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.     

An instrument to audit teachers' use of assessment for learning

This paper traces the design, development and trialling of an assessment for learning audit instrument (AfLAi) in use currently in the Republic of Ireland to gauge teachers' baseline understanding of assessment for learning (AfL) practices and the extent to which AfL is embedded in their teaching. As described in the paper, the AfLAi consists of 58 items distributed across four scales based on the following key AfL strategies: sharing learning intentions and success criteria, questioning and classroom discussion, feedback and peer- and self-assessment. Preliminary data from the study provide a window into current formative assessment practices in Irish primary schools and teachers' professional needs in AfL.     

Elementary teachers' perceptions regarding school behavior problems: Implications for school psychological services

The study focuses upon teachers' perceptions of school behavior problems and preferred classroom management actions. Two hundred elementary school teachers were evaluated with a questionnaire comprising assessment of causal attributions and goal‐directed behavior on the part of the teachers, when dealing with classroom misbehavior problems. Internal student‐related attributions were those most frequently adopted by the teachers, even though teachers' explanations varied significantly across school problems. Misbehavior‐related attributions were significantly associated with teachers' preferred practices. Our results support the application of psychological principles to educational practice through an understanding of teachers' discipline‐related theories. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Neo‐liberal Subjectivities and the Limits of Social Change in University–Community Partnerships

In this paper the authors analyse a university–school partnership that went awry. It was designed to develop a new set of philosophical principles to inform work with violent student behaviour in schools. The project brought together a team of researchers from the university and school sector with a strong record of examining and improving the management of behaviour in classrooms. The authors sought volunteer school‐based educators to work with them as co‐researchers. Despite the team's strong school‐based research background, the mutual interest in developing a new approach to work with violence, and the strong collaborative base, they found themselves, as the initiating research team, unable to progress in the ways they had anticipated. This paper analyses the dynamics at work in that lack of progress. The analysis is put forward with the hope of enlivening discussion about what makes for successful collaborative projects between schools and universities.     

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.     

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.     

Intersecting Domains of Assessment Knowledge: School Typologies Based on Interviews with Secondary Teachers

This study used qualitative interviewing with teachers at three high schools to answer research questions about teachers' assessment knowledge, school-specific assessment cultures, and teachers' perceptions of the assessment literacy of other key stakeholders. Data analysis revealed shared knowledge and practices across schools—use of formative assessment to guide instructional decision making; reliance on collaborative processes as the basis for cultivating school-wide assessment practices; and the belief among teachers that students, parents, and school administrators often hold naive views about the relative primacy of summative over formative assessment. Data analysis also identified distinctive features of the assessment culture at each of the schools.     

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.     

Assessment for learning in Norway and Portugal: the case of primary school mathematics teaching

In this study, we aim to understand the forces driving assessment for learning (AfL) in primary school teaching. By applying a case study design, including the two cases of Norway and Portugal and using mathematics teaching as an example, available policy documents and research reports are analysed to identify the differences and similarities that might explain the assessment practices previously observed in the two countries. Many similarities are found at the school and national levels. In particular, AfL is introduced as a national policy in both countries. Still, AfL practices are not common in primary mathematics classrooms in either country, although this is true for different reasons in each country. It is suggested that the assessment culture caused by national policies, such as curriculum reforms, national professional development projects and teacher autonomy, explains the similarities in the observed outcomes.     

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.     

The distinctive features of joint participation in a community of learners

The importance of teachers' and children's collaborative engagement in shared learning activities has a strong evidence base in sociocultural research and is promoted as an effective pedagogy in New Zealand's national curriculum. However, what this means for teachers' practice is unclear. Teachers can engage in practices thought to be ‘shared’ but when examined turn out to be teacher dominated. This article reports on findings from a New Zealand study that explored the development of shared learning activities in four primary school classrooms. The study identified the reciprocal, dialogic, responsive and learning-focused interactions when teacher genuinely engaged collaboratively with their students, and distinguished these shared encounters from more commonly observed individual interactions. Because the teachers in this study struggled to understand and to engage in shared activity, it is important to distinguish the features of joint participation to support them to examine and broaden their pedagogical repertoires to include practices consistent with a learning community.     

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.     

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.     

