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.     

教学改革中的英语教学策略与形成性评估

教学和目标是一体的,什么样的衡量标准要求什么样的决策.本文以教学改革体制强调教学要“以人为本”的原则为出发点,从教学策略制定的原则--以问题为中心和注重学生体验两方面论述了教学策略影响形成性评估的开展和执行.同时,又从形成性评估的几个方面（宗旨、内容、标准、方法、主体及重心）的基础上,从形成性评估较之终结性评估的优越性和课程改革中形成性评估体制下教学策略的落实情况两方面论证了它对教学策略制定的制约.     

Linking literacy teaching with assessment: a continuing professional development initiative for secondary schools

As part of a professional development initiative helping secondary school teachers use assessment data to guide their instruction, teachers in this study changed their knowledge, skills and dispositions. Over time, they were able to identify assessments, administer these assessments, interpret the results and plan instruction. As a result, the students who were tutored by these teachers increased their achievement compared with a control group.     

Formative assessment of teachers in the context of an online learning environment

This case study looked at how an assessment strategy designed for an online learning environment can support teachers’ professional development. More specifically, we intended to evaluate how a particular online assessment design can help the participating in-service teachers to recognize the added value of formative assessment, and promote their own use of formative assessment in their professional classroom practices. The presented assessment design consists of a combination of different, non-standard assessment methods in an online environment. We analysed data from 494 questionnaires, the participants’ critical reflections about their learning and the participants’ produced artefacts. The findings illustrate the participants’ recognition of the formative character of the proposed assessment design, reflected not only by the high scores reported in seven of the eight themes explored, but also from the qualitative analysis of the participants’ reflections and artefacts. Suggestions are offered for the improvement of the proposed assessment design, so as to better promote the formative character of assessment. In particular, implications for the development of formative assessment in online professional development are discussed taking into account its potential to promote the participants’ self-regulatory learning processes.     

健美操教与学的文化创新

随着现代经济水平的提高,人们对身体健康的重视也不断提高。作为现代人们休闲健身的重要方式,健美操已经深入到人们的日常生活当中。同时健美操作为高校体育教学中的重要内容,其教学模式与教学方式对健美操教学质量有着重要的影响。文中就健美操教与学的文化创新进行了简要论述。     

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.     

教师专业发展中的教学道德素养及其实践内涵

教学活动是教师的专业活动,教学素养是教师专业发展的核心素养,教学道德是教师职业道德中的专业道德。教学既是科学性活动,又是道德性活动,并且始终应是道德性活动,因而其中蕴涵着深刻而丰富的伦理思想。为此,教师在专业发展的过程中,要十分重视教学道德素养的提升,并且在教学实践的各个环节,把握和遵循教学的道德性原则。     

Resisting innovation talk in higher education teaching and learning

The exhortation to innovate is a pervasive one that occupies a central position across university mission statements, strategic plans, marketing literature and job titles. This article locates a discourse of innovation within a history of Australian federal higher education policy, a history that may bear similarity with other national contexts. The article names this discourse as an innovation talk that influences our teaching and learning practices, a discourse that can be reconfigured in a way that opens up the possibility for change. As such, the article presents an analytical process used to resist taken-for-granted views of what constitutes valuable teaching practices. Suggestions for re-conceptualising how universities govern and support teaching and learning innovation are drawn from analysis of key federal policies that have influenced university practices in recent years.     

The fidelity of formative assessment implementation: issues of breadth and quality

The paper examines the breadth and quality of formative assessment implementation of 202 mathematics and science teachers who participated in a two-year, school-based professional development programme that focused on formative assessment. Results are triangulated using three sources of data: baseline and end-of-Year 2 data from an annual survey, logs that were completed daily at six two-week time points and reflections on formative assessment techniques that the teachers wrote weekly during the log collection periods. The data indicate that while teachers made significant improvements in some areas, certain aspects of formative assessment are less emphasised and there are some patterns around quality of implementation that suggest more targeted professional development is warranted.     

Assessment for equity: learning how to use evidence to scaffold learning and improve teaching

Abstract

This article examines evidence regarding the assessment learning of preservice teachers (PTs) in a new Master of Teaching designed to prepare teachers to address the less than equitable outcomes of certain groups of students in New Zealand. The assessment curriculum was integrated across all of the courses and the in-school experiences as one of six interconnected facets of practice for equity. Evidence about the assessment learning of 27 preservice teachers was collected using a survey, interpretive analysis of three assignments and a focus group interview. The findings demonstrated that preservice teachers combined theory and practice encountered in many contexts to build the assessment understanding and competence needed to address equity issues. We argue that this was facilitated by incorporating the assessment curriculum within each course, intertwining university and school experiences, and the specific focus on addressing equity throughout the programme.     

Teachers’ beliefs about inquiry-based learning and its impact on formative assessment practice

ABSTRACT

Background

Inquiry pedagogy has been advocated as means to engage and motivate students to learn science. The development of teacher formative assessment practice in inquiry is key for a successful implementation of student-centred inquiry pedagogy in the classroom.     

