Recontextualising assessment resources for use in local settings: opening up the black box of teachers’ knowledge work

Research has shown that how principles and tools related to Assessment for Learning (AfL) are taken up by teachers can significantly impact how assessment initiatives are realised. However, questions remain about how teachers develop new resources for use in local contexts, and what these processes entail. This article examines such processes in the context of teacher teams, using the notion of ‘knowledge work’ to denote the creative and constructive work that teachers carry out when they work together upon AfL-related principles and tools. The analyses contribute to existing research by illuminating the micro-dynamics of teachers’ work with assessment resources, and examining different forms of epistemic actions that constitute this process. In conclusion, the paper discusses how teacher collaboration may inform AfL initiatives in significant ways, and argues that teachers’ constructive and collaborative knowledge work needs to be more fully recognised in the context of AfL initiatives.     

Reworking practice through an AfL project: an analysis of teachers’ collaborative engagement with new assessment guidelines

In recent years, the concept of Assessment for Learning (AfL) has travelled across countries, giving rise to a range of educational policy initiatives and school development projects. While researchers have focused on issues such as how formative assessment can support student learning and lead to more efficient classroom practices, less attention has been paid to the collaborative work required to develop shared assessment practices at the school level, and to the integration of AfL‐related principles and tools in the collective practice. This paper focuses on the challenges emerging for a teacher team engaging with an AfL project in a lower secondary school in Norway. By employing concepts and perspectives from social practice theory, AfL is understood as a problem complex that needs to be explored and developed locally. We have analysed data from seven video‐recorded meetings of an AfL team, supplemented by interviews and field notes, in order to make visible the micro processes of teachers' collaborative work. The analysis shows how the teachers needed to rework historically established practices and principles, which in turn called for a negotiation and re‐contextualisation of new concepts and artefacts in their efforts to develop shared assessment practices. This again required ways of representing existing practices and imagining future scenarios. Based on these observations we recommend that AfL projects be understood in their wider curricular, institutional, and social contexts, and that the constructive dimensions of teachers' collaborative work in such projects should be acknowledged.     

Professional development of teachers—A prerequisite for AfL to be successfully implemented in the classroom

A prerequisite for AfL to be successfully implemented in the classroom is the teachers’ assessment practice. In many contexts, including the Norwegian, AfL has not been successfully dealt with during initial teacher education, and there is a need for qualified teachers to engage in professional development in AfL.This article first discusses different perspectives of professional development, not all of which lead to change of attitudes and beliefs resulting in changed practice. Difficulties in implementing AfL beyond the individual teacher and reach the full teaching staff is presented through experiences from a Norwegian research and development project. The next project to be briefly discussed focuses on engaging teachers in developing their own criteria for good classroom assessment.Finally the paper proposes that a major obstacle to teachers’ professional development in AfL is the competence of teacher educators in AfL. Do those who are to guide and support professional development in schools hold the essential knowledge and competence themselves?The conclusive argument is that for AfL to be common assessment practice in schools there is a need for development processes at various levels of the education system.     

Assessment for Learning in the writing classroom: an incomplete realisation

An Observation Guide, designed to help New Zealand teachers identify areas of teaching strength and aspects for development, was developed as part of a wider project. In the second phase of this project, 18 middle school teachers used the Guide to gather and record evidence as they participated in seven rounds of reciprocal peer observation and feedback during writing lessons with Grades 6–8 students. We report here on data from round 6 observations about the assessment for learning (AfL) strategies reported as evident in teachers’ practices, how these strategies were implemented and potential gaps in practice. AfL has at its heart a core of interdependent strategies that collectively contribute to the development of autonomous, self-regulating learners and quality learning. While the middle school teachers shared goals for learning and communicated what counted as successful achievement to students, they appeared to struggle when articulating goals in terms of literacy learning and conveying the substantive aspects and quality expected in students’ writing. In addition, despite AfL's promotion of learner autonomy, few teachers openly afforded students focused opportunities to take a meaningful role in their learning through the appraisal of their own and peers’ writing and the joint construction of feedback. As such, teachers’ AfL practice in the writing classroom failed to realise its full potential. It is argued that the promise of AfL can only be reached when strategies are enacted in ways that reflect its unitary nature, promote quality outcomes and give students a central role in their learning.     

