Faithful or truthful? Dilemmas encountered by teachers when implementing reduced grading

Abstract A movement towards reduced grading practices has emerged internationally over the past few decades. Reduced grading refers to approaches aimed to limit the use and emphasis of grades in assessment, which has been shown to affect stakeholders differently and introduces unpredicted challenges (Normann et al., 2023). The movement has been embraced in various educational contexts; however, little is known about stakeholders’ perceptions of this shift away from grading. Analysing interviews with nine vocational teachers using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021a), this study explores dilemmas encountered by teachers when implementing reduced grading. The study conceptualises teachers’ ambivalence towards reduced grading as a dilemma and outlines (1) the dilemma of being faithful or truthful (i.e., adhering to policy vs. ensuring transparency for students) and (2) how navigating the faithful-truthful dilemma was stressful for teachers. The concept of being faithful encompasses teachers’ professional loyalty in the form of adhering to policies, whilst being truthful involves focusing their professional loyalty towards students’ assessment needs. Balancing the dilemma is not an easy task. Grappling with the ideals of being faithful or truthful may create challenges for teachers’ professional loyalty, potentially leading to new sources of stress among teachers of not being able to document students’ learning and defend final grade justifications. A discussion and the implications for research, practice and policy are provided.