A comparative judgement approach to teacher assessment

We report one teacher’s response to a top-down shift from external examinations to internal teacher assessment for summative purposes in the Republic of Ireland. The teacher adopted a comparative judgement approach to the assessment of secondary students’ understanding of a chemistry experiment. The aims of the research were to investigate whether comparative judgement can produce assessment outcomes that are valid and reliable without producing undue workload for the teachers involved. Comparative judgement outcomes correlated as expected both with test marks and with existing student achievement data, supporting the validity of the approach. Further analysis suggested that teacher judgement privileged scientific understanding, whereas marking privileged factual recall. The estimated reliability of the outcome was acceptably high, but comparative judgement was notably more time-consuming than marking. We consider how validity and efficiency might be improved and the contributions that comparative judgement might offer to summative assessment, moderation of teacher assessment and peer assessment.     

Learning to contribute: text connections in early childhood teacher education

ABSTRACT

Face-to-face time with students in the early childhood college setting is at a premium and often flies by before we begin to scratch the surface of active learning. Building a community of learners is one of our main goals as instructors; therefore, we strive to set up active learning environments optimal for all students. This reflection on practice highlights the text connections learning strategy, describes how four early childhood education instructors use it, and analyzes its theoretical underpinnings to investigate how it helps students learn to contribute to the learning of all. Student examples and reflections from the instructors are included.     

教师学习共同体——教师专业发展的有效路径

教师的专业发展,是世界各国教师教育发展的潮流,是教育改革重心的转向,它使教师的工作方式由传统的孤立式发展转向合作式发展,并且仅凭传统的外部行政力量无法有效地促进教师自主专业发展,而学习共同体作为一种组织形式,其在重构教师教学理念、丰富教师教学智慧及促进教师专业提升方面效果显著。     

A scientific approach in the assessment of the school-based part of the teacher education programme in Sweden

This article aims to highlight how a scientific and critical approach is used in assessment dialogues during the last period of a practical, school-based teacher education programme. The result is based on 13 assessment dialogues conducted in a course at a Swedish university, where one of the course objectives is to, ‘in a scientific way, analyse teaching situations based on learning theories’. The assessment dialogues were analysed drawing from Bernstein’s concepts of ‘classification’, ‘framing’, ‘horizontal knowledge’ and ‘vertical knowledge’. The result shows that only in a minority of the assessment dialogues are students expected to use theory as an analytical tool and to critically examine their teaching practice. The theory is used in a more instrumental way to legitimize what is considered the ‘right way’ to teach. One conclusion is that the critical tradition of academia is seldom observed despite being clearly stated in the learning goals. The link between general academic knowledge and more school-based contextual knowledge is often missing or not made visible by the students or the teacher educators, and normative content is still clearly prominent.     

An intercultural approach to challenging issues in Northern Ireland teacher education

This paper reports action research intended to advance intercultural learning and pedagogy within teacher pre‐service education. Northern Ireland (NI) student teachers returning from teaching abroad and students from abroad training in NI shared views upon pedagogical practices, identified features supportive of inclusive teaching and assessed the potential of teacher intercultural learning. Experience of teaching abroad acted to challenge, but in some cases also to affirm, teacher dependence upon professional authority, independent pupils' learning and associated forms of control in classrooms. A majority of student teachers appeared encouraged by their experience of teaching abroad to experiment with pedagogies supportive of a negotiated and more inclusive curriculum and involving more cooperative learning in classrooms. Without significantly greater intercultural experience in NI teacher education, in the selective nature of NI schooling and in the control of subject disciplines under the NI statutory curriculum, sustained use of more transformative pedagogies is considered problematical in NI schools.

Cet article retrace une recherche‐action mise en oeuvre afin de promouvoir l'apprentissage interculturel et sa pédagogie. Des étudiants nord‐irlandais en formation initiale, rentrant de stage pratique à l'étranger, et des étudiants d'autres pays, effectuant un stage en Irlande du Nord, ont partagé leurs points de vue sur des pratiques pédagogiques, ont identifié des aspects encourageant l'éducation à l'altérité et ont évalué le potentiel d'apprentissage interculturel du professeur. L'expérience d'enseigner à l'étranger a mis ces étudiants au défi, mais dans certains cas a aussi renforcé la dépendance de l'enseignant à l'égard de l'autorité, du travail individuel de l'élève et du maintien de la discipline dans la classe. Cette expérience a encouragé la majorité de ces futurs professeurs à faire l'expérience des pédagogies développant un programme scolaire négocié et un apprentissage fondé sur la collaboration dans la classe. Sans réformes majeures, l'application intensive de ces pédagogies a été considérée comme problématique pour les écoles nord‐irlandaises.

