Aim

The overall aim of this action research project is to increase teachers’ assessment competence and students’ understanding of written assessment. The participating special school is part of the Swedish compulsory school system and the study includes year 6-9. The purpose of the first and present sub-study was to analyze how students’ understanding of written assessments be related to assessment for learning.

Methodology/research design

In focus of the study was a special educational setting with small classes (7-8 students) and special education teachers. As a part of the planning phase, 29 students were asked to describe their understanding of written assessments in three different subjects and furthermore discuss their descriptions in follow-up interviews. The theoretical framework was Vygotsky’s theories of learning. The two-step analysis first focused on individuals’ understanding and then the zone of proximal development (zpd) was used as an analytical tool.

Findings and expected findings

In the first analysis three categories were found. Thus students’ understandings were related to: subject matter knowledge, generic skills and attitudes. The findings of the second analysis indicated that written assessment often lacked formative features and cannot be seen as learning in the ZPD. A categorical perspective was used in practice since difficulties with schoolwork were seen as problems of the individual student and the actions were directed towards the student.

The second sub-study, in progress, shows trends that developing assessments competence requires rethinking and applying new principles of assessments for learning. Rethinking one’s own conception of knowledge and learning might foster conflicts between teacher as a coach and teacher as a judge – in the US mentioned as “the assessment crisis”.