Inclusive Assessment in Highly Segregated School Systems – A Qualitative Research on German Language Core Curricula

Inclusive education has been implemented in many countries. One important aspect of this is the ongoing assessment of students’ individual learning backgrounds and outcomes during the learning process in daily lessons, as opposed to at the end of a teaching unit. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified in Germany in 2009, has challenged the segregated school system (which separates students based on their academic achievements) to become more inclusive. Consequently, the education acts within German states have been amended to incorporate inclusive measures. In the present study, the regular German language core curricula at primary and secondary schools in the state of Lower Saxony were analysed. It was examined how assessment is understood within the curricula, such as whether it is seen as detached from or embedded into daily teaching, and whether it meets the idea of inclusive education. The analysis showed that the curricula recognise the inclusive assessment of learning processes as highly important. However, the recognition of this importance decreases in the higher grade levels. There are also relevant differences between the school types based on the German school system, such as the use of different terminology for assessment. The implications of these findings for the design of core curricula are discussed, with a special focus on segregated school systems and the international discourse.