Issues in field experience assessment in teacher education in a standards‐based context

Abstract

This paper presents a study that shows the use of professional standards in field experience assessment in initial teacher education. A Professional Development Progress Map was developed in field experience assessment in a teacher education institution in Hong Kong. The study enriches our understanding of the holistic nature of assessing professional competence in teaching, problems of using the Progress Map in summative assessment, and the enhancement of professional learning in field experience assessment. While the discussion cautions the limitations of professional standards, it advocates the empowerment of the assessors and the assessed to be agents striving for good assessments. Suggestions on engaging supervisors and student teachers in ‘assessment dialogue’ are proposed for this empowerment – making explicit judgments on professional competence in teaching and sharing supervisory practices among supervisors, engaging student teachers with the assessment criteria, and reframing supervisory practices to empower student teachers to take an active role in supervision.

Acknowledgement

This article is one of the outcomes generated from the project ‘Field Experience Assessment: The Professional Development Progress Map’ funded by the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The author would like to express her gratitude to Professor Mike Bottery, Professor Christine Halse and the anonymous reviewers of the Journal of Education for Teaching for their constructive feedback on an earlier version of this article.