The politics of early assessment in mathematics education

Abstract

One of the latest reforms in Sweden in order to increase equity and quality in education is making national assessment compulsory in preschool-class (age 6). The claimed political volition is all students’ best possible mathematical development. In this paper, we examine the preparatory work, the assignment to the National Agency of Education, and the assessment material itself, searching for what meaning is inscribed regarding the student, mathematics and assessment. The results imply that the politics of the assessment might exaggerate a search for flaws and control instead of promoting all students learning and in addition contributing to the schoolification of preschool-class.TWG10: Diversity and Mathematics Education : Social, Cultural and Political ChallengesHAL ID: hal-02421225, version 1</p