What Do Children in Irish Primary Classrooms Think About Assessment? Accessing Children's Conceptions of Assessment Using Pictorial Representations

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 18
  In Roundtable Session: International Inclusion Education

Abstract

Difficulties in capturing children’s voice through research has led to a paucity of research in this area, however the draw-a-picture technique has been employed successfully with children in New Zealand and Hong Kong in order to access their conceptions of assessment (Harris, Harnett & Brown, 2009; Carless & Lam, 2012). The Irish primary educational landscape stands apart from its international counterparts having emerged as somewhat impervious to the waves of global assessment reform which have enveloped education systems and policies all over the world. As part of a larger study examining assessment in Ireland, this paper will use rich data from observations, focus groups and children’s drawings to explore how children in Irish primary schools (n=23) conceive assessment.

Authors

• Marie Ryan, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland

• Eugene Wall, Mary Immaculate College

• Emer Ring, Mary Immaculate College