Swedish schools struggle to fairly grade students on group work
A new study of Swedish high schools reveals teachers cannot reliably assess individual student performance when grades depend on group projects—raising questions about assessment validity and fairness. The finding matters for education policymakers and schools considering how to weight collaborative learning against accurate student evaluation.
Originaltitel: Lärares och elevers erfarenheter av grupparbetsbedömning i gymnasieskolan: Möjligheter, utmaningar samt konsekvenser för validitet, reliabilitet och rättvisa
<p>This thesis aims to explore upper secondary school teachers’ and students’ experiences of opportunities and challenges in group work assessment and the consequences that group work assessment entails on the quality of assessment in terms of validity, reliability and fairness. In the thesis, there is a particular interest in how teachers can collect evidence for summative assessment of students’ individual knowledge developed through group work. This thesis is based on a qualitative research approach. The empirical data in the first sub-study, a systematic literature review, consists of 83 peer-reviewed publications. The second sub-study is based on empirical data from semi-structured interviews. A total of 12 interviews with teachers were conducted, before and after fulfilling a group work assignment. The third sub-study is based on empirical data from 33 focus group interviews with 129 upper secondary school students. The fourth sub-study is based on empirical data from 23 video observations of cross-group presentations where 128 students carried out individual presentations of a previous group work on linguistic variations. In addition to the video observations, six of the interviews from the second sub-study were also used. Thematic analysis was used as an analytical method in all four empirical sub-studies. The results of the thesis show how group work assessment differs from assessment in a general sense in that, for example, group work assessment can be carried out on several levels. Based on upper secondary school teachers’ and upper secondary school students’ experiences of group work assessment, the thesis shows several opportunities and challenges. Teachers find it challenging to discern and assess students’ individual knowledge in group work. Group work assessment at group level has consequences on the validity and reliability of the assessment and is linked by both teachers and students to unfairness. Students experience unfairness in group work assessment as everyone contributes differently but receives the same assessment. The thesis shows an opportunity to use individual cross-group presentations to collect evidence to assess students’ individual knowledge. At the same time, teachers experience challenges with the method, such as giving time for presentations and assessing script-bound students. A conclusion is that the challenges can be prevented by teachers being active when collecting evidence from cross-group presentations by asking questions and interacting with the students. In this way, teachers can collect broader evidence that speaks for a more valid, reliable and fair individual group work assessment of students’ knowledge.</p>