The present paper focuses on formative assessment, and more specifically on the ways in which teacher education and educational policy have responded, over the last year, to the challenges of COVID-19. The unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic have had a relevant impact on schooling. In this framework, educational assessment has been one of the most evident criticalities. For the sake of the truth, assessment, for teachers, has always represented a challenging task in their professional practice (especially formative assessment practice). However, the difficulties related to the implementation of remote instructional activities have made more evident how teachers, despite the broad literature on educational assessment, struggle to navigate old and new instructional circumstances in their assessment practice. While researchers and teacher educators demonstrate a strong commitment helping teachers face new difficulties resulting from the global pandemic (first of all, the practical issues of transferring teaching into classroom online), the illiteracy in the assessment domain, and more specifically in the formative assessment practice, remains a crucial and, sometimes, unresolved problem. During the school year 2019-2020 a new reform has been launched in Italy: formative assessment practices has been introduced as mandatory for primary school. However, despite the emphasis on formative assessment, teachers in Italy tend to avoid using this kind of assessment and continue to perceive it as improper and ineffective. Reporting a qualitative study on teachers’ conceptions of formative assessment, this paper aims to shed light on the teacher education policy reform and on its implementation.

COVID-19 and the School Assessment Reform? The Missed Effects on Formative Assessment Practice

Pastore Serafina
2021-01-01

Abstract

The present paper focuses on formative assessment, and more specifically on the ways in which teacher education and educational policy have responded, over the last year, to the challenges of COVID-19. The unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic have had a relevant impact on schooling. In this framework, educational assessment has been one of the most evident criticalities. For the sake of the truth, assessment, for teachers, has always represented a challenging task in their professional practice (especially formative assessment practice). However, the difficulties related to the implementation of remote instructional activities have made more evident how teachers, despite the broad literature on educational assessment, struggle to navigate old and new instructional circumstances in their assessment practice. While researchers and teacher educators demonstrate a strong commitment helping teachers face new difficulties resulting from the global pandemic (first of all, the practical issues of transferring teaching into classroom online), the illiteracy in the assessment domain, and more specifically in the formative assessment practice, remains a crucial and, sometimes, unresolved problem. During the school year 2019-2020 a new reform has been launched in Italy: formative assessment practices has been introduced as mandatory for primary school. However, despite the emphasis on formative assessment, teachers in Italy tend to avoid using this kind of assessment and continue to perceive it as improper and ineffective. Reporting a qualitative study on teachers’ conceptions of formative assessment, this paper aims to shed light on the teacher education policy reform and on its implementation.
2021
978-88-944888-9-0
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11586/391748
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