Developing school teachers' expertise in assessment: education, development and support

This paper argues a case for an integrated approach to developing teachers’ skills in assessment, linking this closely to classroom activity and the delivery of the curriculum. In the pre-service education of teachers, work on assessment should be closely linked to that on the curriculum and classroom methods, and there is a need for significant continuing support through inservice programmes and self-help, resourced by suitable materials and covering all aspects of teachers’ evolving formative and summative assessment activity. In particular, teacher education should develop an understanding of all assessment processes and not be confined to the technical processes of test construction and use. The paper suggests that there are several key issues to be considered in developing teachers' assessment expertise, including the need to link pre- and in-service training more closely; to develop a view of teachers as assessment experts; to abandon the perception of assessment as an exclusive, specialist, academic or difficult area; for a greater integration of responsibility for improving assessment practice; and for improved materials and support. Keywords Student assessment, teachers, training, pedagogy.

John Wilmut, Developing school teachers' expertise in assessment: education, development and support in "CADMO" 1/2007, pp 49-58, DOI: