The practice of teachers offering national tests occurs in different forms in primary schools throughout the world. These practices are often associated with a curriculum and learning objectives that are nationalistic in their orientation. In a policy perspective, the underlying motive may be a desire to evaluate and compare students’ academic development and performance as well as schools’ performance and goal attainment at the national level. However, regionally determined differences – for example, linguistic or cultural – often exhibit considerable influence over student performance in such national academic tests, with any such potential effects generally not considered during the design of test materials. While initiatives have been taken to adapt national test practices to certain regional conditions, the dominant culture will continue to be imposed via both tests and national educational objectives observed in learning environments, and the pedagogy practiced in these regions – in some cases, with unfortunate, unintentional consequences. We might state, then, such tests transgress cultural boundaries and exert power. This presentation will analyse and discuss this issue with a focus on two cases: students in schools in peripheral regions in Greenland and Sami students in Northern Sweden who attend Swedish primary schools. The two cases describe attempts to implement a certain degree of adaptation between the national framework and the regional culture. The analysis will include relevant policy documents, reports, and studies related to the two cases. Furthermore, it will be based on cultural theory and theory about processes for inclusion and exclusion.

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