Professor NIEMINEN, Juuso Henrik

My research agenda concerns assessment as a social and political practice. I am interested in how assessment takes shape and shapes people in our societies. Many of my studies concern how assessment organises social life in educational settings. My current research programme focuses on student identity formation in and through assessment. This idea emphasises the often unintended social effects that assessment has on students' understanding of themselves, and the questions of power, ethics and equity within. Often, I have explored how assessment regulates the belonging and inclusion of diverse students.

My work widens the scholarly discourses on assessment. Often, assessment is understood as an (ideally) objective process of measurement, whereas my research unpacks how assessment is always tied to contextual values and ideologies. My main focus is on the student perspective in assessment and on the students' changing role in assessment practices and policies.

My work is interdisciplinary, spanning research fields such as educational psychology, sociology, science and technology studies and disability studies. Methodologically, I specialise in qualitative methods and in qualitative research synthesis.

I hold teaching qualifications in mathematics and technology education (secondary education) and in special/inclusive education (primary and secondary education). At the moment, my research primarily concerns the context of higher education.

Key themes of my research

• Student-centred assessment practices (e.g. self-assessment, authentic assessment)
• Student perspectives on assessment and feedback
• Social, cultural and political approaches to assessment and assessment research
• The questions of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in assessment

• Faculty Outstanding Young Researcher Award 2022-23 (Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong)
• Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, ranked 1st out of the 181 applications at The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) (Canada, 2022)
• Emil Aaltonen Foundation, Personal Research Grant (Finland, 2020)
• Finnish National Agency for Education, Project Grant for Teacher Professional Development Projects (project manager) (Finland, 2019)

Principal Investigator

• The power of grades: a narrative study of the influence of grades on university students’ identities. Research Grants Council, Hong Kong: Early Career Scheme. HK$ 550.000. (2024-2025)
• Students’ epistemic agency in assessment: an ethnographic study. The University of Hong Kong: Seed Fund for Basic Research. HK$ 150.000. (2023-2024)
• A comparative study of the teaching and assessment experiences of STEM students with disabilities: the case of Hong Kong. The University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Education: Faculty Research Fund. HK$ 60.000. (2023)
• Inclusive learning environments in higher STEM education: supporting the sense of belonging of students with disabilities. Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, Ontario Tech University. CAD 140.000. (2022-2024)
• Student agency in assessment: an intervention and a longitudinal study in higher education. The University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Education: Project-based Research Funding. HK$ 60.000. (2022-2024)
• Student feedback literacy amidst the structures of higher education: a mixed methods study. The University of Hong Kong: Seed Fund for Basic Research for New Staff. HK$ 150.000. (2022-2024)

Co-Investigator

• Teacher feedback literacy in Swedish language education. Svenska kulturfonden. PI: Dr Toni Mäkipää, University of Helsinki, Finland. (2023-2024)

Student-centred assessment and feedback practices in higher education

• Nieminen, J. H. (2024). How does assessment shape student identities? An integrative review. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2024.2334844

• Nieminen, J. H., Haataja, E., & Cobb, P. (2024). From active learners to knowledge contributors: authentic assessment as a catalyst of students’ epistemic agency. Teaching in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2024.2332252

• Chen, S., & Nieminen, J. H. (2024). Towards an ecological understanding of student emotions in feedback: a scoping review. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2024.2318641

• Ketonen, L., & Nieminen, J. H. (2023). Supporting student teachers’ reflection through assessment: the case of reflective podcasts Teaching and Teacher Education. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104039

• Nieminen, J. H., Bearman, M., & Ajjawi, R. (2022). Designing the digital in authentic assessment: is it fit for purpose? Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2022.2089627

• Bearman, M., Nieminen, J. H., & Ajjawi, R. (2022). Designing assessment in a digital world: an organising framework. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2022.2069674

• Nieminen, J. H., Tai, J., Boud, D., & Henderson, M. (2022). Student agency in feedback: beyond the individual. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 47(1), 95-108. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2021.1887080

• Nieminen, J. H., Asikainen, H., & Rämö, J. (2021). Promoting deep approach to learning and self-efficacy by changing the purpose of self-assessment: A comparison of summative and formative models. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1688282

• Häsä, J., Rämö, J., & Nieminen, J. H. (2021). Supporting quality of learning by letting students give their own grades – An innovative self-assessment model in university mathematics. In Yan, Z. & Yang, L. (Eds.), Assessment as learning: Maximising opportunities for student learning and achievement (pp. 232–244). Routledge.

