critical questions: (c) Can assessing ethics through national tests be understood as an advantage or not? This question in turn implies another one: (d) Under what conditions can national testing be said to be valuable for a school subject? the more general contribution of this study consists of a critical discussion of the value of national tests for a school subject like ethics

Summary

Introduction

‘What may be learnt in ethics education?’ is a crucial question to pose, not least in relation to contemporary ethical societal challenges such as migration, climate change, responsibilities towards future generations and the equality and rights of human beings. A critical analysis is undertaken of the testing of ethics education through the 2013 national test within its curricular context, i.e. the goals expressed in the new Swedish curriculum from 2011. The purpose of this paper is to describe, critically analyse and discuss the Swedish system of assessing ethics education in compulsory school through national tests. This is to identify potential effects on ethics education in compulsory school of the system of national tests introduced in 2013, in turn based on the new Swedish curriculum from 2011. The more general contribution of this study consists of a critical discussion of the value of national tests for a school subject like ethics The initial research questions of this study were (a) What ethical competence is asked for in the 2013 national test? and (b) What conceptions of ethical competence are left out? In addition to these two research questions, the study revolves around a second set of critical questions: (c) Can assessing ethics through national tests be understood as an advantage or not? This question in turn implies another one: (d) Under what conditions can national testing be said to be valuable for a school subject? the more general contribution of this study consists of a critical discussion of the value of national tests for a school subject like ethics

Background and research overview

Summary and discussion

Notes on contributor