PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ APPROACHES TO CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study is to investigate the pre-service teachers’ understanding of assessment concepts and their approaches to classroom assessment. The relationship between their approaches and confidence in classroom assessment was also established. Methodology: A survey method was used to study the pre-service teachers’ approaches to classroom assessment. One thirty-one second-year pre-service teachers from the University of Delhi, India participated in this study. A modified instrument namely ‘Approaches to Classroom Assessment Inventory (ACAI)’ which consists of two parts was employed Simple t-test, correlation and factor analysis methods were used to analyze the data. Main Findings: Results showed that the pre-service teachers had a better understanding of three out of five issues which include assessment purpose, measurement theory, and confidence in monitoring the assessment. However, the study found that they have an inadequate understanding of assessment design and assessment practices. Furthermore, the correlation between their approach and their confidence was very low and non-significant. The results are discussed in the context of the assessment curriculum and its transaction at the secondary teacher education program. Implication /Applications of this study: Understanding of what pre-service teachers think about assessment issues within the current educational context helps in preparing them as better teachers. The study may provide some evidence for policymakers and curriculum framers [developers] that the importance of practical aspects of assessment in the secondary teacher education curriculum. Novelty/Originality of this study: No study has been done so far on the different aspects of assessment approaches and its issues at pre-service teacher’s level in India.