Teachers’ professional knowledge construction in Assessment for Learning

This article attempts to unpack the complexity of teachers’ professional knowledge construction in Assessment for Learning (hereafter, AfL). It presents a qualitative study of a school‐based AfL Project which took place in a secondary school in Hong Kong. Thirty lessons video‐recorded in the AfL Project and nine teacher interviews conducted after the Project were analyzed. The findings enrich our understanding of professional knowledge construction in four aspects: (1) personal nature of teachers’ practical knowledge construction in contrived situations; (2) confined integration of AfL into pedagogical content knowledge in terms of ‘skill progression that accompanies experience’; (3) more sophisticated integration of AfL into pedagogical content knowledge as ‘practicalizing theoretical knowledge’; and (4) reflection, conscious deliberation, and ‘theorizing practical knowledge’ associated with more sophisticated professional knowledge integration. Implications for enhancing teachers’ professional learning are discussed.     

Dialogic feedback as divergent assessment for learning: an ecological approach to teacher professional development

Neoliberal policy objectives perpetuate an audit culture at both school and system levels. The associated focus on performativity and accountability can result in reductive and procedural interpretations of classroom assessment for learning (AfL) practices. Set in a New Zealand AfL professional development context, this research takes an ecological view of teacher learning as a ground-up approach to improving practice. As a framework, this paper brings together an intersubjective conception of professional learning that positions teachers as co-leaders, principles inherent in ‘the spirit of AfL’, and the notion of ‘intelligent accountability’ to illustrate evidence-informed teacher agency. It applies divergent and dialogic AfL practices to professional learning that can enable teachers to connect with issues that are most relevant to their practice. Dialogic feedback practices of this nature position teachers as capable, reflexive and resourceful practitioners and decision-makers.     

Asking questions of (what) assessment (should do) for learning: the case of bite-sized assessment for learning in Singapore

The recent focus on AfL has shifted from defining its scope and extent to understanding its implementation, and research has revealed AfL implementation to be complex and contested. AfL implementation is especially challenging in national contexts that emphasise high stakes examination performance and grades. One such example is the nation state of Singapore, which recently implemented Assessment for Learning nation-wide in all its primary schools in the form of “bite-sized assessment”. This article examines how bite-sized assessment in Singapore came to be implemented as a form of AfL, and how it was subsequently constructed as policy dictate, as opposed to being recognised as a form of best practice. A study of teachers’ perspectives of bite-sized assessment practices in Singapore primary schools reveals inconsistency between policy intent and school implementation. An inquiry-based approach is recommended for teachers to frame AfL implementation as a practice to be understood, rather than a package of pre-determined practices to be administered.     

Illuminating qualities of knowledge communities in a portfolio‐making context

This article connects teachers’ experiences of reflective school portfolio development to the idea of teachers’ knowledge communities, the different groups and individuals with whom teachers negotiate meaning for their stories of experience, lived and told, and re‐lived and re‐told, over time. The reflective analysis makes the case that the development of a dynamic knowledge community among teachers is foundational to the successful reflective school portfolio‐making experience. Critically important links between these two phenomena are established by laying texts from school portfolio development meetings alongside the qualities that distinguish teachers’ knowledge communities. In the end result, the research presents a fine‐grained account of teachers actively working in a group situation, contributing to their individual and collective professional development. As such, this article adds to the teacher development and reflective portfolio literatures.     

Scaling up,writ small: using an assessment for learning audit instrument to stimulate site-based professional development,one school at a time

Abstract

Exploiting the potential that Assessment for Learning (AfL) offers to optimise student learning is contingent on both teachers’ knowledge and use of AfL and the fidelity with which this translates into their daily classroom practices. Quantitative data derived from the use of an Assessment for Learning Audit Instrument (AfLAI) with a large sample (n = 594) across 42 primary schools in the Republic of Ireland serve to deprivatise teachers’ knowledge and use of AfL and the extent to which AfL is embedded in their work. The data confirm that there is urgent need for high-quality teacher professional development to build teacher assessment literacy. However, fiscal constraints coupled with the fractured nature of current provision renders it impossible to offer sustained support on a national scale in the immediate term. In response, this paper proposes the adoption of a design-based implementation research approach to site-based collaborations between researchers, teachers and other constituent groups, such as that engaged in by the authors over recent years, as a mechanism for addressing teachers’ needs in a manner that also supports other participants’ professional interests.     

Evaluating a large-scale implementation of Assessment for Learning in Sweden

This study reports on a large-scale implementation of Assessment for Learning (AfL) in a Swedish municipality. The implementation was founded on two principles: (1) teaching should be informed by educational research; (2) to be successful teachers’ professional development needs to be based in everyday classroom practice. From these principles, AfL was chosen as a strand of educational research to inform teaching and ‘Teacher Learning Communities’ were chosen as a vehicle for professional development and for implementing AfL practices. Findings indicate that the project has been successful in bringing about a change in how teachers talk about teaching and learning and in changing teachers’ pedagogical practice towards AfL. Findings also suggest that AfL practices are mostly teacher-centred, which means that the teachers still take most of the responsibility for the assessment. This leads to high workload for the teachers and may also hinder students from taking responsibility for their learning.     