• Nieminen, J. H. (2020). Disrupting the power relations of grading in higher education through summative self-assessment. Teaching in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2020.1753687

• Nieminen, J. H., & Tuohilampi, L. (2020). ‘Finally studying for myself’–examining student agency in summative and formative self-assessment models. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 45(7), 1031–1045. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1720595

• Nieminen, J. H., & Hilppö, J. A. (2020). Methodological and conceptual suggestions for researching the interplay of assessment and student agency. In J. Ferguson & P. White (Eds.), Methodological Approaches to STEM Education Research Volume 1 (pp. 88–108). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

• Nieminen, J. H. (2020). Crossing the boundaries of mathematics assessment through summative self-assessment. In M. Inprasitha, N. Changsri, & N. Boonsena (Eds.), Interim Proceedings of the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference 2020. Khon Kaen, Thailand: PME.

• Nieminen, J. H., Häsä, J., Rämö, J., & Tuohilampi, L. (2018). Replacing exam with self-assessment: Reflection-centred learning environment as a tool to promote deep learning. In A. Weinberg, C. Rasmussen, J. Rabin, M. Wawro, & S. Brown (Eds.), Proceedings of the 21th Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (pp. 769–779). San Diego, CA: Special Interest Group of the Mathematics Association of America for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education.

• Tuohilampi, L., Nieminen, J. H., Häsä, J., & Rämö, J. (2018). The interplay of informative assessment criteria and continuous feedback with mathematics students' learning orientations. In E. Bergqvist, M. Österholm, C. Granberg, & L. Sumpter (Eds.). Proceedings of the 42nd Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 4, pp. 299-306). Umeå, Sweden: PME.

Inclusive assessment

• Nieminen, J.H., & Moriña, A., & Biagiotti, G. (2023).  Assessment as a matter of inclusion: A meta-ethnographic review of the assessment experiences of students with disabilities in higher education. Educational Research Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2023.100582

• Nieminen, J. H. & Eaton, S. E. (2023). Are assessment accommodations cheating? A critical policy analysis. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2023.2259632

• Roiha, A., Nieminen, J. H., & Mäntylä, K. (2023). Lukion vieraiden kielten opettajien käytänteitä ja käsityksiä eriyttävästä arvioinnista. [Foreign language teachers´ practices and perceptions of differentiated assessment in upper secondary schools.] AFinLA, 15, 97–123.

• Nieminen, J. H. (2022). Inclusive assessment, exclusive academy. In R. Ajjawi, J. Tai, D. Boud, & T. Jorre de St Jorre (Eds.), Assessment for inclusion in higher education: promoting equity and social justice in assessment (pp. 63–73). Routledge.

• Nieminen, J. H. (2022). A spanner in the works: the portrayal of disabled students in assessment adjustment research. International Studies in Sociology of Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2022.2118809

• Nieminen, J. H. (2022). Unveiling ableism and disablism in assessment: a critical analysis of disabled students’ experiences of assessment and assessment accommodations. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-022-00857-1

• Nieminen, J. H. (2022). Assessment for Inclusion: a conceptual framework for rethinking inclusive assessment in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2021.2021395

• Nieminen, J. H. (2021). Governing the ’disabled assessee’: A critical reframing of assessment accommodations as sociocultural practices. Disability & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2021.1874304

• Nieminen, J. H. (2020). Student conceptions of assessment accommodations in university mathematics: an analysis of power. Nordic Studies in Mathematics Education, 25(3-4), 27–49. http://ncm.gu.se/wp-content/uploads/1605/83/25_34_027050_nieminen.pdf

Critical and socio-political approaches to assessment and assessment research

• Nieminen, J. H. & Ketonen, L. (2023). Epistemic agency: a link between assessment, knowledge and society. Higher Education.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01142-5

• Fawns, T., & Nieminen, J. H. (2023). The only way is ethics: A dialogue of assessment and social good. In L. Czerniewicz & C. Cronin (Eds.), Higher education for good: teaching and learning futures (pp. 533-553). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0363.23

• Nieminen, J. H. & Yang, L. (2023).  Assessment as a matter of being and becoming: theorising student formation in assessment. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2023.2257740

• Nieminen, J. H. & Carless, D. (2022). Feedback literacy: a critical review of an emerging concept. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-022-00895-9

• Nieminen, J. H., Bearman, M., & Tai, J. (2022). How is theory used in assessment and feedback research? A critical review. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2022.2047154

• Nieminen, J. H. (2021). Beyond empowerment: student self-assessment as a form of resistance. British Journal of Sociology of Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2021.1993787

• Nieminen, J. H., Atjonen, P., & Remesal, A. (2021). Parents’ beliefs about assessment: a conceptual framework and findings from Finnish basic education. Studies in Educational Evaluation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2021.101097

• Nieminen, J.H. & Lahdenperä, J. (2021). Assessment and epistemic (in)justice: How assessment produces knowledge and knowers. Teaching in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2021.1973413

