Every student in the Swedish compulsory school system is entitled to information regarding their progress in all school subjects given. In 2008, a mandatory assessment tool, called the individual development plan (IDP) with written assessment, was introduced by the Government. The statutory purpose was to provide teachers with a formative assessment tool to be used mandatory in the follow-up of student’s progress all thru mandatory compulsory school (year 1–9). This study explores the use of the IDP documents in technology education. Authentic documents from different municipalities, different schools and different school years have been studied. In this article findings regarding formal assessment documents and teacher’s formal assessment practice in primary (year 1–6) technology education are presented.

In order to position yourself with a Global Positioning System (GPS) device, you need (1) to have a GPS device with (2) accurate software, (3) the knowledge to use and interpret it, and last but not least (4) information from at least three different satellites in order to determine a position. Depending on the model and the coverage in the area, you can get different accuracy levels. Being a technology teacher myself, I can see many similarities between the traveller’s need for milestones along the road and the teachers’ need for several clear benchmarks to support the assessment work that supports the student’s progress. The importance of navigating at sea is familiar to me, after years of sailing on our family boat. Teaching could, in my experience, be seen in many respects as a similar activity, which put demands on all the participants. Neither teaching nor sailing is an easy, laid-back activity.

To ‘navigate’ students towards the goals of the curriculum, while making sure to keep every student ‘on-board’, is a challenge worthy of a world sailor. Despite thorough planning, you still need to make frequent check-ups, since you know neither exactly what will happen during the journey in advance nor which way to take to reach the wanted destination. This, I find, is part of the excitement/allure with travel, both as a sailor and teacher. In this study teachers’ day-to-day work with assessment to support the student’s progress is highlighted from the perspective of technology education. How does a technology teacher gather information in order to position her/his students before deciding on what step to take next?

Assessment and evaluation of student performance and progress in school is an ongoing process and far from consisting of only grades and test scores. Teachers make assessments/assess their students all the time with the intention of moving their students forward on their learning journey (Kimbell, 2007). They ask questions and they look for signs of response (‘a glimpse in the eye’) in the faces of their students. This subtle evaluation and appraisal work, which takes place every day in every classroom, is the focus of this article.