Primary school as an oyster : case study of the adoption and processing of national testing by school actors
Vol.27,No.3(2022)
Studia paedagogica
The text contributes to the issue of examining national testing in primary schools. It specifically notes the consequences that schools suffer as unintended outcomes of testing. It provides a basic insight into this form of systemic evaluation and its specific characteristics related to the Slovak context. It offers a case study of the author's processing of national tests into a form that reflects the identity and specific nature of a particular primary school. Through long-term participatory observation and interviews with various participants in national testing of 5th and 9 th grade pupils at a Bratislava school, the text captures and describes those aspects of the process that are tied to the specific characteristics of a particular school. These are revealed and discussed from three perspectives. The testing procedure reveals the pervasive nature of this educational policy tool. From the perspective of power distribution, changes in relations within the school institution and in relation to external institutions are named. The rituals and traditions that the school has developed in connection with testing are also recorded.
national testing; T5; T9; qualitative research
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