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Teachers’ Perspectives and Practice of Assessment for Learning: Insights from Classrooms in Tanzania

Mon, April 15, 3:15 to 4:45pm, Hyatt Regency, Floor: Pacific Concourse (Level -1), Pacific C

Proposal

This paper reports on teachers’ practice regarding Assessment for Learning (AfL) in a study where AfL pedagogy was used to improve the quality of teaching. While AfL has the potential to significantly improve student learning processes and outcomes, there is a policy blind spot in international development on teachers’ assessment in particular in low-income countries.
Assessment for Learning in Africa was a three-year (April 2016- March 2019) multi-country research project in South Africa and Tanzania. It aimed to generate knowledge about how to develop and sustain teacher capacity in integration and use of assessment for learning in mathematics in challenging educational settings.
In Tanzania, where this paper reports from, it was carried out in six purposively selected schools in a poor, informal urban settlement in Dar es Salaam. The selected schools were under-resourced and class sizes were large (average n>80). The study included quantitative data from baseline and end line tests of students’ performance in a specially designed mathematics test administered to more than 500 students. Along side a teacher development program was offered to all the mathematics teachers in the six selected schools. It comprised of workshops to explore teachers’ perspectives about AfL; introduction of principles and practices for AfL; and engage teaches in reflection on issues arising for AfL. This paper draws on qualitative data from the teacher development component as follows:

No Activity Number Data generated
1. Lessons Observed (grade 4) 48 Observation schedule, fieldnotes, artifacts
2. Mentor’s Visits 48 Mentors notes
3. Workshops 08 Workshop plans and reports
4. Teachers’ reflection 48 Teachers’ writing on lesson evaluation

Framework of analysis was mainly drawn from the works of Wiliam (2006) and Hopfenbeck (2015) as discussed below. Research team developed a coding scheme that included the key principle of AfL.
Wiliam (2006) proposes five key strategies that underpin good practice in assessment for learning:
“Clarifying and understanding learning intentions and criteria for success
Engineering effective classroom discussions, questions and tasks that elicit evidence of learning
Providing feedback that moves learners forward
Activating students as instructional resources for each other, and
Activating students as owners of their own learning” (Wiliam, 2006, p.8)
Along similar lines but in the context of Norway, Hopfenbeck (2015) maintains that the purpose of assessment for learning is based on the following principles:
(1) Students should be able to understand what they are going to learn and what is expected of them.
(2) Students should get feedback that informs them about the quality of their work and their level of achievement.
(3) Students should be advised on how to improve their learning outcome.
(4) Students should be involved in their own learning process and in self-assessment. (Hopfenbeck, 2015, p.45).

A significant element of the above principles of assessment for learning is that the onus of learning is on the students and the teachers’ role is to create a facilitative environment for students’ learning.
Results from preliminary analysis showed some trends and patterns. Lessons observed had a three-phased structure. In the first phase the teacher introduced the topic, shared the objectives of the lesson often making reference to the previous lesson. The main body of the lesson followed where the teacher explained a mathematical procedure or the concept. In the third phase students worked in their notebooks at ‘exercises’ taken from the textbook. During the main body of the lesson teachers were seen to employ a range of strategies to elicit evidence of students’ learning and to provide them feedback on their learning. For the sake of focus and space two of these strategies are discussed below.
A large chalkboard along the width of one wall was found in each classroom. Teachers used it creatively for a variety of purposes. The chalkboard was divided into three sections, with the topic written in the left hand column and exercises taken from the textbook also written on chalkboard, as many students did not have the textbooks. Teachers would demonstrate worked examples on the chalkboard and also invite students to present their work on it. To accommodate the large class size, often two or three students would be invited simultaneously to present their work on the chalkboard divided into columns. The whole class was then invited to vote whether or not their peer’s answer was correct but a critique of the answers was rarely undertaken.
Group work was observed in all the lessons possibly because teachers’ interpreted group work as a useful strategy to promote discussion and seek information for AfL. However, contextually this was a problematic interpretation because as one field observer noted:
Due to large number of pupils, noise and other distractions were generated, since the classroom was small and did not allow many movements for pupils to attend to the activities given. As a result, the teacher spent more time in trying to stop the distractions, but the pupils did not stop until the teacher went outside and came back with a stick, she threatened to beat them. Seeing the stick, most of the students stopped making noise, however, few continued, not until the teacher called them by name. (Fieldnotes)
To conclude, teachers employed different strategies to seek evidence of students’ learning within the constraints of large classes and limited resources. However, issues of discipline and management of a large number of children in a confined space raised challenges for them. The paper illustrates well the possibilities and limitations of employing the AfL framework in challenging contexts. It raises questions for policy and practice in improvement of teaching and learning in Tanzania and other low-income countries.


References
Wiliam, D. (2006). Keynote address. Cambridge Assessment Network Conference. www.dylanwiliam.org/Dylan_Wiliams.../Cambridge%20AfL%20keynote. Accessed Dec 3, 2016.
Hopfenbeck, TN, Flórez Petour, MT, & A. Tolo (2015) “Balancing tensions in educational policy reforms: large-scale implementation of Assessment for Learning in Norway”, Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice. 
DOI: http://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2014.996524

Acknowledgement: Grant No: ES/N010515/1 ESRC UK

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