Dieses Papier berichtet über Aktionsforschung mit dem Ziel der Förderung von interkulturellem Lernen und Pädagogik im Bereich der Lehrerausbildung. Nordirische Studierende, die aus einem Auslandslehrpraktikum zurückkehren und ausländische Studierende, die in Nordirland ausgebildet wurden, tauschten Eindrücke über pädagogische Praktiken, identifizierten Merkmale welche ?inclusive teaching“ unterstützen und bewerteten das Potential für interkulturelles Lernen in der Lehrerausbildung. Die Lehrerfahrung im Ausland bewirkte eine Herausforderung, in manchen Fällen aber auch eine Bestätigung der Abhängigkeit der Lehrenden von Autorität, der Arbeit von einzelnen Schülern und Schülerinnen und der Kontrolle im Klassenraum. Die Mehrzahl der Lehramtsstudierenden wurde durch ihre Erfahrung ermutigt mit einer Pädagogik zu experimentieren, die verhandelte Curricula und gemeinschaftliches Lernen unterstützen. Ohne weitgehende Reformen wurde der Einsatz dieser Pädagogiken in den Schulen Nordirlands als problematisch betrachtet.

Este estudio informa sobre investigaciones prácticas para potenciar la pedagogía y el aprendizaje interculturales de los docentes. Los estudiantes de Magisterio de Irlanda del Norte que vuelven de su periodo de prácticas docentes en el extranjero y los estudiantes extranjeros de prácticas en Irlanda del Norte comparten puntos de vista sobre prácticas pedagógicas, identifican áreas de apoyo para una enseñanza global y evalúa el potencial del aprendizaje intercultural. La experiencia de las prácticas en el extranjero sirvió de reto, pero en algunos cursos también reforzó la dependencia del docente en la autoridad, en el trabajo personal de los estudiantes y en el control del aula. La mayoría de los estudiantes de prácticas se sintieron animados a experimentar con pedagogías de negociación de contenidos curriculares y de aprendizaje colaborativo. Sin reformas importantes, el uso continuado de esta pedagogía se considera problemático en las escuelas de Irlanda del Norte.     

Developing a material-dialogic approach to pedagogy to guide science teacher education

Abstract

Dialogic pedagogy is being promoted in science teacher education but the literature on dialogic pedagogy tends to focus on explicit voices, and so runs the risk of overlooking the important role that material objects often play in science education. In this paper we use the findings of a teacher survey and classroom case study to argue that there is a gap in the way that science teachers think about the role of materials and that this could be addressed by changes in the theory base of teacher training, augmenting the current constructivist and dialogic theory with the addition of new materialism in the form of Barad’s ‘Agential Realism’. Our findings suggests that science teachers do not regularly explicitly consider the relationship between the material resources they deploy and the dialogic learning taking place. We argue that science teacher training and professional development should pay more attention to the material-dialogic relationships in the learning that emerges in science classrooms.     

A multifaceted approach to teacher induction

The purpose of this study was to determine the implementation and effectiveness of the components of two middle school induction programs through the perceptions of three participant groups – new teachers, mentor teachers, and principals. Effectiveness was defined as a systematic processes embedded in a healthy school climate that met new teachers' personal and professional needs. Data indicated that each element of the induction program – principal and new teacher interaction; mentor teachers; collaborative structures; professional development; and new teacher orientation – met different needs of the new teacher. This multifaceted approach appeared to effectively support new teachers.     

Quality assessment and quality assurance in distance teacher education

Governments around the world have increasingly used distance education (DE), both preservice and inservice, to overcome conventional, campus‐based programme constraints in funding, access and student places. DE programmes have shown that they can expand assess to teacher education, but still need to demonstrate that they can produce teachers of the quality needed for today's schools. Quality assessment systems have been developed, using either examinations or impact studies, to demonstrate programme effect on graduate outcomes related to good teaching. Quality assurance systems have been designed, based on the concept of the ‘learning organisation’, to assure continuous improvement in programme conditions related to the desired outcomes. Quality assessment and assurance systems are reviewed and some examples of quality DE programmes presented.     