Inclusion, belonging and well-being in higher education

• Dollinger, M., Nieminen, J. H., & Finneran, R. (2024). A lucky draw? Theorising how work placements develop diverse university students’ career stories. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2024.2316260

• Nieminen, J. H. & Pesonen, H. V. (2022). Anti-ableist pedagogies in higher education: A systems approach.  Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 19(4). https://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/vol19/iss4/08

• Asikainen, H., Nieminen, J. H., Häsä, J. I. A., & Katajavuori, N. (2021). University students’ interest and burnout profiles and their relation to approaches to learning and achievement. Learning and Individual Differences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2021.102105

• Nieminen, J. H. & Pesonen, H. V. (2021). Politicising inclusive learning environments: How to foster belonging and prevent ableism? Higher Education Research & Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2021.1945547

• Pesonen, H., Nieminen, J. H., Vincent, J, Waltz, M., Lahdelma, M., Syurina, E. and Fabri, M. (2020) A socio-political approach on autistic students’ sense of belonging in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2020.1852205

• Nieminen, J. H., & Pesonen, H. V. (2020). Taking Universal Design back to its roots: Perspectives on accessibility and identity in undergraduate mathematics. Education Sciences, 10(1), 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10010012

• Lahdenperä, J., & Nieminen, J. H. (2020). How does a mathematician fit in? A mixed-methods analysis of university students’ sense of belonging in mathematics. International Journal of Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education, 6(3), 475–494. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40753-020-00118-5

• Nieminen, J. H. (2019). Discourse of Otherness in a Universally Designed undergraduate mathematics course. In Jankvist, U. T., Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, M., & Veldhuis, M. (Eds.). Online Proceedings of the Eleventh Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education. Utrecht, the Netherlands: Freudenthal Group & Freudenthal Institute, Utrecht University and ERME.

 Mathematics education and assessment

• Nieminen, J. H., Reinholz, D., & Valero, P. (2024). “Mathematics is a battle, but I’ve learned to survive.” Becoming a disabled student in university mathematics. Educational Studies in Mathematics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-024-10311-x

• Nieminen, J. H., Bagger, A., Padilla, A., & Tan, P. (2023). Student positioning in mathematics assessment research: a critical review. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. https://doi.org/10.5951/jresematheduc-2022-0030

• Tuohilampi, L., Nieminen, J. H., & Beswick, K. (2023). From logical causations to likely connections: Two modes of meaning-making of collaborative problem-solving in mathematics. For the Learning of Mathematics, 43(1), 24-29.

• Nieminen, J. H., Bagger, A., & Allan, J. (2023).  Discourses of risk and hope in research on mathematical learning difficulties. Educational Studies in Mathematics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-022-10204-x

• Nieminen, J. H. (2022). Universal Design for Assessment in mathematics. In J. Hodgen, E. Geraniou, G. Bolondi & F. Ferretti. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twelfth Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME12). Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and ERME. hal-03747822.

• Nieminen, J. H. & Atjonen, P. (2022). The assessment culture of mathematics in Finland: a student perspective. Research in Mathematics Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/14794802.2022.2045626

• Chan, M. C. E., Moate, J., & the Social Unit of Learning project team. (2022). Learning research in a laboratory classroom: a reflection on complementarity and commensurability among multiple analytical accounts. ZDM – Mathematics Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-022-01330-0

• Nieminen, J. H., Chan, M. C. E., & Clarke, D. (2021). What affordances do open-ended real life tasks offer for shared agency in collaborative problem-solving? Educational Studies in Mathematics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-021-10074-9

Books

• Pesonen, H. & Nieminen, J. H. (2021). Huomioi oppimisen esteet: inklusiivinen opetus korkeakoulutuksessa. [Inclusive teaching practices in higher education.] PS-kustannus.

• Luostarinen, A. & Nieminen, J. H. (2019). Arvioinnin käsikirja. [Handbook of assessment] PS-kustannus.

• Associate Editor in Higher Education Research & Development (2020 -)
• Assistant Editor in Teaching in Higher Education (2023 -)
• Member of the Faculty of Education Research Ethics Committee
• Member of the Organizing Committee of the Topic Study Group 4 (Mathematics Education for Students with Special Needs) at the ICME14 (International Congress on Mathematics Education, Shanghai, China, 2021).
• Member of the International Program Committee of CERME13 (Conference of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education, Budapest, Hungary, 2023).
• Co-convenor of the Thematic Working Group 10 (Diversity and Mathematics Education: Social, Cultural and Political Challenge) at CERME (Conference of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education).
• Academic reviewer in various journals in higher education, mathematics education, disability studies and beyond (e.g., Higher Education, Studies in Higher Education, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, BMC Medical Education, CBE Life Sciences Education, Computers & Education, Educational Studies in Mathematics, Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, Learning and Individual Differences, Learning, Culture and Social Interaction...).