Articles in Formative Assessment

Volume 9-Issue 2: December 2015

Assessment for learning in the Maltese state primary classroom: The Blue Creek College case study

This research paper investigates how and to what extent is assessment for learning (AfL) being used and what is influencing its integration in the teaching and learning process in the Maltese state primary classroom. This study presents the teachers’ viewpoints and perceptions, and provides insights into possible implications that AfL could have on the teaching and learning phenomenon. Data was collected through a series of one-to-one interviews and classroom observation. The research found that some AfL strategies such as the sharing of the learning intention, effective questioning techniques and the provision of quality feedback are generally being employed in the classroom. However, this study also revealed that crucial strategies such as the sharing of the success criteria and self-and peer-assessment were very rarely implemented. The data analysis also revealed that many teachers did not pass responsibility to the learners during the learning process. Possible implications for the development of formative assessment practices that enhance the child’s learning experience and progress are finally discussed.

Volume 11-Issue 1: June 2017

Assessment of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: A Case Analysis of a University in the South of Europe

The focus of assessment in higher education has been moving from assessment ‘of’ to assessment ‘for’ learning and teaching. This shift suggests that formative assessment with feedback can be more beneficial to learning and teaching than traditional summative assessment. In view of the tension that arises between the move towards formative assessment and the role of summative assessment, this study examines how the University under study seeks to balance these two aspects of assessment. The study made use of interviews, questionnaires and documents to collect data. The participants are lecturers and students at the Faculty of Education. Five lecturers and 5 students were interviewed individually, while 15 lecturers and 29 students completed online questionnaires. The documents were obtained from the University’s website. The findings reveal that the university in question recognises the importance of formative assessment, and has established policies and guidelines on the implementation of assessment of learning and teaching. Findings indicate that there is an imbalance between formative and summative assessment of learning and teaching, favouring the latter against the former. Although policy-makers, lecturers and students are aware of the importance of formative assessment, the traditional summative assessment is still the dominant assessment mode. Such a situation has caused challenges to the assessment policies, created struggles for lecturers and resulted in students’ dissatisfaction with the learning process.

Volume 14-Issue 2: December 2020

The use of Formative Assessment (FA) in Online Teaching and Learning during the COVID-19 compulsory education school closure: the Maltese experience

COVID-19 has shaken up the definition and perception of normality. Overnight, educators within the compulsory education sector in Malta had to change their modus operandi from face-to-face to online modality, this despite limited training on remote teaching and learning. This change shifted to a considerable degree the responsibility of learning onto the learners, something which, perhaps, Maltese students were not much accustomed to. Hence, the pandemic has fast-tracked the slow change that the Ministry for Education and Employment (MEDE) (2012) had been trying to bring about – that of having learners as partners in the learning and assessment processes. Assessment for Learning (AfL) is by far the only evidence-based research which has proven to be the most cost-effective benefit for student achievement when practiced well (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam, 2004; Black & Wiliam, 1998). The Directorate for Learning and Assessment Programmes (DLAP) within Malta’s centralized education system, while making efforts to include formative assessment as part of the teaching and learning process, had not considered using it during online teaching and learning practices, as there never was the need to teach compulsory school students remotely. Hence, it was relevant to investigate whether this assessment modality was being used during online teaching and learning, especially when the digital tools had in-built FA tools. This study presents insights from four-hundred responses received to an online questionnaire about the use of formative assessment by Maltese educators across the different providers and levels of education pr i o r t o and during school closure. Results reflect teachers’ use of a combination of strategies, which declined significantly when learning was transferred online. The highest number of combinations of four strategies, followed by a set of three remained consistent in terms of being the mostly preferred modes of formative assessment used by teachers. The decline has been laterally spread onto other group combinations. Effective Questioning was the most used strategy in a set of combinations during physical classes, while both oral and written feedback were the most used, albeit to a different degree, when teaching online. Teachers who used a blended approach used both types of feedback, however, those who adopted an asynchronous approach relied on written feedback. The change in teaching approach has witnessed a four-type practice variation in the use of FA strategies: no change, slight, moderate and major change. The study raised the issue of teachers needing to work outside their comfort zone as they had to adapt to the new circumstances, misconceptions about what online teaching and learning entails, knowledge of the possibilities of FA in this modality, and the need for further training as part of professional development.