This article is about the way influential groups understand the purposes and forms of assessment in primary education in the Republic of Ireland and the implications of this for official policy at national level. It describes the current assessment policy context and analyses the perspectives of teachers, policy-makers and parents. The methodology is based on qualitative, ‘elite’ interviews with national policy-makers and in-depth interviews with samples of teachers and parents. Themes investigated are: the conflict and consensus across groups in relation to the purposes of assessment; the interpretation of assessment in terms of key audiences for assessment information; and the faith in standardized testing.
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