Pupil assessment is a central operation in determining pupils' educational trajectories and thus – in consequence – pupils' life chances (Baez, 2006; Gipps & Murphy, 1994). Thus, it is important that assessment procedures and outcomes are not perceived as arbitrary and unjust, neither by those directly concerned (i.e. teachers, pupils and parents) nor by society as a whole (Deutsch, 1979). As a consequence, a wealth of rules and regulations is supposed to secure that assessment procedures – including adjustment and appeals procedures–  are "just". However, which procedures and outcomes are deemed just and acceptable and which aspects of assessment are seen to be in need of regulation differs radically between different systems of education.

The presentation will take a comparative look at the rules and regulations (legal and other) concerning assessment in Germany, Sweden and England (Waldow, 2010). The aim is to uncover some of the basic assumptions concerning procedural and distributive justice that are embedded in the rules and regulations steering assessment in the respective countries (on the ways in which the specific values of an educational system are "enshrined" in the content and form of assessment see Planel et al. 2000).

Germany, Sweden and England were chosen as units of comparison because the conceptions of distributive justice embedded in the welfare regimes of the three countries have been shown to differ widely (Esping-Andersen, 1990; Mau, 2003). One of the questions addressed by the presentation will be whether similar differences can be found in the regulatory framework of pupil assessment.

Baez, B. (2006). Merit and difference. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 996-1016. Deutsch, M. (1979). Education and distributive justice - some reflections on grading systems. American Psychologist, 34(5), 391-401. Esping-Andersen, G. (1990). Three worlds of welfare capitalism. Cambridge: Polity. Gipps, C., & Murphy, P. (1994). A fair test? Assessment, achievement and equity. Buckingham: Open university press. Mau, S. (2003). The moral economy of welfare states: Britain and Germany compared. London: Routledge. Planel, C., Broadfoot, P., Osborn, M., Sharpe, K., & Ward, B. (2000). National assessments: Underlying cultural values revealed by comparing English and French national tests. European Journal of Education, 35(3), 361-374. Waldow, F. (2010). Bedömningens roll i fördelningen av livschanser i Tyskland och Sverige. In C. Lundahl & M. Folke-Fichtelius (Eds.), Bedömning i och av skolan - praktik, principer, politik (pp. 111-125). Lund: Studentlitteratur.