scholarly journals Swedish and Finnish Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Summative Assessment Practices

Languages ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Raili Hilden ◽  
Anne Dragemark Oscarson ◽  
Ali Yildirim ◽  
Birgitta Fröjdendahl

Summative assessments are an exercise of authority and something that pupils cannot easily appeal. The importance of teachers being able to assess their pupils correctly is consequently both a question of national equivalence and individual fairness. Therefore, summative assessment is a paramount theme in teacher education, and we aimed to investigate the perceptions and competence of student teachers regarding common summative assessment practices. The study was conducted at three universities, two in Sweden and one in Finland involving prospective language teachers responding to an online survey (N = 131). In addition, interviews were carried out with 20 Swedish and 6 Finnish student teachers. The analysis of the data indicates that student teachers value practices that enhance communication and collaboration as well as the curricular alignment of summative assessments. With respect to perceived competence, the respondents in general felt most confident with deploying traditional forms of summative assessment, while they were more uncertain about process evaluation and oral skills. Regarding significant differences in the participants’ perceptions of competence among the three universities, Finnish university students reported higher levels in all variables. However, room for improvement was found at all universities involved.

Pythagoras ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wajeeh Daher

This article studies student teachers’ perceptions of the pedagogic and didactic aspects of teaching and learning mathematics in a democratic classroom. It is concerned primarily with issues of democracy in the mathematics classroom, specifically freedom, equality and dialogue. The research was conducted in two mathematics teacher education classes, where students were in their third year of study to major in mathematics. To find these students’ perceptions of democracy in the mathematics classroom the first two stages of the constant comparison method were followed to arrive at categories of democratic and undemocratic acts. The participants in the research emphasised that instructors should refrain from giving some students more time or opportunities to express themselves or act in the mathematics classroom than other students, because this would make them feel unequal and possibly make them unwilling to participate further in the mathematics classroom. The participants also emphasised that instructors should not exert their power to stop the flow of students’ actions in the mathematics classroom, because this would trouble them and make them lose control of their actions. Further, the participants mentioned that instructors would do better to connect to students’ ways of doing mathematics, especially of defining mathematical terms, so that students appreciate the correct ways of doing mathematics and defining its terms.


Author(s):  
Sue Garton

The last 20-25 years have seen a significant shift in the views about what teachers need to know to be able to teach. This shift has led to new developments in the theory of second language teacher education (SLTE) and a growth in research in this area. One area of research concerns the attitudes and expectations of those learning to become teachers. While most studies in this area focus on teacher education programmes in BANA countries, this article looks at data from student teachers studying in Russia and Uzbekistan. The study employed a quantitative and qualitative research design, using a researcher-designed on-line questionnaire. Through snowball sampling, data from 161 students and recent graduates in the two countries were collected, analysed, and compared to investigate the content of SLTE programmes. The study identified what the novice teachers felt were the strengths and weaknesses of their programme, and what changes they would like to see. Results showed that while the respondents were mainly satisfied with their methodology, and theoretical linguistics courses, they felt the need for more practice, both teaching and language practice. The data also revealed that, in Uzbekistan in particular, the idea of global English struggles to take hold as native-speaker models remain the norm. The implications of the study underline the need for SLTE to explicitly link theory to practice and to promote the idea of varieties of English, rather than focus on native-speaker norms.


Author(s):  
Ramesh Sathappan ◽  
Malini Sathappan

This study set to find out the challenges faced by TESL students at a local teacher training institute during their first practicum practices at selected Malaysian primary schools for the 2nd semester of the academic year 2017. This research is of significant value, as the 17 students- teachers’ experiences need to be made known; the findings on the transitional move from a safe protected college environment into the unknown territory of school surroundings. Each of these trainee teachers had leapt into the role of a teacher in the 21st century language class. They would each maintain daily and weekly reflective journals throughout their practicum period to document their teaching concerns and the level of confidence they put into their abilities to teach and manage their primary school students. Thematic areas are discussed in the findings. These findings are triangulated with document reports from their respective supervisors and the school teachers who mentored them. Questionnaires and interviews were conducted.  This research enables to shed more lights into the areas of second language teaching in the classroom as the findings would be able to provide more support for future management and development of teacher education. Furthermore, these student-teachers could understand themselves better throughout the month-long practicum. The ability to self-monitor and self-appraise themselves are valuable skills to be acquired by these student-teachers for their personal and autonomous continuous self-assessments to become effective second language teachers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (spécial) ◽  
pp. 39-68
Author(s):  
Raphaël Pasquini

Curricular alignment refers to the links of coherence, found in any teaching-learning process, between curriculum objectives, learning tasks and assessment approaches. This model makes it possible to understand the coherence of any assessment approach. By mobilizing data from a collaborative study carried out on eight secondary school teachers of mathematics and French, we will show, however, that its meaning is rather limited when it comes to understanding coherence in graded summative assessment practices and that, consequently, the model needs to be expanded conceptually. To this end, we will draw on an example of a summative test modelled in this way. Our findings demonstrate the relevance of analyzing summative assessment practices with the help of the expanded model, while considering the role that context plays in certain of its aspects.


