An ‘appropriate’ test taker: the everyday classroom during the national testing period in school year three in Sweden

ABSTRACT

This article draws on data from a bigger project where we explore what is taking place in the daily life of classrooms during the national testing period in mathematics for 9–10-year-old children in Sweden. Data were produced by observations, video-recordings and interviews with children. The article shows on a micro level how assessment trends, on a macro level, affect children. It further focuses how children through different repertoires of time position themselves as ‘appropriate’ test takers.

KEYWORDS:

• Children
• classroom
• competition
• mathematics
• testing discourse
• video data

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The compulsory school in Sweden consist of ‘the compulsory school’, ‘the compulsory school for learning disabilities’ (both consist of nine years of schooling), ‘the Sami school’ (consists of six years of schooling), and ‘the special school’ (consists of 10 years of schooling).

2. 2011 the test consisted of seven tests and the testing period lasted for two months.

Additional information

Funding

The research was funded by the Swedish Research Council [Dnr 721-2008-4646]