The aim of this investigation is to describe assessment as a meaning-making process in individual supervision of students in higher education of the aesthetic field. The qualitative analyses focus on how assessment is expressed within the supervision, in relation to the artistic professional field. The study was conducted within a multimodal socio-semiotic perspective. Sadler’s notion of quality and Bourdieu’s field concept of habitus, contributes to the social practice within the professional field, and in the full analysis of the empirical material. The case study examines assessment in an authentic environment. The data consists of video recordings from ten supervisions that took place in two different courses at two different colleges. The video recordings were transcribed through a multimodal framework and focused on the teachers’ and student’s speech, body movements, gazes and gestures during the sessions. Four selected supervision sessions were analysed based on the research questions and on the theoretical framework. The analyses revealed that assessment in higher education of the aesthetic field can be expressed as a process whereby the quality is related to the professional field. The students, as well as their teachers, are immersed in relationships, traditions and institutions that shape their artistic choices and judgments. The results indicate that students' meaning-making is linked to their previous experience in the artistic field. Teachers’ expectations of this experience have crucial implications for how the supervision sessions are shaped and designed. The shift of focus in the supervisions goes from the fulfilment of goals stated in the curriculum, to the meaning making, values, and perspectives that are recognized within the field of the arts. The study underlines the importance of conceptualization of the artistic processes. The overall results confirm previous studies showing that instruction and supervision in higher education of the aesthetic field develops in relation to the teacher's authority, expertise and in relation to students' independence.

Denna masteravhandling är en undersökning av min professionsidentitet som administratör vid en konstnärlig högskola, där jag utforskar vilka handlingsutrymmen som finns för mina erfarenheter och mitt omdöme som statlig tjänsteman. Mitt syfte är att undersöka vad som formar och styr medarbetares roller och positioner på en konstnärlig högskola, både för de som verkar inom verksamhetsstödet och de som verkar inom kärnverksamheten. Hur uppfattar de sin egen och andras professionsidentitet och uppdrag? Finns det andra faktorer, än yrkeskategori, som påverkar medarbetarnas omdöme och handling och vad kan det i så fall utgöras av? Finns det sociala strukturer på såväl makroplan som inom individuella professionsidentiteter som påverkar den enskildes uppfattning av lojalitet och plikt inom sitt statliga uppdrag på en konstnärlig högskola? Vilka möjligheter och handlingsutrymmen har den enskilde medarbetaren att tillföra sina egna erfarenheter och omdömen?   I min masteravhandling framgår att en diskrepans kan uppstå mellan uppdraget och de egna föreställningarna om yrkesidentiteten. Det är faktorer som kan upplevas som en outtalad maktkamp, ett spänningsfält, mellan framför allt den konstnärliga kärnverksamheten och det förvaltande verksamhetsstödet. De teoretiker jag använder mig av i analysen är framförallt Hannah Arendt och Pierre Bourdieu. I min analys lyfter jag fram vikten av att utrymme ges för den kritiska reflektionen i den enskilda medarbetarens yrkesutövning. / This master's thesis is a study of my professional identity as an administrator at an art college, where I explore the scope for action for my experiences and my judgment as a government official. My purpose is to investigate what shapes and governs employees' roles and positions at an artistic university, both for those who work in business support and those who work in core business. How do they perceive their own and others' professional identity and mission? Are there factors other than occupational category that affect employees' judgment and action, and if so, what do they consist of? Are there social structures on a macro level, as well as within individual professional identities, that affect the individual's perception of loyalty and duty within his or her state assignment at an artistic university? What opportunities and scope for action does the individual employee have to add their own experiences and assessments? In my master's dissertation it appears that a discrepancy can arise between the assignment and one's own ideas about professional identity. These are factors that can be experienced as an unspoken power struggle, a field of tension, between the artistic core business and the administrative business support, above all. The theorists I refer to in the analysis are mainly Hannah Arendt and Pierre Bourdieu. In my analysis, I highlight the importance of providing space for the critical reflection in the individual employee's professional practice. / <p>Författaren är anställd som Utbildningsadministratör vid Institutionen för scenkonst. Stockholms konstnärliga högskola.</p>