Assessment as students see it

Abstract

Assessment is an integral, unavoidable part of the educational process and a particularly sensitive segment of the teaching practice. The aim of our research was to find out and analyze the opinions of students on assessment and their teachers in the context of assessment. The research included 200 elementary school students and 200 grammar-school students. The questionnaire comprised three thematic groups of questions (the students' perception of the teacher's acts in the process of assessment; identification of the students' preferred forms of assessment and their reactions to grades, and desired and undesired characteristics of teachers regarding assessment). Based on our findings, it can be concluded that the students think: that their teachers have different assessment criteria; that most teachers apply lower criteria when assessing lower achievers; that they apply grades as disciplinary measures, and are influenced by a student's achievements in other subjects. The grade is a powerful motivator for the students' active participation in the teaching process, and they especially appreciate regular testing and objective assessment, while objecting both too strict and uneven criteria for assessment. The presented students' lists of desired and undesired characteristics of teachers in the context of assessment illustrate this.

Ocenjivanje je sastavni, neizbežni deo vaspitno-obrazovnog procesa i predstavlja posebno osetljiv segment nastavne prakse. Cilj našeg istraživanja bio je usmeren na utvrđivanje i analizu mišljenja učenika o ocenjivanju i nastavnicima u kontekstu ocenjivanja. Istraživanjem je obuhvaćeno 200 učenika osnovne škole i 200 učenika gimnazije. Pitanja su grupisana u tri tematske celine (učenikovo opažanje nastavničkih postupaka u procesu ocenjivanja; identifikovanje učenikovih preferiranih načina ocenjivanja i njihovih reakcija na ocenu i poželjne i nepoželjne karakteristike nastavnika u kontekstu ocenjivanja). Na osnovu naših nalaza može se zaključiti da učenici smatraju: da nastavnici imaju različite kriterijume ocenjivanja, da većina nastavnika ima blaži kriterijum u ocenjivanju slabijih učenika, da primenjuje ocenu kao disciplinsku meru i da se pri ocenjivanju rukovode ocenama učenika iz drugih nastavnih predmeta. Ocena predstavlja snažan motivator aktivnijeg angažovanja učenika u nastavi, u kojoj učenici kod nastavnika posebno cene redovno proveravanje i objektivno ocenjivanje, a zameraju preterano strog i neujednačen kriterijum ocenjivanja. Date su i liste poželjnih i nepoželjnih karakteristika nastavnika u kontekstu ocenjivanja, po mišljenju učenika.