Nafn nemanda: PRINCE BINJO
Námsleið: Alþjóðlegt nám í menntunarfræði, MA
Leiðbeinandi: Guðrún Geirsdóttir
Sérfræðingur: Ívar Rafn Jónsson

Ágrip: This qualitative study investigates undergraduate students’ perceptions of student-teacher power relations in assessment practices at the University of Iceland, an egalitarian Nordic institution. It addresses a critical gap: how power dynamics shape students’ experiences of grading, feedback, rubrics, and dialogue, and whether these relations foster agency or reinforce subtle constraints.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five purposively sampled undergraduate participants from all five schools of the university. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, generating five interconnected themes; predominantly positive and accessible teacher-student relationships, acceptance of teacher authority as expert-driven and protective), mixed effects of assessment design on motivation and confidence (empowering when flexible and clear, demotivating when ambiguous or passive), bounded yet valued student voice and largely reactive dialogue, and finally, the overarching portrayal of power relations as benevolent yet incomplete.
These findings reveal that students legitimise teacher authority as relational, supportive, and necessary for clarity and fairness, yet they experience limited genuine co-creation of core assessment criteria and decisions. While current practices enable functional equity and trust, they fall short of a transformative partnership. The study contributes a context-specific Nordic perspective to critical pedagogy and assessment literature, demonstrating how a caring hierarchy can simultaneously enable learning and constrain deeper student agency.
Practical recommendations for higher education include institutionalising proactive dialogue forums, expanding mixed assessment options, improving the limited use of student co-creation of rubrics in assessment criteria, and strengthening teacher development. Directions for future multi-stakeholder collaboration (teachers, programme leaders, and administrators alongside students) and for comparative research are also proposed. Ultimately, the research affirms that assessment is never neutral: it constitutes a relational site where power can either constrain or catalyse genuine empowerment in higher education.