Formative conceptions of assessment: trainee teachers’ thinking about assessment issues in English secondary schools

Abstract

This paper explores the developing thinking about assessment of graduate trainees preparing for secondary teaching in England. For some years teachers in English schools have worked in a context where the outcomes of formal testing have been used to judge school and teacher performance as well as student achievement. Research evidence that formative modes of assessment contribute more to student learning has in recent years led to strong recommendations that most classroom assessment should be ‘Assessment for Learning’ (AfL). In reality the new orthodoxy of AfL is being championed in a context where high‐stakes testing retains its perceived role in ensuring ‘accountability’. Interviews with a sample of trainee teachers at an early stage of preparation for teaching suggest that their preconceptions about the nature and purpose of assessment, and their interpretations of classroom observations on school placement, offer a confused and complex basis for adopting recommended assessment practices in their own teaching.

Keywords:

• classroom assessment
• initial teacher education
• teacher learning
• teacher conceptions
• constructivism and teacher learning

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the trainee teachers who agreed to be interviewed, and would like to thank other members of the teaching team for their support for the project and Dr Sanjana Mehta for her contribution to data collection. The project was supported by the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education’s Research Development Fund.