Encouraging enough? A Case Study on Parental Feedback on New Assessment in Finnish Basic Education

Jyrki Loima

Abstract


This is a qualitative case study of the parental feedback about participatory assessment done during the first year (2016) of the implementation of the reformed Finnish basic education curriculum. It covered grades 1-6 and was a first time to have a broader, tri-angulated teacher-student-parent assessment on learning and schooling. Consequently, parents were selected from those grades, being of various ethnic backgrounds. This case study was conducted in a Southern Finland basic education school. Resulting trends were obvious: parents regarded this kind of participatory assessment meaningful. Second, the newer the whole schooling and curricula update was for parents, the better was the participatory feedback. As a result of this study, it is clear that while the discussion and longitudinal studies on learning and assessment are still on-going, there is no rush to return into an old system and heavy, centralized assessment instruction patterns. On the contrary, this study showed beneficial elements and development triggers towards even more collaborative and encouraging assessment.

Keywords


Reform, Finnish Curriculum, Participatory Assessment, Motivation, Learning Culture

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.7n.2p.189

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