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The Disorder of Mathematics Education pp 209–230Cite as

Assessment in Mathematics Education: A Gatekeeping Dispositive

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Abstract

This chapter aims at shedding light on a governing assessment dispositive in mathematics education, which effects that some students are provided with affordances to learn and engage in mathematics, while others are not. Through such a dispositive, the system of school is governing the act of gatekeeping and selection of students, which is contradictory to what is stated in official documents. While drawing on findings from previous classroom studies and action research, a tentative assessment dispositive is presented. It consists of different assessment discourses for students to experience, or not, affordances for learning mathematics; and regulatory decisions which affect assessment practices on classroom level. The purpose of presenting such a dispositive is twofold: (a) to contribute to an understanding of how such an assessment dispositive may look like; and (b) to provide a starting point for further research and discussions among teachers, students, and decision makers.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Inspiration for adopting a Foucauldian perspective on such “small elements” as a mathematics classroom , can, among others, be found in the work of Walkerdine (1988) who construed a “testing discourse” where the teacher posed questions to which she already knew the answer.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Nina Bohlmann and Kenneth Mølbjerg Jørgensen for helpful comments during the peer-review process. I also want to express my gratitude to Hauke Straehler-Pohl for helpful suggestions during the revision of the chapter. The work on the chapter was funded by Linköping University (with the municipalities of Linköping and Norrköping), and Stockholm University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Science Education, University of Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden

    Lisa Björklund Boistrup

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  1. Lisa Björklund Boistrup
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Correspondence to Lisa Björklund Boistrup .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Hauke Straehler-Pohl

  2. Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Nina Bohlmann

  3. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Alexandre Pais

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Björklund Boistrup, L. (2017). Assessment in Mathematics Education: A Gatekeeping Dispositive. In: Straehler-Pohl, H., Bohlmann, N., Pais, A. (eds) The Disorder of Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-34006-7_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-34006-7_13

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