Prospective Teachers' Conceptions of Assessment: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

Abstract

This paper examines the responses of two samples of prospective teachers (New Zealand, n = 324; and Spain, n = 672) to the Teachers' Conceptions of Assessment inventory (English and Spanish respectively). The inventory captures four major intentions for assessment (i.e., improvement, irrelevance, school and student accountability). The conceptions of prospective teachers about the nature and purpose of assessment are relevant, given that (a) much educational assessment is carried out in classrooms; and (b) prospective teachers enter the teacher education programs with significant prior school experience of assessment as pupils. Results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the original model was inadmissible and that the best-fitting revised model was only configurally invariant between the two samples. It would appear that lack of teaching experience results in different responses for prospective teachers to those of practicing teachers. Moreover, differences in societal and cultural priorities for assessment use most likely explain the lack of invariance between samples.

Assessment Capability and Student Self-regulation: The Challenge of Preparing Teachers

“…Even though there is strong evidence about the importance of classroom assessment, studies have reported that teacher candidate preparation has been less than adequate and that preservice assessment teaching (when it occurs) can also be diluted through teaching practice experiences and/or particular personal characteristics of the teacher candidates themselves (Campbell, 2013). Furthermore, when they begin teacher education, teacher candidates generally demonstrate negative emotions about assessment (Crossman, 2007;Smith et al, 2014) have conceptions of assessment that are from those of practicing teachers (Brown and Remesal, 2012;Chen and Brown, 2013) and while they might value the ideals of formative assessment they do not know how to implement it (Winterbottom et al, 2008).…”

“…In a review of this literature (Hill and Eyers, 2016) four main influences were found: the teacher candidate conceptions that underpin such learning (for example, Brown, 2011;Brown and Remesal, 2012); the relationship between preservice assessment teaching and teacher candidate learning (for example, Buck et al, 2010;Siegel and Wissehr, 2011;DeLuca et al, 2012); the practical use by teacher candidates of assessment in classrooms during preparation (Graham, 2005;DeLuca and Klinger, 2010;Nolen et al, 2011; and others); and other factors such as personal dimensions (Eyers, 2014;Jiang, 2015), layered contexts (Nolen et al, 2011;Jiang, 2015) and broader policy and societal issues (Smith et al, 2014). Few, however, appear to have investigated how these aspects influence teacher candidates' assessment learning in relation to beliefs and formative practices that encourage student self-regulation.…”

“…Even though there is strong evidence about the importance of classroom assessment, studies have reported that teacher candidate preparation has been less than adequate and that preservice assessment teaching (when it occurs) can also be diluted through teaching practice experiences and/or particular personal characteristics of the teacher candidates themselves (Campbell, 2013). Furthermore, when they begin teacher education, teacher candidates generally demonstrate negative emotions about assessment (Crossman, 2007;Smith et al, 2014) have conceptions of assessment that are from those of practicing teachers (Brown and Remesal, 2012;Chen and Brown, 2013) and while they might value the ideals of formative assessment they do not know how to implement it (Winterbottom et al, 2008).Recently though, studies have begun to tackle how teacher candidates learn about, and to enact, formative assessment (for example, Buck et al, 2010;Eyers, 2014;Smith et al, 2014). In a review of this literature (Hill and Eyers, 2016) four main influences were found: the teacher candidate conceptions that underpin such learning (for example, Brown, 2011;Brown and Remesal, 2012); the relationship between preservice assessment teaching and teacher candidate learning (for example, Buck et al, 2010;Siegel and Wissehr, 2011;DeLuca et al, 2012); the practical use by teacher candidates of assessment in classrooms during preparation (Graham, 2005;DeLuca and Klinger, 2010;Nolen et al, 2011; and others); and other factors such as personal dimensions (Eyers, 2014;Jiang, 2015), layered contexts (Nolen et al, 2011;Jiang, 2015) and broader policy and societal issues (Smith et al, 2014).…”

“…Furthermore, when they begin teacher education, teacher candidates generally demonstrate negative emotions about assessment (Crossman, 2007;Smith et al, 2014) have conceptions of assessment that are from those of practicing teachers (Brown and Remesal, 2012;Chen and Brown, 2013) and while they might value the ideals of formative assessment they do not know how to implement it (Winterbottom et al, 2008).…”

A Scale for Measuring Teachers’ Mathematics-Related Beliefs: A Validity and Reliability Study

“…There were several studies conducted to develop a scale of teacher beliefs, such as Brown and colleagues (Brown, Hui, Yu, & Kennedy, 2011;Brown & Remesal, 2012), who developed a scale of teacher beliefs about assessment. In addition, Barkatsas and Malone (2005) developed a scale of beliefs about nature, teaching and learning mathematics for secondary school teachers.…”