Session Information
23 SES 01 B, Policies and Practices of Performativity and Assessment (Part 1)
Paper Session to be continued in 23 SES 02 B
Contribution
According to their “normative self-definition” (Solga, 2005), all Western democratic societies are “meritocracies”. This means that the allocation of individual life chances is supposed to follow “merit”. Since “merit” is a latent trait, it has to be operationalized; this is most commonly done in the form of educational certificates based on various forms of assessment (Deutsch, 1979). This means that educational assessment has a key role in the allocation of individual life chances.
What is considered legitimate in how meritocracy actually operates differs between different contexts and between different (groups of) actors (cf. Waldow, 2014). The presentation takes a comparative look at Swedish and German teachers’ and pupils’ views on the meritocratic allocation of life chances through assessment. Teachers and pupils are the two groups of actors that are most closely involved with this allocation process, at least in education systems in which assessment lies mostly in teachers’ hands, such as in Sweden and Germany. Their views on this process are therefore particularly interesting for understanding the normative make-up of societies subscribing to the “meritocratic” myth.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Deutsch, M. (1979). Education and distributive justice - some reflections on grading systems. American Psychologist, 34(5), 391-401. Solga, H. (2005). Meritokratie - die moderne Legitimation ungleicher Bildungschancen. In P. A. Berger & H. Kahlert (Eds.), Institutionalisierte Ungleichheiten: Wie das Bildungswesen Chancen blockiert (pp. 19-38). Weinheim: Juventa. Strauss, A. L., & Corbin, J. M. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications. Waldow, F. (2014). Conceptions of justice in the examination systems of England, Germany and Sweden: A look at safeguards of fair procedure and possibilities of appeal. Comparative Education Review, 58(2), 322-343. Wimmer, A., & Glick Schiller, N. (2002). Methodological nationalism and beyond: nationstate building, migration and the social sciences. Global Networks: A Journal of Transnational Affairs, 2(4), 301-334. doi:10.1111/1471-0374.00043
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