Teacher instructional practices and strategies for student self-assessment

As a fundamental component of formative assessment, student self-assessment is considered a sine qua non condition for autonomous learners. Despite the extensive body of literature regarding principles and practice guidelines for student self-assessment, scant is the evidence about what instructional practices teachers use in classroom to promote student self-assessment. This paper reports on a research study aimed to analyse how teachers approach practices and strategies to actively encourage students to self-assess their learning. A questionnaire on self-assessment instructional practices was administered to a sample of primary- and middle-school teachers in Italy. Drawing on data collected from 246 teachers, we found that teachers tend to use different practices to promote student’ self-assessment, although they resort more frequently to self-reflection strategies. This study represents a useful step in understanding teacher assessment practice and thinking about education paths for teacher assessment literacy.