Internal and external factors influence teachers' daily assessment decisions. The purposes of teachers' assessments are crucial, as these purposes guide the assessment process. Still, little is known about teachers' assessment purposes. The aim of this study is to identify and describe the different purposes of assessments that Civics teachers…

The aim of the present study is to investigate how the concept of systematic quality work is perceived by school teachers. Eleven interviews were conducted and analysed according to the phenomenographical method, inspired by qualitative content analysis. Five qualitatively different descriptive categories were identified: (i) tools for…

This paper presents and discusses the findings of a collaborative investigation into Nordic approaches to evaluation and assessment in early childhood education and care. The project explored values and principles that underpin and guide evaluation in ECEC systems and practices in five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and…

A series of worldwide projects concerning assessment, student outcomes and quality in higher education has revealed the need for a change in how higher education institutions assess student outcomes; however, many academics remain unconvinced. The success of assessment change arguably depends on the assessment culture within the institution. This…

'Quality' in education has become a global phenomenon, and is frequently discussed in transnational and national policy. In such discussions, 'quality' seems to be both worthwhile and demanded, but at the same time, the concept has also been criticised in previous research as it seems to have attained a 'common sense' status. In this context, the…

This study aimed to investigate how 33 preschool teachers' and 30 special educational needs teachers in Swedish preschools documented and described children's speech, language and communication development. The views on concepts as 'scientific basis', 'proven experience' and ways to follow language development for children in need of extra-support…

As massive open online courses (MOOCs) increase, the large scale and heterogeneity of MOOC participants bring myriad significant design challenges. This exploratory mixed methods study explores 143 MOOC instructors' considerations and challenges in designing MOOCs, 12 of whom were interviewed and had their courses analyzed. The survey, interview,…

Recent reforms in England and the USA give evidence that teaching methods and content can change rapidly, given a strong external pressure, for example through economic incentives, inspections, school choice, and public display of schools' and pupils' performances. Educational activities in the Scandinavian countries have increasingly become…

Grading is often perceived as one of a teacher's most difficult tasks. Despite most teachers endeavoring to grade their students as objectively as possible, many students feel that they are subject to unfair grading. The aim of this study is to describe what it is about a teacher's grading that contributes to the perception of unfairness. This…

This article falls within the research area of school development. It also takes into account neo-liberal tendencies, such as they have been approached in educational research. The article takes as its starting point a development project that began when four rural secondary schools turned to their regional university for scientific support. It…

New forms of activities now shape and govern the Swedish education system, based on governance through comparison. The focus on comparison can be regarded as soft governance and different types of (self-) evaluations and valuations are, at present, deeply embedded keystones in the decentralised education system. Recently this has, together with…

The purpose of the present study was to examine validity aspects of teachers' judgements of pupils' reading skills. Data come from Sweden's participation in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2001, for Grades 3 and 4. For pupils at the same achievement levels, as measured by PIRLS 2001 test, teachers' judgements of…

This article reports the results of the European "DAFFODIL" ("D"ynamic "A"ssessment of "F"unctioning and "O"riented at "D"evelopment and "I"nclusive "L"earning) Project on the question of how functional and learning assessment systems facilitate or inhibit…

The aim of the 2018 International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA) conference was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There have been advances in both cognitive…

Research on teacher ethics and the moral dimensions of teaching has contributed to extensive and valuable knowledge, which has sometimes led to constructive syntheses of positions. Four research problems which have been elucidated are discussed in this article: the relationship between care and justice, the conflict between the ethics of virtue…