Assessment competence according to teachers: a survey conducted with preschool and first-cycle teachers in four comprehensive schools in Tuscany

Abstract

In most cases, teachers greet the changes in the regulations concerning the assessment of learning with diffidence. Either because they perceive them as external provisions taken on by the government, or because these changes introduce firm elements of discontinuity in well-established teaching practices. This paper presents an exploratory study on teachers' perceptions of assessment and related practices, conducted with a group of preschools and “primo ciclo” schools in Tuscany. The data collected following the administration of the ActEval questionnaire (Quesada et al., 2013) show a low perception of teachers' competence in the use of innovative approaches to assessment, especially with regard to pupils' involvement in the assessment process and the implementation of formative assessment strategies. A critical analysis of the results identifies in-service training as the most effective tool for increasing teachers' evaluation skills and practices to be implemented in ordinary teaching.

Keywords

• assessment competence
• assessment training
• teacher competence
• assessment practices