Nested contexts that shape assessment for learning: School-based professional learning community and classroom culture

The study investigated the relationships between assessment for learning (AfL) and attributes of two school-related contexts - the classroom assessment culture (CAC) in which AfL is embedded, and the larger context in which CAC is nested, namely the school-based professional learning community (SBPLC). The research design comprised two layers - quantitative and qualitative; the former, using rating-response questionnaires, investigated the association between attributes of SBPLC and AfL in a sample of in-service teachers. The latter, a multiple case study, examined AfL practices of six elementary school teachers, the assessment culture in their classrooms, and characteristics of their SBPLCs. Taken together, the findings of both layers pointed to meaningful relationships among AfL, CAC, and SBPLC highlighting similarities between SBPLC and CAC with regard to cultural attributes and to AfL/inquiry practice. Contextual attribute patterns conducive to proper implementation of AfL and those that impede it were discerned and discussed.     

Linking theory and practice: teacher research in history and geography classrooms

The impact of scholarly research in education on the educational practice in secondary school is low. Academics examine problems that teachers in school perceive as irrelevant, want to publish in peer-reviewed journals instead of disseminate their work, and aim at generalizing insights rather than improving school practice. Teacher research might be a way to link educational academic research and teaching practice aiming at furthering professionalism in teaching, improving teaching practice and extending the knowledge base on teaching and learning. Four experienced secondary school teachers systematically investigated their classes, guided by a supervisor. Their materials as well as formal and informal communication with their supervisor and with each other were analysed. Related to their research projects, these teachers reported significant changes in their understanding of student learning and their teaching. They took different perspectives on teaching, looked at alternative solutions for problems, and reflected more deeply on their own teaching as well as teaching of their colleagues. Although each of them published an article in a peer-reviewed journal, they reported difficulties with extending the knowledge base on teaching and learning. Not only did they rarely share results with their colleagues in school because they were perceived as external researchers, they also struggled with writing journal articles and coping with peer reviews. We discuss the value of situated generalization as one of the implications and discuss how teacher research could lead to a new in-between research practice, linking theory and practice, and researchers and teachers.     

Assessment for learning research in East Asian countries

Educational agencies in East Asia have heeded the advice of research findings and therefore acknowledge the value of assessment for learning (AfL) practices through various policy initiatives. At definitional level, the evolving conceptions and theories of AfL have consistently streamed in from overwhelmingly European and Anglophone-based research. We present a review of mainly peer-reviewed journal articles on selected AfL research in East Asian countries. The findings show that the current implicit and atheoretical approach towards defining and implementing AfL suggests opportunities for further deliberation and theorisation about what constitutes AfL in East Asian countries. It is conceivable that teachers who understand the principles and frequently prepare students for summative assessment in the East Asian classroom are concurrently practising a particular process and practice of AfL. We conclude that the practices of AfL can therefore not just be variable; they will also be very situated and contested.     

What teachers do: facilitating the writing process with feedback from EssayCritic and collaborating peers

The study provides an insight into how technology may affect teachers’ facilitating of the writing process which was examined and compared when Norwegian upper secondary school students wrote essays about English as a global language through multiple drafts with feedback received from the computer-based essay-critiquing system (EssayCritic) (target class) and from collaborating peers (comparison class). Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the teachers’ assistance drew on Galperin’s conceptualisation of learning. Findings reveal patterns in the teachers’ guidance in both conditions and outline the differences arising from the use of EssayCritic: by interacting with EssayCritic the teacher assisted the learners in completing the specific task, although little attention was paid to the development of their assessment for learning (AfL) skills. However, in the comparison class the teacher paid attention to the development of students’ AfL skills by emphasising the general approach to the analysis and the essential requirements of the essays. The study, therefore, raises questions about the need for practitioners’ awareness of whether the technology supports the development of, for example, AfL skills required in English writing classes.     

