ABSTRACT
This chapter moves beyond the immediate effects of the specific tests and cases, and towards understanding the consequences of tests in a broader context of use. It argues that the uses of tests for power and control negative consequences for education and society. The negative consequences of using tests in such ways tests are capable of redefining knowledge and this 'new' knowledge contradicts existing knowledge defined by the curriculum. It is the power of tests considered the de facto new knowledge. The negative consequences of the phenomenon are clear: it is not the subject that is important, but how certain groups and policy makers view it; it is an ideological and artifical way of upgrading and prioritizing education; and the power lies with the tests and those who decide to use them to grant authority to certain subjects. It claimed that such uses of tests are in fact an unethical and undemocratic way of making policies.
