Test practice and processes of in- and exclusion in school classes. A Nordic perspective on the results from a two year ethnographical study of the implementation of national testing in Denmark

Recently national mandatory standardized testing has been implemented in compulsory school in both Norway and Denmark. In Sweden the national school reform from emphasize such pedagogical practice. Assessment has profound impact on processes of marginalization and in- and exclusion in school (McDermott & Varenne, 1995). Such impact are depending on what can be understood as local test practice, referring to local discourses and ways of using test in specific school contexts. Based on results from a two year study of the implementation of national standardized testing in Denmark in three school classes and drawing on the theory of Etienne Wenger (1998) about communities of practice this paper will discuss the impact from testing on processes of in- and exclusion. The empirical study is ethnographically inspired and includes observations, interviews, documents etc. The analysis shows that even it is framed nationally by same formal regulations local factors play an important role on local test practice. Results are relevant in a Nordic perspective as compulsory school in the Nordic countries is characterized by same developments within the use of such technologies.

McDermott, R. & Varenne, H. (1995). Culture "as" Disability. In: Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 3.

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge University Press.