Tensions between knowledge transmission and student-focused teaching approaches to assessment purposes: helping students improve through transmission

Abstract

This study surveyed 1,064 Chinese school teachers' approaches to teaching and conceptions of assessment, and examined their inter-relationship using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Three approaches to teaching (i.e., Knowledge Transmission, Student-Focused, and Examination Preparation) and six conceptions of assessment (i.e., Student Development, Teaching Improvement, Examination, Control, School Accountability, and Irrelevance) were identified. Teachers indicated they used Student-Focused most frequently and this positively predicted the assessment purposes of Student Development and Teaching Improvement, while loading negatively on Control, School Accountability, and Irrelevance. The Knowledge Transmission teaching approach, in contrast, positively predicted the assessment purposes of Examination, School Accountability, Control, Student Development, and Teaching Improvement. Thus, despite a predominantly student-focused approach to teaching, knowledge transmission was seen as a teaching approach that contributed positively to student learning. Possible explanations for this anomalous result are discussed.

Exploring the impact of teacher emotions on their approaches to teaching: A structural equation modelling approach

“…It is claimed that the three approaches are qualitatively distributed along a teacher‐oriented and student‐oriented continuum. The evidence has proved that it is possible for teachers to embrace multiple and even conflicting approaches to teaching (Chen & Brown, ).…”

“…Students from CHC, as rote learners, always are taught to learn concepts or take tests through memorization (Tran, ). At the same time, there is a strong Confucian views that teachers should fully commit to students and the teaching profession and the student‐oriented teaching approach as a means to develop students into lifelong learners (Chen & Brown, ). These conflicting conceptions about what constitutes excellent teaching is well established in CHC (Watkins & Zhang, ).…”

Chinese Primary School Mathematics Teachers’ Assessment Profiles: Findings from a Large-Scale Questionnaire Survey

“…These studies focused on all kinds of subjects and mainly in secondary education (e.g., Brown & Gao, 2015;Chen & Brown, 2016). To our knowledge, only scarce attention has been paid in research to whether, and to what extent, the new approach to assessment has been implemented in primary mathematics classroom.…”

“…in Australia: Brown, Lake, & Matters, 2011;in New Zealand: Brown, 2004;in India: Brown, Chaudhry, & Dhamija, 2015;in China: Brown, Kennedy, Fok, Chan, & Yu, 2009;Chen & Brown, 2016) revealed that teachers in general, mathematics teachers included, tend to embrace the idea of using assessment to improve teachers' instruction and students' learning by the provision of quality information for making instructional decisions. Furthermore, a later study carried out in New Zealand by Brown (2009) showed that having improvement-orientated assessment beliefs can predict teachers' increased assessment practice.…”

New teachers respond to curriculum policy in a Master of Teaching and Learning Programme: A collection of working papers

“…Teacher-centred approaches may result whereby the teacher predominantly controls what is taught, and transmits knowledge, skills and values to students. This approach emphasises organising and presenting the course content in a way that is easy for students to understand in order to optimise their chances of achieving the learning outcomes (Chen & Brown, 2016).…”