2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-52
Author(s):  
Deborah A. Chetcuti ◽  
Michael A. Buhagiar

The research study reported in this paper explores the issues and challenges faced by teacher educators when assessing student-teachers during their field placement. The key research question is: What are the issues and challenges faced by teacher educators and university administrators in relation to the formative and summative assessment of student-teachers during their field placement in Initial Teacher Education? The research tries to address this question by drawing on qualitative data from interviews with key academics and administrators at the University of Malta. The data from the interviews suggests that finding a balance within a university setting between the formative and summative aspects of assessment can create a potential conflict. This results in teacher educators focusing more on administrative demands for accountability and standards through summative assessment (also known as ‘assessment of learning’) rather than on the learning process through formative assessment (also known as ‘assessment for learning’). The authors challenge this current view and, using examples from good practice, construct a model of assessment for the field placement that tries to improve the balance between formative and summative assessment. Key words: formative assessment, summative assessment, field placement, initial teacher education


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9027
Author(s):  
Julia Stössel ◽  
Rebecca Baumann ◽  
Elisabeth Wegner

Recently, the German state of Baden-Württemberg included ESD as a guiding perspective for all school curricula. Consequently, teacher education needs to empower and motivate student teachers to implement ESD in schools. In previous ESD research, however, the motivational dimension rarely has been investigated. Psychological theories stress the importance of developing an intention for the actual realization of a behavior. Therefore, we investigated, in an online survey (N = 366), which factors influence student teachers’ ESD implementation intention. Furthermore, we investigated how student teachers understand the guiding perspectives and what influences the actual ESD implementation from the respondents’ point of view. Via structural equation modelling, we found direct effects of subjective task value, expectation of success and ESD knowledge, as well as indirect effects of SD attitudes and ESD implementation beliefs on ESD implementation intention, but no effects for subjective norm and perceived costs. Analyses of open answers revealed complex understandings of ESD, but also misinterpretations mainly in terms of ESD as equivalent to environmental education. Furthermore, student teachers expected barriers (e.g., lack of time) and formulated support needs (e.g., teaching material) for implementing ESD in schools. Our findings stress the importance of advancing ESD implementation in teacher education.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michiko Weinmann ◽  
Noella Charbonneau

Recent studies in multilingual and translanguaging pedagogies have shifted the focus from investigating how students engage their multilingual repertoires to exploring how teachers understand and implement these pedagogical directions in their practice. In this article, the authors report on a national online survey on the multilingual perspectives and practices of teachers of French in Australia. The overall goal of the survey discussed here was to comprehensively capture how teachers of French understand the teaching and learning of languages in general, and of French in particular. The study revealed several tensions between the language teachers’ beliefs and practice. While most of the survey participants expressed strong support for innovative pedagogies such as translanguaging (García & Wei, 2014), and keen motivation to engage the full multilingual repertoire of their learners, a closer reading of the data indicated that most of them felt restricted in their practice by “the normative terms and conditions of an understanding of languages education that remains rooted in parochial, monolingual and pecuniary perspectives” (Weinmann & Arber, 2017, p. 173). In particular, the findings indicate that (self-)perceptions of “non-native” language teachers as “culturally deficient” continue to frame the notion of what constitutes a “good” language teacher (Holliday, 2015). For teachers to feel more confident and better equipped to effectively implement translanguaging pedagogies in their practice, teachers’ perceptions of their own multilingual identities and how these are shaped within the systems they work in (Young, 2017) need to be better understood. Keywords: Languages teaching, languages education, translanguaging, native language teacher, non-native language teacher, linguistic repertoire, multilingualism, Australia


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-84
Author(s):  
Tuija Kasa ◽  
Matti Rautiainen ◽  
Mia Malama ◽  
Arto Kallioniemi

This article discusses democracy and human rights education (DHRE) in Finnish teacher education, drawing on existing literature, curricula and a survey of student teachers’ perceptions. Earlier studies suggested that DHRE in Finnish teacher education is unsystematic, implicit, and dependent on the teacher’s individual interests. These studies highlight a sense of national exceptionalism, where DHRE is assumed to be self-evident. In 2019, we conducted a survey of student teachers (n=300) in one university. Data content analysis reveals that student teachers now see DHRE as relevant and timely, and by no means self-evident. Student teachers believe that DHRE needs to be explicit and part of their professional education. Although the Finnish national curriculum addresses DHRE explicitly, there is a lack of implementation and explicit DHRE teacher education. We contend that the data reflects societal change, and that the notion that democracy and human rights are self-evident needs to be challenged in Finland.


F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 1289
Author(s):  
Rasmitadila Rasmitadila ◽  
Megan Asri Humaira ◽  
Reza Rachmadtullah

Background: The collaborative relationship between universities and inclusive elementary schools has not been maximally practiced. The form of collaboration that universities with inclusive elementary schools have carried out is still limited to the need to complete lecture materials in the semester. There is a gap between the theory and practice obtained by student teachers at universities when they have to teach in inclusive elementary schools. As a result, they have not contributed to solving problems that occur in inclusive elementary schools. The collaborative relationship between inclusive elementary schools and universities directly implies that the success of inclusive education is determined by the competence of student teachers whose universities have successfully educated them in order to teach in inclusive elementary schools. Against the background that the inclusive education system is developing in Indonesia, the researchers investigated student teachers' perceptions at universities about inclusive university-inclusive elementary school collaborative relationships. Methods: During data collection, an online survey and in-depth interviews of student teachers about individual experiences and their ideas about the form of inclusive elementary schools-university partnerships was conducted. The data analysis used is a thematic analysis technique. Result: The result summarizes student teachers' statements, revealed three main themes: provision of inclusive education needs, research, and field practice. The student teachers revealed that the collaborative relationship between universities and inclusive elementary schools is essential to develop holistic, inclusive practices in a collaborative partnership based on input-needs, which has a two-way impact or benefit for both parties. Conclusions: Furthermore, collaborative relationships must be in the form of long-term programs, such as continuous assistance, and adaptation to the development of inclusive education through lecture materials. To achieve inclusive education in Indonesia, we also recommend that the government make policies on multi-sectoral collaboration in order to support inclusive education.


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