Teaching Summative Assessment Literacy: A Comparative Curriculum Analysis of Three Teacher Education Programs in Sweden and Finland

• In Event: Assessing the Unexpected? Exploring Assessment in Preservice Teacher Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the curricular manifestation of summative assessment literacy within three teacher education programs in Sweden and Finland through a document analysis. Data sources included program guides, course syllabuses, study guides, and school practice documents. A thematic content analysis was used to code the data based on a theoretical framework involving conceptual understanding, skills, dispositions, and pedagogical considerations in summative assessment. The results indicate that all programs emphasize the basic concepts of SA such as validity and reliability as well as using the results of assessment as feedback to teaching and learning processes. There are differences in the way they address, and the specific competencies they develop such as test construction and grading.

Authors

• Ali Yildirim, University of Gothenburg

• Anne Dragemark Oscarson, Goteborg University

• Raili Hilden, University of Helsinki

• Birgitta Fröjdendahl, Stockholm University