Preparing Formative Assessment Literate Teachers: A Blurry Snapshot from Italy

• In Event: Exploring Formative Assessment Practices and Policies in Latin American and European Countries: A Cross-national Comparative Overview

Abstract

Drawing on current perspectives on preparing teachers for assessment practice (i.e. assessment literacy) (Atjonen et al., 2024; Author, 2019; 2023; DeLuca et al., 2020; Xu & Brown, 2016), this paper presents a study examining the conceptions and practices of formative assessment among Italian primary school teachers. The study was guided by the following research questions:

• How do teachers who attended the national professional development programme provided by the Minister of Education conceive of formative assessment? (RQ1)
• How do these teachers implement formative assessment in the classroom? (RQ2)
• What kind of professional learning needs do they have in the formative assessment domain? (RQ3)

A phenomenological interview study was performed to explore the conceptions, representations, practices and professional development needs that Italian primary school teachers have regarding formative assessment (Creswell, 2014).
To ensure in-depth and thorough within-case and cross-case analysis, ten teachers were recruited by convenience from ten different schools in the regional district (details removed for identification).
Data were collected through three rounds of interviews (see Table 1).

[Insert Table 1 here]

The analysis of the participants’ transcripts was conducted using the phenomenological method. This involved repeatedly reading the transcripts, taking notes and identifying connections until significant phrases or sentences relating to the research study topics (i.e. formative assessment, assessment literacy and the teacher professional development programme) emerged.
A total of 237 significant statements were extracted from 30 verbatim transcripts. Arranging these meanings into clusters resulted in four themes (see Table 2).

[Insert Table 2 here]

The first theme focuses on teachers’ perceptions of formative assessment. Against the backdrop of teacher professionalism and assessment literacy, the second theme considers teachers’ experiences of the professional development provided by the Ministry of Education.
The third theme illustrates the most frequent obstacles and challenges that teachers encounter when implementing formative assessment in their schools. Finally, the fourth theme synthesises how teachers enacted formative assessment, examining whether and to what extent the methods and strategies generally associated with this practice (Black & Wiliam, 1998; 2018) are mentioned and used by teachers.

The results of this study show that the introduction of formative assessment in the Italian school system is currently far from being implemented in line with research-based recommendations. The interviewed teachers have an “incomplete vision” of formative assessment (Black, 2015). While teachers understand the meaning and rationale of this type of assessment, their discourse on the practice of formative assessment is vague and confused. Contrasting teachers’ answers with the definition of formative assessment used in this study (Black & Wiliam, 1998; 2018) confirms that teachers’ conceptions of and practices in formative assessment are blurred.

This study’ s results confirm the importance of clarifying the tensions among school context, educational policy, individual teachers’ preferences, conceptions, and professional development drivers in the assessment domain. It is a feasible way to ensure that formative assessment raises educational quality, leading to improved student learning achievement.

Author

• Serafina Pastore, University of Bari