Henriksson, Kristina (2009). Assessing student teachers through conversation - an interactional analysis of student-teaching conferences

The aim of this study is to identify the characteristics of student-teaching conferences. During a school-based education for student teachers, teacher educators from the university visit the student teachers. They also have conversations, so-called student-teaching conferences, with the students school mentors to assess the student teachers knowledge. These conversations aim at assessing the student teachers professional knowledge at the end of a shool-based education. During these conversations the shool mentors are supposed to present their assessment of the students knowledge based upon some weeks school-based education. The study is inspired by grounded theory. Observations of 12 authentic conversations and introspection, namely a self-reflection of my perceived participation at the conversations as teacher educator, constitute empirical data. Results show how a temporary working consensus (Goffman 1970, 2007) work to establish and maintain the frames for communicating between the representative from sholl-based education and the university despite having different perspectives. There are indications that the establishment and maintaining of communicating frames for delivering the assessment actually hinder a qualitative assessment. This result is problematised in the perspective of the conduction of professional roles, differents between the value of professional knowledge and student teachers legal rights to a fair assessment.