Biased grades? Changes in grading after a blinding of examinations reform

Abstract

Group differences in average grades prior to and after a step-wise introduction of blinded examinations at Stockholm University are examined. Relative to students with ‘native’ names, students with ‘foreign’ names appear to experience weak positive bias in the grading of their examinations, but the estimated effect is sensitive to model specification. No substantial effects of blinding examinations with respect to male-female gaps are found. The results suggest that examiners – when the names of students are disclosed to them – if anything have a weak tendency to positively discriminate for students perceived to have an immigrant background, but they do not appear to discriminate on the basis of gender.     

The formation of the willing citizen – Tracing reactive nihilism in late capitalist adult education

The role of education in citizen training has been well mapped out in youth education. What has been less studied is how this role comes into being in adult education. By providing illustrative empirical examples from a recently completed study of adult students enrolled in adult education, this article aims to offer a theoretical response to the question of the role of adult education in adult student citizen subjectivity formation. Taking on Diken’s concept of ‘reactive nihilism’, we wish to make the following arguments. First, that citizen formation in adult education, when students are asked about it, is actualised as processes of re(dis)covery of will in order to be(come) a successful and happy citizen in society. Secondly, that these processes point towards a role of adult education as one where these formation processes work in tandem with those of the reactive nihilists. This means that the citizen formation processes made possible in this educational site are those marked out by the desire to mobilise one’s will formation so that it adapts to the prevailing societal situation—that of late capitalism, which is a situation not considered by the adult students as possible to change.     

Choosing one’s future? Narratives on educational and occupational choice among folk high school participants in Sweden

This article poses these questions: How do participants on two different courses in folk high schools in Sweden, a basic course and a theatre course, motivate their educational and occupational choices, and what similarities and differences can be identified? We analyse interviews with students drawing on a narrative approach. Five trajectories emerge: desire to get away; desire to get back on track; desire for employment; desire to change occupation; and desire to realise one’s dreams. We argue that these trajectories reproduce existing social stratification in society, whereby certain futures are available to some people, and not to others.

     

Scientists,teachers and the ‘scientific’ textbook: interprofessional relations and the modernisation of elementary science textbooks in nineteenth-century Sweden

In research on the development of a nineteenth-century ‘science for the people’, initiatives by scientists or people well-trained in science has been emphasised, while the writings, roles and initiatives of elementary teachers are normally just mentioned in passing. In this study the development of nineteenth-century elementary science textbooks is analysed. While practitioners and popularisers of science established the genre as such, writing the first textbooks on elementary science and arguing for its place in elementary education, elementary teachers were prime movers in developing the genre both pedagogically and scientifically. In doing this they not only contributed to further strengthening the cultural status of science in late nineteenth-century Sweden but most probably strengthened the elementary teaching profession as a whole, formulating the expertise of the teacher in relation to elementary science.     

Support and opposition in an attempted higher education merger

Tertiary Education and Management - The study explores an ultimately unsuccessful merger of three Norwegian public university colleges. It shows how social practices of support for and opposition...     

Exploring formative assessment as a tool for learning: students’ experiences of different methods of formative assessment

This study aims to provide a greater insight into how formative assessments are experienced and understood by students. Two different formative assessment methods, an individual, written assessment and an oral group assessment, were components of a pathology course within a medical curriculum. In a cohort of 70 students, written accounts were collected from 17 students and group interviews were carried out to explore the students’ experiences of these two forms of assessment. All students were engaged in both assessment methods, which were conducted a few weeks apart, and data were collected soon after each assessment. Our findings suggest that formative assessments motivate students to study, make them aware of what they have learned and where they need to study more. Thus, formative assessment can act as a tool for learning, contributing to the process and outcomes of learning. A closer look at students’ experiences of each form of assessment reveals interesting differences.     

Comparing student learning experiences of in-text commentary and rubric-articulated feedback: strategies for formative assessment

This study compares students’ experiences of two types of criteria-based assessment: in-text commentary and rubric-articulated feedback, in an assessment design combining the two feedback channels. The main aim is to use students’ responses to shed light on how feedback strategies for formative assessment can be optimised. Following action research methodology, the study discusses key categories of student responses from three sources: reflective texts, a questionnaire, and interviews. Results show that different functions were attributed to the two feedback channels: in-text commentary to lower-order concerns related to language proficiency, and rubric-articulated feedback to higher-order concerns related to an overview of writing achievement. We argue that the different functions have the potential of creating a sufficiently balanced assessment design with the possibility of serving both short-term and continuous learning goals. On the other hand, some students found it difficult to navigate between the two feedback channels. The article therefore ends with a ‘lessons learned’ section where we list possible ways in which the current assessment design can be improved for optimal use of the synergy effects emanating from a combination of in-text commentary and rubric-articulated feedback for formative purposes.     

Engineering students’ experiences from physics group work in learning labs

The development and validation of a test of biology‐related attitudes (TOBRA) is described. This instrument was developed for science students in grades 10‐12 in Indonesia; however, the procedures for validation of the instrument will be of general interest to science educators. These procedures included the use of latent partition analysis to examine the conceptual structure of TOBRA.     

Governing by partnerships: dilemmas in Swedish education policy at the turn of the millennium

In recent years, governing through partnerships has become more and more common and is today reflected in a range of policy areas. In the following article, governing through partnerships is analysed in Swedish education policy around the turn of the millennium, where the notion of partnership has had a large impact. Using as its point of departure a theoretical perspective inspired by Michel Foucault, the article analyses the calls for partnership in Swedish education policy as part of a set of governmental rationalities forming individuals into partnering, that is active and responsible, citizens. In the article, some of the long‐term consequences of the uses of the concept of partnership in Swedish education policy are discussed, focusing particularly on issues of inclusion/exclusion and democratic regeneration. With the idea of governing through partnerships, it is argued that the political landscape is redrawn. The role of the State, for instance, is increasingly to leave room for various voluntary and independent actors and associations, to co‐ordinate and interact, as a partner, among others, rather than directing society ‘from above’.