Being "in" assessment: the ontological layer(ing) of assessment practice. (8th April 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Giles, David; Earl, Kerry
• Is Part Of: Journal of applied research in higher education. Volume 6:Number 1(2014)
• Page Start: 22
• Page End: 29
• Publication Date: 2014-04-08
• Subjects: Teacher education -- Assessment -- Ontology; Education, Higher -- Research -- Periodicals; Education, Higher -- Research -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; 378.00711
• DOI: 10.1108/JARHE-01-2012-0001
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-7003

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: – Current discourses on educational assessment focus on the priority of learning. While this intent is invariably played out in classroom practice, a consideration of the ontological nature of assessment practice opens understandings which show the experiential nature of "being in assessment". The purpose of this paper is to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: – Using interpretive and hermeneutic analyses within a phenomenological inquiry, experiential accounts of the nature of assessment are worked for their emergent and ontological themes. Findings: – These stories show the ontological nature of assessment as a matter of being in assessment in an embodied and holistic way. Originality/value: – Importantly, the nature of a teacher's way-of-being matters to assessment practices. Implications exist for teacher educators and teacher education programmes in relation to the priority of experiential stories for understanding assessment practice, the need for re-balancing a concern for professional knowledge and practice with a students' way of being in assessment, and the pedagogical implications of evoking sensitivities in assessment.