Chinese university EFL teachers’ beliefs and practices of classroom writing assessment

This study investigates the extent to which university teachers’ beliefs about classroom writing assessment are congruent with their self-perceived practices in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) contexts, and what factors contribute to belief-practice inconsistencies. Drawing on data from a survey of 136 Chinese university EFL writing teachers and ten teacher interviews, results showed a degree of belief-practice alignment regarding assessment for learning (AfL) practices that make learning explicit, but belief-practice discrepancies were more salient. AfL practices that empower students to take responsibility in writing assessment were perceived to be more important than assessment of learning practices; however, the reverse was found in teachers’ practice. Impacts of micro-level factors including assessment training, teaching experience, student attributes, meso-level school factors, and macro-level assessment culture are discussed, and implications are drawn.     

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.     

Teachers' assessment of students' research skills

Today, teachers are expected to develop complex skills, such as research skills, in their students while implementing new views on learning and teaching and using authentic assessment strategies. About these new assessment strategies there is much debate and teachers are vulnerable in using them. We studied upper secondary education natural and social science teachers' practices using two surveys and two rounds of expert panel judgement on teacher‐submitted assessment‐related material and information. Our study shows that there are grounds for concern regarding the clarity of teachers' assessment criteria, the consistency between teachers' goals, assignments, and criteria, and the validity and acceptability of teachers' assessment practices. The extent to which it is justifiable to judge teachers' assessment practice by professional quality criteria is discussed, and suggestions are given as to the main quality criteria for formative and summative assessment and as to ways in which teachers could improve their assessment practices.     

Fostering collaborative teacher learning: A typology of school leadership

Previous research indicates that supportive school leadership is a key condition of collaborative teacher learning. The purpose of this study was to develop a typology of how school leaders foster collaborative teacher learning. We adopted an integrative perspective on leadership by examining both learning-centred leadership and distributed leadership practices that are supportive of collaborative teacher learning. Data were gathered by means of interviews with ten school leaders and a questionnaire that was completed by 39 teachers from six secondary schools in the Netherlands. The aim of the interviews was to identify to what extent school leaders applied learning-centred leadership and distributed leadership practices. The questionnaire measured teachers' perceptions of the role of school leaders in teacher learning. As an outcome of this study, we constructed a typology that provides insights into how school leaders foster collaborative teacher learning. Four types of school leaders were distinguished: (a) integrators of teacher learning, (b) facilitators of teacher learning, (c) managers of teacher learning, and (d) managers of daily school practice. Our findings suggest that integration of learning-centred leadership and distributed leadership practices can help school leaders to support collaborative teacher learning.     

Tensions and complexities in school-university collaboration

This study, conducted over a one-year period, examined the collaboration practices in a large-scale school-university capacity-building collaborative action research project that was designed to help English language teachers develop the skills needed to deal with the reforms to assessment practices in Hong Kong's school curriculum. The study theorized collaboration as a complex construction that must be understood in the context of the prevailing ideologies shaping professional development practices for teachers. Online data generated from the collaborative action research project were analysed to explore the discursive construction of interpersonal relationships. Critical discourse analysis was used to examine the discursive strategies that were used in the emails of two university researchers and two school teachers to negotiate and manage collaboration practices. It examined the complexities of negotiating collaboration as a social practice in institutional cultures in a non-Western sociocultural setting. The implications of the findings for policy, professional development and future research are discussed.     

Organisational learning approaches to school leadership and management: teachers' values and perceptions of practice

In this article, we report results of a survey of 1,397 teachers in 26 primary and 17 secondary schools in England as part of the Learning How to Learn project. We consider how school self-evaluation can be understood within an organisational learning frame. Factor analysis of teachers' responses helped us identify 4 dimensions of organisational learning approaches to school leadership and management. Comparisons were made between teachers' perceptions of school leadership and management practices and the values they placed on those practices. We discuss the usefulness of analysing values-practice gaps for furthering understanding of organisational learning approaches to school leadership and management. Analysis of gaps between teachers' values and practices reveals significant inconsistencies between perceptions of current practices and values across a broad spectrum of school leadership and management practices. Perceptions of practice were significantly behind the values that teachers place on each of the 4 dimensions of practice.     

Teachers' knowledge work in collective practice development: Approaches to introducing assessment for learning at the school level

Collective approaches to practice development are increasingly common in the teaching profession. Such initiatives frequently involve groups of teachers taking responsibility for introducing, sharing and developing new pedagogical resources and for aiding their integration into existing practices. This article explores teachers’ knowledge work as a component of collective practice development, and investigates how engagement with knowledge is constructed in different school environments. Drawing on research that followed an Assessment for Learning (AfL) project in a Norwegian city, the article examines how two groups of lower secondary teachers worked to support the introduction and development of AfL resources at their respective schools. The analysis reveals how their knowledge work was framed in different ways through available organisational roles and resources, and discusses the implications for initiatives aimed at collective practice development at the school level.