You Can't Win Them All - Can You…? - On the Balancing Act of Assessment in Education

Having had a traditionally marginalized position, assessment is today regarded as an obvious and integrated aspect of education. As demonstrated in the title of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment, the three concepts form a pedagogical trinity that needs to be handled, conceptually as well as practically.

There are indeed aspects of validity and reliability to address; furthermore, it is essential to assess whether students have actually learnt, and are learning, what is required. Also, there is a need to combine the two fundamental functions of assessment, namely its role in enhancing learning, as well as in contributing to fairness and equity. Commonly, these functions are treated as separate phenomena, characterized as formative and summative, or assessment for and of learning. I will focus on the balancing act between the two, emphasizing and exemplifying common principles that need to guide the development of all types of assessment - at individual, pedagogical and societal levels.

My reasoning is based on empirical examples from the Swedish national assessment system, which for long has aimed to cater for both functions, and in which teachers have a traditionally strong role. Brief comments are given on test development, and data from analyses of large-scale results of English regarding receptive, productive and interactive language competences, including inter-rater consistency, are presented, as are perceptions of various stakeholders. Finally, recent debates and policy decisions are discussed from the perspective of relevance and adequacy as well as construct validity, usefulness and ethics.