Working while teaching,learning while working: students teaching in their own class

This paper examines the context of teacher education in which certain students work as teachers whilst at the same time they study in a teacher education programme. The two phenomena that are discussed are the integration of theory and practice, and learning while working. These are located in the wider framework of teachers' pedagogical thinking, and research‐based teacher education. The paper reports on students' experiences of the success of integrating theoretical studies in their work as teachers and the related issue of how a student's everyday grasp of classroom practice has been taken into account in their studies. The paper also raises the issue of the university–school relationship through students' estimations of the impact that their participation in teacher education has brought to the school in which they work and other key aspects of the university–school relationship.     

System leaders using assessment for learning as both the change and the change process: developing theory from practice

Many schools and school systems have been deliberately working towards full implementation of Assessment for Learning for more than a decade, yet success has been elusive. Using a leader's implementation of Assessment for Learning in one school as an illustration, this article examines eight positional leaders’ experiences as they implemented both the ‘spirit and the letter’ of Assessment for Learning at all levels. This longitudinal qualitative research study draws on the experiences of leaders from Alberta, British Columbia, Germany, Georgia, Hawai`i, Manitoba, New Zealand and Ontario. The authors identify five findings that show how positional leaders use Assessment for Learning as the focus for system-wide change, as well as the change process itself.     

Integrating on-line technology into teaching activities to enhance student and teacher learning in a New Zealand primary school

Continuing emphasis given to computer technology resourcing in schools presents potential for web-based initiatives which focus on quality arts teaching and learning, as ways to improve arts outcomes for all students. An arts e-learning collaborative research project between specialist on-line teacher/researchers and generalist primary teachers was designed to investigate student learning, quality teaching, and implementation factors. Constructionist-based teaching activities using on-line technology were designed to engage students in a learner-centred e-learning environment where students and teachers collaborated to produce a media and learning artefact. A case study highlights the outcomes for four students who transferred learnt drama skills to other classroom contexts. This model has potential to provide drama learning for students and professional development for primary generalist teachers, contingent on the availability of rigorously planned and well-resourced programmes.     

The scholarship of teaching and learning from a social justice perspective

We argue that there is a reciprocal relationship between all scholarly activities, most importantly between teaching, learning, research and professional learning. The article builds on the work of others who call for a social justice approach to inform the SoTL. It focuses on the implications for professional learning, as an aspect of the SoTL which has been neglected. The tripartite account of participatory parity as advanced by Nancy Fraser is shown to be a valuable frame to describe instances of social justice, as well as the kind of institutional arrangements that should be instituted to support participatory parity. Alongside this, the notion of a ‘pedagogy of discomfort’ is shown to be an effective, but challenging means to advance awareness of justice and injustice amongst academics. The article draws on examples from three action based research projects run by the authors.     

SOLO分类法在教学评价中的应用

SOLO分类法是一种新的评价理论,它在教学评价中的应用值得深入研究。通过研究,在阐述其理论的基础上,探讨了SOLO分类法对学习理论的贡献：把“阶段”观念迁移到具体的学习任务,使之能应用到教学实践;解释了功能方式的转换,克服了布鲁姆教育目标分类学的理论困难。教学评价中的应用：为评价学习的质量提供了一种更为有效的方法;为不同学科的教学评价构建了一个比较学习质量的共同平台;为开放性试题的评分提供了理论依据。     

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.     

Continuous assessment as a selfinitiated teacher development strategy in Swaziland: practice and challenges for effective implementation

Abstract

The paper reports on a study that clarifies the challenges that a teacher in Swaziland faced in using continuous assessment (CA) as a self-initiated professional development tool. Drawing mainly on post-Fordist ideals we analyse the assessment tasks she gave to learners to establish the degree of agency, reflectivity and creativity she invested in the choice, adaptation and re-design of assessment tasks that were suggested to the teachers by education authorities. Items within these tasks and how they were employed to serve the lesson objectives are drawn on to illustrate how she took advantage of the professional autonomy the CA programme afforded her to judge the appropriateness of what was officially suggested. The curriculum expertise that informed her choice of items to reinforce or remedy learning is understood in terms of how she conceptualised CA as a tool to track learners’ cognitive competence and as a resource for a self-directed professional development strategy. In conclusion, an attempt is made to provide cues for the conditions under which the self-empowering elements of CA can function to improve learning and teaching.     

School Innovation in Science: A Model for Supporting School and Teacher Development

‘School Innovation in Science’ represents a model, developed through working with more than 200 Victorian schools, to improve science teaching and learning. SIS works at the level of the science team and the teacher, providing resources to challenge and support the change process. Its emphasis is on strategic planning supported by a framework for describing effective teaching, materials for auditing practice and planning initiatives, and a networked support structure. Experience and results from the project, concerning the nature and extent of change, will be used to provide insight into the multidimensional nature of the change process and to suggest a number of principles concerning support for change. Arising out of this, the major elements of a School Innovation Model are identified, that supports a transformative agenda for schools more generally.     

民主与教育学——论一种新的教师专业发展观

在相当长的历史时期内,与民主相适应的教育学主要是一种专业教育学。这种专业教育学既是适应现代性情境的一套有效的沟通与组织技艺,又与那种与官僚体制结合的群众民主(旁观式民主)相依存。然而值得注意的是,民主情境中的教育学不仅仅是专业教育学,民主本身也并非必然要求教师或教师职业进一步专业化。事实上,杜威的民主教育学就试图重构不同教育学之间的关系,以不可见的民间教育学取代传统上可见的专业教育学。当然,这种取代只有在作为一种全新的制度教育学的参与式民主的基础之上才有可能真正实现。