Det motsägelsefulla bedömningsuppdraget: En etnografisk studie om bedömning i förskolekontext

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the assessment practices (bedömningspraktiker) in times of increasing state control of preschools, for example by imposing requirements for documentation (e.g. curricula) as part of preschools' systematic quality development work.

The results show various socialising messages of expected behaviour and linguistic abilities in the preschool teachers' assessment of the children's social skills and play as well as linguistic abilities. Despite claims by the preschool teachers, assessments in the preschools studied are primarily aimed at the individual child's behaviour, so that they can be said to form some sort of hidden curriculum. Thus the children in the preschool located in the socially privileged residential area are often constructed as being more creative, independent as well as linguistically and socially competent, which is not the case with the children in the preschool located in the multicultural and socio-economically disadvantaged residential area. In this area, the socialising messages are more about conformity and adaptation.

The study shows that the preschool teachers express ambivalence towards state requirements for documentation and assessment of children's development and learning. On the one hand, the preschool teachers find it important to focus on learning and on documenting the children's development and learning. On the other hand, it seems important not to assess the individual child's achievements. The preschool teachers use two types of argument for why they should use documentation and assessment of the children. One type of argument is aimed at learning as an important content in preschools, whereas the other focusses on documentation as an important tool in pedagogical work in preschools. Documenting children's development and learning is linked to visualising children's learning and to visualising work on learning in the preschool (to the preschool teachers themselves and to the children and parents).

The increased focus on learning in preschool is on the one hand constructed as a sign of being professional and increases professional status. On the other hand, the increased focus on learning seems to conflict with the values and discourses that constitute preschool teachers’ professional identity. According to the author, the preschool teachers' ambition not to assess individual children’s achievements, but at the same time to document and analyse the children’s development and learning, constitutes a dilemma. The preschool teachers avoid writing about children’s shortcomings and instead write about what the children do.

The study shows that the documentation and assessment resulting from the state steering focusses on form rather than on content. The preschool teachers are concerned about how they linguistically write and talk about the children rather than on which aspects of the children's development are in focus and how to assess these aspects. The assessments often concern social and behavioural aspects rather than the children’s learning. The preschool teachers adapt to the formally required documentation and assessment, while resisting the aspects that do not comply with their perception of their profession and their view on children.

The dissertation defines preschool assessment practices as preschool teachers' descriptions of children's development and learning, i.e. descriptions that define and/or assess the children's abilities, knowledge and actions in relation to explicit or implicit expectations and norms. The empirical basis of the dissertation consists of ethnographic field work in two Swedish preschools (förskoler) selected due to their different socio-economic and ethnic compositions. One of the preschools is located in a multicultural area where the majority of residents were born outside Sweden, and where many families receive welfare or have low-income jobs. The other preschool is located in a socially and economically privileged residential area, where unemployment is very low, income levels are high and the percentage of residents born outside Sweden is significantly below the national average. The author carried out participant observations in both preschools for about one year. The data material consists of field notes, individual interviews and group interviews with preschool teachers (förskollärare), sound recordings of formal and informal conversations as well as written documentation on the children, such as individual development plans. Data was analysed on the basis of theories about state control and steering as well as on theories about cultural and social reproduction.

Johansson, E. M. (2016). Det motsägelsefulla bedömningsuppdraget: En etnografisk studie om bedömning i förskolekontext. Avhandling. Göteborgs universitet.