Do What I Say, Not What I Do: Student Assessment Systems in Initial Teacher Education

The purpose of this study is to analyze the types of university teachers who provide initial teacher education (ITE) in terms of the systems and assessment tools they use. A review of current theory shows that consistency between discourse and assessment practice is important in improving student learning and honing students' assessment competencies as teachers. In the real picture, however, assessment is predominantly exam oriented. Reliable, valid attitudinal scales and assessment surveys were developed and applied to a sample of 80 teachers from six teacher training schools, followed by multivariate analysis (cluster analysis and ANOVA). The results suggest there are three types (clusters) of teachers, according to their attitudes and the assessment systems they use. Innovative teachers generally use systems and processes based on continuous formative assessment; they tend to involve students in assessment processes; they diversify the grading instruments and techniques they apply; they use a portfolio and they grade on the basis of the different learning activities performed by their students. Traditional teachers use systems involving a final summative evaluation; they do not involve students in assessment processes; they generally grade on the basis of a single final examination or, at best, they combine the final exam with a paper that has little impact on the final mark. Eclectic teachers tend to conduct short training assessments; they involve students to some degree in assessment processes and they generally combine a final exam with other learning and assessment activities that have some weight in the final grade. The data indicate that these teacher types bear a closer relationship with the kind of continuous training the teachers have received than the initial training they received themselves as students.