Modelling formative and summative assessment in ITE courses
One very important way for student teachers to learn about assessment is to make explicit the way in which assessment is used to aid their own progression throughout their ITE course. In most, if not all, ITE courses student teachers carry out regular self assessments and set targets and these are recorded as evidence of their progress against the Standards. Evaluation of their own teaching is a mainstay of their development as reflective practitioners.
Peer assessment and self assessment
In sessions student teachers can be encouraged to assess each other during presentations using both pre planned criteria and criteria devised by them. They examine the pros and cons of both methods
Half way through the course we ask student teachers to bring in their teaching files, devise their own criteria for assessing these files and then peer assess each other's files using these criteria. This not only models peer assessment but also enables them to set targets to remedy gaps in their teaching experience in the next stage of their professional placement.
Comment-only marking
In a session on responding to pupils' writing, student teachers can be asked to write a brief piece and mark each others work identifying two strengths and two areas of improvement. They have to address these comments and then return the piece to their marker to see how they assess whether it has or has not improved. This activity not only develops their understanding of the assessment process but also raises issues about the nature of the drafting process, the need for explicit criteria, how to articulate feedback so that it shapes the progress of the student teacher's writing, and so on.
Oral feedback
One of the most difficult things a student teacher has to learn is not so much how to question but how to respond to pupils' answers and how to use these as the basis of the future direction of learning both for the individual and the class. This is particularly the case during the feedback on a group activity or plenary. Often student teachers simply praise pupils rather than using their feedback as an opportunity for further learning. A training activity that can be useful is: in a given task, one group (A) is given the responsibility for conducting the feedback on another group (B) and then group B comments on how well they feel group A has fed back. The same process is continued throughout the session.
