Abstract
This report evaluates the outcomes of a small scale action research that investigated the impact of formative assessment strategies (peer and self-assessment) embedded in the initial teacher education course on pre-service trainee teachers’ learning and teaching skills. The research was conducted with a cohort of students studying on the postgraduate initial teacher education programme (ITE) for lifelong learning sector (PGDE/PDE) at the University of Bolton.
The study confirmed the considerable impact of learning cultures on the ways the trainees implemented formative assessment strategies in their practice. If peer and self-assessment were part of the trainees’ delivered curriculum (as in case of the BTEC Performing Arts), the motivation to develop one’s own formative assessment strategies was high. Likewise, if the institution used a particular formative assessment strategy, the trainees were more confident to embrace it. Conversely, if the trainees did not experience any practical application of peer and self-assessment in their teaching institution, they either refused it or considered it inappropriate for their particular subject, regardless of their own experiences with these on the ITE course. This was the case with trainees working with vulnerable and disengaged groups. Equally, it seems that trainees teaching high stakes subjects, such as GCSE English, experienced more controlled teaching and assessment regimes than trainees teaching vocational BTEC courses (Performing Arts). The GCSE English sessions were much more teacher centred with no evidence of peer or self-assessment, though there seems to be a change in the trainees’ attitudes and practice once the GCSE course entered a revision stage.
It can therefore be concluded that though the trainees value the positive impact of peer and self-assessment on their own learning, they seem to require much more focused training to apply these to their own classroom practice.