To Örebro University

Teachers in the special education classrooms are obliged to assess knowledge and give grades (SFS 2010:800). Student’s participation in, and access to, the assessment is central. In the case of students in need of support, Ahlberg (2013) shows how participation, communication and learning presuppose each other. The purpose of this study is to investigate how participation in, and access to, assessment are understood by teachers in the case of students with intellectual disabilities.A survey regarding assessment, access and participation was sent to all teachers who had students following the curriculum for learning disabilities (LD) in one municipality. Twelve of nineteen teachers answered. Results indicated that students participated in assessment situations mainly through self-assessment and matrices. To make assessment accessible various methods were used: communication aids, support from adults, conversations and peer-assessment. Helping students display their knowledge, and ascertaining if and how knowledge was displayed, was a challenge to teachers. Another challenge mentioned by the teachers was informing students about the results of their assessment in a manner appropriate to their individual communicative competence. Making students’ knowledge visible to students, teachers and parents is the primary challenge we have identified. There is a need for further research in order to articulate how the accessibility of the assessment situation may be a means for increasing student participation, and also how accessibility and participation are produced, and how they are affected by the practice of assessment.

References

Ahlberg, A. (2013). Specialpedagogik i ideologi, teori och praktik -att bygga broar.SFS (2010:800).

Skollag. [Education Act]. Department of Education.

Östlund, Daniel (2012), Deltagandets kontextuella villkor: fem träningsskoleklassers pedagogiska praktik. Doctoral thesis, Malmö: Malmö högskola.