Equal by grade? A genealogy of uniform and standard grading in Finnish compulsory education assessment policy

Grades, through their roles in indicating and classifying student performance and regulating educational and career transitions in contemporary society, are expected to convey a uniform and standard meaning. This expectation is embedded in Finnish compulsory education’s current assessment policy, where the issue of unjustified variation in students’ grades across schools nationwide has risen to the central policy agenda. Notably, this concern, currently framed as a threat to equity and comparability of grades, is often portrayed as unique to the present and without socio-historical roots. Employing a genealogical approach, this study investigates the socio-historical descent of the current concern regarding uniformity in grading within Finnish compulsory education. The analysis draws on assessment policy discourse from 1921 to 2020. Reflecting broader educational and societal transformations, as well as international trends in educational research and assessment theory, this study traces three socio-historical formations. In each formation, the reasoning and governance of uniformity are reconfigured, allowing both the teacher-as-grader and the student-as-graded to occupy transformed positions. The findings demonstrate the importance of approaching uniform grading from multiple perspectives, highlighting the need to consider how different rationalities of uniformity shape the meaning of being equal by grade.