Getting the practical teaching element right: A guide for literacy, numeracy and ESOL teacher educators

Getting the practical teaching element right

to award a qualification. The former is by nature formative. It is a vehicle for
diagnosing and developing learning and involving students actively in the process.
Formative assessment is therefore carried out for the benefit of the learners who
need to improve, and the teacher who needs to help them do so. The latter is
summative because it provides a publicly accountable confirmation as to whether
someone is ready to take responsibility for adult learners who need the best
professional help available.

While some teacher educators disliked assigning marks they agreed that clear
criteria were essential in giving formative feedback for each observation, because

‘it's got to be absolutely clear what's achieved and what isn't and what needs
working on'.

It is therefore essential that trainees are given a clear indication of their strengths
and areas for development, using a set of criteria that apply to all teaching practice
assessments. In this way, the formative assessment leads naturally to the
summative. Grading can be used formatively or summatively but clear criteria for
allocating grades are essential.

With this in mind, formative assessment should be carried out in such a way that it
is the core of both teaching and learning processes. Summative assessment
should clearly provide grounds for awarding the qualification or not doing so, using
a consistent, transparent set of criteria that are discussed frequently by trainees
and teachers. A clear relationship between formative and summative assessment
is therefore essential.

‘...if you are going to say to someone that they haven't met the pass criteria it's
much easier for candidates to cope with that if they have known where their
weak points are all along.'

Through teaching practice assessment, a trainee begins to gain classroom
experience, learns how to teach and qualifies as a teacher. If it is done well,
assessment on teaching practice provides a good model for how teachers might
carry out formative assessment with their own learners: this makes it crucial for
teacher educators to consider carefully how their own formative and summative
practices offer models of practice.

30

<<   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   >>

More intriguing information