Assessment for learning and for self-regulation

Drawing on a research study of formative assessment practices in Irish schools, this paper traces the design, development and pilot of the Assessment for Learning Audit instrument (AfLAi) - a research tool for measuring teachers’ understanding and deployment of formative teaching, learning and assessment practices. Underpinning the paper is an extensive body of international research connecting assessment for learning pedagogy with student self-regulation, mental health and well-being. Reflecting on the potential of the AfLAi as a research tool, an activity systems framework is advanced as a mechanism to engage researchers and teachers in meaningful site-based continuous professional development that supports teachers’ interrogation of aggregated school data derived from their responses to the AfLAi. It is argued that by de-privatising classroom practice in this way and challenging teachers to examine self-reports of their understanding and use of assessment for learning pedagogy, the extent to which students are afforded opportunities to develop as self-regulating learners is laid bare. In turn, the teaching, learning and assessment conditions that serve to create and sustain selfregulation by students emerge. The paper is premised on a commitment to a biopsychosocial approach to mental health and to an inter-disciplinary, multi-lens, research agenda that will yield comprehensive, dynamic insights and understandings to inform future practice.peer-reviewe

Irish pre-service teachers’ expectations for teaching as a career: a snapshot at a time of transition

Recent graduates of teacher education programmes in Ireland are entering their careers at a time characterized by an erosion of teacher autonomy, increased bureaucratic demands, and narrower curriculum specifications. These changes are typical features of what Sahlberg (2011) has termed the global educational reform movement (GERM), and evidence suggests that they can have a negative impact on teacher morale, and on how teaching as a career is perceived. This, in turn, can have detrimental effects on teacher recruitment and retention. This study examined the career expectations of two cohorts of Irish pre-service teachers (n=491) at the point of transition between college and work. The data gathered were also used to investigate if recent changes to the B.Ed. programme are associated with any changes in career expectations. Overall, teachers indicated strong expectations on issues such as doing a worthwhile job, feeling satisfied with pupil achievement and fulfilling personal needs, however, expectations with regard to the adequacy of salaries were low, and appear to have diminished further throughout the period 2014 to 2016

Teacher perspectives on standardized testing of achievement in Ireland

In the years since 2007 the role of standardized testing in Irish primary (elementary schools has become increasingly prominent. All schools are now required to administer tests in English reading and mathematics in 2nd, 4th and 6th grades, and to report aggregated results to their Boards of Management and the Department of Education and Skills (DES). Schools are also required to share the results with parents/guardians at the three mandatory testing points and to do this in written format using end-of-year school reports DES, 2011. As of September 2017, the results are used at national level as part of the process involved in determining the allocation of special educational teaching resources to schools DES, 2017. The research described in this paper represents a collaboration between the Centre for Assessment Research, Policy and Practice in Education (CARPE) based at Dublin City University and the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) - the largest teachers' trade union in Ireland representing 95%+ of all teachers at the elementary level. In examining elementary teachers use of and attitudes to standardized tests at a time when the stakes associated with this form of assessment are growing, the research exemplifies the AERA 2020 conference theme: “The Power and Possibilities for the Public Good When Researchers and Organizational Stakeholders Collaborate.

What should be taught by teachers, and what by parents?

Who taught you to tell the time, to tie your shoelaces or to write your name? I have memories of my parents and teachers taking a hand in helping me to learn these skills as a small child. But what about more challenging tasks - who taught you to analyse a poem or to solve equations? Mr Williamson, my favourite teacher, taught the principles of algebra to our class and patiently went over the information until it started to make some sense to me. I also remember my parents encouraging me to practise what I was learning in class and to try different approaches when the first solution didn\u27t work. So, who was doing the teaching in this instance - Mr Williamson or my parents? I would say both. Mr Williamson had the knowledge and expertise that allowed him to present complex information in ways that matched my capacity for learning. My parents, on the other hand, knew that I would benefit from learning to persist in the face of difficult problems

Blackcap

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Queering Belfast: Some thoughts on the sexing of space

In this paper we use data from interviews and focus groups with gay men, lesbians and bisexuals living in Belfast to provide a queer reading of the city. Drawing on the work of queer theory, we argue, contrary to much of the literature on sexuality and space, that space is neither purely encoded as ‘heterosexual’ or ‘gay’. Instead we posit that all space is queered, that the sexing of space is always partial and contested, always in a process of becoming; that heterosexist spatiality, for example, is profoundly unstable, continuously engaged in the process of reproducing itself. Reconceptualising socio-spatial relations in this way, we contend, allows for a more nuanced and differentiated, geographical reading of sexual dissidence, one that acknowledges the fluidity and complexity of individuals’ self-identifications with regard to sexual-orientation and their diverse spatialities, as evidenced in our interviews.