Science Teachers Without Classrooms of Their Own: A Study of the Phenomenon of Floating

“Floating” teachers, or teachers without their own classroom, experience unique affordances and constraints as they develop professionally. To increase the knowledge in this area, this study looks at how traveling to different classrooms affects beginning secondary science teachers’ development and instruction. The participants in this study were three first-year floating secondary science teachers whose experiences were analyzed through a cultural historical activity theory framework. The data revealed how floating can either support or constrain the development of beginning science teachers, and limit the implementation of standards-based instruction. Finally, this study shows that high levels of human, physical, and social resources are necessary for progress towards standards-based science teaching. It suggests that if science teachers must move to different classrooms, we need to create ways in which to support their instruction and development. Furthermore, this study recommends that all teachers and supervisors work toward a deeper understanding of the school community’s role in the experience of the floating science teacher.     

Instructional Rounds as a professional learning model for systemic implementation of Assessment for Learning

The purpose of this research was to examine the implementation of a professional learning project aimed at building educators’ knowledge and skills in assessment for learning (AfL) within two school districts in Ontario, Canada. Specifically, the research examined the value of a two-tier Instructional Rounds (IR) professional learning model. This professional learning model was unique because it engaged both teachers and principals in collaboratively learning and implementing AfL strategies in order to develop systemic capacity in assessment. In total, 12 principals, 48 teachers, two superintendents and two school district assessment consultants participated in the study. Data were collected through observations of IR sessions, classroom observations, interviews, IR session reflections and a post-project survey. Findings from this study report on positive changes in teachers’ and principals’ conceptions and implementation of AfL as well as on the value and challenges of IR as a professional learning model. The paper concludes with a discussion on developing systemic capacity in AfL through an IR model of professional learning.     

Knowledge management support for teachers

Business organizations worldwide are implementing techniques and technologies to better manage their knowledge. Their objective is to improve the quality of the contributions people make to their organizations by helping them to make sense of the context within which the organization exists; to take responsibility, cooperate, and share what they know and learn; and to effectively challenge, negotiate, and learn from others. We consider how the concepts, tools, and techniques of organizational knowledge management can be applied to the professional practices and development of teachers. We describe a framework for knowledge management support for teachers where the sharing of concrete knowledge scaffolds the attainment of more abstract levels of knowledge sharing. We describe the development of a knowledge management support system emphasizing long-term participatory design relationships between technologists and teachers, regional cooperation among teachers in adjacent school divisions, the integration of communication and practice, synchronous and asynchronous interactions, and multiple metaphors for organizing knowledge resources and activities. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, REC-0106552.     

Leadership and The Effective School

The article examines the origins and purposes of assessment for learning (AfL) within the National Curriculum Assessment context in England. As a part of the Primary Strategy, AfL became part of the government's drive to improve standards through measuring school outcomes. The authors describe their investigation into teachers' understandings of AfL, how AfL has influenced teaching, learning and assessment in the intervening six years and whether it has established a presence as part of teaching pedagogy.     

Re-contextualising TPACK: exploring teachers’ (non-)use of digital technologies

Technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) has been used by hundreds of studies as a theoretical framework to explore teachers’ technology use in classroom settings. While these studies have contributed to understandings of the interplay between these different knowledge domains and the differences between pre- and in-service teachers’ knowledge, little work has been done to examine the influence of teachers’ socially mediated workplace settings on TPACK enactment. This article begins to address this issue reporting findings from an eight-month case study involving 10 teachers in an Australian secondary school. Results reported in this article indicate that TPACK enactment is influenced by processes of identity development and practice. These findings challenge the established position of knowledge as an epistemological possession inherent in the TPACK framework rather than also considering knowing as an epistemology of practice. Implications for in-service teachers and school authorities are discussed and suggestions for future research considered.     

Teachers’ use of knowledge sources in ‘result meetings’: thin data and thick data use.

In this article, we examine teachers’ use of knowledge sources in meetings where they discuss and formulate initiatives and solutions to develop existing teaching practice based on national test results. While practices of data use have been extensively researched, less attention has been given to the content of data use practices. Analyses of what kind of knowledge sources are used, and how, in discussions about student performance levels and accompanying initiatives to improve teaching can yield important insight into the potential and pitfalls of local data use practices. Based on an analysis of the knowledge sources that Norwegian secondary school teachers draw upon in so-called ‘result meetings’ and of the prognostic frames that teachers initiate, we find that teachers use several knowledge sources and that their data use practices can be characterised as complex and ‘thick’, although the data itself are ‘thin’. However, although teachers draw upon a range of knowledge sources and integrate these when identifying possible solutions, the solutions themselves are often short-term and directed towards improving test results. In order for teachers to ask more fundamental questions regarding existing practices, more attention should be directed towards problem-solving processes and also whether result meetings can provide arenas for complex problem-solving.