Rethinking the use of video in teacher education: A holistic approach

Video case studies are commonly used in teacher training programmes, usually to develop one specific area of competence. The need for an integrative model that meets diverse learning objectives and competences led to a study on how to effectively use videos to guide student-teachers towards professional development. The analysis of case studies helped develop a four-pronged holistic proposal that places student-teachers in the role of both teacher and learner allowing the co-construction of teaching knowledge and the acquisition of digital competences and media literacy. This article outlines the pedagogical scheme and provides qualified evidence that supports arguments for its basis.     

Developing teacher assessment skills: The impact of the dynamic approach to teacher professional development

This study investigates the extent to which the Dynamic Approach (DA) to Teacher Professional Development (TPD) can help teachers develop their assessment skills and through that contribute to the improvement of student learning outcomes. To achieve this aim, a multi-treatment group randomisation study was conducted to compare the impact of the DA with the impact of the Competency-Based Approach (CBA) on developing assessment skills and promoting student learning outcomes. Assessment skills of 178 teachers and achievement of their students (n = 2358) were measured before and after the intervention. The DA had greater impact on teacher assessment skills and student learning outcomes than the CBA. Differential effects were also identified since differences in the impact of each approach were only identified for teachers who were situated at higher stages of assessment skills. Implications of findings for research, policy and practice are drawn.     

A posthumanist approach to environmental education in South Africa: implications for teachers,teacher development,and teacher training programs

As we enter the sixth great mass extinction event, an event that points to humanity’s exploitative attitude towards nature, posthumanist ethics offers a different way of engaging with the world, a way which has clear and extensive implications for the way environmental education is taught in South African schools. However, given the official curriculum and assessment practices currently in use in South Africa, can a posthumanist approach to environmental education actually work within the current educational framework of discrete discipline/subject areas and specializations? The paper diffractively engages with the Department of Basic Education National Curriculum Statement: Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement: Foundation Phase Grades R-3: Life Skills for South Africa (the phase where environmental education is most likely to take place), and superpositions this text with a research study on environmental education undertaken in Canada and key posthumanist notions as they relate to environmental education. The paper concludes with a section on the implications for teachers, teacher development, and teacher training programs (not solely in South Africa) of using such an approach in the teaching of environmental studies.     

A dialogical approach to conceptualizing teacher identity

In recent attempts to address the notion of teacher identity, scholars have stressed how identity is dynamically evolving, intrinsically related to others, and consists of multiple identities. Though these postmodern characterizations represent radically new perceptions of identity, they are not extensively discussed in relation to previous assumptions on singularity or sameness of teacher identity. The emerging theory of dialogical self in psychology offers a more elaborate approach to teacher identity, conceived of as both unitary and multiple, both continuous and discontinuous, and both individual and social. Based on this approach, teacher identity is re-defined and implications for research are identified.     

Reconceptualised family resemblance approach to nature of science in pre-service science teacher education

A recent framework on nature of science (NOS) is the Family Resemblance Approach (FRA). FRA presents NOS as a cognitive-epistemic and social-institutional system with a set of categories: aims and values, scientific methods, scientific practices, scientific knowledge and social-institutional aspects of science. Although FRA has been problematised philosophically and its implications for science education have been considered by science educators, its empirical adaptations in science education are limited. In order to illustrate the educational adaptations of FRA, we refer to Reconceptualised Family Resemblance Approach to Nature of Science or RFN. We present a study based on a funded pre-service science teacher education project whose aim was to design, implement and evaluate the impact of RFN strategies. Fifteen pre-service teachers participated in a 14-week teacher education intervention that infused RFN. A 70-item questionnaire was designed to investigate the outcomes of the teacher education intervention. Individual interviews with pre-service teachers were also conducted. Quantitative and qualitative data analysis suggest that the teacher education intervention had an overall significant impact on pre-service teachers’ views of NOS. The paper contributes to the understanding of how NOS can be incorporated in science teacher education using a new orientation to NOS based on FRA.