Hyvänen aika, mistä tässä on kyse? : diskurssianalyysi perusopetuksen oppilaanohjaajien puheesta koskien oppilaan oppimisen arviointia oppilaanohjauksessa

Abstract

In this study I analyze the discursive construction of student learning assessment in the context of basic education guidance counselling. The aim of the study is to understand the phenomenon of student learning assessment in guidance counselling and to look at it in the context of guidance policy. Assessment is a very topical phenomenon in education policy and a key development effort in basic education. This is also reflected in guidance counselling (Opetushallitus 2014a). The theoretical framework of the research is based on the concepts of guidance counselling and assessment, and more broadly on the theories describing the expansion of the role of counselling. In addition, the study examines the ethical aspects of student guidance and assessment. The research material consists of individual interviews with experienced career counsellors (N = 12). The material was analysed using analytical and critical discourse analysis methods. The aim was to be as open as possible to the structure of the data. As the research progressed, the data refined the perspective to be more critical. The first research question looked at discourses in assessing student learning. As a result of the first research question, I present six assessment discourses: A discourse of generating interaction, shared responsibility, abstinence, care, control, and wonder. The second research question looked at what these discourses tell about assessment in guidance counselling. The analysis showed that the interests of learning assessment in guidance counselling are the interests of self-assessment and -guidance, care, and supervision. These interests are in part competing and have tensions between them, as well as, for example, the framework of the student counseling curriculum and the various theoretical frameworks (e.g. lifelong learning, guidance and counselling) into which I have mirrored these interests. These discourses and the interests of assessment indicate that the assessment culture in student guidance is a tense and unstructured state. This is problematic compared to the current theory of guidance counselling.