ERIC Number: EJ1089519
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-764X
EISSN: N/A
Liberating the Learner through Self-Assessment
Bourke, Roseanna
Cambridge Journal of Education, v46 n1 p97-111 2016
An international agenda to raise educational "standards" and increase the accountability of schools has the unintended consequence of increased uniformity around pedagogical practices, and of introducing assessment practices that influence the way students experience learning. This paper explores how the self-assessment experiences of primary and secondary school students in relation to their learning reflects their perceived respective institutional demands to account for their learning. Students' dilemmas and experiences of school-based assessment include the use of pre-defined criteria for assessment tasks focusing the learner's attention to "getting to the identified outcome and in the right way". When school assessment systems do not reflect students' socially and culturally valued learning, this reduces conversations around learning to that of outcomes. In contrast, by supporting learners to self-assess in increasingly sophisticated ways, teachers encourage students to think about their learning across contexts, and liberate them from thinking "only" about institutional assessment demands.
Descriptors: Self Evaluation (Individuals), Academic Standards, Accountability, Academic Achievement, Elementary Secondary Education, Institutional Evaluation, Foreign Countries, Outcomes of Education, Interviews, Student Experience, Early Adolescents, Elementary School Students, Secondary School Students, Ethnography
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; Elementary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: New Zealand
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A