Assessment for Learning in Singapore: How Assessment, Learning, and Context Interact

• In Event: Application of Formative and Classroom Assessment Practices Across Content Disciplines

Abstract

Learning has been critiqued for being under-discoursed in Assessment for Learning (AfL), creating issues with implementation. As AfL is popularised worldwide, there is a need to scrutinise how learning and assessment interact in countries which are contextually different from where AfL originated. This study examines how teachers in Singapore understood and used AfL through interviews, lesson observations, and questionnaires. Preliminary findings reveal that teaching and learning is for Assessment of Learning rather than AfL purposes, teachers primarily adopt teacher-directed rather than learner-driven AfL practices, and teachers exhibit an unduly strong behaviourist approach to teaching, learning, and assessment practices. Findings spell implications for scholars, policymakers, and teachers to foreground the role of learning, and understand AfL as a ‘contextually-situated’ concept.

Authors

• Tang T. Heng, Nanyang Technological University

• Kelvin Tan, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University

• Lynn Song, Nanyang Technological University - National Institute of Education