4th Teaching & Education Conference, Venice

CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT IN PRIMARY EDUCATION: PUPILS’ PERSPECTIVE

VISNJA RAJIC

Abstract:

Classroom assessment is an everyday activity in most classrooms. Even if it is an inevitable part of school curriculum, assessment practices tend to differ and can be a point of distress in the classroom. The paper shows results of the research on pupils' perspective on classroom assessment. Pupils were asked to answer the following questions: What is a school grade? Why do teachers assess pupils? Which advice do you have for teachers when assessing? Content analysis was the method used in research, and pupils’ answers were the unit of analysis. Answers from 90 pupils from different primary schools (N = 70) in central Croatia were analysed, where 7 pupils were enrolled in 1st trade, 15 in 2nd grade, 36 in 3rd grade and 42 in 4th grade of primary school. The results show that pupils identify school grades as numbers (N = 36) they are awarded according to their knowledge, success on an exam or even how „smart“ they are. When considering the reasons for assessment and the role the school grade has, pupils recognise it as a feedback to pupil (N = 6) and feedback to a teacher (N = 15) on how well the pupil has performed or how well he or she have behaved (N = 10). Some pupils (N = 7) recognise the summative role of school marks, necessary for receiving a diploma or even enrolling in high school. When asked for an advice on how to assess, pupils state that it is important to be fair (N = 12), objective, careful when assessing and are explicit in explaining the need for a teacher to avoid halo effect in assessment or having a „teacher's pet“ (N = 12). These research results give an interesting insight of pupils’ perspective on classroom assessment in primary schools, pointing out to issues that need to be better addressed when assessing in the classroom.

Keywords: classroom assessment; primary education; pupil opinions; the Republic of Croatia

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