Abstract
ABSTRACTThis paper considers teachers’ use of data from national school tests. These national tests are part of the Norwegian top-down accountability school system. According to official regulations, teachers have to use the test results to improve learning outcomes even if the test system is not able to deliver necessary data. However, previous research has shown that teachers apply teaching-to-test strategies. The focus of this paper is twofold. First, we ask, ‘How do teachers perceive and interpret the data from national tests?’ Second, ‘How do teachers view their actions related to the data from national tests?’ We base our research on data from semi-structured 5th-grade-teacher interviews. The transcribed text is subject to qualitative content analysis. We find that teachers are in a state of data illiteracy towards complex Item Response Theory tests. Inspired by Bernstein’s concept of the pedagogic device, we see that the test data rules both teacher work in the classroom as well as knowledge provided to the pupils. The national tests seem to undermine teachers’ autonomy, restrict teachers’ practice and reinforce the impact of unfair structures on pupils’ learning.
Highlights
This article explores how teachers perceive pupil assessment data, and in particular how they reflect on being held accountable for pupil learning
Inspired by Bernstein’s concept of the pedagogic device, we see that the test data rules both teacher work in the classroom as well as knowledge provided to the pupils
In the first three sections we briefly discuss the concepts of accountability and national testing, and provide insight into recent research on national testing in Norway
Summary
This article explores how teachers perceive pupil assessment data, and in particular how they reflect on being held accountable for pupil learning (improvement). This is highly relevant, since the use of data for pupils’ learning (data literacy) has not been, and is still not, an issue in Norwegian teacher education (Ffl 2015; NRLU 2016a, 2016b; Werler & Volckmar, 2015). Such systems define what counts as valuable school knowledge (Bachmann & Sivesind, 2012; Rizvi & Lingard, 2010) These policies address inequality in educational outcomes by creating tighter links between the policy environment and instruction (Diamond, 2007; Hallett, 2010). Malkenes (2014) reported that teachers experience high-stakes testing since their salaries have been made partially dependent on test results
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