Scherto R. Gill

Debatten raser om test i folkeskolen, og brugen af test og evaluering er i forandring. Men hvad betyder det for skolen, undervisningen og eleverne? VÆK FRA TESTTYRANNIET tager test, prøver og eksaminer under kritisk behandling og viser en alternativ vej, der sikrer en samskabende læringsproces mellem elever og lærere. Testtyranniet gør skolen til en fabrik, der snarere er designet til at fremstille produkter end til at uddanne mennesker. Hvis man går væk fra testtyranniet og etablerer en relationel tilgang til uddannelse, giver det en mere levende læring og større trivsel blandt elever og lærere. VÆK FRA TESTTYRANNIET præsenterer idéer og praksiseksempler på relationel evaluering, der er udviklet af skoler og skolefolk verden rundt som alternativ til traditionelle bedømmelsesmetoder og deres begrænsninger. Der er tre hovedformål med relationel evaluering, som kan transformere skolen: • Relationel evaluering styrker læringsprocessen.• Relationel evaluering inspirerer til vedvarende engagement i læringen. • Relationel evaluering beriger relationsprocessen. VÆK FRA TESTTYRANNIET er en helt central bog for alle, der beskæftiger med udvikling af skolen. Den henvender sig til lærere, skoleledere, pædagogiske konsulenter, uddannelsesforskere og politikere samt alle andre med interesse for uddannelse, læring og evaluering. Bogen taler direkte ind i den danske debat om test, evaluering, præstationskultur og motivation i skolen. "VÆK FRA TESTTYRANNIET er en vigtig bog. Den holder fast i det kritiske perspektiv på test og giver mulighed for, at vi kan spejle os i andre systemer og andre perspektiver end vores hjemlige. Vi kan vælge en kurs hen mod det testtyranni, som bogen kritiserer. Eller vi kan lytte og lægge en anden kurs for evaluering i vores komplekse skoleverden."– Evalueringsforsker Peter Dahler-Larsen, tidligere formand for undervisningsministerens rådgivningsgruppe vedrørende evalueringen af de nationale test i Danmark, i bogens danske forord.

Measurement-based assessment has dominated our educational systems at the expense of the learning and the well-being of students and teachers. In this book, Gergen and Gill propose a radical alternative to this broken system, which is based instead on an inspirational conception of schools as sites of collective meaning-making and a relational orientation to evaluation. The authors acknowledge that it is within the process of relating that the world comes to be meaningful for us, and equally, learning and well-being are embedded in relational process, which testing and grades undermine. Providing detailed illustrations using cases from pioneering schools around the globe at both the primary and secondary level, this book demonstrates how a relational orientation to evaluation in education can enhance learning processes, foster students' engagement, vitalize relationships, and elevate the evaluation of teaching and the school as a whole. Featuring collaborative learning, dialogic pedagogy, and flexible curricula, relational evaluation truly speaks to the demands of a rapidly changing world.

It is widely recognised that we are living through an ‘age of the narrative’. Many of the constituent disciplines in the social sciences resonate with this trend by using life history and narrative approaches and methods. As we move on from the modernist period which prioritised objectivity into the postmodern regard for subjectivity, this resort to narrative is likely to become more apparent and explicit in academic as well as social and commercial discourse. One aspect of this narrative form which is commonly overlooked is that of the pedagogic encounter. This is the phenomenon which is addressed by all narrative and biographical research. Fundamentally reflecting and examining the narrative of our lives in the process of learning, this book provides a series of studies and guidelines for what we have termed ‘narrative pedagogy.’ It presents a resource for an exploration of those narrative processes that can lead to meaningful change and development for individuals and groups within a learning environment and in life-learning. This focus on life history allows us to identify and support routes to learning within the narrative landscape of learners and through these pedagogic encounters.

It is widely recognised that we are living through an ‘age of the narrative’. Many of the constituent disciplines in the social sciences resonate with this trend by using life history and narrative approaches and methods. As we move on from the modernist period which prioritised objectivity into the postmodern regard for subjectivity, this resort to narrative is likely to become more apparent and explicit in academic as well as social and commercial discourse. One aspect of this narrative form which is commonly overlooked is that of the pedagogic encounter. This is the phenomenon which is addressed by all narrative and biographical research. Fundamentally reflecting and examining the narrative of our lives in the process of learning, this book provides a series of studies and guidelines for what we have termed ‘narrative pedagogy.’ It presents a resource for an exploration of those narrative processes that can lead to meaningful change and development for individuals and groups within a learning environment and in life-learning. This focus on life history allows us to identify and support routes to learning within the narrative landscape of learners and through these pedagogic encounters.