Assessment as work : an institutional ethnography of entry-level assessment in a British Columbia Community College

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dc.contributor.authorRennie, Terryen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-08-15T17:36:40Z
dc.date.available2024-08-15T17:36:40Z
dc.date.copyright1992en_US
dc.date.issued1992
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Sociology
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en
dc.description.abstractThis thesis examines the social relations inherent in entry-level assessment practices in a British Columbia community college. In advanced capitalist political economies, education is a major site reproducing a hierarchical division of labour, and class and gender inequalities which, in turn, has become organized increasingly through the state. As a component of educational apparatuses, community colleges reflect the contradictions inherent in capitalist political economies. The educational practices within the college contribute to the reproduction of capitalist social relations by promoting liberal-democratic ideologies of access, equality, and social mobility while reproducing differential and unequal labour power demanded by corporations and other employers. Within the colleges, a hegemonic solution to the contradiction between access and limited educational resources is entry-level assessment which, within liberalĀ­ education professional discourse, is widely recognized by educators, college administrators, and the public as a legitimate educational tool. Its use is justified, in part, by its apparent ability to accommodate the range of goals and aspirations of potential community college students by providing a mechanism for access to a wide range of educational opportunities. Following a framework outlined by Dorothy Smith, this thesis presents an institutional ethnographic account of entry-level English assessment practices at four interrelated analytical levels: relations between examinees and assessment workers; relations between assessment workers and the work organization of the college; the relation between assessment work and professional discourse; and the relation between assessment work and the political and bureaucratic organization of education, with specific focus on British Columbia. At each level specific practices are examined to reveal their connection to the ruling relations. Assessment work contributes to the reproduction of differentiated labour power through its gatekeeping role. The thesis concludes by discussing the implications for further entry-level assessment practices.en
dc.format.extent237 pages
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/19404
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectUN SDG 5: Gender Equalityen
dc.titleAssessment as work : an institutional ethnography of entry-level assessment in a British Columbia Community Collegeen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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