‘Why am I doing these things?’: engaging in classroom‐based inquiry around formative assessment

Abstract

Sponsored by the New Zealand Ministry of Education, the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative has sought to develop teachers’ research capability and to build knowledge about teaching and learning with the intention of improving outcomes for learners. Fortunate to receive a two‐year grant, our research collaboration investigated secondary school teachers’ and students’ conceptions of assessment and feedback. In addition to the ongoing collection and discussion of student achievement data, during the first year a key task for the teacher‐researchers was to develop and implement a tool that could provide them with greater insight into their students’ conceptions of assessment and feedback. This paper reports on how the teacher‐researchers were supported in a continuing manner to achieve this task, and documents their growing understanding of formative assessment through engagement in teacher research. While there was considerable learning for teachers, it is argued that teacher research, even when supported, is complex and problematic.

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge the two‐year funding of this TLRI project by the New Zealand Ministry of Education.

Notes

1. asTTle (Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning; Ministry of Education, n.d.) is an educational resource, available to all schools in New Zealand, for assessing literacy and numeracy in years 4–12. Developed for the Ministry of Education by a team from the University of Auckland led by Professor John Hattie, asTTle provides a comprehensive range of data, including students’ levels of achievement in relation to curriculum outcomes, information about students’ individual learning needs and national norms of performance.